Welcome to Krazzy Town

Awhile ago I received an email from Comcast Xfinity saying that my internet speed was increased from 150 Mbps to up to 200 Mbps free of charge. All I needed to do was reboot my modem to enjoy the speeds.

So before I do that, I go to Speedtest.net to get my current speed so I could compare. Well, after running the speed test, my download speed is ~80ish Mbps, which is well below the 150 Mbps that I’m suppose to be getting.

I check the Ethernet cable hooked up to my computer to see that it’s a Cat 5e cable, which would easily support up to 1 Gbps. The next thing I check is the switch that I have my PC hooked up to. It is only rated for 10/100 network speeds. Okay, so I can’t go through the switch because it doesn’t support the speed I’m suppose to be getting, no problem, just hook straight up to the router and I should be good to go.

So after moving the Ethernet cable from the switch to the router, I reboot the modem for the speed increase to take affect. I load up Speedtest.net to test the speeds, and still have the same results. Well crap, so I check the Ethernet cable between the modem and the router. It’s only a Cat 5 cable which maxes out at 100 Mbps, that’s no problem, just replace the cable with a Cat 5e or Cat 6 that I might have laying around the house.

Before I get into that, I want to make sure that I am getting the speeds that I’m suppose to be getting anyways, so I hook my PC straight up the the modem and run the speedtest again. I get great results, it maxed out at 233 Mbps, which is more than I’m suppose to be getting. But before I go looking for the Ethernet cable to replace, let me look at the speeds that the router can handle. Looking at the documentation, it only supports 10/100 also, so it wouldn’t be able to pass along the increased speed.

So in order for me to benefit from the increase in speed or even the speed I’ve been paying for, I need to upgrade my router and Ethernet cables. Granted the whole setup is around 11 years old, so it’s due for an upgrade.

So the whole point of this, is to point out how important it is to know what your hardware can handle and to know what your internet speed is, so you can get the benefits of what you are paying for.

-Hesgone Krazzy