Slow Download/Upload Speed with Intel Killer Ethernet Adapter

[bobkiler]

I've been having an issue with my wired upload speed for a few months now. 

Attached are speed tests from both wired and wireless connections, as you can see the top one (Wired) has great down but awful upload speeds. The bottom (Wireless) has as expected speeds, at least as far as I know they are expected. 

Any ideas, should I try replacing the coax, or is this situation expected behavior? 

Package/Device Details:

Ignite 500, XB7 Modem, 2500 Mbps LAN, Wi-Fi 6E.

Troubleshooting tried:

Reboot modem, Factory Reset modem, change network cabling, use different modem port, change computer.

***Edited Labels***

[-G-]

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@mkleung3 wrote:

Hi

I'm on the ignite 500 plan but my download speed is quite slow. I'm only getting 50Mbps and I've been getting this slow speed ever since I was forced to switch over to fibre when they switched everyone over to fibre. My download speed previous to the switch to fibre was very fast and quite close to the 500Mbps. Is there a way to get back the normal speed?

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How long has this been going on for?  Have you formally reported this issue to Rogers tech support?

Also, what are you using to perform the speed test?  The Rogers Xfinity app?  A computer?  Is it Ethernet-connected or are you testing over Wi-Fi?  What are your upload speeds like?

Have you tried disconnecting the Xfinity Gateway and connecting a computer directly to the fibre ONT via Ethernet to perform a speed test?

[mkleung3]

Hi -G-

It's been going on for at least 2 years. The mandatory switch to fibre was quite some time ago. I've only managed to call in just once to tech support because my time is limited. Tried to tell me everything was fine. I use speedtest to check from my desktop computer which is connected by ethernet cable to my router. I get the same slow speeds when I plug directly into the modem without using my router. The upload speed I get is about 11Mbps.

[57]

We have seen hundreds of similar posts from customers. The issue is almost always with customer equipment, non-standard layout, or computer software/firmware issues.  Here are a couple of recent posts discussing the topic:

https://communityforums.rogers.com/t5/Account-Support/New-internet-packages/m-p/530957/highlight/tru...

https://communityforums.rogers.com/t5/Internet/Switched-Modem-XB7-to-XB8/m-p/532879/highlight/true#M...

We recently had a similar thread where the customer's NIC firmware was to blame.  Be sure to do a test using the Xfinity App, since that will show the speed at the modem before any of your equipment.  I believe you need to be in Rogers' standard configuration for the app test to function properly, but that should be the case for any speed testing.

[mkleung3]

Hi guys

Thanks for the responses. Everything is great now! Finally, after all this time, found out what was causing the issue. It was the "Killer Network Manager" software that came with the LAN driver for my motherboard that was making the speeds slow. Got rid of that trash and now it's fine.

[57]

Thank you so much for the feedback.  It's very useful for future customers with similar issues.

Did you run a test using the Rogers Xfinity app and what was the speed when you ran that?  As indicated in one of my links, I regularly got over 1Gbps on my 500 plan...

Exactly the same problem as someone last week.  See link below.

https://communityforums.rogers.com/t5/Internet/Slow-Upload-Speed-On-Wired-Only/m-p/542436/highlight/...

Surprised that it affected your WiFi speed?  Or did it?  The other person had good WiFi speeds...

I'm also surprised that you stated the issue started with a Rogers switch to Fibre...  Was this the time you also got a different computer or board which is the actual cause of the problem?

[mkleung3]

I just ran a test now using speedtest.net and I've got big improvements after getting rid of the "killer network" stuff. Test results were 947.62Mbps down and 180.37Mbps up. My phone is old and doesn't support 5G but my WiFi speed tested at 497.98Mbps down. Previously, I do remember not getting more than 100Mbps via WiFi so I think that killer stuff was affecting my WiFi as well. I've had this desktop since 2013 and only noticed the speed getting slow when Rogers switched the line to fibre. What I suspect happened was Windows must've updated/installed the killer stuff through a windows update and that's probably what caused it.

[-G-]

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@57 wrote:

I'm also surprised that you stated the issue started with a Rogers switch to Fibre...  Was this the time you also got a different computer or board which is the actual cause of the problem?

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See my post in that thread and the subsequent post.  The slowdowns are not just due to driver/chipset issues but also their interaction with upstream network gear.

[57]

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@-G- wrote:  See my post in that thread and the subsequent post.  The slowdowns are not just due to driver/chipset issues but also their interaction with upstream network gear.

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Yes, I remember your "complicated, really complicated" post, but, I prefer to simplify, and if the issue is with the Driver/Firmware/Software/OS, then, as far as I'm concerned,  that's the cause, because if you remove the cause, then all else is fine again...  Unfortunately, that sometimes takes a fair bit of digging.

[-G-]

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@57 wrote:

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@-G- wrote:  See my post in that thread and the subsequent post.  The slowdowns are not just due to driver/chipset issues but also their interaction with upstream network gear.

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Yes, I remember your "complicated, really complicated" post, but, I prefer to simplify, and if the issue is with the Driver/Firmware/Software/OS, then, as far as I'm concerned,  that's the cause, because if you remove the cause, then all else is fine again...  Unfortunately, that sometimes takes a fair bit of digging.

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Keep in mind that we are still using the same network protocols that were originally documented in RFC791 and RFC793.  At the time, 10 Mbps Ethernet was "memory speed" on the fastest computers, and NOBODY envisioned Gigabit networking or networks with a high bandwidth-delay product.  Network stack implementations have since had to evolve to stay up during times of severe network congestion, and accommodate today's and tomorrow's high-speed networks, while still staying (mostly) faithful and interoperable with implementations from 45 years ago.  I was one of those people doing work on next-generation high-speed networks long before 100 Mbps hardware was commercially available on high-end corporate network gear.

[DrMike]

I have an (older) XB7 modem connected directly to the ethernet port on my Dell XPS 8960 (i.e. not bridge mode). The connection is to the 2.5 G port on the XB7 and my PC Killer ethernet is capable of 2.5 Gb speeds. I am on a Rogers 1.5 GB plan.

Up until recently, when doing a SpeedTest I was routinely able to see DL speeds of over 1800-1900 Mbps and UL speeds of 150 or more. Now it seems that I am only able to routinely get maybe 1300 Mbps. Upload is still 150

I realize that the speeds I am getting are still appropriate for the plan I am on, but I would like to know WHY there has been a change. Could this be simply that Rogers has capped me to the speeds of the plan, whereas I used to be the beneficiary of a "gift" of greater than 1.5 Gb speeds?  I don't want to start troubleshooting my PC drivers or other network related things if in fact Rogers is simply capping my speed. 

Also, as a related issue, how do I  determine if the XB7 is working to full capacity? How do I know that I have the latest firmware? I don't see any place in the router admin page to update the firmware so I assume that I have no  control over that? 

**Labels Updated**

[57]

Please see the following tips post:

https://communityforums.rogers.com/t5/Internet/Slow-Internet-Speeds-Ignite-500/m-p/542833#M81263

Step 2 should confirm speed to the Gateway. Also, the fact that you have "Killer" is a big red flag.

[Datalink]

Yup, you're the third person within the last two weeks, with a Killer ethernet controller that has experienced slow speeds.  Something has obviously gone wrong with a very recent Killer driver update.  Long story short ... dump the Killer drivers and any other Killer software in your pc and run Intel drivers.  That should restore the data rates to what you had before.

[DrMike]

I have been trying Step 2 all morning but keep getting a "something went wrong" error.

As for Killer, yes I have had and heard issues before but that's the hardware I have in my Dell. Can I use non-Killer drivers etc for a Killer NIC? 

[DrMike]

Thanks. Like I said, I *am* getting close to the speeds I am paying for, so it is hard to really complain. I just was used to seeing a lot more speed than this in the past.  Not sure how to dump the Killer drivers? And where would I find replacements? 

[57]

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@DrMike wrote:

I have been trying Step 2 all morning but keep getting a "something went wrong" error.

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I just tested and mine worked fine - 1.9 on a 1.5 plan on my iPhone and my iPad.

Are you running any non-standard configuration on your device, like a VPN?  Do you have a different device (tablet, etc) that you can try.

@Datalink replied earlier and said to dump Killer and run Intel.

[Datalink]

@CommunityHelps can one of the moderators combine this thread with the following threads:

https://communityforums.rogers.com/t5/Internet/Slow-Upload-Speed-On-Wired-Only/m-p/542439/highlight/...

https://communityforums.rogers.com/t5/Internet/Slow-Internet-Speeds-Ignite-500/m-p/542828#M81261

These threads appear to relate to the same issue / problem with Killer Network software.  The combined thread should be titled something like  Slow Killer Network Speeds.

@DrMike can you take a quick read thru those threads.  The two following posts point to the solution that the other Killer users arrived at:

https://communityforums.rogers.com/t5/Internet/Slow-Upload-Speed-On-Wired-Only/m-p/542436/highlight/...

https://communityforums.rogers.com/t5/Internet/Slow-Internet-Speeds-Ignite-500/m-p/542816/highlight/...

You could probably send a message to @bobkiler and @mkleung3 to ask what they ended up loading for Intel NIC drivers. 

Looking at the Intel site, there are two pages that refer to Killer drivers.  The first is a page that contains links to Intel's Killer Performance Suite:

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/19779/intel-killer-performance-suite.html

I'm guessing that @bobkiler and @mkleung3 removed this package in its entirety and simply loaded the Intel drivers, which are located here:

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000059060/wireless.html

You should be able to use that page to download the driver package for your specific Killer hardware version and when you have that downloaded, uninstall all of the Killer drivers and software that goes along with the Killer hardware, reboot the pc and then load the drivers that you just downloaded.  Maybe, somewhere along the way during the install process, you will be given a choice as to what components you want to load.  I'd load the drivers and skip any of the Killer Performance Suite if its offered as a choice.  

@bobkiler and @mkleung3 should be able to offer better advice.

[DrMike]

UPDATE:

OK, so I tried the simplest thing first - I uninstalled (from the windows apps panel) the Killer Performance Suite and voila, my speeds are back to about 1600-1700. So much for enhanced "performance" from Killer lol . 🤔

[Datalink]

As Siskel and Ebert said, two thumbs up .... 👍👍