100Mbps Charter Internet Service only downloading at 20Mbps

Are you basing this on just one site, speed test sites, or downloads from various sites? Not all sites can supply the data rate you are using because they may have lower data rates themselves.

I doubt this will change anything by you might try using different DNS servers. Two alternatives are OpenDNS (208.67.222.222, 208.67.220.220) and google DNS (8.8.8.8, 8.8.4.4).

Jen.

I've had a similar problem here in NC. I was getting 38-43 down with 100 service.

I tried EVERYTHING. My local Charter people tried to no avail. They were nice.

I use an Apple Airport Extreme. Mine is 2 years old.

But a new one came out recently. I bought that one and now my speeds are around 66 down.

Much better now but not what I really want. I expect something above 80 at least.

Maybe a new router can help you?

-- daniel

I have the exact same problem. I'm using a Motorola DOCSIS 3.0 6120 Cable Modem, Airport Extreme, MacBook Pro connected via wifi. Max d/l over wifi is around 30-35 Mbps. The tech came out and said the same thing, it's not a wiring problem but a Mac TCP/IP configuration issue. He was getting around 70-80 Mbps wired directly into the cable modem with his diagnostic device. He said I should try to look for a TCP/IP tuning utility for the Mac which is what they use for Windows machines. I found IPNetTuner but could not get any improvement.

You should also remember that whatever speeds an ISP is advertising usually includes the "up to xxx mbps".

I used to pay for high speed access with Comcast and finally got tired of paying all that money for download apeeds which occasionally mimicked dialup on 30 year old cables and equipment and sharing the cable with 900 other people. So, I now pay less for DSL, and actually get the speed they advertised: 7 mbps - it is just as fast as my previous (supposedly) 25 mbps and a 4 GB download maintains the speed throughout.

Aside from that, you also need to keep in mind that cat 6 ethernet cables are better than the standard cat 5 (I changed all of mine).

jen587 wrote:

I just upgraded to Charter Internet's 100Mbps service. They've setup things on their end and I've restarted everything on my end. I am only able to get 20Mbps download after multiple tries. I've disconnected my router and connected the modem directly to the computer - same thing. I'm getting the full 5Mbps upload, it's just the download I'm not getting.

Charter can't help - they say they don't have service for us lowly Mac users. She said on a pc, they have to change settings on the NIC card but she wasn't allowed to give Mac support - I was supposed to call directly to Apple. It's late, their closed so I'm posting my question here. Anyone have this same issue?

I found your post and complaint interesting as I use Charter at home for internet also. I am supposed to be getting 15 Mbps, and I consistently get 25-30 Mbps from Charter. This is what I see through a router whether through a wired or wireless (N) connection. As for the Mac needing to be somehow configured, I tried Speedtest at work, where we have much faster internet connections, and I see 95 Mbps download and 58 Mbps upload. I did not "configure" my Mac in any special way, and it clearly gets close to 100 Mbps download when it is available.

Just to check, when on the wired connection, run Network Utility and check the Ethernet en0 interface, it should say either 1 Gbit/s or 100 Mb/s. It it says the former, I think you should be able to get 100 Mb/s actual throughput; if it says 100 Mb/s, I think that is the theoretical max but actual throughput could be x2 lower due to packet and communications "overhead."

Note to others who posted with WiFi numbers -- throughput with WiFi can drop dramatically due to distance from router, walls or other material that the WiFi signal must pass through, and existence of other signals and RF "clutter" in the same frequency band. One can easily see throughput that is x2 to x10 lower than "advertised" when using WiFi.

Do you have "wake for network access" enabled (System Preferences > Energy Saver)?