topic Re: Using ethernet at home. in Broadband

Using ethernet at home.

Roysky1 — Sun, 02 Aug 2026 06:45:07 GMT

I have just moved to Sky having been with TT for the last number of years. I had their fibre 150 package and on a decent day was getting speeds via ethernet to my desktop on the mid/ high 90's dropping to 70+ on a weaker day while uploads were fairly consistent in the high 20's.. My initial tests with my new Sky 500 package indicates a download speed of mid 50's and an up;oad speed of mid 60's.

I have no idea why these seem to show such a drop on the download and increase on the upload.

Any suggestions, advice or comments would be appreciated bearing in mind I do prefer to use ethernet around the house as I belive it is a safer method of data transfer.

Thanks

Roy

Re: Using ethernet at home.

Deb3000 — Sun, 02 Aug 2026 07:14:11 GMT

Faulty cable or faulty interface card on the PC.

To get 1000Mb/s needs cat 5e or cat 6 AND all 8 wires need to be connected. Even if only one wire is faulty, the max speed possible is only 100Mb/s.

Re: Using ethernet at home.

Me134 — Sun, 02 Aug 2026 07:23:47 GMT

@Roysky1 wrote:
I have just moved to Sky having been with TT for the last number of years. I had their fibre 150 package and on a decent day was getting speeds via ethernet to my desktop on the mid/ high 90's dropping to 70+ on a weaker day while uploads were fairly consistent in the high 20's.. My initial tests with my new Sky 500 package indicates a download speed of mid 50's and an up;oad speed of mid 60's.
I have no idea why these seem to show such a drop on the download and increase on the upload.
Any suggestions, advice or comments would be appreciated bearing in mind I do prefer to use ethernet around the house as I belive it is a safer method of data transfer.
Thanks
Roy

If on FTTP and connected via ethernet on a 150Mbps service then I'd expect you to get circa 150, that TT speed was poor and the Sky speeds even worse.

What does the MySky app state as the speed to the hub?

That will tell you where to start as to whether it's an external problem or internal (this is presuming there's no VPN or internal switches involved).

Re: Using ethernet at home.

Roysky1 — Sun, 02 Aug 2026 07:24:52 GMT

Thanks for the prompt answer which points out several potential solutions.

When I started up the new Sky router the only cable changed was that between the wall socket and tha router and that was using the supplied cable with the router and have not changed or moved anything else in the home network. That is not to say that the network was perfect before but to use as a comparison to the vew aetup.

Re: Using ethernet at home.

Me134 — Sun, 02 Aug 2026 07:28:36 GMT

@Roysky1 wrote:
Thanks for the prompt answer which points out several potential solutions.
When I started up the new Sky router the only cable changed was that between the wall socket and tha router and that was using the supplied cable with the router and have not changed or moved anything else in the home network. That is not to say that the network was perfect before but to use as a comparison to the vew aetup.

What does the MySky app state as the speed to the hub?

Re: Using ethernet at home.

Roysky1 — Sun, 02 Aug 2026 07:40:43 GMT

My Sky app states that speed to the hub is 513mbps which is great so I would assume my problems are from the router to desktop but I don't understand why the speeds shown using the Ookla tests show the drop on my desktop - hence my question.

Re: Using ethernet at home.

Chrisee — Sun, 02 Aug 2026 07:55:21 GMT

@Roysky1to see speeds over 95Mb/s you will need a link where all of the components support gigabit speeds. A damaged cable or a port that is not set to support 1Gb/s would be the most likely explanation assuming it is a direct connection. If however you are using a switch of a set of powerline adapters that would also be likely causes.

Ethernet cables contain 8 cores if one of those breaks which can happen the cable falls back to only supporting 100Mb/s.

Re: Using ethernet at home.

Roysky1 — Sun, 02 Aug 2026 08:02:25 GMT

I am using powerline adapters - TP-Link 8030 units that are supposedly rated up to 1000bnps so I will look at those first and see about getting software updates before anything else.

I have always used at least Cat5 cables purchased from Am.... on so hopefully they are holding up- they have only been used when I do not get cables with any of the adapters used.

Thanks to all who have contributed so far and your guidance really helps.

Now to do the neccesary checks & updates and let you know my progress.

Re: Using ethernet at home.

Deb3000 — Sun, 02 Aug 2026 08:18:34 GMT

Cat 5 or cat 5e? Cat 5 only supports 100Mb/s. Cat 5e and above supports 1000Mb/s.

Powerline adapters are "half duplex", (same as wireless). That is the 1000 is really 500 upstream + 500 downstream and the manufacturers gilding lilly to make them sound faster . Ethernet cables are full duplex, i.e. 1000 each way. As Chrisee said, interface cards can often be set for either, so check the settings.

Re: Using ethernet at home.

TimmyBGood — Sun, 02 Aug 2026 08:49:41 GMT

@Roysky1 wrote:

I am using powerline adapters - TP-Link 8030 units that are supposedly rated up to 1000bnps so I will look at those first and see about getting software updates before anything else.

That's why then: Powerline is absolutely not ethernet, and as @Deb3000 indicates, the manufacturers are appallingly bad at explaining the difference between theoretical speed on the box label and actual throughput. Historically it's been entirely plausible to get a tenth of the supposed speed (or less) in real world use.

Re: Using ethernet at home.

Me134 — Sun, 02 Aug 2026 11:10:22 GMT

@Roysky1 Definitely the powerline adaptors then.

Since you've moved up to 500Mbps now I'd have a look at a mesh system and disable the Max wifi entirely. Something like the TP-Link
Deco M4(3-pack) at around £110 would set you up to get much better and more importantly, stable wifi with the option of ethernet ports to plug consoles & computers into.

Re: Using ethernet at home.

Roysky1 — Sun, 02 Aug 2026 13:50:07 GMT

Thanks for the suggestion about a Mesh system. As an old fool or 4 score years I am not really up on these but intend to follow up and see how to go.

Re: Using ethernet at home.

TimmyBGood — Sun, 02 Aug 2026 14:36:24 GMT

To slightly mitigate my comments above, I note TP-Link has at least published this:

AV1300 is not the actual speed but the maximum powerline rate, as shown in the tpPLC utility. The powerline speed shown in the tpPLC utility will not reach 1300 Mbps due to interference in the powerline environment.

We ran two tests under the interference conditions below. The Powerline speed between the TL-WPA8630 and two TL-PA8010s was only up to 364 Mbps and 56 Mbps. However, the conversion rate (the ratio of the transmission rate to the powerline rate) is about 20%–30% (the actual conversion rate depends on the electrical wiring system). So the actual throughput should be about 73Mbps-109Mbps.

https://www.tp-link.com/uk/support/faq/2928/

I still maintain that the numbers typically printed on the packaging of such products are grossly misleading: labelling hardware with '1200' or '1300' while actually delivering under 120Mbs is distinctly dubious.

Of course, this mattered much less when really good home broadband topped out at 80Mbs...

Re: Using ethernet at home.

Roysky1 — Sun, 02 Aug 2026 14:17:24 GMT

Thanks, I realise the poewrline set up does compromise speed but I thought it should be much better than the current level - rather similar to what I was getting with TT but with somewhat better security compared to wifi.

Re: Using ethernet at home.

Deb3000 — Sun, 02 Aug 2026 14:53:53 GMT

"...somewhat better security compared to wifi."

Actually, no. Only if you've changed the default encryption key. Theoretically, that signal can go out through your meter and down the road to your neighbours for up to 300m.

Re: Using ethernet at home.

Roysky1 — Sun, 02 Aug 2026 14:59:03 GMT

I did not know that - thanks for the information Deb3000 - it really is news to me as I always believed the router secuurity would stop that sort of thing. As they say everyday is a school day.

I am now looking at the suggested Mesh options as they would appear to provide all that I really need in terms of speed and reasonable security.

Re: Using ethernet at home.

Deb3000 — Sun, 02 Aug 2026 15:10:29 GMT

Yes, your electric wiring connects through the meter and out to a shared supply, of course. Debatable how much of a risk that actually is. Your neighbour would have to have the same adapters also with the default key etc. Wireless, on the other hand, goes through walls but it's weakened. You would need to be within about 50m to get a connection stable enough to connect to.

If you are part of the techie generation I grew up with, the accepted wisdom was real networks use cables. You only put wireless in if you can't drill holes for wires in, say, a listed building. (Not that that stopped us on occasion). Bite the bullet and put cat 6 cables in. You won't regret it.

Re: Using ethernet at home.

Roysky1 — Sun, 02 Aug 2026 15:14:33 GMT

Unfortunately as this is a rented property the prospect for drilling holes is not very good despite the fact it is a long term rental - hence initially going the powerline route and considering mesh wifi..

Re: Using ethernet at home.

Deb3000 — Sun, 02 Aug 2026 15:17:45 GMT

Just make sure you use a good key then. Use WPA3, or if still using WPA2, the recommended minimum now is 20 characters length, including upper, lowercase, numbers and symbols.

Re: Using ethernet at home.

Disant2k — Sun, 02 Aug 2026 18:28:53 GMT

Daft question, but you haven't connected any Sky Q boxes of Minis via Ethernet have you?

If you have, that may be your issue. The back haul links on Sky Q boxes floods the network with a lot of chatter, and limits overall speed over the wired network. I found this much to my annouance, and was why I replaced all Sky Q routers with a third-party brand.