Resolving network connection issues on Linux Mint (Ubuntu)

So several years after purchasing my smallest form-factor netbook Aspire One I have stumbled upon issue that I couldn’t explain myself. Hopefully this would help somebody and save time it took me to figure out.

Background

The Aspire One was the only netbook with descent (2GB RAM at that time) amount of memory and Linux installation out of box (=minimal support guaranteed). I have used for some time, but than gave up for a while since keyboard proved to be a bit too cramped for my palms and fingers, so extensive use caused some pain. Still it is a nice little piece of hardware that is easy to transport, not expensive (meaning if gets stolen or broken I won’t cry over it :)) and, finally, it is a full-fledged Linux-powered thing with real (althoguh small) keyboard large enough hard disk to host my music collection. All in all, after some time I decided to give it a try.

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Chello (ISP) frustration

Yesterday was a nig eye-opener / frustrating night for me. After getting really fed up and even more convinced that my 30/7 kbps download/upload is not a common practice I have started with an investigation on who is doing this to my internet connection. Well, it took my laziness almost two years to get to this point, which also says how much I use my internet connection, but anyway…

First, I assumed it is me. What’s new, a techie that has more devices at home than braincells can definitely screw things up. I am one of those types. Here is the original setup:

  • Arris TM502B/220 cable modem provided to me generously by my ISP Chello (The Netherlands);
  • Linksys WRT54GL with Tomato formware (upgraded to 1.25 as one of the actions below);
  • Numerous devices eventually connecting to the router to get their (drops of) Internet connection.

The last drop was when a friend of mine who had presumably cheaper internet connection claimed higher upload speed than what I had. Let’s nail it down… Well, after hours of googling and changing the settings of my router’s firmware I’ve got zero result. Next step – hardware.

First, I have tried to connect to the modem directly excluding the router (which was my initial suspicion due to QoS settings and who-knows-what-else). This didn’t improve things even a bit. Still the same frustrating numbers (ses below).

Second, the most crusial step. Change the modem itself. Luckily I still have an old Motorola modem (no VoIP phone connection, but I don’t use it anyway). When I’ve got my new modem they didn’t take away the old one, so why not to try. This time luck was definitly on my side, since connecting the old modem worked like a charm, so additional setup was needed. Direct connection didn’t work though, so I had to connect to the router. So be it, it is the desired setup in any case. And then…

TADAA!!!

I run the speedtest.nl and I gt the numbers which raised my eyebrows in a huge frustration. Ok, first of myself that I have waited so long to get to this point, but second because of my ISP sending me crap. So here it is:

Setup with Arris modem, the results of speedtest.nl, (<laugh>):

  • Download 0.25 Mbps
  • Upload 0.06 Mpbps

(</laugh>)

With the old Motorola modem:

  • Download 15.57 Mbps
  • Upload 1.45 Mpbps

Feel the difference!

I immediately put back QoS to make sure I (or my wife :)) don’t eat up the whole bandwidth with one download and forced myself to put back the Arris modem back on the shelf carefully not breaking it in pieces.

Conclusions
The new modem (Arris) was cutting my connection ridiculously while the only added feature (phone connection) was not used by me at all. I will be cancelling my subscription(s) soon I think and reshaping my package to higher internet only. This costed me too much waiting time and frustrations to keep it like this for the last TWO YEARS!

p.s. Both modems provide basic information on http://192.168.100.1 and the old Motorola with firmware copyrighted in 2002 has even settings like enabling DHCP (which I don’t need and even don’t want) configurable, while Arris’es settings are kept behind the (unknown to me) password.