LinkSys BEFSX41 very slow

[Saga]

Hello all!

I have a LinkSys BEFSX41 that has been working flawlessly for 5+ years. Sometime in Dec/Early Jan my Internet speed dropped from 20Mbps to about .87Mbps. After doing some trouble shooting I discovered that by bypassing the router my connection speed was 20Mbps and by connecting the PC to the router and the router to the Cable modem the speed dropped to about .87Mbps.

I have tried reseting the router, testing with Windows and Linux without much success. I found that I am not the only one wit tis problem. You can read about it here:

http://forums.linksysbycisco.com/linksys/board/message?board.id=Wired_Routers&thread.id=26748

I am Saga292 in the above referenced thread. Has anyone else had this problem? Thank you for you assistance and insight. Saga

 

[thiggins]

I wouldn't bother messing with MTU as indicated in the Linksys forum threads.

Unless the router has gone bad, which I doubt, this sounds like something changed on your ISP's end. Could be some sort of bandwidth management they've started to use.

See if you can correlate it with time of day, websites or applications used.

The other thing you can try is cloning the MAC address of the computer that seems to work ok to the router's WAN port.

 

[Saga]

Thanks for the reply.

The MTU thingy just didn't make sense for me, so I never changed it - I took your advice before you gave it!

I am cloning the MAC address of the PC, but perhaps a second look is a good idea. I am really at a loss as to what could have happened. I will check with my ISP later on today, it just seems odd that the other guy (in the link to the thread I gave) is also having the same problem and he has a different ISP. The ISP gets a bit touchy when I mention that I have a router connected to the cable modem, their canned response being "we do not support any devices connected to the modem that are not a computer". Again, thanks for you help. Saga

 

[thiggins]

I am really at a loss as to what could have happened. I will check with my ISP later on today, it just seems odd that the other guy (in the link to the thread I gave) is also having the same problem and he has a different ISP. The ISP gets a bit touchy when I mention that I have a router connected to the cable modem, their canned response being "we do not support any devices connected to the modem that are not a computer".

First, it's not uncommon for ISPs today to employ bandwidth limiting and QoS techniques. And they will rarely admit to using them, lest they attract the attention of the 'Net neutrality crowd.

The second part of your note is interesting. Do your ISP's terms of service actually prohibit using a router (hard to believe they would, but you should check). If they do, maybe they finally decided to start enforcing the TOS by throttling bandwidth to router users?

 

[Saga]

BEFSX41 router very slow

Thanks again.

I am going to check with COMCAST and see what their terms of service are. I checked their web site and apparently they will lease a router at no additional cost if the client is already leasing the cable modem. Perhaps what they want is their "cut" if a router is involved. If it is so, that's a real bummer, since my BEFSX41 will basically be useless. I kinda need this fixed, as I can't do much Internet related work at home. I will follow up once I have better info. Saga

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Comcast does not ban the use of routers, they state they won't "support routers" because...quite frankly, they are responsible for the connection only up to and including the modem. They cannot possibly be expected to know about every make/model home router out there...add to that the complexity of hundreds of different quirks from different versions of firmware.

The befsx series was a grade router back in its day, I had hundreds of them out there with clients, superior router to the more common befsr series. I haven't been deploying them in a few year, but the sx series did go through some firmware "bugs" with the early versions of 1.50, 1.51, and various versions in between. There was a rock solid 1.45.7 version. I'm running on memory from a few years ago..but somewhere around 1.51x the firmware got good again..so make sure you're at least at that version.

MTU....many routers don't "auto" adjust the MTU properly when on PPPoE DSL, so we usually lock them down manually at 1492. However, with cable, it will (and should) default to 1500. 1500 is what you want for cable. You can try entering that manually.

Alas...5 years old....I've seen it happen many times....all of a sudden they will run like a slug, they've expired...you may find replacing it with a newer router will bring back your speed. Time to get to a more current generation router anyways, as Comcasts power boost probably pushed this little router to the edge anyways.

You don't need to MAC clone with Comcast either, their modems will memorize the MAC of the last successfully connected device. If the MAC isn't in the modems memory...it will simply hand out a 192.168.100.xxx address and you won't be able to surf. Simply unplugging the power from the cable modem for a minute will dump the memory, power up the router, power up the modem...give it a minute to synch...(and it will learn/memorize the MAC of the new router) power cycle the modem again, power cycle the router..done. If it's an Arris MTA (voice modem)..you have to pull the battery out of the bottom also while removing the power from the modem. //inserts note...you will lose phone service for the period of time the battery is out

I also noticed over the years with many of these home routers...in setups where I had the modem and router plugged into little APC battery backup units...far less problems and need of replacement. I setups where they were plugged into outlets or just plain surge strips...increased frequency of issues and replacements. Cheap little routers are sensitive to the little dips, surges, and brown outs that happen without an APC.

 

[Saga]

BEFSX41 router very slow

Thanks for your remarks YeOldStoneCat, much appreciated!

Update - I chatted with COMCAST tech support yesterday evening and as expected they blamed the router. Since I have no proof otherwise I went along with this conclusion. COMCAST says that Terms of Service does allow user to connect a router to their cable modem, regardless whether they got it from COMCAST or not. COMCAST is, at this time (Jan 20, 2010), offering to lease a router to those who are leasing their modem for no extra charge, except the $10 for shipping the device.

Note: COMCAST will offer tech support for the router that they lease, which makes sense

I ordered the router and it should be arriving sometime next week. I will perform further testing after installing the new router as I am not convinced yet (although open to the idea) that my BEFSX41 router is toast.

I agree that the BEFSX41 had its charm. I bought it instead of the typical $50 routers at the local electronics store because I wanted something better for my home network, since both my wife and I use it to do serious work (plus a few silly YouTube videos on the side). For this reason I wanted something that was "business-class". I don't know what kind of router COMCAST is going to send, but I assume that it will a much more consumer oriented one. I am willing to work with that, but if I ever want to replace the BEFSX41 with another robust router, do you have any recommendations? Looking at the router manufacturer web pages does not help much as they all say their router is the best. I haven't found a review for these types of routers, only for consumer type ($~50-90USD) or for more expensive managed type ($500USD and up). Thanks, Saga

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

but if I ever want to replace the BEFSX41 with another robust router, do you have any recommendations? Looking at the router manufacturer web pages does not help much as they all say their router is the best.

For many years I went with the BEFSX41.....and then when Linksys came out with the RV0 series...I started using them. The entry model RV0 is the RV042, however...you'll find it a bit on the pricey side (north of 100 bucks). They are nice and stable. But to be honest....if it's just yourself and your wife..in a home setup, and you don't have VPN needs....I don't want to push an RV0 on you. There are quite a few current generation routers with plenty of pep to keep up with Comcasts powerboost speeds and your heavy web use.

Tim here is a bit more familiar with the latest offerings, due to keeping up with this router comparison articles.

I know Comcast used to use a specialized Linksys combo modem/router that looked similar to the Linksys befsr series...just...twice as fat. It was.."OK". I'm not sure what they're using lately for their home installs if you get their router, I know for their business setups (which I mostly work on)..they use SMC hardware.

 

[thiggins]

Tim here is a bit more familiar with the latest offerings, due to keeping up with this router comparison articles.

Use the router charts to find something with enough speed for your connection.

As for reliability, I really can't comment beyond my own experience. I've been running a D-Link DGL-4300 for a few years now, except for the brief flirtation of a few weeks with a DIR-655. I disabled the radio one day to do some testing on another router and was never able to get it to turn on again.

As YeOlde said, most any consumer router should work fine for you. Some problems are heat related. So if you want reliable, don't go for a built-in Gigabit switch and shut off the wireless.

 

[Saga]

Again thank you both. Yeah, it is just us two; however, we do use it for serious work and once we've had to set up a VPN, so I would rather be prepared for that if the need comes up again.

I got the router yesterday night, a NetGear WNR1000, and installed it. It worked right out of the box. I only changed the password. Now I have 2 PCs hooked up to it and both have a download speed of ~20Mbps and upload is around 3Mbps. It looks like the speed overwhelmed the BEFSX41 that I have. I have now put that away, since I do not believe that it has been damaged and will most likely come in handy in the future.

Now I need to configure the wireless net . Thanks all. Saga

 

[thiggins]

Curious. Why did you choose the WNR1000 vs. a Certified N router?