Hey everyone! We're having some frustrating issues with slow upload speeds to Azure and even slower printer speeds. The printing can take several minutes for the data to reach the printers, which are shared through a server. We subscribe to a plan with 750 Mbps download and 100 Mbps upload. Although some workstations can test speeds up to 250 Mbps, we never hit the full potential. We recently upgraded our firewall to accommodate the 750 Mbps capacity, but there's been no improvement since installation. When directly wired to the firewall, we do see speeds around 650 Mbps, which is expected for an optimal connection.
A little about our setup: We have around 40 staff members at any time, mostly using Ethernet (pretty sure it's Cat5e or better). Our infrastructure includes switches that match the firewall's brand, but there are also a few unmanaged switches daisy-chained together. I'm not a system administrator, but I work closely with our third-party IT team, and I'm wondering if there's something else I might be overlooking.
5 Answers
First off, you might want to check what model of printer and driver everyone is using. The wrong driver can really slow things down. And make sure that the Ethernet connections on your printer, server, and the computers sending print jobs are all running at 1 Gbps or better. Also, keep an eye out for any potential routing loops in your network. This can happen if you run two cables between two switches that don't support Spanning Tree Protocol, causing packets to loop endlessly until they flood your network!
You mentioned slow uploads to Azure, but did you get to test the upload speeds? The 750/100 speed is generally fine for DOCSIS 3.0. You should consider using tools like LibreSpeed or OpenSpeedTest for a more thorough test. Also, don’t overlook any unmanaged switches that might be affecting your speeds due to their configuration.
Have you spoken to your third-party IT provider about this? They could give you more insights. It's a bit funny, but my MSP once blamed our DNS issues for slow speeds, so you never know what they'll come up with!
Speed tests can be misleading sometimes. It might be useful to run some buffer bloat tests to get a better picture of what's going on. Regular speed tests won't give you the full story!
If your print server is local, your internet speed shouldn't be affecting that. Focus on the LAN speeds instead. Checking the speed and duplex settings on your Cat5e cables is also critical; you should confirm they’re connecting at 10Mb/s, 100Mb/s, or 1000Mb/s.
Haha, yeah they did mention it being a DNS issue too, but I'm not convinced that's the root cause.