Windows 7 Slow Remote File Transfers, but Fast Uplink Speed - Need Help

[Aaron407]

I've been struggling with this issue for some time on a Windows 7 Home Premium machine on a gigabit network. Running a typical speed test (e.g., speedtest.net) shows upload bandwidth of around 5 Mbps (600+ kB/s). However, transfers and connections from remote locations through the gatweay are significantly slower than this and fluctuate between 15 and 40 kB/s for transfer speeds. I have found this to be the case for connecting to my FTP server, as well as connecting to my security camera software's web server for viewing and downloading clips. Access to both of these servers is fast when connecting locally. Changing ports made no difference, nor did disabling the antivirus, and Window firewall is turned off. I'm running a Netgear R7000 router (no QoS enabled) and the ISP has confirmed that they in no way have any traffic shaping/QoS enabled for the connection, so it seems that it's likely a local issue for remote incoming connections.

Can anyone offer any suggestions for where to start digging on this issue?

EDIT: One other thing to note - uploading from a remote location to the server is fast over FTP. It's just downloading to the remote location from the server that's incredibly slow.

 

[Neemobeer]

Assuming these systems are running on your home network which is probably a residential internet connection. One of the huge problems with a residential connection is they are asynchronous which means you have a very small upload pipe which will also affect inbound traffic to anything on your network such as the FTP server. The upload speed is best effort and even if a speed test shows one thing you likely won't even see that speed most times. Likely your only, or at least best, answer is to call your service provider and upgrade to a business class internet connection. They are a bit pricier but you get a coup of important perks. 1. being the synchronous connect speeds and 2. you are more or less guaranteed the speed you pay for which isn't the case with a residential connection.

 

[Aaron407]

Yes, it's a home network (and on a rural p2p link, which is why 5 Mbps upload is actually considered "good"). My hangup is that I'm not getting even 10% of the speed through FTP or HTTP that the connection shows it's capable of in the speed tests. I would guess that even a business connection would still suffer this issue.

However, I think there might be something bigger going on at the ISP level or even their upstream service provider. Even with the router set up to respond to external pings on the internet port, I just get a timeout, even though I can still access my services. Something's odd.

 

[Neemobeer]

Unfortunately a lot of speed tests doctor your results. That plus when you call your ISP you're getting their tier 1 support which don't know much or don't give you legitimate answers. Your ISP can tell if your hosting services such as FTP and throttle a lot of traffic unless you're on a business class connection.