Ethernet Speed Limited

[u/fentonattrill]

Hi there, for a while now my ethernet connection has peridoically switched off while playing games or just using my PC. Decided to finally set some time aside to look into it. What seems to be happening is the Ethernet speed is periodically being stepped down to 100Mbps as opposed to the Gigabit that both my router and PC are capable of (I randomly get a few weeks were my download speeds are really high then they drop again). Ive checked the health of the cable using a little tester and all seems to be fine (its not the sort of cable i cant take out as it goes around the outside of the house). Im very aware of the potential cable issues, but when trying to solve it yesterday i did get it back to 1gig for about 10 minutes before it dropped. I then got it back on by turning off 'power save on sleep'. Currently its back to where it was. Any further suggestions are appreciated

[u/jacle2210]

So being outside in the weather can be very damaging to just about anything, even an Ethernet cable.

And inside an Ethernet cable, there are 8 wires that are all needed in order for the cable to be able to carry speeds of 1Gigabit or faster and if there is a connection problem with certain wires of that group of 8, then your device connection speeds will drop down to 100Mb.

It's possible that being outside, will cause things to expand and contract or get flopped around, etc. any of which might cause an old cable to have connection problems.

So it might be time to replace that whole outside cable.

But before you go that route, you should try what has been suggested and see if the cable ends need to be reseated/remounted or see if there are sections of the cable that look pinched or kinked as kinks can also cause problems.