I recently bought a 50ft Belkin Cat6 Ethernet cable hoping to get better and faster connections for gaming, aiming for lower ping and higher speeds. However, when I tested my speed, it seems to be capped at 100 Mbps. I also noticed the Ethernet port’s LED light blinking orange, which I read means it’s not running at full speed. I’ve tried a few basic troubleshooting steps like unplugging and plugging it back in, but no luck so far. How can I fix this issue? Is it something with the cable, the router, or the network setup?
3 Answers
Make sure your router actually supports Gigabit Ethernet speeds which Cat6 cables can handle. Sometimes routers don’t specify the Cat version support, but if it’s a newer model it should. If your router ports are only gigabit-capable, they’ll give you full 1000 Mbps. If they’re just 100 Mbps ports, you won’t get more regardless of cable. So double-check your router’s specs or try a different port if available.
Sometimes it’s as simple as unplugging the cable and re-plugging it in to reset the connection. Also, check your Ethernet cable and port for any dirt or damage which could affect speed. Another thing to check is if your PC’s network adapter is set to automatically negotiate speed or if it’s stuck at 100 Mbps. You can usually check that in your network adapter settings and make sure it’s set to auto-negotiate or 1 Gbps.
First off, you might wanna check your internet plan speed. If your ISP only provides up to 100 Mbps, then even a Cat6 cable won’t increase that. Also, many router or PC Ethernet ports might only support 100 Mbps if they’re older or budget models. So the bottleneck could be your hardware rather than the cable.
Yeah, I couldn’t find info on my router’s Cat version support, so might be time to check the manual or look it up online.