Frequently Asked Question
Common causes include:
- Higher latency
- Packet loss
- Reduced throughput
Network congestion or peak usage hours
When many users are active at the same time (especially busy office hours), shared network resources become saturated. This leads to:
- Frequent disconnections
- High latency
- Fluctuating bandwidth
- Damaged Ethernet cables causing negotiation at 10/100 Mbps instead of 1 Gbps
- Failing routers overheating
- Access points dropping frames
Poor signal strength (Wi-Fi or LTE)
Weak wireless signals reduce modulation rates, causing slower speeds. Symptoms include:
This can be due to distance, interference, or obstacles like walls.
Faulty cables or hardware (routers/switches/APs)
Defective or aging devices can throttle performance. Examples:
- Wrong VLAN settings
- Duplex mismatches (half vs full duplex)
- Incorrect QoS rules
- Poorly set Wi-Fi channels or transmit power
- Sluggish browsing
- Sites not loading fully
- “Internet is slow but speed test is fine”
- Certain sites load slowly while others are normal
Misconfigured equipment
Typical misconfigurations include:
These degrade performance significantly.
Bandwidth saturation from heavy usage
If downloads, Netflix/YouTube streaming, cloud backups, or torrents consume the available bandwidth, everyone else experiences slow speeds.
MTU (Maximum Transmission Unit) mismatches
Incorrect MTU values cause packet fragmentation or drops. Effects include:
Very common in PPPoE or some LTE setups.
Routing issues or DNS delays
Routing problems can increase path latency or cause traffic to take inefficient routes. DNS delays also slow initial page loads. Symptoms:
- Use the traffic utilization graph shared after onboarding to the RENU network.
- Haven’t received it? Contact the RENU NOC (+256783979515) to get access.
- Look for flatlining at your subscribed capacity. If it’s maxed out, bandwidth congestion is likely.
Checks to Perform.
Step 1: Check Bandwidth Utilization
- High usage comes from:
- Too many users online simultaneously.
- Bandwidth-heavy applications (e.g., video streaming, large file downloads).
Step 2: Control Usage
Step 3: If Bandwidth Is Not Saturated
Run these diagnostic tests and share results with NOC for further analysis.
- Speed Test: pfs-raxio.renu.ac.ug/speedtest or pfs-mujhu.renu.ac.ug/speedtest
- Ping Plotter Test: Download Ping Plotter and test against destinations like: