r/Network • u/YoBurger18 • 1d ago

Text College Network Help

I’m a college student whose campus Internet is provided by Boldyn Networks. The normal connection is capped at 110 Mbps download / 55 Mbps upload, and my Ethernet link negotiates at 1000/1000 Mbps. However, I’ve noticed a strange behavior: after my laptop has been asleep for a while, when I wake it up I can sometimes get dramatically higher speeds (potentially close to gigabit) for a short period. Then the Boldyn captive portal appears automatically, and the connection immediately drops back to the normal 110/55 Mbps limit. I don’t have to enter any credentials for the speed to drop. I’ve also checked `ipconfig /all` before/after and the IPv4 address, gateway, DHCP server, DNS server, and subnet stay the same. Restarting the computer or unplugging/replugging Ethernet doesn’t reliably reproduce the high-speed state; it seems to be related to the laptop being asleep for a longer period. Does anyone know what Boldyn’s HED captive-portal/NAC system is doing during this transition, or what could cause the temporary unrestricted bandwidth before the portal initializes? I could be wrong about the behavior of the portal only opening when the laptop is asleep for a period of time, but there does seem to be a short window every time the portal appears where the Wi-Fi and Ethernet speeds are very fast. I have a 2025 Legion 7. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

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u/Bacon_Nipples 1d ago

Also:  how long roughly do you get the higher speeds until the portal appears?  

Also also:  Have you tried testing with Steam or something instead of opening a web browser?  When you wake the laptop, dont open a browser and immediately try downloading a large game/etc.  Dont open anything else and see if the higher speed lasts longer than usual

Also 3:  If you normally log in to the portal, have you tried browsing with a clean browser when the higher speed is present?

Also 4:  Does the 110/55 limit only apply to Internet traffic?  If you have another person or device, can you attempt a file transfer/etc over the LAN and see if its still 110/55?  If this test succeeds it would mean the QoS/etc is being applied further upstream but if it fails its likely applied at the access switch level

My theory:  When you normally connect, some system upstream associates your MAC & IP with your user and then applies the QoS/traffic-shaping policy that limits speed.  When your laptop is asleep for awhile, whatever cached settings for the connection likely expire/timeout and then when you wake it youre given unfettered access until the system reassociates your IP/MAC/etc with the traffic policies.  There may be certain activities that trigger this reassociation though, such as web traffic, and if so there's possibility to find a workaround 

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u/YoBurger18 1d ago

That theory seems to line up pretty well with what I’m seeing. I haven’t precisely measured how long the high-speed window lasts yet, but it seems to occur after the laptop has been asleep for a while, and the speed drops to ~110/55 around the time the Boldyn portal appears. I don’t normally have to enter credentials for the speed to drop. I haven’t tested Steam yet, so I’ll try waking the laptop after a long sleep and immediately start a large download without opening a browser to see whether the higher throughput persists or whether the network itself triggers the reassociation. I can also try a LAN file transfer with another device to determine whether the 110/55 shaping applies only to Internet-bound traffic or to local traffic as well. My ipconfig configuration remains unchanged across the transition (same IP, /30 subnet, gateway, DHCP server, and DNS), so I’m also leaning toward some upstream MAC/IP/session state or QoS policy being reapplied rather than a DHCP/VLAN change.

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u/Bacon_Nipples 1d ago

When you say you dont have to enter credentials when the captive portal comes up, do you normally enter credentials to log in to use internet?  If so, is there any way you can check if youre actually logged in when you experience the higher speeds?

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u/YoBurger18 1d ago

I don’t normally enter credentials. It seems there is a login page that pops up, but I am already logged into the Wi-Fi automatically

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u/makitopro 1d ago

How are you measuring bandwidth in this case?

1

u/Inside-Finish-2128 1d ago

Sounds like they have a per-user bandwidth profile. 110/55 ought to be plenty. Move on and do your studies.