How to speed up your DSL with the right MTU
With a proper MTU (Maximum Transmission Unit) you can speed up your DSL connection and solve connection problems. We'll show you how to set MTU optimally here.
How to display the current MTU value
In short, MTU specifies the maximum packet size of a protocol. To optimize DSL speed, try to set the value as high as possible without problems. An MTU value of 1600, for example, is bad because the packets would be too large. To find out if your MTU is set too high, do the following:
- Open your command line and enter "netsh interface ipv4 show interfaces".
- Find the connection from which you want to change MTU. Note the value under "Idx" (see picture).
Change the MTU value
The optimal value of an MTU is 1492. You can set this value as follows:
- Open the command line as administrator. Enter "netsh interface ipv4 set subinterface 11 mtu = 1464 store = persistent" in the command line. Replace the value "11" with your "Idx" value. The MTU is set to 1464 because 28 bytes are used by the packets themselves. Simply calculate: 1464 + 28 = 1492.
- Confirm the change with "Enter". The system then issues an "OK" as feedback. Repeat the first section to ensure that the changes have been applied.
Was tested under Windows 7.
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