Interesting Network Issue

[Polyvalent]

Forgive me in advance, I only possess a basic knowledge when it comes to networking.  

I have been experiencing a very interesting issue the past few weeks and despite troubleshooting for hours a week I still have not found a permanent fix.

Some info about my connection, first off:  I live in a guest house on some rich people's property and pay them rent.  This guest house is only about 20 yards from the Xfinity modem/router combo that they pay for, and is closer to my apt than to parts of their own house.  My connection, when it is functioning properly, is excellent and I enjoy 300mb/s+ download and 20-30mb/s upload over a wireless connection and over 500mb/s down on a wired connection.  We have already had this unit replaced to try and combat this issue but the problem persists.  If it were up to me I'd have my own modem and router set up rather than the garbage Xfinity provides but at the moment that isn't an option.

 

The jist of the issue is this: at random, ALL websites and connections except for google, youtube, facebook and instagram (and perhaps more that I haven't checked) time out, giving a "Failed to Resolve IP" error.  However, the sites listed before work perfectly fine while this goes on.  Any other website or connection, including things like steam, discord, and spotify will time out.  What's stranger is that this happens on my laptop in the other room aswell, but not on my mobile device or any other device on the network.  These are both wireless connections, however the problem persists if either is connected via ethernet to the router.

I'd list all the troubleshooting measures I've taken but its literally been weeks and I can't recount them all.  Some include trying to set static IP's and preferred DNS servers to both devices, disabling ALL windows firewalls and router firewalls as a test measure, replacing the modem/router device from Xfinity as stated above, booting to linux on my laptop to see if it was windows related, and much more.

 

A temporary fix I have found is switching the network profile from private to public, waiting a minute, and then switching it back again.  I'd say this could be placebo and the real fix is just waiting a bit, but I've tried waiting over an hour with no results, but when trying this method it works instantly almost every time.  This will fix the issue for a random amount of time, usually in the realm of a few hours but sometimes as long as a full day.

 

 

Thanks in advance for anyone who can provide helpful input, or point out where I've missed something.

[Windows7ge]

Failed to Resolve IP is usually directly a DNS issue meaning you have typed the wrong domain however it can also appear when an active Internet connection has been lost. ~60ft is a fair distance and any walls between you and the AP can impact if you'll lose signal. I'd also test the wiring. Do you have physical access to the router? Connect a short Ethernet cable to your laptop and run some browsers for a day or two. If the connection stays good you may have faulty wiring.

[Polyvalent]

5 minutes ago, Windows7ge said:

Failed to Resolve IP is usually directly a DNS issue meaning you have typed the wrong domain however it can also appear when an active Internet connection has been lost. ~60ft is a fair distance and any walls between you and the AP can impact if you'll lose signal. I'd also test the wiring. Do you have physical access to the router? Connect a short Ethernet cable to your laptop and run some browsers for a day or two. If the connection stays good you may have faulty wiring.

 

OP states that I've already tried a wired connection directly to the router and the problem persists.  The modem/router unit itself and the wiring was replaced by Xfinity a month or so ago.

 

It's worth noting that "failed to resolve IP" is just what chrome reports, on other browsers it simply states that the  connection to the website timed out.

[Windows7ge]

3 minutes ago, Polyvalent said:

 

OP states that I've already tried a wired connection directly to the router and the problem persists.  The modem/router unit itself and the wiring was replaced by Xfinity a month or so ago.

 

It's worth noting that "failed to resolve IP" is just what chrome reports, on other browsers it simply states that the  connection to the website timed out.

You didn't specify if it was a couple foot long cable while you sat next to the router or if it was an over 60ft long cable ran though the walls.

 

Is there any high voltage equipment or wiring in the immediate vicinity of the router or it's wiring?

[Polyvalent]

12 minutes ago, Windows7ge said:

You didn't specify if it was a couple foot long cable while you sat next to the router or if it was an over 60ft long cable ran though the walls.

 

Is there any high voltage equipment or wiring in the immediate vicinity of the router or it's wiring?

They've got a TV and stereo system in the same entertainment center as the router.  about 30 feet away or so is a set of guitar amps and other audio equipment.  not sure if any of that qualifies.

 

edit: for clarification, both devices were placed within arms length of the router and connected with a cable no longer than a few feet.

[Windows7ge]

32 minutes ago, Polyvalent said:

They've got a TV and stereo system in the same entertainment center as the router.  about 30 feet away or so is a set of guitar amps and other audio equipment.  not sure if any of that qualifies.

 

edit: for clarification, both devices were placed within arms length of the router and connected with a cable no longer than a few feet.

That's more than far enough away. Sometimes high voltage equipment can cause packet loss on low voltage lines that aren't shielded against it well enough.

 

If the equipment has been replaced the only thing I can think of is a problem on the WAN. Do the "rich people" have their own modem/router or do they share this one?

[Polyvalent]

30 minutes ago, Windows7ge said:

That's more than far enough away. Sometimes high voltage equipment can cause packet loss on low voltage lines that aren't shielded against it well enough.

 

If the equipment has been replaced the only thing I can think of is a problem on the WAN. Do the "rich people" have their own modem/router or do they share this one?

 

We all share the same modem/router.  If I wanted my own router I'd have to pay for my own plan from xfinity, according to customer support.

[Windows7ge]

2 minutes ago, Polyvalent said:

 

We all share the same modem/router.  If I wanted my own router I'd have to pay for my own plan from xfinity, according to customer support.

So I assume they are experiencing the same issues as you?

[Polyvalent]

1 minute ago, Windows7ge said:

So I assume they are experiencing the same issues as you?

According to them, no.

[Windows7ge]

26 minutes ago, Polyvalent said:

According to them, no.

I have to assume then that the issue is the physical network then. You can use a Wi-Fi analyzer to see if your wireless channel is very busy but that doesn't explain your clients behavior while wired. You ran a different OS so that rules out OS faults.

 

You said you tried different browsers correct?

[Polyvalent]

Yes. I actually may have something, after double checking to make sure they for sure only have one router set up my landlord told me they have a range extender upstairs for their kids.  Its a TP-Link RE355 and from what I can tell from poking around in its software, it functions kinda like a mini-router rather than a repeater or powerline adapter that Im used to. I had him turn that off for the sake of troubleshooting and for about an hour or so I've had zero issues with the network. Doesn't mean the issue is fixed but I'll post back here in a while to confirm.  

[Polyvalent]

As far as I can tell, removing that extender and restarting the router has fixed this issue for both devices.  I guess they simply weren't playing nice with each other and were causing issues for me somehow