Managin internet connection

[DannyBoii]

I've been having issues with my ISP; I have times where I'll have 800+ ms ping and my connection drops entirely. I've used 2 different wifi adapters and ticked the "do not shut down when over used" button to try and stop this from happening. I've got basic 25 mbps and it's a pain because I've played AAA games like Battlefield V while using youtube before and I've  not managed to cap out my internet but now that is what my ISP is accusing me of. Is there a program I can use to monitor how much connection I have available to me? Do any of you know where I can read more about how internet connection availability is distributed? I appreciate your time.

[SorryBella]

24 minutes ago, DannyBoii said:

I've used 2 different wifi adapters

Found your issue. Definitely connection dropoff, or your speed is actually throttled. You can only know your data cap flow through your ISP, so there's that but the easiest way to know if youre throttled (or if you have ISP/hardware issues in general) is when your speed test reports are way lower than what you have.

 

26 minutes ago, DannyBoii said:

Do any of you know where I can read more about how internet connection availability is distributed?

LMG have made a video in Internet peering (distribution), but really imo its only half of many of what makes an ISP good.

[DannyBoii]

21 minutes ago, SorryClaire said:

Found your issue. Definitely connection dropoff, or your speed is actually throttled. You can only know your data cap flow through your ISP, so there's that but the easiest way to know if youre throttled (or if you have ISP/hardware issues in general) is when your speed test reports are way lower than what you have.

 

LMG have made a video in Internet peering (distribution), but really imo its only half of many of what makes an ISP good.

It shouldn't be throttling; I have an unlimited data cap because of Covid. What did you mean by dropoff? I can get them to give me a "new" gateway, and they're coming soon to check the line; other than that I don't know what else to do.

[Falcon1986]

49 minutes ago, DannyBoii said:

I've been having issues with my ISP; I have times where I'll have 800+ ms ping and my connection drops entirely. I've used 2 different wifi adapters and ticked the "do not shut down when over used" button to try and stop this from happening. I've got basic 25 mbps and it's a pain because I've played AAA games like Battlefield V while using youtube before and I've  not managed to cap out my internet but now that is what my ISP is accusing me of. Is there a program I can use to monitor how much connection I have available to me? Do any of you know where I can read more about how internet connection availability is distributed? I appreciate your time.

Can you test to see if you get the same experience when directly wired in to the router/gateway? Use good quality ethernet cable.

[DannyBoii]

Just now, Falcon1986 said:

Can you test to see if you get the same experience when directly wired in to the router/gateway? Use good quality ethernet cable.

I don't think it does but I've not pulled as much data on my xbox as on my pc. I'm gonna cry if I have to buy another wifi adapter.

[Falcon1986]

3 minutes ago, DannyBoii said:

I don't think it does but I've not pulled as much data on my xbox as on my pc. I'm gonna cry if I have to buy another wifi adapter.

Please confirm by running the ethernet to the PC. Do some speed tests.

 

Meanwhile, what is the make/model of your wireless adapter and router? How far is the PC from the router?

[Donut417]

7 hours ago, DannyBoii said:

I've been having issues with my ISP; I have times where I'll have 800+ ms ping and my connection drops entirely. I've used 2 different wifi adapters and ticked the "do not shut down when over used" button to try and stop this from happening. I've got basic 25 mbps and it's a pain because I've played AAA games like Battlefield V while using youtube before and I've  not managed to cap out my internet but now that is what my ISP is accusing me of. Is there a program I can use to monitor how much connection I have available to me? Do any of you know where I can read more about how internet connection availability is distributed? I appreciate your time.

What kinda of internet do you have? That could help us determine where the issue is. 

 

What do you mean "Cap out your internet"? 

[DannyBoii]

22 hours ago, Falcon1986 said:

Please confirm by running the ethernet to the PC. Do some speed tests.

 

Meanwhile, what is the make/model of your wireless adapter and router? How far is the PC from the router?

Sorry, good questions. As of right now I have no 25 foot ethernet cable. I could move the entire pc into the living room (Which is about 20 feet away) and plug it in instead of my xbox. I really don't want to though xD The router/modem is a Technicolor DPC2941T. It's standard "I didn't pay for it" hardware you get with comcast. The wireless adapter is a TP Link AC 1300 Archer T4U Plus. I've noticed since last night that my gateway has rebooted at least twice on it own which I don't think is normal. I was advised by a friend to go to the local xfinity store and try to get a replacement gateway and see if that helps. I was also told that I could get someoen to come in and check the line.  Not sure if I'll need that though.

 

I understand the next step is to move the pc, I'll try that if I get a chance to today. If not I'll just see if replacing the gateway will help. that's a bit more simple for me atm. thanks guys!

[DannyBoii]

17 hours ago, Donut417 said:

What kinda of internet do you have? That could help us determine where the issue is. 

 

What do you mean "Cap out your internet"? 

I have xfinity. I have 25 mbps download speed; I meant that I've don't (AFAIK) usually use more uh... data I guess? than my internet allows. They tried telling me if I do too much with my connection it will slow down or disconnect entirely. I think they mean throttling? I'm not sure of the term.

 

 

EDIT: I think I was looking for the term "bandwidth". If I go over my allotment of bandwidth at any one time they told me my connection would drop or slow.

[Donut417]

7 hours ago, DannyBoii said:

If I go over my allotment of bandwidth at any one time they told me my connection would drop or slow.

Thats incorrect. Unless your using Prepaid service, all Post Paid Xfinity customers outside those in the North East US, have a 1.2 TB bandwidth Cap. The minuet you go over your charged $10 per each 50 Gigs up to $200 in overages. 

 

As far as throttling goes, they dont really throttle. HOWEVER if your node is congested then you will have issues maintaining speed. If your connection is dropping you need to determine if its an issue with WiFi connectivity / Network connectivity or an actual service interruption. Most of the time when someone says their internet drops its due to poor WiFi performance. Xfinity does not guarantee the speeds on WiFi, only one Ethernet. 

 

There is a chance you have signal issues, as in the signal coming over the coax is out of the spec needed to run internet. IM going to venture a guess you're using their gateway? If thats the case, I dont know how to check the signal levels thru one of theirs. I also have Xfinity but we dont rent our equipment. 

 

Does the issue only happen on WIFI or does it also happen on Ethernet devices? Also what all are you doing on you internet when you start having issues? How many people are actively using the connection? Is anyone doing any type of Zoom type stuff, like work from home? 

[DannyBoii]

15 hours ago, Donut417 said:

Thats incorrect. Unless your using Prepaid service, all Post Paid Xfinity customers outside those in the North East US, have a 1.2 TB bandwidth Cap. The minuet you go over your charged $10 per each 50 Gigs up to $200 in overages. 

 

As far as throttling goes, they dont really throttle. HOWEVER if your node is congested then you will have issues maintaining speed. If your connection is dropping you need to determine if its an issue with WiFi connectivity / Network connectivity or an actual service interruption. Most of the time when someone says their internet drops its due to poor WiFi performance. Xfinity does not guarantee the speeds on WiFi, only one Ethernet. 

 

There is a chance you have signal issues, as in the signal coming over the coax is out of the spec needed to run internet. IM going to venture a guess you're using their gateway? If thats the case, I dont know how to check the signal levels thru one of theirs. I also have Xfinity but we dont rent our equipment. 

 

Does the issue only happen on WIFI or does it also happen on Ethernet devices? Also what all are you doing on you internet when you start having issues? How many people are actively using the connection? Is anyone doing any type of Zoom type stuff, like work from home? 

Thanks for the reply. It only seems to happen on my pc with wifi. From what I can tell it happens when I initiate a download from steam or when I run games. Some games like ESO seem to work better than others. I have tried playing a simple game like raid land and my ping goes up past 800 ms. I have my own personal modem I could use but I'll need to purchase a router so I can get wifi. I refuse to drag a 25ft cord across my apartment. x.x

 

 

EDIT: Yeah, I'm using their gateway. It's the basic skinny one. I've traded in gateways like this many times because of this issue but it always crops up again.

 

Also I'm the only one that uses the net for heavy traffic.

[Donut417]

49 minutes ago, DannyBoii said:

apartment

That’s your issue. You live in close proximity to eleventy billion WiFi APs. Your airwaves are congested and there is not much you can do. You can try changing WiFi channels and such, but most are probably full.

[DannyBoii]

2 minutes ago, Donut417 said:

That’s your issue. You live in close proximity to eleventy billion WiFi APs. Your airwaves are congested and there is not much you can do. You can try changing WiFi channels and such, but most are probably full.

Is it that definitive? You're correct there are about 5-8 at any one time. I wasn't aware thatit would cause that much of an issue. I don't know much about changing channels.

[Donut417]

4 hours ago, DannyBoii said:

Is it that definitive? You're correct there are about 5-8 at any one time. I wasn't aware thatit would cause that much of an issue. I don't know much about changing channels.

It causes interference just like microwaves and other non WiFi devices using the same band. The airwaves can only handle so much. 
 

While 5Ghz might be in better shape. Effectively each AP has to talk over each other. 

[Falcon1986]

On 5/25/2021 at 9:42 AM, DannyBoii said:

I've noticed since last night that my gateway has rebooted at least twice on it own which I don't think is normal.

ISP gateways can reboot randomly if the ISP pushes some update that requires a reboot in order to take effect. But this is not a common thing. If you notice LEDs on the gateway suddenly shutting off without it being hammered by use, that’s something you need to take up with the ISP.

 

Also, check how warm the unit itself feels. If you touch it and can’t tolerate more than 10s, then it’s too hot and likely is the cause of the problem. Electronics that are always on, especially those with passive cooling, need good ventilation.

 

21 hours ago, DannyBoii said:

Is it that definitive? You're correct there are about 5-8 at any one time. I wasn't aware thatit would cause that much of an issue. I don't know much about changing channels.

The only way to objectively tell is to run a wireless survey (post the channel analysis for both 2.4GHz and 5GHz). Statistically, though, this is the common cause of WiFi problems in dense wireless zones.

 

If the bands are heavily congested in your area, then the only way to fix bad WiFi is to not use WiFi altogether. Your options are to use ethernet > MoCa > powerline… the latter being very nit-picky when it comes to performance over old house wiring.

[DannyBoii]

3 hours ago, Falcon1986 said:

ISP gateways can reboot randomly if the ISP pushes some update that requires a reboot in order to take effect. But this is not a common thing. If you notice LEDs on the gateway suddenly shutting off without it being hammered by use, that’s something you need to take up with the ISP.

 

Also, check how warm the unit itself feels. If you touch it and can’t tolerate more than 10s, then it’s too hot and likely is the cause of the problem. Electronics that are always on, especially those with passive cooling, need good ventilation.

 

The only way to objectively tell is to run a wireless survey (post the channel analysis for both 2.4GHz and 5GHz). Statistically, though, this is the common cause of WiFi problems in dense wireless zones.

 

If the bands are heavily congested in your area, then the only way to fix bad WiFi is to not use WiFi altogether. Your options are to use ethernet > MoCa > powerline… the latter being very nit-picky when it comes to performance over old house wiring.

For some of this you're going above my head, Lol. I used the wifi analyzer and it shows this graph on the 2.4 ghz page. The second graph is from the 5 ghz, Not sure how to read either of these.

I have only head of MoCa from when someone comes to my folks place to fix congestion in the coax line for their tv so I'm unsure what to make of that. I appreciate the explanations at length, though.

[Donut417]

1 hour ago, DannyBoii said:

For some of this you're going above my head, Lol. I used the wifi analyzer and it shows this graph on the 2.4 ghz page. The second graph is from the 5 ghz, Not sure how to read either of these.

Well what they say is your screwed. You got all channels filled with APs. You find the channels with the least amount of networks. But even then there is no help if they are all filled. 
 

1 hour ago, DannyBoii said:

have only head of MoCa from when someone comes to my folks place to fix congestion in the coax line for their tv so I'm unsure what to make of that. I appreciate the explanations at length, though.

Essentially Ethernet over Coax. You can hear near enough to Gigabit with 2.0 and 2.5 adapters. The only downside is the cost. Adapters can be expensive. 

[Falcon1986]

1 hour ago, DannyBoii said:

This analysis of the 2.4GHz in your area shows that a lot of people also have WiFi broadcasts on 2.4GHz. This is not surprising in an apartment complex. 2.4GHz only has a limited number of channels at 20MHz bandwidth and it will rapidly become occupied. The only solution to this is not to use the 2.4GHz frequency for any device that needs low latency and speed. IoT devices don’t care, so they can be left on that frequency.

 

1 hour ago, DannyBoii said:

The 5GHz frequency has significantly more channels that can be utilized so, theoretically, no one should be overlapping with another’s WiFi broadcast.

 

I see here that your wireless router is broadcasting on channel 157 on 5GHz. You should change this to another channel supported by the router that is either not occupied at all or has a very weak signal from another WiFi broadcast (-80dBm or less). Log into your router to see which channels are available for selection and post back. Also, post a general screenshot of the wireless settings in your router’s administration page (exclude any passwords, of course).

[Donut417]

6 minutes ago, Falcon1986 said:

see here that your wireless router is broadcasting on channel 157 on 5GHz. You should change this to another channel supported by the router that is either not occupie

I think the issue is those channels not in use are DFS channels. I know some APs don’t support DFS channels. Not sure about Comcast’s gateway. But outside the latest XB6, I doubt DFS support is included. Considering all those people are probably also using Comcast, none of the APs probably support DFS channels. 

[Falcon1986]

34 minutes ago, Donut417 said:

I think the issue is those channels not in use are DFS channels. I know some APs don’t support DFS channels. Not sure about Comcast’s gateway. But outside the latest XB6, I doubt DFS support is included. Considering all those people are probably also using Comcast, none of the APs probably support DFS channels. 

Understood. But will see what is supported if OP posts the list/screenshot.

[DannyBoii]

21 hours ago, Falcon1986 said:

This analysis of the 2.4GHz in your area shows that a lot of people also have WiFi broadcasts on 2.4GHz. This is not surprising in an apartment complex. 2.4GHz only has a limited number of channels at 20MHz bandwidth and it will rapidly become occupied. The only solution to this is not to use the 2.4GHz frequency for any device that needs low latency and speed. IoT devices don’t care, so they can be left on that frequency.

 

The 5GHz frequency has significantly more channels that can be utilized so, theoretically, no one should be overlapping with another’s WiFi broadcast.

 

I see here that your wireless router is broadcasting on channel 157 on 5GHz. You should change this to another channel supported by the router that is either not occupied at all or has a very weak signal from another WiFi broadcast (-80dBm or less). Log into your router to see which channels are available for selection and post back. Also, post a general screenshot of the wireless settings in your router’s administration page (exclude any passwords, of course).

Okay so this seemed to be the only page that was relevant to our conversation. These are the channels and widths I can pick from for 5ghz. on default both the 2.4 and the 5 are set to "use suggested". The only other page that had to do with lan/wan was just a page that listed my ip. Honestly the administrative privileges I get with comcast are terrible. I might consider buying a decent tp link router and putting my personal modem back on line.

I posted the list of places I can pick from with my limited routing capability. If you see something you want a picture of let me know. Thanks guys.

[Falcon1986]

@DannyBoii

 

Put the 5GHz broadcast on channel 161. Leave the channel width at 80MHz for now.

 

Nothing you can do about 2.4GHz.

 

Use the 5GHz SSID to connect to your network and test again.

[DannyBoii]

6 hours ago, Falcon1986 said:

@DannyBoii

 

Put the 5GHz broadcast on channel 161. Leave the channel width at 80MHz for now.

 

Nothing you can do about 2.4GHz.

 

Use the 5GHz SSID to connect to your network and test again.

It's been a long day, lol.

So 90% of the latency issues have been fixed for the control game I played. It used to stay above 600-800 ping; now it goes up to that much only during times when I have to reconnect to the server (When the game ends and the next round begins etc) During gameplay 95% of the time I run around with 35 ms. I also replaced my gateway and am using 5ghz on the specified channel/width. I appreciate everyone's help, this would have not happened without you!

[Falcon1986]

18 hours ago, DannyBoii said:

It's been a long day, lol.

So 90% of the latency issues have been fixed for the control game I played. It used to stay above 600-800 ping; now it goes up to that much only during times when I have to reconnect to the server (When the game ends and the next round begins etc) During gameplay 95% of the time I run around with 35 ms. I also replaced my gateway and am using 5ghz on the specified channel/width. I appreciate everyone's help, this would have not happened without you!

That’s understandable. Glad it worked.