Internet cuts out when two people use it?

[Mkander99]

just got 15 down/2 up internet today, went to the store to get a router, and set it up. i did 2 speed tests and im getting low ping and high connection speed but whenever me and my brother try to play games at the same time, it just cuts out. could it be the router? i have 2 ethernet cables going into it for each of our computers, and one coming from the modem obviously. connections are fine when one of us is playing but once another game starts taking bandwidth both just time out. anyone have some insight?

[Verrierr]

If it's the same game it's possible the server can't tell you two apart since in the www you both use the same IP address (the one of your modem), and it disconnects you both since you're in conflict. Maybe you could fix it by doing some tweaks in your router's settings but I don't know if that's possible. 

[Mkander99]

Just now, Verrierr said:

If it's the same game it's possible the server can't tell you two apart since in the www you both use the same IP address (the one of your modem), and it disconnects you both since you're in conflict. Maybe you could fix it by doing some tweaks in your router's settings but I don't know if that's possible. 

that would make sense because it only happened when both of us were playing rocket league...

[Mkander99]

1 minute ago, Verrierr said:

If it's the same game it's possible the server can't tell you two apart since in the www you both use the same IP address (the one of your modem), and it disconnects you both since you're in conflict. Maybe you could fix it by doing some tweaks in your router's settings but I don't know if that's possible. 

BUT when we used to play together on the same wifi (neighbor's) it wouldnt do this so...

[Mug]

Your first port of call should be the event log on your router. You should be able to find this from your router's splash screen.

If there's nothing fishy, hunt around in the settings to see if there's anything that could possibly change things. It's likely to be a setting, perhaps a factory reset?

You also could borrow an ethernet switch off someone.

 

You could always just return the router anyway if you're stuck.

[Mkander99]

Just now, Mug said:

Your first port of call should be the event log on your router. You should be able to find this from your router's splash screen.

If there's nothing fishy, hunt around in the settings to see if there's anything that could possibly change things. It's likely to be a setting, perhaps a factory reset?

You also could borrow an ethernet switch off someone.

 

You could always just return the router anyway if you're stuck.

the router automatically changes the IP for each computer so they are using different IPs and MAC addresses, so ip isnt the issue. i want to use the router so i can use my phone at home, so no ethernet switch.

[Mug]

Just now, Mkander99 said:

i want to use the router so i can use my phone at home, so no ethernet switch.

Having an ethernet switch does not impact phone usage within your house

[Mkander99]

Just now, Mug said:

Having an ethernet switch does not impact phone usage within your house

im saying using the router as an ethernet hub would be like better because i need the router anyway so why not use the ports 

 

[Mug]

Just now, Mkander99 said:

im saying using the router as an ethernet hub would be like better because i need the router anyway so why not use the ports 

 

It was merely a suggestion to see whether the bug was in the router but it's highly unlikely anyway.

 

Pro networking tip: you can have multiple "ethernet hubs" on one network.

 

I'd just take it back and get a replacement.

[Mkander99]

1 minute ago, Mug said:

It was merely a suggestion to see whether the bug was in the router but it's highly unlikely anyway.

 

Pro networking tip: you can have multiple "ethernet hubs" on one network.

 

I'd just take it back and get a replacement.

but like what would even cause that problem?

 

[Verrierr]

3 minutes ago, Mkander99 said:

the router automatically changes the IP for each computer so they are using different IPs and MAC addresses, so ip isnt the issue. i want to use the router so i can use my phone at home, so no ethernet switch.

Dude your wrong about some things. MAC address of your PC is a factor setting of your networking card, it has nothing to do with your router. The unique IP addresses your PCs receive from your router are only used inside your LAN, on the outside your using the same IP address. That's why it can confuse some servers. For example when I played LoL and my sister would connect to the wi-fi at the same time it would always disconnect me returning errors about IP conflict, but I'd be able to reconnect immediately.

[Mug]

Just now, Mkander99 said:

but like what would even cause that problem?

 

idk, have you tried messing with port forwarding?

[Mkander99]

1 minute ago, Verrierr said:

Dude your wrong about some things. MAC address of your PC is a factor setting of your networking card, it has nothing to do with your router. The unique IP addresses your PCs receive from your router are only used inside your LAN, on the outside your using the same IP address. That's why it can confuse some servers. For example when I played LoL and my sister would connect to the wi-fi at the same time it would always disconnect me returning errors about IP conflict, but I'd be able to reconnect immediately.

well is there any fix because if my brother and i both want to play a game together i dont want to have to reconnect every damn time. this never happened before on other wifi routers/modems...

Just now, Mug said:

idk, have you tried messing with port forwarding?

no

[Verrierr]

13 minutes ago, Mkander99 said:

well is there any fix because if my brother and i both want to play a game together i dont want to have to reconnect every damn time. this never happened before on other wifi routers/modems...

no

After some research my bet is that your new router in your LAN functions like a hub instead of a switch. The difference between the two is that hubs can't differentiate between connected devices and so they send every received packet to every connected device to make sure everyone gets what they need, thus confusing your networking cards since you both are waiting for data from the same sender. A switch on the other hand stores the MAC addresses of devices connected to it and only forwards received packets to the one that's supposed to receive them. Most modern routers offer that functionality so it explains why you didn't run into this problem before.

[Mkander99]

18 minutes ago, Verrierr said:

After some research my bet is that your new router in your LAN functions like a hub instead of a switch. The difference between the two is that hubs can't differentiate between connected devices and so they send every received packet to every connected device to make sure everyone gets what they need, thus confusing your networking cards since you both are waiting for data from the same sender. A switch on the other hand stores the MAC addresses of devices connected to it and only forwards received packets to the one that's supposed to receive them. Most modern routers offer that functionality so it explains why you didn't run into this problem before.

but in the router's config it shows each computer as a separate thing and shows each mac address. also why would the router have 4 ethernet ports if i didnt have this capability?

[Verrierr]

16 minutes ago, Mkander99 said:

but in the router's config it shows each computer as a separate thing and shows each mac address. also why would the router have 4 ethernet ports if i didnt have this capability?

IT can have any number of ports and that means nothing. Also even if it displays MAC addresses it may still work like a hub. But as I said this explanation is my "bet", not something I'm sure of.

[Guest]

2 hours ago, Verrierr said:

If it's the same game it's possible the server can't tell you two apart since in the www you both use the same IP address (the one of your modem), and it disconnects you both since you're in conflict. Maybe you could fix it by doing some tweaks in your router's settings but I don't know if that's possible. 

No - this is what NAT or network address translation, a part of every modern router is for. With IPV4 every outbound request will be shown as coming from your IP even if we're talking about a business with 50 users. Unique port numbers are assigned as a part of the packet so that when the router receives the reply packets showing the destination port, it can look up in its NAT table and see 'oh these are for X IP address, let's forward them'

1 hour ago, Mkander99 said:

the router automatically changes the IP for each computer so they are using different IPs and MAC addresses, so ip isnt the issue. i want to use the router so i can use my phone at home, so no ethernet switch.

Routers work with IP addresses,  L2 switches work based on MAC addresses.

1 hour ago, Verrierr said:

Dude your wrong about some things. MAC address of your PC is a factor setting of your networking card, it has nothing to do with your router. The unique IP addresses your PCs receive from your router are only used inside your LAN, on the outside your using the same IP address. That's why it can confuse some servers. For example when I played LoL and my sister would connect to the wi-fi at the same time it would always disconnect me returning errors about IP conflict, but I'd be able to reconnect immediately.

See my statement above - surprised you were having that issue. Probably due to an anti hack thing that only takes into account the IP that was listed, not the other data associated with those packets. 

1 hour ago, Verrierr said:

After some research my bet is that your new router in your LAN functions like a hub instead of a switch. The difference between the two is that hubs can't differentiate between connected devices and so they send every received packet to every connected device to make sure everyone gets what they need, thus confusing your networking cards since you both are waiting for data from the same sender. A switch on the other hand stores the MAC addresses of devices connected to it and only forwards received packets to the one that's supposed to receive them. Most modern routers offer that functionality so it explains why you didn't run into this problem before.

Very very unlikely unless it predates 2005.