How many is too many?

[j.dirona]

TLDR: Lots of people connected to network, random people loose internet connection for a few moments-minutes, changing the firmware didn't seem to help...what do?

 

Okay so here's the run down. I live in a student house (14 people), we recently switched from Bell to TechSavvy (because faster speeds, cheaper, unlimited). Since the switch we had to switch modem and router as the Bell was a modem/router in one.

 

So the new setup is 120up/10down, modem is a Technicolor TC4350, router is a ASUS RT-AC66U (1750 mbps bandwidth), it's attached to a 10/100 16 port switch box (I know wasting the 120 down but it was free) which goes to every room in the house. 4 housemates have their own routers in their rooms daisy chained from mine->switchbox->theirs. There is also an extender in the basement since it's made of cinder blocks and it's a big house so the range isn't the greatest. At any given time there are atleast 20 devices connected to the router (at peak hours it gets up to 36-40)

 

The issue is internet dropping out (connecting to the network is fine though just the internet). It seems to drop more with devices connected wirelessly but it can happen to wired devices sometimes too. It also doesn't happen to everybody at once, normally only a few devices at a time will loose connection. I've tried changing up the firmware (even installing third party) but none of that seemed to fix it.

 

Any idea what might be wrong?/what I can do to fix the problem?

 

[Septimus]

Does the router or modem use dynamic IPs for all of the clients? If so, it could be trying to assign a new IP to each client every so often, causing them to be kicked off. 

[j.dirona]

11 minutes ago, Septimus said:

Does the router or modem use dynamic IPs for all of the clients? If so, it could be trying to assign a new IP to each client every so often, causing them to be kicked off. 

It uses DHCP for most connections (although some are static) Am I able to change all conections to static in the router settings?

 

[j.dirona]

25 minutes ago, Septimus said:

Does the router or modem use dynamic IPs for all of the clients? If so, it could be trying to assign a new IP to each client every so often, causing them to be kicked off. 

Okay so I manually set an IP to every device on the network, if that doesn't work any other suggestions?

[EquitorialFinesse]

I think you're trying to pump too much bandwidth through that poor little 16 port. I would recommend upgrading, or trying to distribute the load on that to an additional switch. Also, I would recommend going through your house with WiFi analyzer, and adjusting the channels the Access Points you have broadcasting so that there is minimal interference. I don't think DHCP is your issue, but it's worth a shot.

 

For DHCP, you could decrease the lease time significantly (to 12 hours maybe?) instead of manually assigning addresses. 

[j.dirona]

24 minutes ago, EquitorialFinesse said:

I think you're trying to pump too much bandwidth through that poor little 16 port. I would recommend upgrading, or trying to distribute the load on that to an additional switch. Also, I would recommend going through your house with WiFi analyzer, and adjusting the channels the Access Points you have broadcasting so that there is minimal interference. I don't think DHCP is your issue, but it's worth a shot.

 

For DHCP, you could decrease the lease time significantly (to 12 hours maybe?) instead of manually assigning addresses. 

yeah changing the DHCP didn't work, I'll try changing the lease time, but I'm not sure it's just the switch box since the internet drops on wireless too.

EDIT: also when on bell we never had this issue, the only thing that changed was provider and modem/router set up.

[Blebekblebek]

What other firmware that you used?
I mean, I was using old wrt54gl with tomato firmware and it can easily connect at least 15 user at on wireless, on wired it holds more.

 

Did you set the DHCP server to the router or the modem it self? or even worse, both of them on dhcp.

[j.dirona]

I set it on router I haven't touched the modem (I honestly don't even know how to do that). I tried a few versions ASUS had but currently I'm using Merlin

 

[Dark]

First and foremost, it sounds like a double NAT nightmare in that house.

 

If you have inconsistent WAN connectivity then I would look at the devices closest to the feed (modem + first router).  If it's coax, are there any splitters between you and the line to the house?  

[EquitorialFinesse]

2 hours ago, j.dirona said:

EDIT: also when on bell we never had this issue, the only thing that changed was provider and modem/router set up.

That's your point of failure. Maybe check your router config for anything that may interfere?

[j.dirona]

2 hours ago, Dark said:

First and foremost, it sounds like a double NAT nightmare in that house.

 

If you have inconsistent WAN connectivity then I would look at the devices closest to the feed (modem + first router).  If it's coax, are there any splitters between you and the line to the house?  .

yeah it's an absolute mess of splitters, as far as I can tell I'm currently going through one (I need to get some pliers to get to the original)

 

50 minutes ago, EquitorialFinesse said:

That's your point of failure. Maybe check your router config for anything that may interfere?

Yeah i've checked as much as I can but I can't find what it would be. Do note this router was in the exact same set up in a different house (I had lent it to a friend for a while) but they only have 6 people so way fewer devices.

[Pixel5]

if the modem itself actually reports that the internet is down that has nothing to do with anything that goes on behind it.

If the modem says the internet is there but you cant access it in the network you have some issues within your own network.

 

which one is the case?

[Blebekblebek]

To me it seems dhcp issues, How many range you assign it?

for example my isp modem can't even set/change the value (it's grey out)

 

So I'll leave that out completely, plug it on WAN port from the router, and set new DHCP mode from it.

 

If your ISP modem is doing all the works for that many devices then I'm not even surprised this thing happens.

 

How you setup your network?because this is look like dhcp assignment runs out when too many devices connected at the same time, check your ISP modem first.

 

 

[j.dirona]

6 hours ago, Pixel5 said:

if the modem itself actually reports that the internet is down that has nothing to do with anything that goes on behind it.

If the modem says the internet is there but you cant access it in the network you have some issues within your own network.

 

which one is the case?

The modem reports still having internet, router reports not having internet, but only on some devices and at seemingly random times. Ie my phone might be disconnected and then 5 minutes later somebody else gets disconnected... etc

 

6 hours ago, Blebekblebek said:

-snip-

 

 

here is my currently settings for LAN DHCP. I mentioned in the origional post the set up but basically it's coax->modem->router->switchbox->everybody elses rooms, some routers, others computers and an extender b/c of how big the house is.