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Poor Internet [RESOLVED!]
Element Brian
Peanut Butter ShillRegistered User regular
Peanut Butter ShillRegistered User regular
So I share a house with 3 other people and the internet is extremely shoddy, especially when we are all home. Me and the other guy are the only ones trying to game, if at all, and the 2 girls are usually running Netflix about non-stop. So that's what our usage looks like. The other relevant information is that I'm located in the basement, directly below where the router is located. So I'm not sure if the issue might be with just where I'm located in the house.
Usually what happens is I can come home from work and use the internet just fine, but once other people get home and one or two other people use netflix, then I just completely drop and can't play at all.
Right now we just have internet through comcast and the Router we use is a Netgear WNR2000.
My roommate and I have talked about maybe just buying a better router, but I don't want to jump the gun on that right away if I'm not sure that's the exact problem.
Now, the thing is, we're all pretty illiterate when it comes to being really savvy about this stuff. I know enough to basically plug the router in and set up the UN and PW and that's about it, and the rest of us are similar. So if you ask questions about upload/download speeds or forwarding ports or anything like that..I'm really not gonna know the answer.
What I'm really looking for is, first maybe some advice on what I can do to diagnose the problem. (Is it based on location, or just a bad router or just general comcast internet? ) and then what we can do solving the problem.
My presumption is that we should be able to survive with at most 2 people watching netflix and maybe 2 people trying to play xbox live, but right now were not getting that.
Usually what happens is I can come home from work and use the internet just fine, but once other people get home and one or two other people use netflix, then I just completely drop and can't play at all.
Right now we just have internet through comcast and the Router we use is a Netgear WNR2000.
My roommate and I have talked about maybe just buying a better router, but I don't want to jump the gun on that right away if I'm not sure that's the exact problem.
Now, the thing is, we're all pretty illiterate when it comes to being really savvy about this stuff. I know enough to basically plug the router in and set up the UN and PW and that's about it, and the rest of us are similar. So if you ask questions about upload/download speeds or forwarding ports or anything like that..I'm really not gonna know the answer.
What I'm really looking for is, first maybe some advice on what I can do to diagnose the problem. (Is it based on location, or just a bad router or just general comcast internet? ) and then what we can do solving the problem.
My presumption is that we should be able to survive with at most 2 people watching netflix and maybe 2 people trying to play xbox live, but right now were not getting that.
Element Brian on
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So you think just getting a 'better' router would solve the problem? Like the router we have just can't handle that many people trying to use it?
Arch,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_goGR39m2k
Yep. I've destroyed routers by overloading them, as in gotten them to fry. (In all fairness, it was a Linksys router being used in a commercial setting. Poor router.)
From what it sounds like, you're talking at least 4 concurrent connections using moderate to heavy bandwidth, and as many or more ancillary connections. Most sub-$100 routers are just not designed for that. I personally use a Netgear Nighthawk R7000, but these days, I'd recommend ASUS routers.
Also, yes, being 'below' the router will have an effect. You'd want to angle one of the antennas so that it covers the basement (diagonally is a good way to do this)
4 people with high usage will max out most broadband packages.
The specific router we have right now doesn't any any antennas so that's not really an option.
If we do upgrade routers, or specifically look at Asus as AH suggests, do you guys have any suggestions on specific models? Maybe in the $100-150 range.
My roommate sent me a link for some deal on a Linksys EA6350 AC1200+, but I don't want to just go buy a new router if it's not really going to be an upgrade. I don't know how to look at Router Specs and be like 'ok yeah this will do the trick'
Arch,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_goGR39m2k
You mentioned 4 people, but that's probably at least 8 devices. 4 computers, and probably 4 cell phones.
oh ok
yeah not in an apartment, but located amongst several, like if i'm in my house I can see a handful of other routers listed nearby
so just going into router settings and changing the band channel can help in the short term?
Arch,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_goGR39m2k
It could yeah, you want to stick to 1, 6, and 11 are the 'best' channels, but also the most saturated (most people using them for their own routers). 8/9 and 13 are good secondary choices.
http://www.metageek.com/training/resources/why-channels-1-6-11.html
Read more there.
The absolute best way to remedy this is to get a direct connection to your wireless router with a cat5e cable. But that probably would require drilling holes, and may not work for you.
http://www.netgear.com/support/product/WNR2000v5#User Manual
Might just be they're maxing out their connection.
Anyway, given the cost and the age of the router, and doing a quick scan of the specs, I'm pretty sure that's the main culprit. That being said, your modem may also be part of the issue.
If you are "renting" the modem from your ISP, there's a good chance that you can get an upgrade modem/router combo from the ISP directly. If you aren't renting from them and are using your own modem, then you might want to upgrade that as well.
Someone suggested running a up/down speed test but I don't believe the numbers were posted.
All the router advice is well and good, but I would also look at this as a possible culprit.
Chicago Megagame group
Watch me struggle to learn streaming! Point and laugh!
The router may or may not be an issue as well.
Now, you could drill holes OR:
get this
It's a wifi extender. It allows you set up a second wifi network.
You plug one end into a plug socket next to your router. Run a cat5e cable into the router.
Then plug the other end into a plug somewhere else in your house. In your case your basement. The extender will use the copper electricity wiring in your house like a big cat5e cable to extend the internet connection. Then run a cat5e cable into your PC or console.
I use this set up to in effect run a plug my PC into my router.
My router is in the living room
My PC is on the 2nd floor of my house.
This. Throw an inexpensive router on the other end and put it in bridge mode. Or, worst case, put a hub on there do you can plug multiple devices in.
https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197970666737/
Our Router/Modem are located upstairs in the living room behind our sofa. My bedroom is directly below the living room.
I moved the couch to take a look at the situation and noticed a lightswitch faceplate that had been screwed into the floor at the base of the wall. Seeing this I assumed it must be covering a hole. I looked outside and noticed that the faceplate aligns with my bedroom window, went down stairs and saw that there was in fact a small hole in the corner of my ceiling where the window meets the ceiling.
Unscrewed the faceplate and after digging around with a knife trying to pull away the insulation, i finally saw light at the end of the tunnel coming from my room, so there was indeed a hole leading from the living room to my room.
I looked in our closet and found about 20feet of cat5 just chilling in a knot on the floor. ( it's an old house in Seattle that I rent a room in, so it's likely tons of people have come and gone and left useful stuff like this )
Tried fishing the cat5 down, but its a small hole and theres about of a foot of space between the living room floor and my ceiling. At this point I realized I needed a fishing rod to get the cat 5 down, but I couldn't find anything in the house long enough and thin enough to do the job. So i went outside, found a branch on a bush that was about a foot long and the width of a pencil.
Taped one end of the cat 5 to the end of the stick, fished it down the floor hole and was finally able to jam it through the hole in my ceiling.
Voila, now I have 20 feet of cat 5 fed into my room. The hole in my bedroom ceiling is also, coincidentally, directly above where my TV is placed (it's really the only place in the room where it makes sense to have a TV so this isn't really surprising) so i don't have to have this cable dragged across the room or anything, it just drops directly down to my xbox.
Thanks again for the help guys, I wouldn't have thought of even trying to hardline it without you.
Arch,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_goGR39m2k
Everything appears to be directly related to everyone using wireless, it seems.
Wireless is significantly more computationally expensive.
An easier way to think about it, for non techies - is imagine a presenter trying to take questions from the audience with everyone yelling really loudly, and you can hear other presentations in the room down the hall.
The person who rented before you probably drilled a hole throught he floor for that exact reason and then covered it up with the plate when they left