Calling all Network nerds

[Ares]

So the CAT5 running to the basement.... the cable is fine right? I think you said you connected a laptop to it and it connects to the network ok.

But when you plug it in to the 2nd router's input port, that router would not connect to the outside through the 1st router.

I will throw a notion out there.... when I was a teenager my Dad had a Linksys router for the house and one weekend when I was over the router would not work.... and I wanna say it was after my Dad had moved it and the cable modem to a new spot in the basement.

It was hooked up the same way and the router seemed to be connected fine but the computers connected to the router would not get any connections out to the internet.

I am fuzzy on the details but I did some research on the net by connecting directly to the cable modem and I wound up going through some steps to mess with some MAC address configuration inside the router admin and after that it worked fine.

It was like 10 years ago so its fuzzy but I seem to recall there being an issue internally with the router/modem relationship due to some cached MAC address bullshit.

In the context of Woods' situation he has one router feeding another router and they will connect on that cable from upstairs to downstairs but the router downstairs will not provide connections out to the web.... it may not be the same issue but it might be worth checking into... IIRC the router will cache MAC addresses in some effort to assign them the same IP each time it sees them.... maybe something weird is going on with either the MAC address cache in the router upstairs or the one downstairs or both.

 

[Woods]

So the CAT5 running to the basement.... the cable is fine right? I think you said you connected a laptop to it and it connects to the network ok.

But when you plug it in to the 2nd router's input port, that router would not connect to the outside through the 1st router.

I will throw a notion out there.... when I was a teenager my Dad had a Linksys router for the house and one weekend when I was over the router would not work.... and I wanna say it was after my Dad had moved it and the cable modem to a new spot in the basement.

It was hooked up the same way and the router seemed to be connected fine but the computers connected to the router would not get any connections out to the internet.

I am fuzzy on the details but I did some research on the net by connecting directly to the cable modem and I wound up going through some steps to mess with some MAC address configuration inside the router admin and after that it worked fine.

It was like 10 years ago so its fuzzy but I seem to recall there being an issue internally with the router/modem relationship due to some cached MAC address bullshit.

In the context of Woods' situation he has one router feeding another router and they will connect on that cable from upstairs to downstairs but the router downstairs will not provide connections out to the web.... it may not be the same issue but it might be worth checking into... IIRC the router will cache MAC addresses in some effort to assign them the same IP each time it sees them.... maybe something weird is going on with either the MAC address cache in the router upstairs or the one downstairs or both.

Correct.....Cable is good....laptop connects fine using it.

You could be on to something with the mac addresses. I'll look in to it. Thanks!

 

[clonetrooper264]

Perhaps some of you will have some knowledge about the random problem I've been having recently.

So my wireless router is on the 2nd floor of my house. I tend to use my laptop a few rooms down the hall. Lately I've noticed that the loading speeds for everything have been taking a lot longer. Speedtest usually indicates there's nothing wrong there (25mbytes/s is to be expected), but sometimes it barely gets above 3. What could be a reason for the massive drop in speed?

I am a network noob so...sorry

 

[Woods]

Perhaps some of you will have some knowledge about the random problem I've been having recently.

So my wireless router is on the 2nd floor of my house. I tend to use my laptop a few rooms down the hall. Lately I've noticed that the loading speeds for everything have been taking a lot longer. Speedtest usually indicates there's nothing wrong there (25mbytes/s is to be expected), but sometimes it barely gets above 3. What could be a reason for the massive drop in speed?

I am a network noob so...sorry

One is what else is going on the internal network at that time (Anyone streaming movies/gaming/downloading) in other places in the house at that time?

Another possibility is the time of the day. Peak traffic times on the internet can and will slow you down too. In otherwords if your ISP has 200 people on it playing the newest call of duty at 8PM along with netflix streamers, amazon prime etc.. , it will slow down the network's overall performance vs running the same speed test at noon when everyone is at school/work.

 

[clonetrooper264]

One is what else is going on the internal network at that time (Anyone streaming movies/gaming/downloading) in other places in the house at that time?

Usually when I first get back and jump on the interwebz the most that anyone else is doing is maybe streaming some music or a youtube video. I myself and usually just trying to watch youtube or go on your usual social media outlets. Not really heavily intensive stuff there. So what's more like is what you said below

Another possibility is the time of the day. Peak traffic times on the internet can and will slow you down too. In otherwords if your ISP has 200 people on it playing the newest call of duty at 8PM along with netflix streamers, amazon prime etc.. , it will slow down the network's overall performance vs running the same speed test at noon when everyone is at school/work.

This makes a bunch of sense, but it doesn't quite explain the 25mb/s result I get (during said peak time...sorry for lack of clarity). Like I'll try to watch some youtube video (in 720p because it used to run super smoothly before) and it'll buffer about 2 minutes in. I check my speedtest and get the normal result (instead of the 3mb/s I would expect if it was really getting hung up by everyone in the area). I have Comcast and I expect basically everyone in my area does as well. I'm not expecting blazing fast speed, but it is weird that it's gotten notably slower than before.

Then again, perhaps I am understanding this all wrong

 

[Woods]

This makes a bunch of sense, but it doesn't quite explain the 25mb/s result I get (during said peak time...sorry for lack of clarity). Like I'll try to watch some youtube video (in 720p because it used to run super smoothly before) and it'll buffer about 2 minutes in. I check my speedtest and get the normal result (instead of the 3mb/s I would expect if it was really getting hung up by everyone in the area). I have Comcast and I expect basically everyone in my area does as well. I'm not expecting blazing fast speed, but it is weird that it's gotten notably slower than before.

Then again, perhaps I am understanding this all wrong

Yeah, that's a big fall off I agree. But every piece along the way can play a role in what's going on. It can start with a virus/malware on your PC, then consider your internal network at that time, then the network outside of your house (From comcast and every server from them to youtube). There can be a perfect storm for both scenarios (blazing fast one minute super slow the next) just a couple minutes after one another

Ultimately that's why your internet service is sold to you as "Up to 25mbps" or whatever it may be. There's a lot of factors out of both you and comcast's control that can slow you down.

 

[clonetrooper264]

Yeah, that's a big fall off I agree. But every piece along the way can play a role in what's going on. It can start with a virus/malware on your PC, then consider your internal network at that time, then the network outside of your house (From comcast and every server from them to youtube). There can be a perfect storm for both scenarios (blazing fast one minute super slow the next) just a couple minutes after one another

Ultimately that's why your internet service is sold to you as "Up to 25mbps" or whatever it may be. There's a lot of factors out of both you and comcast's control that can slow you down.

Yeah that whole up to thing is something I'm well aware of. I think my plan is advertised as up to 50mbps. Pffft. I don't expect that. It's probably some combo of Comcast being Comcast and maybe some network issues outside of my control. Malware is usually never an issue for me (don't download much or go on sites that'll give malware and I run malwarebytes every so often so I'm usually relatively clean there).

At the end of the day I'm just wondering why a month ago I could watch an entire 6 minute youtube video at HD with no buffer time but now it'll take me 15 minutes to watch the same video while jumping back and forth between 480p and 720p. Or even something as simple as loading facebook. It's been consistent lately so it doesn't seem like a one shot deal. Maybe it's time for another malwarebytes run lol.

 

[clonetrooper264]

Just to follow up on my weird network issues, Ares told me to plug myself in with an ethernet cable when I was experiencing slowness to see what the speeds were while connected directly to the router. I did so not too long ago and got a blazing 63mbps. So I get back to my room down the hall and try to load some stuff on CCS and the pages aren't loading. Just on a whim, I open firefox (normally use chrome) and here I am on CCS with no issues loading anything so far. What's the deal with chrome slowness? I use chrome everywhere else and it works just fine. Ran malwarebytes again just make sure there were no random things and it came back clean. Wish I knew more networking stuff so I could experiment a bit more.

 

[clonetrooper264]

Also watched a 90 second youtube vid on 720p. Little bit of buffering near the end, but ran smooth for the most part. Speedtest is showing about 32mbps which is what chrome was showing me. I don't get it. Might be some setting on my laptop for all I know.

 

[clonetrooper264]

Might be some setting on my laptop for all I know.

Ha...it was a setting. I was on power saver mode. Flipped it to the normal setting and everything is running normally.

 

[Crystallas]

I don't understand why comcast customers use a locked down router, when you can bring your own docsis router and have full control. That's the best part of comcast and other cable providers, and it allows you to stack your wireless on top however you would like, without a severely handicapped hacked together solution of bridging and feeding off very mediocre hardware. Plus, no more equipment rental fees.

I avoided this thread because I feel like I've come in and dominated every tech discussion on the site since day one. Give others a chance, maybe learn something I didn't know. So I'm sorry for the late response (and the supreme arrogance! )

So you have:
ISP Modem > Bedroom Router > Basement Router(this should be called the repeater).
Now log onto the repeater, and go to the repeater settings. Refer to the manual, or see if a *WRT firmware exists, Tomato/DDWRT/OpenWRT. You'll mate the two devices to repeat the same signal on the basement wifi using the MAC address from the bedroom router.
At this point, you then have to make sure the SSID is broadcasted the same way over both devices. If they are, great. Setup your security however you like.
Save the settings on both routers, reboot the routers(not the default settings reset), and then the bedroom router should discover the IP, and the basement router should mate off that. I wouldn't mess with IPs until you have that relationship in order.

 

[Woods]

I don't understand why comcast customers use a locked down router, when you can bring your own docsis router and have full control. That's the best part of comcast and other cable providers, and it allows you to stack your wireless on top however you would like, without a severely handicapped hacked together solution of bridging and feeding off very mediocre hardware. Plus, no more equipment rental fees.

I avoided this thread because I feel like I've come in and dominated every tech discussion on the site since day one. Give others a chance, maybe learn something I didn't know. So I'm sorry for the late response (and the supreme arrogance! )

So you have:
ISP Modem > Bedroom Router > Basement Router(this should be called the repeater).
Now log onto the repeater, and go to the repeater settings. Refer to the manual, or see if a *WRT firmware exists, Tomato/DDWRT/OpenWRT. You'll mate the two devices to repeat the same signal on the basement wifi using the MAC address from the bedroom router.
At this point, you then have to make sure the SSID is broadcasted the same way over both devices. If they are, great. Setup your security however you like.
Save the settings on both routers, reboot the routers(not the default settings reset), and then the bedroom router should discover the IP, and the basement router should mate off that. I wouldn't mess with IPs until you have that relationship in order.

Thanks for the input. Do you know if it will work hardwired into the base station? The ideal place to have it in the basement (Where I can hardwire devices into it) the signal from the base station is spotty at best.

 

[LordKOTL]

I don't understand why comcast customers use a locked down router, when you can bring your own docsis router and have full control. That's the best part of comcast and other cable providers, and it allows you to stack your wireless on top however you would like, without a severely handicapped hacked together solution of bridging and feeding off very mediocre hardware. Plus, no more equipment rental fees.

I avoided this thread because I feel like I've come in and dominated every tech discussion on the site since day one. Give others a chance, maybe learn something I didn't know. So I'm sorry for the late response (and the supreme arrogance! )

So you have:
ISP Modem > Bedroom Router > Basement Router(this should be called the repeater).
Now log onto the repeater, and go to the repeater settings. Refer to the manual, or see if a *WRT firmware exists, Tomato/DDWRT/OpenWRT. You'll mate the two devices to repeat the same signal on the basement wifi using the MAC address from the bedroom router.
At this point, you then have to make sure the SSID is broadcasted the same way over both devices. If they are, great. Setup your security however you like.
Save the settings on both routers, reboot the routers(not the default settings reset), and then the bedroom router should discover the IP, and the basement router should mate off that. I wouldn't mess with IPs until you have that relationship in order.

Agreed. The locked-down stuff is useful for my Dad who's salad days with computers were before the time that "640k should be enough for anybody." Still, not everyone can be arsed to tinker with their own home network, so they opt for plug-n-play solutions. Also, there's the whole, "5 bucks for rental vs. 80+ for network gear." Not a lot of people below the level of "Poweruser" will justify that cost.

 

[clonetrooper264]

Crys: Y U NO WANT FULL CONTROL

Noobs: WE CANNOT HANDLE THE POWER

 

[Dogstar]

I don't understand why comcast customers use a locked down router, when you can bring your own docsis router and have full control. That's the best part of comcast and other cable providers, and it allows you to stack your wireless on top however you would like, without a severely handicapped hacked together solution of bridging and feeding off very mediocre hardware. Plus, no more equipment rental fees.

Generally speaking, your average customer is too lazy, intimidated and/or technologically clueless to install their own router.

I'm leasing an Arris modem from Comcast for $7 a month. When I added phone service to the internet service, the telephony modems were going for $200+. Back then it made wallet sense to lease.

Fast forward a few years and now I'm getting letters about every three months with an offer to replace my current modem with a wireless router, for free... well sorta... lease fees still apply. "Your modem may not be taking advantage of our now super duper fast speed internet service." Which for me is 25Mbps, and still well under the single channel 38Mbps limit of my current DOCSIS 2.0 modem.

Of course what they're not telling you in the letter is that the new router is not only hard set with a private wireless network, but also a public hotspot that other Comcast customers can log into. Supposedly, it's a secure channel that is separate from your own network and bandwidth. Right.... and of course it's not an opt-in service, so you have to know to opt-out or continue paying a higher electric bill to pay for Comcast's public wi-fi.

Needless to say, when this modem dies or they force me to DOCSIS 3.0, I'll be buying my own router.

 

[Crystallas]

Thanks for the input. Do you know if it will work hardwired into the base station? The ideal place to have it in the basement (Where I can hardwire devices into it) the signal from the base station is spotty at best.

If your router supports it, yes. And from my experience, I haven't found too many wireless routers that do not, that have been made post N standard. The repeater shouldn't care if it's wired or not.