WiFi Router/Internet question NF

[adam lancia]

My family and I rent the main floor of a bungalow and we have cable internet with a WiFi router. The basement is rented out to another family and we have agreed to split the internet costs and they're accessing the internet through our router upstairs. Since we don't have cable, we stream or download everything. I have noticed some choppiness and a sometimes slow connection/reaction while even just browsing the web, let alone streaming a Raptors game. Would adding a second WiFi router for the basement tenants improve our internet speed/quality upstairs? We're using Teksavvy Cable 60. Any ideas or input are greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[Freshtrax]

Roughly how many devices connected when the problem occurs?

[adam lancia]

It's hard to say exactly, I have no idea how many they have connected downstairs. Upstairs we would have 3 phones and at least my laptop (which we stream everything on) and up to 2 tablets, plus whatever they're running downstairs.

[Gerritt]

I would guess you are overloading your bandwidth, as I don't think tecsavvy throttles thier speed ( could be wrong though)

 

Let say you have 10mb down, your downloading a show and the neighbours are watching YouTube vids, and your wife is looking at recipes on the tablet....you will most likely see lag resulting in the show your watching stutter.

 

G

[adam lancia]

I just did a quick test and I'm getting ~46 mbps down in the spot I usually have my laptop when it's hooked up to the TV for streaming. The router we have is a Netgear N600. So you don't think that sharing the access point is causing the problems?

[Cosmos]

Fully agree with Gerritt.

You have to upgrade your connection to faster one - 60 Mbps is not enough for all of your users.

[adam lancia]

Yikes! I thought that would have us more than covered. Teksavvy doesn't offer anything faster than that, are Bell and Rogers the only faster alternatives?

[BillM]

Upgrading your internet isn't going to do anything, it's your hardware that's the limiting factor here. GO into the DHCP client table and figure out how many unique devices are actually connecting to that network. Also, do you have them connecting to a 'guest' network? If not, everything you have is visible to them, not the way I'd set that up.

[Gerritt]

Upgrading your internet isn't going to do anything, it's your hardware that's the limiting factor here. GO into the DHCP client table and figure out how many unique devices are actually connecting to that network. Also, do you have them connecting to a 'guest' network? If not, everything you have is visible to them, not the way I'd set that up.

I agree in setting permissions, do you think this wireless n dual band router could be the issue? I get net gear is not the best of quality (no offense) but it should have more then enough bandwidth to deal with the traffic I would imagine

[BillM]

I agree in setting permissions, do you think this wireless n dual band router could be the issue? I get net gear is not the best of quality (no offense) but it should have more then enough bandwidth to deal with the traffic I would imagine

 

Router could definitely be the issue, I've seen it before. He should have enough bandwidth for sure, that's why I'm thinking hardware. Might need to upgrade to something like a Asus AC66/68U or a Trendnet AC1900 (This is what I run). I'd also setup a guest network (Which is basically like creating another VLAN) which will keep traffic separate.

Edited March 2, 2015 by BillM

[FloatnFly]

That is a pretty heavy load on the network, i know with mine, its only 5mb/s for now, upgrading to 60 on Sunday, but when my cell phone is updating apps, I can not use the internet as the available bandwidth is too little

[Ronzo]

If people are streaming Netflix and such on your network, you might consider setting up Quality of Service by MAC address. Looks like the NetGear N600 supports this.

http://kb.netgear.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/66/~/how-to-enable-quality-of-service-%28qos%29-on-older-netgear-routers%3F

 

You could then bump the greedy devices down in priority, and that may help relieve the issues you're seeing. Sometimes a new router/modem isn't a bad option either. I find that a lot of routers are good for 5-7 years before they begin to degrade a bit.

[Old Ironmaker]

Adam, when I was interested in streaming content these guys really educated me. Especially BillM and Garret.

 

The only thing I can say about this is that I would never share TV Satellite or Internet service. I have heard all the complaints from "he doesn't pay in time" to " I didn't download that movie" . I have never heard that sharing works in the long run.

[DRIFTER_016]

 

Router could definitely be the issue, I've seen it before. He should have enough bandwidth for sure, that's why I'm thinking hardware. Might need to upgrade to something like a Asus AC66/68U or a Trendnet AC1900 (This is what I run). I'd also setup a guest network (Which is basically like creating another VLAN) which will keep traffic separate.

 

We use virtual access points as a way to separate our traffic.

[FrankTheRabbit]

Bandwidth should be fine at 60mpbs, essentially, 6MB (megabytes)/sec download speed is pretty fast.

 

Bill had mentioned about your router. Aside from the router settings, I'm gonna guess the router needs to be upgraded. How old is it?

 

I was able to Google Search reviews of that particular router going back to 2011. A friend of mine has lower bandwidth than you and couldn't download and stream HD at the same time. He upgraded his router and everything was smooth again.

 

Like most things involving computers, the CPU and the amount of RAM will affect performance. I'm thinking especially since you connect more wireless devices to the router, it will need beefier CPU and more RAM to handle the extra traffic.

 

You can try playing with the settings in the router software or you can pick up a new router. If you choose the latter, try shopping at a place with full returns.

[Old Ironmaker]

Man you guys make me feel really old. When I was 20 I took a computer course before the PC was invented. We actually had to change tapes and computer cards on a IBM computer that took up a few thousand square feet. RAM was non existent compared to today. I wish I could remember what the memory was. In 79 when we were building the plant at Nanticoke the Superintendent that was a WW2 vet was showing the house size "new" computer that monitored a few systems. A grad from Electronic engineering told him his Texas Instruments calculator could do the same thing as this massive piece of hardware. To prove it the young engineer wired it to the HP system and showed him it did work. For the next entire month the boss reamed our computer guys and questioned them as to why we just spent a few million $.

 

Tip to young engineers, don't show your boss up in public.

Edited March 2, 2015 by Old Ironmaker

[Consigliere]

At 60 you should be able to stream at least 10 unique video streams. So doubtful it is your bandwidth. Look up ddwrt for router firmware. I would bet you install that on your router and your problems will be gone. I can stream 3 vid streams on a 6 connection without a problem.

[Raf]

I used Gargoyle firwmare but in any even a ddwrt capable router and some reading regarding QOS would definately help you.

 

Fairly certain ddwrt firmware will let you see exactly how much of that 60 down you are using in total as well as which device is using what and allow you to throttle/restrict use as neccessary.

 

Also, you may not be saturating your ISPs connection but if everyone is connecting wirelessly you may be saturating the wireless. Try plugging in directly to the router via a LAN cable when the issues arise and see if it clears up. If this is the case, I would recommend a 2nd, unique hotspot connected via wire to the main router for the people downstairs to use while you use the wireless from your router.

Edited March 2, 2015 by Raf

[adam lancia]

Yikes, looks like I have a fair amount of reading to do. Thank you for all of the input and advice!

 

I purchased the router in October so it's not old at all. It sounds like setting up a guest network is something I really should do, just to keep our devices protected.

 

Thanks again guys!

[GBW]

The problem with a "wholesale" ISP like tecsavvy is that the company they rent off (Bell, Rogers, Cogeco) can and DO slow them down to offer the customers they (Bell, Rogers, Cogeco) provide service to a faster speed.