How Can You Tell Whether a Problem Is Because of Your Internet Connection or Router?

Eccend on 04/03/2020 - 00:12

Hey all,

So a couple of months back I switched internet providers to Aussie Broadband and it's been smooth sailing whilst getting pretty impressive speeds. However I have noticed that sometimes things like Youtube videos take longer to load or buffer whilst playing. But when I check the internet speed by using internet speed testers I get pretty fast speeds of 90~97 Mbps.

So I was thinking that it might be an issue with our router, which admittedly is not great (NetComm nf18acv) but not 100% sure since these issues were not prevalent when we first switched over.

Just in case this helps a rough list of current devices connected to our router and are used fairly frequently are:

  • 4 phones
  • 1 tablet
  • 2 computers
  • 3 laptops
  • 2 Google Home Mini
  • Google Chromecast
  • Printer
Internet

Comments

  • trustnoone on 04/03/2020 - 00:21

    However I have noticed that sometimes things like Youtube videos take longer to load or buffer whilst playing.

    Do you remember what quality you used to use? i wonder whether the increase in speeds has made youtube automatically bump up to a higher quality which is why you're seeing increased buffering. Then again at those speeds, I don't know if you should get any buffering?

    Likely not the case, but some routers do have QoS (quality of service) which may be giving more bandwidth to one thing (norman browsing for example) over another (media). Though I suspect what you're talking about is changes from an ISP level?

    • Eccend on 04/03/2020 - 00:40

      I think the quality of the video was 1080p but yeah also thought with our internet speeds it shouldn't really be a problem.

      I was leaning more towards my router being the issue but wasn't 100% sure so was curious if anyone else had experienced something similar and could identify whether it was indeed the router or with my ISP.

      • HighAndDry on 04/03/2020 - 10:49
        +1

        speeds of 90~97 Mbps.

        Are you connected by Ethernet or wifi?

        Lots of things can interfere with wifi because trustnoone is right, at those speeds you should have zero issues with YouTube.

        • Eccend on 04/03/2020 - 20:48

          Currently we have all our devices connected to the router via wifi.

  • Cave Fire on 04/03/2020 - 00:22
    -1

    Have a play with your settings. I think you already know there's too many devices. Might be an idea to have a main computer with a wired connection directly to the router. You can also put everyone else on a 2.4ghz or change the wifi channels.

    • Eccend on 04/03/2020 - 00:47

      Yup was also thinking that we might have too many devices connected. I do try to get all the smart home devices (Google Home Mini, Chromecast) to connect only to via the 2.4GHz channel, and also try to get most of our phones and other less frequently used devices on it as well.

      Unfortunately my router is downstairs away from my personal PC so having an ethernet cable running to it isn't really feasible.

      Just getting back to the device count, would you have any suggestions for a router that could support more devices?

      • Cave Fire on 04/03/2020 - 18:37

        That router seems pretty good. There is a gigabit wan for the ethernet that's not being used. Once you try it, it's pretty hard to go back to wifi as ethernet is more stable. If anything can be connected to that it should help. Maybe try wifi analyzer or similar to graph the wifi channels and then choose a new one in router settings. Also play with what's on 5ghz and 2.4ghz, 2.4ghz is better for going through walls etc.

    • John Kimble on 04/03/2020 - 07:28
      +3

      Doesn't seem like too many devices at all…unless you are all streaming/downloading HD+ at the same time? Even then it should be relatively OK?

      • HighAndDry on 04/03/2020 - 10:50

        It might be too much for the router, not the bandwidth.

  • pinchies on 04/03/2020 - 00:35

    What DNS are you using? For large media, companies often use content delivery servers, and often have multiple around the globe. If you're using DNS settings from the USA or UK, your media download performance may be reduced as content is being delivered all the way from the other side of the world. For example, I use the OpenDNS family DNS server, but for the Apple TV I had to specifically select the standard ISP DNS as otherwise iTunes movie rental buffering speeds were abysmal.

    • Eccend on 04/03/2020 - 00:42

      Aside from my own personal PC which is using Cloudflare's DNS, the DNS settings are on default which I believe finds one automatically. I have had these problems occur on both my phone and tablet though which could potentially eliminate DNS being a problem?

      • pinchies on 04/03/2020 - 00:49

        Perhaps try change DNS on a problem device and see if that improves / does nothing? Or are you saying it happens on PC too?

        edit: maybe monitor your router's WAN bandwidth using an SNMP monitoring app (if supported by your router), and see if the WAN is saturated at times when the slowdowns occur? (Assuming not a wifi throughput issue)

        • Eccend on 04/03/2020 - 20:50

          Yup, I've experienced these minor slow downs on both my phone and my PC and my family have also told me they experience it on their devices as well.

          Will definitely look into SNMP and try monitor it if I can.

      • o53djz7qTPY4der on 04/03/2020 - 05:57

        Change the DNS to one.dot on the router.

        • Eccend on 04/03/2020 - 20:50

          Who manages one.dot?

  • alvian on 04/03/2020 - 06:04
    +2

    How Can You Tell Whether a Problem Is Because of Your Internet Connection or Router?

    1. Remove the router from your network and test with a computer directly connected to NBN. Method varies with NBN technology used.

    2. Replace the suspect router with a known good model and test.

    • Eccend on 04/03/2020 - 20:52

      So that would be connecting a computer directly to the NBN box right?

      Unfortunately for the second step we don't really have another good router that can fully test the speeds we currently use.

      • Twix on 04/03/2020 - 21:07

        Yeah computer directly to NBN NTD.

        Pickup a cheap $20 Telstra router on Gumtree/eBay.

  • John Kimble on 04/03/2020 - 07:30
    +2

    Isolation testing. If it only happened recently, then it's possible there is congestion on your WiFi channel from other WiFi routers near you.

    • Eccend on 04/03/2020 - 20:53

      Ahh so could there possibly be congestion from routers from my neighbours?

      • John Kimble on 04/03/2020 - 20:56

        Yep, just download a wifi analyser app on your phone and you'll be able to see all the Wi-Fi networks in your area and what channels they are on. If there are too many on your channel, change it to a less populated channel in your router settings to see if that helps.

        If it's not that, then back to the drawing board you go…

  • [Deactivated] on 04/03/2020 - 08:26
    +1

    "Unfortunately my router is downstairs away from my personal PC" Could be connectivity issue.
    Could also be 1 person hogging bandwidth, or simply intermittent poor wireless performance or interference.
    Does the issue occur at the same time?
    Does your router allow you to log in and see who is doing what? I know my old Netgear used to let you see at a very high level who was on youtube, netflix, etc.

    I have a large double storey house and Netgear Orbi, with 1 satellite (although not cheap) is bloody brilliant!

    • Eccend on 04/03/2020 - 20:55

      Yup, this issue has occurred for multiple devices but interestingly my mum tells me that she runs into this issue a lot when she's alone in the house. She's mostly downstairs very close to the router as well which is why I also thought it could be my ISP.

      I think my router does allow me to see which devices are connected but not what they're doing unfortunately but will check to make sure.

  • iDroid on 04/03/2020 - 12:14

    IMO, most likely candidates are (in order):

    • Wifi (poor reception or interference)
    • Router - does a router reboot solve/help?
    • DNS/Proxy/Etc (which could be local or remote)
    • Some unrelated server/network issue between yourself and youtube
    • Eccend on 04/03/2020 - 20:59

      So this issue also happens with a single device within close proximity to the router (around 1m ish) which is why I potentially thought there could be something wrong with my router or ISP.

      I've tried rebooting my router a couple of times but it doesn't seem to completely get rid of the issue.

      DNS-wise I'm currently using Cloudflare's DNS on my PC and have default DNS settings on my phone but I have had this issue with both.

      I don't think it's the problem with youtube and myself, as I've experienced this slowdown on other websites, even OzBargain today took a couple of seconds to load for some reason.

  • Twix on 04/03/2020 - 13:06

    Update to the latest router firmware.

    • Eccend on 04/03/2020 - 20:59

      Yup, I've updated the latest router firmware when we were changing ISPs and no new firmware has been released since then.

      • Twix on 04/03/2020 - 21:09

        Pickup a cheap $20 Telstra router on Gumtree/eBay.

        • John Kimble on 04/03/2020 - 21:11

          What a waste of $20. Just borrow from a friend or neighbour for 30 minutes.

  • [Deactivated] on 04/03/2020 - 14:57
    +1

    How many active phone sockets in your house? You only need one with nbn having others connected can cause issues.

    • Eccend on 04/03/2020 - 21:00

      We actually don't have any active phone sockets in our house anymore since we didn't really need a home number anymore.

Login or Join to leave a comment
Login Join