Connection problems?

L

Lorberry

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Apr 20, 2010
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My brother and I have recently been having some problems with out internet connection, and I'd like to know how much of it is unavoidable vs. what's the ISP's fault before I call them, just to make sure it's actually fixable and/or if it's something on my end.

At the moment, we are hooked up with Frontier's DSL, with a listed speed of 3 Mbps down/765 Kbps up. We have a Westell 7500 modem bridged to a D-Link TL-WR841N Router to which I (and I alone) am hardwired.

The problem is basically that when either of us is downloading anything (from a game on steam to a youtube video) the other's general internet performance drops like a rock: pings will typically jump 100-150 ms or so, or more. If we're both playing games it's fine, it's only when one of us is downloading something that things go wrong.

Is this to be expected/fixable on my end, or should I call Frontier and give them a proverbial piece of my mind?

Thanks!
 
This isnt something you can really fix. Its kinda how things go. Your going to use all your bandwidth downloading those updates until its over. You cant throttle your download in most cases so you gotta stick it out. You may try getting a higher rated tier package from your ISP but most likely that will not resolve the issue.
 
Monkey Brawler is correct about the downloading part.

Think of your connection like a freeway in the town you live. When only a few cars are using it, everybody zipps right along. But, during rush hour, when LOTS of cars are using it, things start to slow down. There is just to much traffic for the roads and it takes awhile for everybody to get thru it.

Some thinks you CAN do, is hit a few of those speed test sites and test what your actual download speed is. Your probably not getting an actual 3mps download. DSL degrades over distance, and you also have to consider line noise, ect.

You can also, like Monkey said, check into increasing your bandwith allowance.
 
Can't say I'm happy to hear that, but honestly I'm not that surprised. I was hoping there might be a setting or something I could tweak on my end, but...

As for speed, I think I'm getting close to max (when I'm the only one on, of course) on the test sites, so I don't think that's really a problem. There is a higher tier that our area gets, I think, but I'd have to do some serious hunting to figure out what the price difference would be.

I guess that's it then, unless anyone else has other ideas? Just finished installing a new hard drive and switching from 32-bit XP to 64-bit Win 7, so I'm in a bit of a tweaking mood :p
 
I do advanced technical support for an ISP. This has absolutely nothing to do with your ISP, its properly setting up and handling your home network. The only way to not cause issues with each other is to get an advanced router or flash DDW-RT onto a router and set bandwidth caps to the computers. Most routers can only make one computer high priority to not cause lag but that would only resolve the issue for one of you.
 
I think I remember seeing something about bandwidth limits when I was poking around my router's settings at one time or another... any chance you could give me a few more specifics on what I would need to do? Numbers I would need to plug in or something like that?
 
That is a TP link my friend :P. sent me on a wild goose chase. You must login to your router than....

1. On the left hand side, Select IP & MAC Binding
2. select add New, you must assign static IPs to your computers before you can correctly setup Bandwidth control Edit: make sure to enable ARP Binding aswell
3. After setting up static IPs, click Bandwidth Control than select Rules List
4. select Add New Located slightly under the description column
5. Type in just your IP, No port range, and all protocol
6. Egress Bandwidth Min - 0 / Egress Bandwidth Max 1000 (this is your upload bandwidth, this does not seem to be an issue
7. Ingress Bandwidth Min - 0 / Ingress bandwidth Max 1500

the Download basically gives you both half the connection if you are both using it. It will cap both computers to 1.5mbs. It should resolve this issue tho. Idk if your router will take the setting without port info and one IP. The way it looks, your router seems to be a bit different on those rules. Let me know how it works.
 
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It is? *takes another look at the box* Oh. Huh. Sorry about that. Must have either mis-read or mis-typed.

Anyway, my brother's out at the moment so I can't really test it now, but I should be able to tomorrow afternoon. Thanks much for the help either way :laugh:
 
lol np, Just make sure to let me know how it works for ya. Had to get my hands on an emulator to build ya a walkthrough, and it was soooo tiring....*sarcasm* :P. I can find tweeks to make it work im sure, you got a pretty nice router.
 
Two questions: is it only my IP that gets a bandwith rule, or both of ours? And do I need to assign static IPs/rules to any of the other computers in our network, even if they typically aren't even on at the same time as my brother and I are online?

Thanks!
 
you will need to make the static IPs for both you and your brothers computers. All other computers should be able to connect fine, they just wont have the bandwidth limits. You have to set bandwidth limits for both aswell. Ive never touched one of these routers before so i may goof on something.
 
You want to assign the IPs and Bandwidth limitation to both computers. All other computers on the network shouldn't be affected however, if they are downloading, it will cause you lag issues. This can be resolved by raising the min settings on the bandwidth page, but that will constantly reserve bandwidth you may not use.

Edit: Sorry, for some reason it wasnt showing my post of the fact there was a second page.
 
Hey, almost forgot to give an update...

So the tweak to the router didn't work, but my brother's problems in particular kept getting even worse... to the point where he had me run a variety of scans on his computer to figure out where the problem was originating from. Guess what the anti-virus picked up :P

Anyway, thanks for the help, I'm keeping the settings up since, honestly, it seems like they'll improve things.
 
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