Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

General discussion

Internet Connection Issues

Mar 27, 2013 2:58AM PDT

I recently read an article titled "How to read NETSTAT -AN results"and I was wondering if there is a way to use netstat to troubleshoot internet connection issues? I have Comcast as my ISP, and while my internet has
never been the best, it has steadily gotten worst over the last year. I play online video games quite often and noticed that I get crazy lag spikes at all hours of the day. These spikes are drastically worst and more prevalent from 4pm-8pm; also, sometimes these spikes can actually disable my connection for hours on end. I run daily speedtests and they all come back with similar results: my downspeed is generally less than the minimum 4mbps Comcast promises and my upspeed is generally twice as much as my downspeed, if not the same. Comcast sent their techies on two separate occasions within a 3 week span and they were unable to find the problem. The first guy followed our cable wiring and said it was fine; concluding that it must be the modem, so he gave us a new one. That didn't work. Two weeks after that two other guys came by and ran their speed tests saying that it was fine. They had me plug in my computer directly to the modem( instead of connected wirelessly through my router as I usually do.)
I was getting 25mbps down, which is much better than I am used to, but, I am still not convinced it is my router because the wireless icon on my computer indicates that my wireless signal is strong when these spikes
occur(although there is a yellow exclamation point above the wireless icon.) It's now week four and I am still experiencing these problems. Through the use of an in game network graph reading( https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/TF2_Network_Graph) I found that I am getting a considerable amount of choke and packet loss during these spikes. If there is anything you can think of to diagnose this problem I
would greatly appreciate it.


Also,
1)
I am most likely going to buy a brand new power-house of a router such as this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833146008

How likely is it that this will fix my problem?
2)
I had a friend(a business owner who rents game servers for a living)run a tracert using my IP while I was experiencing an extended lag spike, but he said that it looked relatively normal. Thoughts?

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
Tech Specs
Mar 27, 2013 3:10AM PDT

I forgot to include some important background.

Router: Cisco Linksys E2500
Modem: Ubee D3.0
PS:
Another reason I don't think my router is the problem is the fact that I bought this router last August when I was experiencing similar issues with my internet(disconnecting and having to power cycle my modem and router.) I should mention that last August we had our Modem swapped out and had the rg6 cables and connections around our house changed. For a while these changes seemed to fix our internet connection issues(although there were still small problems,) but now our internet is worst that before.

- Collapse -
Nod.
Mar 27, 2013 3:15AM PDT

A few friends have those. Almost any router has done better.

BUT !!! Gamers tend to learn to get wired.

AND !!! I see so little about the router settings that I can't offer much other than try the defaults, change channels and don't game on WiFi.
Bob

- Collapse -
Switched to Wired Connection
Mar 29, 2013 4:05AM PDT

My problems have been fixed simply by running a cable wire to my room and connecting directly to my router. It turns out the Comcast guys may have been right in saying that the router was the problem, next time I will spend more time looking for a good router before buying it.

- Collapse -
On item 2.
Mar 27, 2013 3:13AM PDT

Gamers eventually learn to get wired and turn off the WiFi. Well, the serious ones that is.
Bob