I continue to read and see issues when folk get home and start Netflix. This can pummel the network.
However if you want to test if it's your gear, disable WiFi and get wired. WiFi is shared air space and we need to know if it's the usual WiFi channel pollution. I used an Android Phone and the free WiFi Analyzer to show clients what's in the air.
Hi everyone,
I live in uptown New Orleans using Cox High Speed Internet on a Premier plan (100 bandwidth) and seem to be having the weirdest internet connectivity problem I've ever come across. I'm a huge gamer so while this may not be an issue to my roommates its a large one for me as any online content from Steam to my Xbox One is absolutely unplayable due to high latency in game.
It's been happening since we moved in, the wifi has always been god awful so when I speak about my experiences I'm referring to testing with an Ethernet cable connection to the box. The cable is a 100 ft cat6 cable (flat shape wise). I also have heard the stories about 100 ft being way too long for an ethernet connection to be sustained over but I feel as though with it being category 6 that the signal should definitely being able to make it the distance at least better than what I am receiving currently (also have tried using a 25ft cat 6 cable to no avail).
I am using a standard cox Wifi-Modem and it's a Ubee Single Band 2.4gz. (definitely need to upgrade the equipment just don't want to spend 200 dollars to still get crummy internet).
Upon speed tests from multiple websites including Cox's own speed test, speedtest.net hosted by ookla) the averages I obtained were:
ping: 50-65 (but often shooting up to 100-200+)
Download-10 (sometimes itll shot up to 20 or even high 30s but then drop back down to 10 at the end)
Upload- 1-5 usually 10 at best
*all of these took longer than normal to run/would hang often and the values would fluctuate frequently
*done with a cat 6 cable at both 25 ft and 100 ft
*did some testing on wifi (even more pitiful numbers)
I called cox customer support with these numbers and did some more tests for them to monitor and they agreed that a technician was needed to come out.
The technician comes out and tells me that a 100 ft ethernet cable is too long so he plugs in his 10 ft cat5e cable and we get less than 5 mbps both ways and this is where the problem became kind of absurd. So then he says maybe the box is damage so he goes out to his car and gets a Cisco Wifi Modem and plugs it in and it became a joking matter the speedtests started to go below 5 mbps both ways. So we try a bunch of different devices ranging from iphone to macbook pro macbook air and then my device again (a pc laptop will give details at the end) all of them returning awful speedtests from various websites including Cox's speedtest. At this point the technician is just laughing and making jokes like "i'm out of here this place is haunted" so I've become pretty down about this as I'm feeling there may be no real solution. The one thing he pointed to which is probably true is how old the house is, the house still has 2 prong outlets no dishwasher really old piping that we've had a bunch of problems with (not sure if its copper or not I am starting to feel like it is. And since they're claiming that they are delivering excellent signal to us that there is not much they are going to be able to do on their end. I said well I at least want the old box back because that one had slightly better mbps so he attaches that one back on we still have the same awful speeds he shrugs and says give em a call and switch your plan to internet only and no phone.
So after this long long essay and I really appreciate anyone who is willing to give this the time of day, what are the best options?
1. Invest in a set of nice new equipment, I'm aware that I currently have a Wifi Modem box and will need to purchase two pieces of equipment to replace it. I'm thinking about dual band 2.4/5 ghz..... DEFINITELY need advice on what modem I should get or what pairing in general. I have a couple of friends using this for my router:
ASUS Dual-Band
And then I really have no clue on the modem front so suggestions there are greatly appreciated.
2. Do I look into what the technician was saying about getting off the internet+phone deal and get on the internet only deal. I understand that the companies want you to stay on the internet+phone deal but I have a story worked up with a decent amount of evidence as well.
3. What do I do about this old house/possible copper piping? Should I try moving my stuff away from the walls and more towards the center of the room or is that not even worth it?
4. Another one involving equipment, what if I were to use the router linked above but just as like an access point sort of thing and connected it via cat 6 chord to our Ubee Wifi Modem. Would this improve anything at all speed wise or will this still result in poor performance because its first coming through the lowgrade Ubee?
5. He said that the wiring was fine because the signal they were delivering is excellent but couldn't the wire inside my house then still very well be damaged and causing data loss. My gut is feeling like it might be this because the fact that Im having such poor performance even with a 25 ft cat 6 chord or a 10 ft cat 5e chord I feel like that would indicate it either has to be the box or the data cable leading into it.
I just don't want to go out and replace it with nice equipment to find that the internet is still poor. Now that may very well be my best shot in all of your eyes and I am more than willing to take that shot if it is my best one. I just figured I would run it by all of you before making any bold decisions as this has left me extremely confused about internet connectivity and I'm definitely feeling lost right now.
thank you for reading this as I know it has been quite the essay but I really am in the need of anyone who can provide any help at all.
My laptop info:
PC: Acer Aspire VN7-791
Edition: Windows 10 Home
Processor: Intel R Core i7-4720HQ CPU @ 2.6 ghz
Ram: 8 gb
System type: 64 bit OS, x64-based processor
Network adapters:
Broadcom NetLink Gigabit Ethernet
Qualcomm Atheros QCA61x4 Wireless Network Adapter
If any other info is needed please let me know! I was going to post a screenshot of my system info but when I go to attach it only allows me to link a url from the internet and not to upload a file!
I will be in your eternal debt,
George

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