Internet question, from a tv guy

[ChadT41]

When it comes down to it, I can talk satellite tv all day long. But I have had a few questions in regards to internet, that googling has not helped with.

Obviously have cox, and if it helps, in Phx Az. They told me, to get my full potential, it required a DOCIS3.0 modem, and qualifying router. So I get better modem, better router= better speed/productivity. However, if I get 25/50 Mbps in my plan, and my router is rated 300 Mbps, then how come on average, outside of the peak hours am I getting 14 Mbps or lower? I can disconnect the router, and go straight from modem into computer and it comes back to 25 Mbps average.
I know very little about internet, again, as I am more interested usually in tv, so please use laymans terms. I can access router settings, and it appears everything is set and ready to be maxed out. Zero restrictions. Monkey one device running at a time on the router, when testing. Although it doesn't change when I hVe multiple devices running.

 

[Tampa8]

To make a true educated guess the exact model modem you have would help. When I switched from my old Linksys to Netgear I had to discover a few new settings to get it to work at top speed. Oddly enough being maxed out can be one of the problems.

 

[Teehar]

Sounds like a router issue, as tampa mentioned, it would help to know what you have.

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[mike123abc]

Are you using ethernet or wifi to connect to your router? Your neighbors may be competing on your wifi channel.

 

[Tampa8]

Or other things.... Brand and model will go a long way to a possible answer.

 

[harshness]

Another diagnostic tool that will get quick answers of where to tinker is to go straight from the modem to a computer. This will tell you if your router is killing you or if you're just getting sub-par service.

Sometimes where (on the Internet) you get your speed test from can also cause disappointing results.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Plug your computer directly into the cable modem. Reboot the modem and once its up reboot the computer.

Once that is done run a speedtest and see how your speeds are.

If they are where they are supposed to be then the issue is the router. I would suggest at least a good wireless N router. Don't go cheap you get what you pay for. And make sure it has Gigabit connections.

But if you hook it up to your PC and still get slow speeds head on over to the Cox Forums at DSL Reports. Post that you are having speed issues and someone will help you. They will ask you to check your signal levels on your model (you do that by going to a web page) and if they are out of wack they will send someone to fix your setup. http://www.dslreports.com/forum/coxhsi

 

[osu1991]

I had problems while in Las Vegas at Condo 6 months ago and figured out some way the QOS got turned on in router and it was set to half what I should have been getting. Changed that and all is good. Here in Tulsa, I upgraded to the 50/10 package last month and I had just recently changed to a Docsis3 modem. Apparently my account wasn't provisioned for the higher speeds with the new modem. Tech support transferred me to someone in another department that looked at my account and saw it wasn't provisioned correctly. He changed it and remotely rebooted my modem and I was good to go then.

 

[ChadT41]

Modem, speeds are fine. And router, wireless or hardwjred, and speeds suck. Router is a linksys E2500. @osu1991 , can you explain the QOS alittle bit?

 

[osu1991]

Modem, speeds are fine. And router, wireless or hardwjred, and speeds suck. Router is a linksys E2500. @osu1991 , can you explain the QOS alittle bit?

Fast Track Quality of Service in the router allows for network prioritization. Netflix would have priority over Youtube or whatever you set. Mine was turned on and set to 15 in Las Vegas so it was limiting my speeds. Phoenix is one of the first areas listed for Cox 1gig service, so it may be nothing more than Cox working on the system and cant handle everyone being online in the evenings while they are working on the upgrades.

 

[ChadT41]

It happens anytime of day. And as mentioned, when Ethernet to modem, the computer works as advertised. It's only when connected to router. That test has been done multiple times. I will check that, and see if it helps.

 

[osu1991]

I would try another router if you have one

 

[ChadT41]

I don't. And if that's what it would call for, I'd rather just stick with the 12 Mbps. It wasn't a bad router when I bought it, but it's been a few years

 

[harshness]

If you've eliminated QoS as a problem, I'd try unplugging everything and adding one item back at a time until you find something that is sinking your bandwidth.

The final option (before replacement of the router) would be to run DD-WRT (or similar) third party firmware on the router and see what happens.

http://www.dd-wrt.com/site/index

 

[mike123abc]

http://www.cnet.com/products/linksys-e2500-multiple-user-n600-wifi-router/2/

A review of the router from cnet:

In the 5GHz frequency tests, the Linksys E2500 router registered 77.2Mbps and 70.2Mbps for close-range and long-range throughput, respectively. These numbers, while not the fastest, were on par with those of other routers. On the 2.4GHz band, however, the router registered only 36.5Mbps and 10.7Mbps for close range and long range, respectively, by the far the slowest we've seen among dual-band routers. Note that though slow, this level of Wi-Fi performance won't affect your connection to the Internet, which generally is much slower than this. Those who want to have a fast local network for wireless file-sharing or content-streaming needs, however, will for sure need to use just the 5GHz band or opt for a different router.

Looks like you need to use 5GHZ on this modem or you can suffer with 10.7Mbs.