unexplained slow download speed

[Donald]

I have fiber to the home and have 75 Mb up and down. I have the wireless router supplied by Consolidated Communications. Right now the download is 12 Mb and the upload is 60 Mb. Wife is watching TV on Roku. Often the Roku buffers and buffers. Reboot of the wireless router fixes it for a day or so. Then it slows down. I am thinking its a cheap wireless router and will hook up some spare Unifi hardware I have. And bring a laptop to the wireless router and connect it via CAT6 cable vs WIFI.

Could it be the ONT? Do they ever need to be rebooted?

 

[wwillson]

My guess would be the Ubiquity hardware will fix your problem. The telltale sign of the existing router needing a daily reboot probably points to the problem. I have serious doubts it's the ONT.

 

[himemsys]

I have a 100/10 cable connection and a firewall that displays transfer speed graphs. When watching Netflix or other streaming services on our Roku, the bandwidth used is typically only 4-8 Mb/sec. This is for a 1080p TV. So, I'm guessing even if your bandwidth went down as low as 12 Mb, that wouldn't cause the Roku to buffer. A faulty router would cause the buffering though. I agree to replace it.

Here's my wife and I watching Discovery Plus and Netflix last night:

 

[Donald]

So I am up early at the up and down speed is 50 Mb. Nothing else up.

Our daughter does play a multi user game on her PS4 where each person she plays with is at their own home. And they all talk on a conf call at same time they play. Call is over WIFI.

But I have yet to see any application that can use a large amount of bandwidth on its own. FTP would be an exception. But do not think anyone at home is doing FTP.

 

[Touring5]

I guessed you might be on cable, but being fiber I have no idea.

(When I was on comcast my bandwidth would plummet on hot summer days, and with it being summer that would have been my guess)

 

[JC1]

Try this app to check your wifi connection. Not sure if any of your hardware allows you to change channels. That may increase performance.

 

[Donald]

Try this app to check your wifi connection. Not sure if any of your hardware allows you to change channels. That may increase performance.

I have Unifi WIFIMan. Provides similar info on any WIFI.

 

[Donald]

Still undetermined. Up and down is 50 Mbs this morning.

Power cycling the wireless router knocks down all existing sessions. So the wireless router may not be faulty, it may just have too many sessions.

 

[JC1]

Has the firmware been updated on the router? Too bad you couldn't test a mesh system out to see if that helps. I bought the TP link deco system last year. My wifi in the basement was almost non existent before that.

Now I can get 50-60 MBs download speed on all three floors. I've got firesticks on all my TVs and enough wifi connected plugs and cameras etc. With the mesh you can give selected devices priority connections as well.

 

[wwillson]

it may just have too many sessions.

Highly doubtful that you have enough devices in your house to bump into the translation table limits.

 

[Dennywires]

Is your router set to dynamic ip

 

[alarmguy]

Did the OP ever do a direct connection to the modem with his laptop and check the speed?
He mentioned he was going to but I havent seen a response unless I am missing it someplace.

If he truly has a constant 60 Mbps he should not be having any issue, still would be interested in his true speed.
He can also easily order a new router and return it if its doesnt fix the issue. $100 he can get a nice Motorola AC 2600 which will blow away anything near is price range and a perfect test if the speed is there to begin with.

He can also call his internet provider if spending the extra money isnt an option.

 

[1 SX]

I would try a new WiFI router, most of the supplied internet providers WiFi router are not worth you time.
I was getting "only" 55 Mbps on the supplied spectrum box, with a ton of disconnects..

Upgraded to a Nighthawk X4 AC2350 Smart WiFi Dual Band Gigabit Router, and my range tripled on the 5GHz band, and doubled on the 2.4 GHz, and the speeds are phenomenal now all over the house, and even outside, with zero disconnects! These speeds are on the wireless band, not direct connected.

 

[Donald]

The 2.4Ghz WIFI on the router seems to have died. It had been flacky for a month or two. Would drop and then come back in a minute or two. I asked the ISP for a new one.

That may have been the problem all along

Still working on a Ubiquity WIFI setup but have not found all the spare parts I need.

 

[Cygnus_]

Some cheap routers can have issues providing adequate bandwidth to all devices when more than a few are connected. They often have an SoC that is underpowered and will have issues servicing multiple devices. This is why more expensive higher-end prosumer, gamer, and business class routers do much better than cheaper ones. They may say that they are capable of high transfer speeds, but that is considering that only one or two devices are connected at once. A good router with MU-MIMO that works the way it should cost around $200 or more, and it's worth it for multiple devices, especially considering that nearly all devices are 802.11ac now all being used to stream Full HD or 4K video.