Boosting Internet Speed

[moshe_levy]

All-

 

As some of you know, the extent of my computer know-how consists of the "power" button and the ability to type slowly. That's about it. So I seek some advice.

 

I have Comcast internet here - their fastest speed - and still when I stream Netflix, sometimes, it isn't fast enough and stalls. The TV is far, far away from the router, a Netgear N600, so there is no way to physically plug in. It's done wirelessly, which I imagine slows things down a bit.

 

My question is, is there any sort of "booster" device I can buy, and place within close proximity to the TV, that will help this situation? Please explain this in a "Computers For Dummies" lexicon that even I can understand.

 

-MKL

[szurszewski]

I'm not smart enough to help you, but I am pretty sure it's not your internet speed, unless you're not getting what you're paying for. We have Clear WiMax, and at best we get 3.x mbps - when it's running at that speed Netflix works fine, and will continue to work fine down to 1.5mbps or lower, though the picture quality is of course not so good.

 

What will probably help identify your bottle neck, for those smarter folks, is knowing what kind of TV (wifi enabled I assume) or how it's connected to the network.

[moshe_levy]

I run a Sony Bravia TV and a Sony DVD player, both about 2 years old. Both are WiFi enables but I go through the DVD in this case as Sony recommends.

 

It could be a Netflix thing, also. I've noticed some shows or movies play VERY slowly (meaning, it loads very slowly and always stops to buffer) while most others play well. I routinely check this when I encounter a problem and see that one show will play fine, while another does not. Even shows within the same series.

 

I am currently totally engrossed in "House Of Cards" which is EXCELLENT, and today watched two episodes. One played fine - the second, very slow to load. Odd.

 

In the end, though, I really suspect my internet speed. Facetime on my I-phone is ALWAYS spotty, and that's another indication of crappy speed.

 

-MKL

[smiller]

Before you can apply a fix you're going to first have to determine the actual problem, and the symptom of occasional Netflix freezes alone doesn't really tell you what is wrong. There are multiple potential causes -- intermittent poor quality of service from your cable carrier/ISP, or a mis-configuration somewhere, or too high a distance from your WAP to TV, or problems with Netflix itself, etc. There may be a way to access some diagnostic info in your TV or router or perhaps even from your cable provider and I'd start there (or connecting a computer at the proper places and running diagnostics would do the same), but doing any of these may not be the ultra-simple procedure you'd like. Sometimes (actually most of the time) some knowledge is required to solve these types of issues and unless it is something simple like a weak wifi signal you may need some expert help.

 

[lkraus]

Random thoughts in no particular order:

 

Temporarily, just as an experiment, move the TV closer to the router to see if that improves your wifi signal.

 

Access the router settings and try a different wifi channel - this will reduce interference if a neighbor is using the same frequency. Sounds like you might need a tech savvy teenager to help with this idea.

 

Can Comcast relocate your router closer to the TV?

 

Wifi boosters are available but a bit of Googling shows mixed results. Power Line network adapters work fairly well but can be expensive.

 

There is a free Android app called WiFi Analyzer that can be helpful for finding interfering networks and seeing the effects of moving the router or adjusting the antenna.

 

Speedtest.net is a pretty reliable test for your internet speed - 3mbps should be adequate for Netflix HD. Available free for Android and Apple.

 

I hope some of this helps isolate the trouble.

[SuperG]

Moshe,

 

As other have said it simply could be netflix. Router, wireless accesspoint can be culprit as well.

I have not used netgear so I can not comment on it.

However I can say that even expensive router can get sick and start doing weird things.

I have used DLink router for a while it was great then i had slow wireless performance as well as slow wired/direct connected speed issues ometimes complete dropoffs- no internet. Shutting off the router and repower fixed it for a while.

Since I was accustomed to Dlink and was familiar with messing with it firmware, making changes, I said I just go and get on another one, new - when it was on sale, but it was buggy as well.

Ditched Dlink, and switched to Asus RT-N13U superspeed N wireless router. The best feature is that it can also be used as a repeater.

Meaning you can buy an other one place it in the middle of your house anywhere and it will extend your wires range, now you have an other wifi radius in your home.

Further more, you can simply set one up as a repeater and set it next to your TV and use wired connection with a wired network cable, plug it directly into your TV if it has a port.

The bad thing about this router is that it h does not have a "guest" function to set up a guest wires account if you have guests and you don't want them on your home network. For that I simply use my old Dlink and newtwork it in for the time being.

 

And other great use of a repeater is that you can use with devices that has wired network port only but not wireless option, example home theater amplifiers, media player boxes and such.

 

[Rougarou]

You've got to open some speed up.

 

I use Port Forwarding for some of the programs that I use. They even have a Port Forwarding for Netflix solution.

 

In my application, downloading torrents via utorrent, it allows me to take full advantage of the maximum download speed that my provider has.

 

BTW, all my machines (6) in the house are wireless on all the time and connected all the time and I use a Cisco E3000 for my routing needs.

[OoPEZoO]

If I had to guess, I would blame distance from the router and/or the router itself. I have Comcast and routinely see 24-25 MB/s download speeds, but I used to have the same issues. If it was me, I would run a hard line through the house and connect directly to your TV or DVD for testing purposes (100ft ethernet cable is dirt cheap on the internet). If the problem goes away, then I would blame your router.

 

Best thing I did for improving wireless streaming in my house was trashing my Cisco/Linksys router and replaced it with an Apple Airport Extreme Base Station. It has better range than any of my previous routers, and set up in about 3 minutes. It gives me a solid 50ft radius circle from the router......through walls and up a floor with no issues. It runs dual bands. One at 2.7Ghz, and the 2nd at 5GHz. I keep my HD streaming devices connected to the 5Ghz band, and only allow the phones/iPods to connect to the 2.7Ghz band. It keeps your phones from hogging bandwidth when you are trying to stream.

 

I have it hard wired to my PC and a PS3, and we have 3 iPhones, iPad, iPod touch, Apple TV, a Win7 laptop, and a 2nd PS3 connected wirelessly. Everything works flawlessly and SOOOOO much smoother than with the old router. My whole system used to be really glitchy with the old router. I believe the Win7 laptop caused most of the issues, but all of that has gone away since making the switch. We typically have 2-3 HD streams at a time happening with no slow downs on any device.

 

You can also use the smaller Airport Express to expand your current network. You set them up in bridge mode, and they work as a repeater. I have one of these as well, but only use it occationally. I hook it up to my portable radio when I'm working outside so I can stream music from my iPhone wirelessly instead of directly connecting it to the phone. Nothing worse than your phone ringing when it is attached to your radio on the ground and you are 10ft up on a ladder.

 

I hated spending the money on something I thought was "overpriced" at the time, but if it died tomorrow I would go buy another one. I did cheap out a little bit though. I bought mine as a Best Buy refurbished model. It worked perfect out of the box, and I've been really happy with it.

[Rougarou]

I don't think the distance has much to do with it.

 

I have an acre lot, the router is in a closet in the middle of the house and I can connect and stream at any point on my property.

 

 

[OoPEZoO]

I don't think the distance has much to do with it.

 

I agree that it shouldn't. I just noticed a major jump in signal quality when I changed routers and thought I would mention it. Once I noticed it, I did a little more research and found out the transmitter built into the Airports are typically 2-3dB higher gain than just about every other router readily available. Depending on the structure of the house and how many floors the signal needs to punch through, that extra power makes a big difference when trying to stream full 1080p HD content.

[Rougarou]

It may make a difference, but I've got two levels in my house and it is not an open floor plan by any means, very compartmented (annoying), but I have no issues streaming anything. I also forgot to mention that we have a wii and xbox that are tagging onto my router wirelessly. That Cisco E3000 is a fine little workhorse, but for certain programs, forwarding of the ports works to open up the speeds.

 

When I blow the leaves, I hook my ipod touch up to my Dr Dre's, put on the ear muffs to cover the Dre's and stream Pandora (not 1080, but streaming anyway) beyond my property line, the distance coverage is there breaking through brick, mortar, walls and landscaping.

[OoPEZoO]

When I blow the leaves, I hook my ipod touch up to my Dr Dre's, put on the ear muffs to cover the Dre's and stream Pandora (not 1080, but streaming anyway) beyond my property line, the distance coverage is there breaking through brick, mortar, walls and landscaping.

 

I do the same when mowing the grass, but there is no way I could drag a TV to the corner of my property and stream 1080p content. You are talking about streaming KB/s versus MB/s, and distance has a huge effect on that. 60ft unobstructed is about the limit for streaming HD content on a 802.11n wireless network, and that is with a top notch setup with little bandwidth traffic. That will change once the new 802.11ac routers make their way to the masses, but they are still a few months to a year+ away.

 

FYI....just to be nit picky....neither a Xbox 360 or a Wii have the hardware capability to stream 1080p content. You are getting 720p at best which gets upconverted via software and takes much less bandwidth.

[moshe_levy]

Following some advice, I did a speed test. Here are the results:

 

With laptop physically plugged into router, I got 54.09MBps download and 10.52MBps upload.

 

Near the TV, wireless, it's 11.75 download and 9.83 upload.

 

Would you say that is substantial enough to cause this?

 

-MKL

[Bob Palin]

Following some advice, I did a speed test. Here are the results:

 

With laptop physically plugged into router, I got 54.09MBps download and 10.52MBps upload.

 

Near the TV, wireless, it's 11.75 download and 9.83 upload.

 

Would you say that is substantial enough to cause this?

 

-MKL

No, my max speed from the ISP is 7MB and I watch HD programs only slightly degraded most of the time. I also doubt it is a question of signal strength or speed from the WiFi router unless the router is intermittently broken, if it works some of the time then the signal is strong enough. Interference is a possibility but I'm betting it is actually 'brownouts' in your Comcast service, you wouldn't notice them in normal usage but the high speed needs of internet TV and the small buffer in the TV make them noticeable there. First thing I would try is to borrow a router from somebody and see if that fixes the problem. (btw last night most Amazon AWS services - Netflix is one - were slow for a while, I even rebooted my EC2 server thinking it was having a problem). You could also buy or borrow a long internet cable and temporarily run it from the router to the TV, I think Sony TVs need a different setup for hard wired vs wireless internet though which might be a pain (that's just from my poor memory of when I set mine up last year).

 

p.s. I also have internet enabled Sony TV and BluRay player, I find the Wifi works better with the TV than the BluRay player, might just be that the TV is higher than the player and getting a better signal.

[OoPEZoO]

That is a hell of a drop off in speed, but it should still be OK for streaming HD as long as it is consistant.

 

I just did a little research on your router. I see that it is also a true dual band router. Have you attempted to connect your TV/DVD to the 5GHz band? You get a little less range than the 2.4GHz band, but it can make a big difference in streaming quality. Mainly due to there being much less interference at the higher frequency. It works better for high bandwidth applications.

[Harry_Wilshusen]

I have the same problem. I ran 100 ft of cable directly to the blueray player. No help. I talked to a nerdy neighbor who had the same problem. He had the know how,equipment and determination to test everything.

 

He said the problem was two fold:

 

1 Netflix. Or rather Amazons servers that netflix uses.

 

2 Charter. Allocation of resources. Usually just momentary but enough to mess with streaming.

 

 

[KLC]

We are getting 1 gigabit via fibre optic and hard wired connection from the router. Wireless we are lucky to get 30 Mbps. Unless you have the very latest lap top and desktops you will not get anywhere near the top end speeds either via cable or wireless. I pads and other devices are even slower. TP mains plug in links are supposed to run at 500 mbps but don't

 

Downloading movies is very quick if using a hard wired link but some servers out there cannot cope with the high end speeds . I think the manufacturers of hardware need to start playing catch up

[moshe_levy]

p.s. I also have internet enabled Sony TV and BluRay player, I find the Wifi works better with the TV than the BluRay player, might just be that the TV is higher than the player and getting a better signal.

 

Yes, my Bluray is buried under the TV in an enclosed console, and I'm going through that. The TV is up higher and obviously out in the open.... Hmmmm... Seems like an easy experiment to try the TV instead of the Bluray for WiFi.

 

-MKL