Home Network Question

cubboyroy1826 · 02-02-2010, 08:50 PM

Okay computer guys i have network question. My house is currently wired with Cat5 cable to most of the rooms. Until a couple of months ago our internet has worked pretty decent. We have Comcast broadband for our internet and i have new Linksys N plus router. We have hubs in two different rooms one of which has 3 computers hooked up and the other which has two computers connected along with my son playing XBox Live occasionally. My oldest son got a new monster computer from IBuyPower which has multiple fans and cooling and i cannot remember what else. Our computer issues started at about the same time he got his computer. All of our computers have XP or Vista except for his which has Windows7. Its there any poissibility that his computer is causing the problems and could Windows7 be causing the problem?

Alan T · 02-02-2010, 09:27 PM

Theoretically, yes it could cause a problem. A faulty ethernet card on the computer for instance could cause problems for the rest of the network. It might not be hardware related though and could be some application your son is running that is bandwidth intensive. Or something completely unrelated

One easy/quick test is simply disconnect his computer and see if the problem stops.

Sun Tzu · 02-02-2010, 09:36 PM

Well you could start by actually telling us what the problem is

Is it slower? Do some computers not have any connection at all? Is it working only intermittently?

If the new PC is hogging the bandwidth, there isn't a whole lot you can do really. Other than A.) upgrading to a faster speed service on comcast or B.) dedicating one cable line/account to his PC alone, and getting a second for the rest of the house.

I'm running two separate accounts in my place. One basic 5MB/downstream for my wife who works from home and needs something 1000% reliable, and one 16MB/downstream for the rest of the place which includes a PS3, a laptop, a power rig, and the receiving end of a slingbox.

cubboyroy1826 · 02-02-2010, 09:53 PM

The internet works intermittent. We can fly along and then there are periods when the internet is painfully slow or does not work at all. I did disconnect his internet earlier and things seemed to work fine which is why i am starting to think it might be his computer.

Thanks for the feedback Sun. I have Comcast headed out Thursday. Is there a way for them to test if a certain computer is hogging band width?

CU Tiger · 02-02-2010, 10:36 PM

Does your router or hub allow you to throttle bandwidth to a given port?

cubboyroy1826 · 02-02-2010, 10:49 PM

Not really sure if it does. The router is a Linksys WRT320N.

the_meanstrosity · 02-03-2010, 12:06 AM

Is your son doing any P2P? That could definitely be the cause. I don't know much about viruses, but I'm guessing that could be an issue as well on his pc. I would definitely check the network activity on his pc and see if his pc is using more bandwidth than the others.

k0ruptr · 02-03-2010, 12:56 AM

He could be either downloading a whole lot of stuff. or playing a very broadband intensive game, or streaming a ton of porn. your choice.

DanGarion · 02-03-2010, 10:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cubboyroy1826

The internet works intermittent. We can fly along and then there are periods when the internet is painfully slow or does not work at all. I did disconnect his internet earlier and things seemed to work fine which is why i am starting to think it might be his computer.

Thanks for the feedback Sun. I have Comcast headed out Thursday. Is there a way for them to test if a certain computer is hogging band width?

If Comcast is like Time Warner Cable, no. They aren't responsible for your network and will not touch anything that has to do with the network. They will only check the signal level for the modem and verify that a single computer connection to it works correctly.

Sun Tzu · 02-03-2010, 10:51 AM

Yeah...it does sound like he's hogging most of the bandwidth. Do you know what speed your current downstream/upstream is? Realistically if you want this to stop and you want him to be able to keep the PC, you're going to have to set up two separate internet lines.

DanGarion · 02-03-2010, 10:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sun Tzu

Yeah...it does sound like he's hogging most of the bandwidth. Do you know what speed your current downstream/upstream is? Realistically if you want this to stop and you want him to be able to keep the PC, you're going to have to set up two separate internet lines.

Or have a router that does proper bandwidth monitoring. Of course if your son is doing a bunch of P2P stuff that is slowing the network down, you might want to address that, since most (not all) P2P is technically illegal (such as sharing of copyrighted materials), and if he was to get caught you would be responsible.

The WRT320N does appear to have QoS which could possible help resolve the issues you are having if it's really a bandwidth issue.

Quote:

On-time delivery with QoS
And, to deliver your time-sensitive traffic efficiently, the Router features Quality of Service (QoS) capabilities. QoS tells your network to give priority to packets in time-sensitive streams like Voice (VoIP) or media (audio or video), so that these types of applications can deliver less garbled conversations and smoother digital video.

* Prioritize applications:
o MSN Messenger, Skype, or Yahoo! Messenger
o Nine popular online game presets, or add your own
* Or prioritize devices by MAC address, specific Gigabit Ethernet port, or specific Voice device
* Also supports Wi-Fi MultiMedia (WMM) for automatic prioritization of voice and video streams

Alan T · 02-03-2010, 11:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DanGarion

Or have a router that does proper bandwidth monitoring. Of course if your son is doing a bunch of P2P stuff that is slowing the network down, you might want to address that, since most (not all) P2P is technically illegal (such as sharing of copyrighted materials), and if he was to get caught you would be responsible.

The WRT320N does appear to have QoS which could possible help resolve the issues you are having if it's really a bandwidth issue.

Problem with doing QoS on a home internet connection is that it is not really overly effective as it would be on a corporate environment where you control both sides. It can effectively limit what goes out and what comes in but only once already on your network (ie: downloading p2p it could still saturate a circuit if not careful).

Why I suggested first simply disconnecting the suspect system from the network was to actually determine if that system was the problem or not. if it is the problem, then you have to determine if it is hardware or application/usage. If an application/usage issue (ie: the kid downloading stuff), that is best addressed by just simply having them not do that. If hardware, then that could easily be resolved as well depending on what the actual issue is.

DanGarion · 02-03-2010, 11:04 AM

How long have you have the router? And have you ever updated the firmware?

DanGarion · 02-03-2010, 11:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alan T

Problem with doing QoS on a home internet connection is that it is not really overly effective as it would be on a corporate environment where you control both sides. It can effectively limit what goes out and what comes in but only once already on your network (ie: downloading p2p it could still saturate a circuit if not careful).

Why I suggested first simply disconnecting the suspect system from the network was to actually determine if that system was the problem or not. if it is the problem, then you have to determine if it is hardware or application/usage. If an application/usage issue (ie: the kid downloading stuff), that is best addressed by just simply having them not do that. If hardware, then that could easily be resolved as well depending on what the actual issue is.

Agreed, which is why I was hoping he will determine if the device was causing the issue first before he took any other suggestions.

The router does have parental controls that can disable specific ports, functions, and applications over the network, if need as well.

Of course if he's using Windows 7, hopefully he set it up with an admin account only he has access to and his son with a regular user account.

cubboyroy1826 · 02-03-2010, 11:52 AM

We are going to disconnect his computer from the network for a few hours to see what that does. He of course is not happy about this but since he does not want to pay the bills he agreed.

cubboyroy1826 · 02-03-2010, 01:47 PM

Okay went in and disconnected his internet from the router. After talking with him further he does a lot of You Tubing, some MSN chatting but really does not play any online games anymore. He used to play a bunch of WOW but has not for a while. As for the porn that has not happened for a while because of the settings for his port on the router. His computer is brand new or at least only a couple of months old.

I asked about the p2p and he had no clue so someone will have to give me some more info on that. He plays some old games with an emulator but once again those are not online.

MikeVic · 02-03-2010, 01:49 PM

Your oldest son is probably downloading gigs of porn.

DanGarion · 02-03-2010, 01:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cubboyroy1826

Okay went in and disconnected his internet from the router. After talking with him further he does a lot of You Tubing, some MSN chatting but really does not play any online games anymore. He used to play a bunch of WOW but has not for a while. As for the porn that has not happened for a while because of the settings for his port on the router. His computer is brand new or at least only a couple of months old.

I asked about the p2p and he had no clue so someone will have to give me some more info on that. He plays some old games with an emulator but once again those are not online.

Poor kid can't access porn. I feel sorry for him. jk.

cubboyroy1826 · 02-03-2010, 02:02 PM

Not so much worried if he did but the fact that he is connected to the network i would prefer not to have that stuff having access to the network. Let's face it he will find that stuff somewhere but i have heard too many horror stories and with the fact i occasionally work from home i do not need computer issues.

cubboyroy1826 · 02-03-2010, 03:12 PM

Okay so humming along just fine for the past hour. My other son jumps on the Xbox live and starts playing and my internet slows down again. Is it really possible that the Xbox and a game machine could suck out the bandwidth?

stevew · 02-03-2010, 03:17 PM

Quite possibly yes. I would see if they have a higher speed package you can buy. Like I dunno what your transfer rate is supposed to be, but merely uploading or downloading a few files on one of my machines used to tank the connections to the other ones. Until I switched from DSL(768K) to Cable(much better)

cubboyroy1826 · 02-03-2010, 03:51 PM

Okay Steve i talked with Comcast and they upgraded me to the next higher package but said that in order to go to their highest package that i would need a new modem. I was on their 12MB package and am now on 16MB the next step is 50MB. I have a technician coming out tomorrow and was wondering if upping the speed is better than splitting the speed by having two separate modems? The cost is obviously a bit more but i can live with that.

DanGarion · 02-03-2010, 03:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cubboyroy1826

Okay Steve i talked with Comcast and they upgraded me to the next higher package but said that in order to go to their highest package that i would need a new modem. I was on their 12MB package and am now on 16MB the next step is 50MB. I have a technician coming out tomorrow and was wondering if upping the speed is better than splitting the speed by having two separate modems? The cost is obviously a bit more but i can live with that.

I'd suggest that 50 Mb service would be fine. Sounds like you are in a Docsis 3.0 area. nice.

cubboyroy1826 · 02-03-2010, 03:56 PM

Quote:

Looks like you are in a Docsis 3.0 area.

Yep that is exactly what the customer service rep said and it meant nothing to me other than i can hopefully fix my problem. It double my internet cost but once again i will be happy if it fixes the problem.

gstelmack · 02-03-2010, 07:33 PM

The problem here can be upload speed. Upload speed is MUCH lower than download, and many games can suck nearly all the upload speed away. In that case you can receive pages fast, but it takes forever for your browser to send out the request for the page in the first place.

One key reason I'm so strongly considering a switch to U-Verse when they get here is that they have much more reasonable upload speeds than cable.

cubboyroy1826 · 02-05-2010, 10:56 AM

Okay Comcast was out yesterday and gave me this new modem. I updated the firmware on my Linksys router and lo and behold the same old shit. Right now with just me and my 9,6 year old girls online i am slow as hell again. So far this morning the internet has gone down completely once according to my network and i am completely lost as to what to do. I can go up two more tiers in speed but with hardly any usage i am still moving at turtle speed. The only other thing i can think of is the cable coming to the house is bad but Comcast swears the speed to the house is fine.

gstelmack · 02-05-2010, 11:12 AM

Line noise is certainly a possibility.

fantom1979 · 02-05-2010, 12:01 PM

Is your cable modem in a place where you can keep an eye on it? I would watch the lights on your modem and check to see if the lights on the modem stay lit at all times. Compare how the lights are lit when things are operating normally, compared to how they are lit when it is working poorly (or not at all).

Other tests I would do if it was my network:

1. If possible, disconnect your router for a few hours (or a day) connect your computer directly to the cable modem. If you do this and don't get any problems, it eliminates the cable company/modem as the problem.

2. You said your house is wired for cat5. I am guessing this means that you have wall ports that you connect your network cable to. Where do these wall ports run to? I have seen some houses that these wall ports are connected to a switch in another room or basement and then the switch is connected to the router. If you have a setup like that, make sure the switch is not going bad.

3. I would still do a P2P check on your son's computer. Look for programs like Bittorrent, Utorrent, Limewire, or Azureus. There are others, but those are the most popular.

DanGarion · 02-05-2010, 12:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fantom1979

1. If possible, disconnect your router for a few hours (or a day) connect your computer directly to the cable modem. If you do this and don't get any problems, it eliminates the cable company/modem as the problem.

This honestly would have been my first suggestion. Take the entire network out of the equation. Also when the service does stop working make sure to see if the "Cable" light on the modem is solid or not.

cubboyroy1826 · 02-05-2010, 07:25 PM

Quote:

1. If possible, disconnect your router for a few hours (or a day) connect your computer directly to the cable modem. If you do this and don't get any problems, it eliminates the cable company/modem as the problem.

Yeah i will give that a try tomorrow.

gstelmack · 02-05-2010, 08:23 PM

Make sure you've got a good firewall running when you do that. Even if you only have one computer, putting it behind a router is a good idea from a security standpoint. Having your computer connected directly so it gets an IP that's open to the world is a huge hole.

CU Tiger · 02-05-2010, 08:47 PM

wherever the cable modem is, is there a splitter there. maybe breaking internet and tv?

those are notorious for going bad (yes even the "good" ones)

cubboyroy1826 · 02-05-2010, 09:58 PM

CU the main cable line comes in and splits off for TV and internet. Comcast came in and put a filter on the line going to the cable. I could always swap out the splitter without a problem if you think that might be an issue.

CU Tiger · 02-06-2010, 08:32 AM

ok
1) Make sure it is just a 1 in 2 out splitter
2) see if the dB reduction is listed on the splitter
3) may try taking this out for a test run, and see if it solves the problem. Those splitters are crap and they will fail, the filter is just further restriction....but sounds tto me like there is a line amplifier somewhere else in the house and they are stepping it down to keep from blowing out the modem...having said that if its a newer modem it may be able to handle more than an older tech would think. Is the filter a new addition or has it been there.

DanGarion · 02-06-2010, 09:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CU Tiger

wherever the cable modem is, is there a splitter there. maybe breaking internet and tv?

those are notorious for going bad (yes even the "good" ones)

No they aren't.

DanGarion · 02-06-2010, 09:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cubboyroy1826

CU the main cable line comes in and splits off for TV and internet. Comcast came in and put a filter on the line going to the cable. I could always swap out the splitter without a problem if you think that might be an issue.

Did the tech tell you it was a filter, because in the cable TV world there is no such thing as a 'filter'.

CU Tiger · 02-06-2010, 09:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DanGarion

No they aren't.

I guess we will just have to disagree.
Every one of my trucks keeps splitters on them to replace and every cable company in America keeps them on their service trucks.

Sorry but I own a home tech company we install cable (among many other things) in homes during construction and I have every meter known to mankind as well as competent trained technicians. I can not tell you how many times we get a call because the local cable company said the wwiring was bad inside the house.

I can hook up at the wall plate and show the signal quality, then hook up behind the splitter and see the degradation. On average I go through 25-30 splitters a week on 34 trucks.

CU Tiger · 02-06-2010, 09:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DanGarion

Did the tech tell you it was a filter, because in the cable TV world there is no such thing as a 'filter'.

This is totally incorrect.
There are low pass filters, high pass filters, notching filters, signal peaking filters, etc etc etc

Looking at my inventory list I stock 18 items with filter in the name related to coax....

DanGarion · 02-06-2010, 09:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CU Tiger

I guess we will just have to disagree.
Every one of my trucks keeps splitters on them to replace and every cable company in America keeps them on their service trucks.

Sorry but I own a home tech company we install cable (among many other things) in homes during construction and I have every meter known to mankind as well as competent trained technicians. I can not tell you how many times we get a call because the local cable company said the wwiring was bad inside the house.

I can hook up at the wall plate and show the signal quality, then hook up behind the splitter and see the degradation. On average I go through 25-30 splitters a week on 34 trucks.

Keeping splitters on a truck does not prove they are notorious to go bad. Our techs go through a lot of them a week. It's a typical thing to replace because it's a passive device. But if a tech was out there, he should have tested signal at the Tap, before the groundblock, and the longest line or HSO line. He would have calculated what the signal loss would have been based upon the length of cable and the splitters involved and determined if the loss he was getting on that longest line was in line with how much loss he should be getting. Also techs are normally required to do home certifications on the longest line, which is uploaded to the server, if it fails on that check the tech has to resolve the issue. I'm not going to say that's what this tech did but I'm pretty sure Comcast does just about the same thing we do.

He had a tech out there, and the tech checked the line, so I think for now he should focus on the computer / network side and not focus on the RF side. There could very well be a virus/worm/trojan on one if not all of if computers.

CU Tiger · 02-06-2010, 09:32 AM

Dola -

What I have seen probably a hundred times is a cable company tech will install a high pass filter essentially taking out the Tv signal and "allowing" the internet content to utilize the full capacity of the coax.

This is directly out of a TW training piece from about 5 years ago.
The logic has serious flaws and is not effective (namely what about the cable that is carrying the signal from outside to the wall port0 but it is common practice and seen regularly in the field.

CU Tiger · 02-06-2010, 09:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DanGarion

Keeping splitters on a truck does not prove they are notorious to go bad. Our techs go through a lot of them a week. It's a typical thing to replace because it's a passive device. But if a tech was out there, he should have tested signal at the Tap, before the groundblock, and the longest line or HSO line. He would have calculated what the signal loss would have been based upon the length of cable and the splitters involved and determined if the loss he was getting on that longest line was in line with how much loss he should be getting. Also techs are normally required to do home certifications on the longest line, which is uploaded to the server, if it fails on that check the tech has to resolve the issue. I'm not going to say that's what this tech did but I'm pretty sure Comcast does just about the same thing we do.

He had a tech out there, and the tech checked the line, so I think for now he should focus on the computer / network side and not focus on the RF side. There could very well be a virus/worm/trojan on one if not all of if computers.

Understand what you are saying.
Where we disagree apparently is you trust the tech did the right diagnostic, and Id wager my paycheeck he spent 10 minutes and did what usually works.

DanGarion · 02-06-2010, 09:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CU Tiger

This is totally incorrect.
There are low pass filters, high pass filters, notching filters, signal peaking filters, etc etc etc

Looking at my inventory list I stock 18 items with filter in the name related to coax....

Sorry but cable companies don't typically use any of those filters, and our techs don't carry any of them out in the field. They only type of 'filter' that we use typically are broadband traps which filter out the cable TV frequencies of customers that only subscribe to broadband services. Other than that it's splitters and DCs.

DanGarion · 02-06-2010, 09:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CU Tiger

Dola -

What I have seen probably a hundred times is a cable company tech will install a high pass filter essentially taking out the Tv signal and "allowing" the internet content to utilize the full capacity of the coax.

This is directly out of a TW training piece from about 5 years ago.
The logic has serious flaws and is not effective (namely what about the cable that is carrying the signal from outside to the wall port0 but it is common practice and seen regularly in the field.

FYI
HSO services only travel on specified frequencies regardless of trapped out services. There is no mechanism in place in DOCSIS that allows HSO services to utilize the frequencies that the video services typically use.

CU Tiger · 02-06-2010, 09:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DanGarion

FYI
HSO services only travel on specified frequencies regardless of trapped out services. There is no mechanism in place in DOCSIS that allows HSO services to utilize the frequencies that the video services typically use.

Understood, however the copper core has a limit to the amount of data flow it can carry. There was a thought, (which again I disagree with) that by notching out the un wanted portion of the signal you would get less signal interference and better signal clarity....but this disregards the fact that the signal may already be degraded elsewhere in the home.

side note it is why tech infrastructure is so critical in home building. In one of our homes you would have separate ports there one for video and one for net. Each with separate feed outside, color coded.
That is if you were not structured for fiber....

cubboyroy1826 · 02-06-2010, 11:57 AM

He put the filter on for the Cable TV signal. He said there was some noise on his test and thought the filter might help. We do have an amplifier for the cable TV through out the house. We have a Greyfox system setup in the basement which i probably should have mentioned in the beginning. The internet does not hook up with the Greyfox box though. The way the house is setup is the Cat5 is run to each of the rooms in the house from the basement where all of the cables are located and then are plugged in to the router depending on which rooms i want to have internet.

02-02-2010, 09:27 PM	#2
Alan T Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Mass.	Theoretically, yes it could cause a problem. A faulty ethernet card on the computer for instance could cause problems for the rest of the network. It might not be hardware related though and could be some application your son is running that is bandwidth intensive. Or something completely unrelated One easy/quick test is simply disconnect his computer and see if the problem stops. __________________ Couch to ??k - From the couch to a Marathon in roughly 18 months.

02-02-2010, 09:36 PM	#3
Sun Tzu Pro Starter Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: In the thick of it.	Well you could start by actually telling us what the problem is Is it slower? Do some computers not have any connection at all? Is it working only intermittently? If the new PC is hogging the bandwidth, there isn't a whole lot you can do really. Other than A.) upgrading to a faster speed service on comcast or B.) dedicating one cable line/account to his PC alone, and getting a second for the rest of the house. I'm running two separate accounts in my place. One basic 5MB/downstream for my wife who works from home and needs something 1000% reliable, and one 16MB/downstream for the rest of the place which includes a PS3, a laptop, a power rig, and the receiving end of a slingbox. __________________ I'm still here. Don't touch my fucking bacon.

02-03-2010, 12:56 AM	#8
k0ruptr Pro Starter Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Las Vegas	He could be either downloading a whole lot of stuff. or playing a very broadband intensive game, or streaming a ton of porn. your choice. __________________ Xbox Live Gamertag: k0ruptr My Favorite Teams : Chicago White Sox - Carolina Panthers - Orlando Magic - Phoenix Suns - Anaheim Ducks - Hawaii Warriors - Oregon Ducks

02-03-2010, 10:51 AM	#10
Sun Tzu Pro Starter Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: In the thick of it.	Yeah...it does sound like he's hogging most of the bandwidth. Do you know what speed your current downstream/upstream is? Realistically if you want this to stop and you want him to be able to keep the PC, you're going to have to set up two separate internet lines. __________________ I'm still here. Don't touch my fucking bacon.

02-03-2010, 11:04 AM	#13
DanGarion Coordinator Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: The Great Northwest	How long have you have the router? And have you ever updated the firmware? __________________ Los Angeles Dodgers Check out the FOFC Groups on Facebook! and Reddit! DON'T REPORT ME BRO!

02-02-2010, 09:53 PM	#4
cubboyroy1826 College Benchwarmer Join Date: Jun 2002	The internet works intermittent. We can fly along and then there are periods when the internet is painfully slow or does not work at all. I did disconnect his internet earlier and things seemed to work fine which is why i am starting to think it might be his computer. Thanks for the feedback Sun. I have Comcast headed out Thursday. Is there a way for them to test if a certain computer is hogging band width?

02-02-2010, 10:36 PM	#5
CU Tiger Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Backwoods, SC	Does your router or hub allow you to throttle bandwidth to a given port?

02-02-2010, 10:49 PM	#6
cubboyroy1826 College Benchwarmer Join Date: Jun 2002	Not really sure if it does. The router is a Linksys WRT320N.

02-03-2010, 12:06 AM	#7
the_meanstrosity College Benchwarmer Join Date: Oct 2002	Is your son doing any P2P? That could definitely be the cause. I don't know much about viruses, but I'm guessing that could be an issue as well on his pc. I would definitely check the network activity on his pc and see if his pc is using more bandwidth than the others.

02-03-2010, 11:52 AM	#15
cubboyroy1826 College Benchwarmer Join Date: Jun 2002	We are going to disconnect his computer from the network for a few hours to see what that does. He of course is not happy about this but since he does not want to pay the bills he agreed.

02-03-2010, 01:47 PM	#16
cubboyroy1826 College Benchwarmer Join Date: Jun 2002	Okay went in and disconnected his internet from the router. After talking with him further he does a lot of You Tubing, some MSN chatting but really does not play any online games anymore. He used to play a bunch of WOW but has not for a while. As for the porn that has not happened for a while because of the settings for his port on the router. His computer is brand new or at least only a couple of months old. I asked about the p2p and he had no clue so someone will have to give me some more info on that. He plays some old games with an emulator but once again those are not online.

02-03-2010, 01:49 PM	#17
MikeVic Head Coach Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Hometown of Canada	Your oldest son is probably downloading gigs of porn.

02-03-2010, 02:02 PM	#19
cubboyroy1826 College Benchwarmer Join Date: Jun 2002	Not so much worried if he did but the fact that he is connected to the network i would prefer not to have that stuff having access to the network. Let's face it he will find that stuff somewhere but i have heard too many horror stories and with the fact i occasionally work from home i do not need computer issues.

02-03-2010, 03:12 PM	#20
cubboyroy1826 College Benchwarmer Join Date: Jun 2002	Okay so humming along just fine for the past hour. My other son jumps on the Xbox live and starts playing and my internet slows down again. Is it really possible that the Xbox and a game machine could suck out the bandwidth?

02-03-2010, 03:17 PM	#21
stevew Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: the yo'	Quite possibly yes. I would see if they have a higher speed package you can buy. Like I dunno what your transfer rate is supposed to be, but merely uploading or downloading a few files on one of my machines used to tank the connections to the other ones. Until I switched from DSL(768K) to Cable(much better)

02-03-2010, 03:51 PM	#22
cubboyroy1826 College Benchwarmer Join Date: Jun 2002	Okay Steve i talked with Comcast and they upgraded me to the next higher package but said that in order to go to their highest package that i would need a new modem. I was on their 12MB package and am now on 16MB the next step is 50MB. I have a technician coming out tomorrow and was wondering if upping the speed is better than splitting the speed by having two separate modems? The cost is obviously a bit more but i can live with that.

02-03-2010, 07:33 PM	#25
gstelmack Pro Starter Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Cary, NC	The problem here can be upload speed. Upload speed is MUCH lower than download, and many games can suck nearly all the upload speed away. In that case you can receive pages fast, but it takes forever for your browser to send out the request for the page in the first place. One key reason I'm so strongly considering a switch to U-Verse when they get here is that they have much more reasonable upload speeds than cable. __________________ -- Greg -- Author of various FOF utilities

02-05-2010, 10:56 AM	#26
cubboyroy1826 College Benchwarmer Join Date: Jun 2002	Okay Comcast was out yesterday and gave me this new modem. I updated the firmware on my Linksys router and lo and behold the same old shit. Right now with just me and my 9,6 year old girls online i am slow as hell again. So far this morning the internet has gone down completely once according to my network and i am completely lost as to what to do. I can go up two more tiers in speed but with hardly any usage i am still moving at turtle speed. The only other thing i can think of is the cable coming to the house is bad but Comcast swears the speed to the house is fine.

02-05-2010, 11:12 AM	#27
gstelmack Pro Starter Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Cary, NC	Line noise is certainly a possibility. __________________ -- Greg -- Author of various FOF utilities

02-05-2010, 12:01 PM	#28
fantom1979 College Benchwarmer Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Sterling Heights, Mi	Is your cable modem in a place where you can keep an eye on it? I would watch the lights on your modem and check to see if the lights on the modem stay lit at all times. Compare how the lights are lit when things are operating normally, compared to how they are lit when it is working poorly (or not at all). Other tests I would do if it was my network: 1. If possible, disconnect your router for a few hours (or a day) connect your computer directly to the cable modem. If you do this and don't get any problems, it eliminates the cable company/modem as the problem. 2. You said your house is wired for cat5. I am guessing this means that you have wall ports that you connect your network cable to. Where do these wall ports run to? I have seen some houses that these wall ports are connected to a switch in another room or basement and then the switch is connected to the router. If you have a setup like that, make sure the switch is not going bad. 3. I would still do a P2P check on your son's computer. Look for programs like Bittorrent, Utorrent, Limewire, or Azureus. There are others, but those are the most popular.

02-05-2010, 08:23 PM	#31
gstelmack Pro Starter Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Cary, NC	Make sure you've got a good firewall running when you do that. Even if you only have one computer, putting it behind a router is a good idea from a security standpoint. Having your computer connected directly so it gets an IP that's open to the world is a huge hole. __________________ -- Greg -- Author of various FOF utilities

02-05-2010, 08:47 PM	#32
CU Tiger Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Backwoods, SC	wherever the cable modem is, is there a splitter there. maybe breaking internet and tv? those are notorious for going bad (yes even the "good" ones)

02-05-2010, 09:58 PM	#33
cubboyroy1826 College Benchwarmer Join Date: Jun 2002	CU the main cable line comes in and splits off for TV and internet. Comcast came in and put a filter on the line going to the cable. I could always swap out the splitter without a problem if you think that might be an issue.

02-06-2010, 08:32 AM	#34
CU Tiger Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Backwoods, SC	ok 1) Make sure it is just a 1 in 2 out splitter 2) see if the dB reduction is listed on the splitter 3) may try taking this out for a test run, and see if it solves the problem. Those splitters are crap and they will fail, the filter is just further restriction....but sounds tto me like there is a line amplifier somewhere else in the house and they are stepping it down to keep from blowing out the modem...having said that if its a newer modem it may be able to handle more than an older tech would think. Is the filter a new addition or has it been there.

02-06-2010, 09:32 AM	#40
CU Tiger Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Backwoods, SC	Dola - What I have seen probably a hundred times is a cable company tech will install a high pass filter essentially taking out the Tv signal and "allowing" the internet content to utilize the full capacity of the coax. This is directly out of a TW training piece from about 5 years ago. The logic has serious flaws and is not effective (namely what about the cable that is carrying the signal from outside to the wall port0 but it is common practice and seen regularly in the field.

02-06-2010, 11:57 AM	#45
cubboyroy1826 College Benchwarmer Join Date: Jun 2002	He put the filter on for the Cable TV signal. He said there was some noise on his test and thought the filter might help. We do have an amplifier for the cable TV through out the house. We have a Greyfox system setup in the basement which i probably should have mentioned in the beginning. The internet does not hook up with the Greyfox box though. The way the house is setup is the Cat5 is run to each of the rooms in the house from the basement where all of the cables are located and then are plugged in to the router depending on which rooms i want to have internet.

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