[SOLVED] Could I possibly need a new router?

[Neostarwcc]

I'm using an ASUS RT-AC1200 router and both my wife and I now are starting to have problems with our internet.

My wife started having problems with her internet about 2 years ago. But, I never did anything or bothered trying to fix her problem until about last summer. I bought her a brand new USB wireless card and she says that her internet was a lot faster (Her old adapter was lucky if it gave her 10 MB/s internet even though I was paying for over 100 MB/s. After I upgraded her wireless adapter from the stoneage shes now getting around 120MB/s for internet and most of my other wireless devices (TV,Tablet,Cellphone) are getting between 60 and 80. But, regardless getting her internet speeds under control she's still been experiencing pretty high lag and latencies (despite the game saying her connection is fine) and she keeps getting disconnected from her games every 30-35 minutes or so.


I mean, every ping or internet stability test that I've tried put our latency at over 200 ms for BOTH of our computers. Sometimes her latency is over 2,000 ms Although since mine is a wired connection It's like 40 ms less. The test I ran on my computer my ms never went over 200. But, anything over 50 ms is completely unacceptable. There's something wrong with our internet but I'm stumped as hell as to how or why except that, our router is the culprit. I did after all, buy it over 5 years ago and it's been off of warranty for over a year.

But, I've tried everything I've tried resetting my modem and internet/ nothing. I've tried flushing our DNS/ nothing. I've tried updating our firmware and that fixed it a little bit but I'm still getting high latencies.


The stupid thing is though? When we log into WoW it says our latency is under 30 at all times. Yet, she was getting massive lag and disconnection issues. Granted her computer is really old and only her video card is not from the stone age but she never had quite bad problems years and years before. It's either that blizzard is reporting the latency issues wrong or something else is going on here. Like, maybe I have to get a new router and spend almost 300 bucks again. I just kind of want to try everything else before I spend the money because, I honestly cannot afford it. I just spent over a year and a half paying off an over $7,000 credit card debt. I'm down to about $1,500 now. I'm trying to make this router last until July (When I pay off my debt) but, I don't know if I can or if that's even the problem. I mean, the internet when I google is saying its an issue with my network or a firewall blocking somewhere.

But, I don't use firewalls and haven't in years and I've always completely turned off windows defender for years because it's a hunk of crap. Just about the only security software I use is Zemana antimalware and It's turned off most of the time I don't do scans on our computers and malware bytes. But neither of these programs block internet connection and they're off all the time So honestly? Dunno what to do.

 

[Spaceghaze]

Have you been in contact with your ISP to check if there is any latency issues on the line? Have them maybe send a technician to check your network.


Now, there is no need to buy a router for 300 bucks, if you don't need some specific functions or options. If it is just for home network/wifi a lot of cheaper options will do.

What you can do if you think it is the router, order from for example Amazon, and if you have the same issue after just return it.

If you play WoW classic, high ping is just to get that old classic feeling

 

[Neostarwcc]

We've checked with the ISP there's nothing going on with the line its on our end. But they did say there was latency coming out of our end and offered to rent us a router for an extra $5 a month + tax so close to $10 a month, no ty. Plus lets face it, spectrum gives you routers that are complete crap too for the close to $10 a month extra on my bill. True, they'll fix it for free and bla bla bla. But 99.99% of the time whenever I buy an expensive ASUS router it ends up lasting me at least 6 years without me ever having to take it back to ASUS. So odds are I don't even need the free support from either ASUS or Spectrum. So I'd rather spend $300 and have it last for 6 years if that's the problem. I mean, it'd only end up costing me $4.16 a month in the long run. I'd rather buy a router that outlasts the warranty than to have to spend $20-$30 every 3-4 months having to send a inferior router back. It's just like motherboards and any other computer part, if you cheap out you end up getting screwed in the long run anyway. Always that way. Always cheaper in the long run to buy good parts, I just cannot afford it at the moment. Well, I can but they I'd spend another 6 months or so paying it off while trying to pay off my other credit cards and then what if some other emergency comes up? Like my wifes completely crappy desktop from over a decade ago craps the beg and I gotta spend the $2,500-$3,000 that I'm planning on investing into her rig anyway? I kinda need cushion money somewhere.

I learned my lesson years ago. I've spent tens and tens of thousands of dollars over the last 10 years (and thousands since I was in high school) buying cheaper computer parts trying to save me money and 100% of the time I had to either buy a new motherboard within not even a month or two. Or a new power supply box or... whatever the case may be.

I got smart when I graduated highschool back in 2004. I saved up $150 for a power supply box back then (Corsair TX850). And the power supply box ended up lasting me until just last year (it exploded). So it lasted me for 16 years and I never had to bring it back once, ever it just sat in all my builds for those entire 16 years. So it ended up costing me $1.28 a month for that power supply box and it was the greatest investment I had ever made.

I don't even want to know how many thousands of dollars my dad spent in power supply boxes since I was seven years old and was building my first computers. They were so cheap that they blew out within months. I've learned from years of experience to stay away from the cheap stuff. Even if it's the "right" cheap stuff. Because, I don't have luck with the "right" cheap stuff either.

Didn't mean to complain about the $300. It's just.... idk.... I'll charge it if I have to and I'll figure it out. I just want to see if it's the router before I go further into debt for it you know?


Plus, don't you need at least a 1,200 mbit router to transfer 120 megabit signals 50-60 feet across the room? Also, I know from experience when I buy cheaper routers I don't get the 120mb/s wireless download speeds that I actually pay for. I don't want to be capped at 15 mb/s when I pay for 120mb/s and need 100+ MB internet for gaming.

No we play retail. My wife has played classic for a while but didn't get into it. I want to play classic a little bit I guess since I started playing in BC a few years after I graduated highschool. I didn't really get to experience vanilla and see what all the hype was about. Maybe one day i'll download it.

 

[Spaceghaze]

No of course, i did not mean that you should get some 50$ router and that should do it, but you can find a lot of routers in the 100-150 are that are very good. Higher price then that does not necessary mean better quality, it is usually because of special features like specific ports, or support of protocols etc. OR like half of the lineup from Asus, because they put a lot of gimmicks and useless options like "game mode" in it, and slap a Asus and a ROG logo on it.

If you are looking for a new router, i would take a look at routers from companies like TP-link, LinkSys, some of the Netgear ones are also good.

If the ISP states that everything should be fine, i guess there is not much to do then try with a new router.

Does you line go strait into the ASUS router or is there a dsl modem as well?

 

[bill001g]

Your first tests should always be ethernet connected devices. Wifi has all kinds of strange issues and will hide problems with the end devices or the actual internet connection. Actual router issues tend to affect both wifi and ethernet devices.

With wifi your problem it will be pure luck if replacing the router fixes it many times. Sometimes people think a new router fixed the problem but it could have been they place the router on a slightly different location because it is shaped different than the first router.

The most common problem is interference from outside sources.....ie your neighbors wifi usage. You can actually have very poor signal levels and still get good latency. The increase in latency is caused by data retransmissions because of damage done because of interference.

You have very few ways to fix this. You can try to change the radio channel or swap between 2.4g and 5g. Problem is everyone does this so all radio bandwidth tends to have something using it.

Pay all your neighbors lots of money to not use wifi .

In general all modern routers have the same coverage and signal levels. Just replacing one with another seldom fixes wifi problems. Now you could have a defective one but that is unlikely . You also must remember that 1/2 the connection is the nic in the end device. Those tend to be the cause much more often. Many devices are designed to say conserve battery power or be very small to be more portable. They trade performance for other features. Also things like desktops do not have optimum antenna placement options. The metal case blocks the signals.

Pretty much your main problem is you are attempting to play online games on wifi. The fundamental way online games over the network is incompatible with the error recovery methods used on wifi. Pretty much everything else has few problems using wifi.

Your best option to solve this is to use ethernet cables even if it is tricky to get the cables run. If you are going to spend money I would spend it on something like powerline or moca network devices rather than continue to use wifi with online games.

 

[Spaceghaze]

Pretty much your main problem is you are attempting to play online games on wifi. The fundamental way online games over the network is incompatible with the error recovery methods used on wifi. Pretty much everything else has few problems using wifi.

Thing is that he's PC is on a wired connections and though it is better, he is still getting a high ping.

Though by my country standards, i would not consider 200ms a high ping.

 

[bill001g]

Thing is that he's PC is on a wired connections and though it is better, he is still getting a high ping.

Though by my country standards, i would not consider 200ms a high ping.

Not sure why I did not notice that maybe because it is posted in wifi.

Still if that is the actual complaint then it is even more unlikely a new router will fix the problem. A router may drop traffic but it seldom delays traffic. Any delay would be a result of data being buffered because of over utilization. But changing the router will not solve over usage.

I suspect much more controlled testing is in order to isolate any issues.

 

[Spaceghaze]

Not sure why I did not notice that maybe because it is posted in wifi.

Still if that is the actual complaint then it is even more unlikely a new router will fix the problem. A router may drop traffic but it seldom delays traffic. Any delay would be a result of data being buffered because of over utilization. But changing the router will not solve over usage.

I suspect much more controlled testing is in order to isolate any issues.

I was also thinking that it is less likely that it's the router it self. I'm more inclined towards the dsl modem, if there is one.

Btw, @Neostarwcc was the network always like this or how was it before it happened? What kind of latency did you use to have? Was there any changes in hardware, ISP or anything else that you can thing of? Like maybe they built more houses in your area(that is now connected to the same central), etc...

 

[Jassen]

@Neostarwcc So your PC is on wired connection and your wife's PC is on USB Wi-Fi stick? You get more than 2-3 ms on cable, to your Router?
Best case scenario, it's the DC adapter giving insufficient power. Had a case like that, under load, it kept disconnecting me, high latency, loosing packages, all the good stuff. And yeah things tend to brake up, my Asus PCI-E Wi-Fi card still works, but I cannot get more than 40 - 50Mbps on 300N, router-card back to back, I maxed out my 75 Mbps limit, from my ISP, when it was new. After about 4 years, it just gave up.
If you cold find another Router, to test, or maybe rent out from your ISP, for a month (even less if you can)?

 

[Neostarwcc]

Not sure why I did not notice that maybe because it is posted in wifi.

Still if that is the actual complaint then it is even more unlikely a new router will fix the problem. A router may drop traffic but it seldom delays traffic. Any delay would be a result of data being buffered because of over utilization. But changing the router will not solve over usage.

I suspect much more controlled testing is in order to isolate any issues.

Sorry for the confusion. I am using a wired connection and my wife has a wireless connection my internet is having problems too. My wife's computer is about 40 feet away from the modem/router is getting 150-180ms ping. I get 20 ms less or so than my wife when I do a ping search of google (About 130 ms).

She's getting disconnected all the time, from world of warcraft I'm not. I do get disconnected but only like maybe once every few days. Her DCs are almost constant. I'd say about every 10 minutes or so she'd lag for at least 5 minutes and then ever 30 minutes or so she'd lag and then completely disconnect from the game.

It could be because she's using wireless but, really we have no choice. I can't run a wired cable 50 feet across the room even if I stick it in the corners of the wall. It just isn't realistic.

I'm unsure which measures I should use to fix our internet. You think a new router wouldn't fix the problem, I trust your professional opinion because I know squat when it comes to networking. I can setup a network, I can semi troubleshoot a network and I know how to get into the router ...etc but as to actually fixing problems with the internet (besides resetting the router/modem which fixes 99.9% of problems but that's so easy to do my mother can do it once I taught her) I'm stumped.


I'm stumped this time too. We're both using W10 pro which has a firewall built into the system but, it's off and we never use it or firewalls because quite frankly, idk how to set one up. Like I said, networking was never my forte in college and was most of the reason I flunked out of college (Well that and math). Anyway, if you guys could suggest some solutions that'd be great. I mean, it has to either be something to do with my router or a problem at home that's causing this. Her adapter is pretty much brand new so it can't be that. I bought it for her around August 2019 when I built my rig. That makes it only 6-7 ish months old. Most wireless adapters last way longer than that. Not to mention, why am I having internet problems too?

The stupid thing about spectrum is they don't let you just directly hook up your internet to your computer anymore like we've been able to used to do for years.

They only send and allow internet through one particular modem so that nobody you can't give internet to somebody else. Yet, wifi exists and billions of people can connect to your wifi if you have no router knowledge. Just...stupidity. Anyway, nobody else is using my internet I already checked. Only my devices are connected to the router (My 2 cell phones, my tablet, and my TV). But here's something really strange too. For about a year to a year and a half now I've had to reconnect the wifi on my tablet and cellphones dozens of times a month. I think my TV had the same problem too until we just hooked it up with a wired connection. Now we haven't had a problem with the internet at all.

 

[Neostarwcc]

powerline

The thing is though my wife didn't have these disconnection problems before. She used to get lag a lot but I mostly fixing that by replacing her dinosaur age adapter.


If I were to get a powerline connection and a 60 foot ethernet cable or so how would I run that across the walls so that nobody would trip over them or anything? I think I'd have to buy her an ethernet card too because I think the integrated ethernet card on her motherboard does not work.

Her computer is from the stone age and I'm in the middle of trying to save up so I can upgrade it. So I guess I have a few options this summer or so. Upgrade her computer and fix my internet with a powerline adapter. Which powerline adapter should I get?

 

[Neostarwcc]

@Neostarwcc So your PC is on wired connection and your wife's PC is on USB Wi-Fi stick? You get more than 2-3 ms on cable, to your Router?
Best case scenario, it's the DC adapter giving insufficient power. Had a case like that, under load, it kept disconnecting me, high latency, loosing packages, all the good stuff. And yeah things tend to brake up, my Asus PCI-E Wi-Fi card still works, but I cannot get more than 40 - 50Mbps on 300N, router-card back to back, I maxed out my 75 Mbps limit, from my ISP, when it was new. After about 4 years, it just gave up.
If you cold find another Router, to test, or maybe rent out from your ISP, for a month (even less if you can)?

Yes that's correct. I think Spectrum has no contracts and you can cancel any of their additions anytime. So that might be an idea and it'd only cost me $5 plus tax plus whatever gas my mom would use driving me down to the cable company and home. So less than 15 bucks. I just hope if I do go with their router that they won't bill me more after. I'm already paying enough for my 120 mb internet as it is (about $65 a month plus tax). I just hope if they raise the price $5 a month and I cancel the router that they don't charge me another $20 a month for cable because I "changed their deal."

Like one time they did to me when I had 80 mbit internet from them. I downgraded to 15 to try to save myself money but I couldn't stand it and within the next day I reupgraded to 80 and they charged me a fortune for it. Just... I hate the company and wish they weren't the only cable company in the small ass town that I live in. They are literally the only choice for internet unless you want to downgrade to Dish Networks Satellite connection. If I couldn't handle 15 mb/s internet I definitely couldn't handle Satellite lol.

 

[Neostarwcc]

I was also thinking that it is less likely that it's the router it self. I'm more inclined towards the dsl modem, if there is one.

Btw, @Neostarwcc was the network always like this or how was it before it happened? What kind of latency did you use to have? Was there any changes in hardware, ISP or anything else that you can thing of? Like maybe they built more houses in your area(that is now connected to the same central), etc...

I am using my own modem and it is several years old. Forgive me, I don't remember what kind of modem it was and I don't see anything on the back of the modem to identify what it is other than an HFC mac ID and a serial number. I did have a 3 year warranty with it but I'm pretty sure the warranty is long exipired. I bought the modem back in like 2014 or 15 or so.


But, that is an option. Modems are only like $30 to replace. It's only a pain to have to call up spectrum and tell them you changed modems. You have to tell them about every piece of equipment or they refuse to put internet signal through it.

I just looked it up since it requires newer modems than it did back in 2014 a new modem is about 80 bucks instead of the like $30 I paid years ago. So $50 more and doesn't even come with a warranty. Hmm.

 

[Unknown E]

Do you have WiFi interference? Most WiFi's have frequency of about 2.4Ghz. If you can change the channel of it, try the 1st, 6th or 11th channel for your WiFi.

 

[Neostarwcc]

Do you have WiFi interference? Most WiFi's have frequency of about 2.4Ghz. If you can change the channel of it, try the 1st, 6th or 11th channel for your WiFi.

She's connected to the 5 ghz. I haven't had her try the 2.4 Ghz. I'll have her try it and see if it does anything.

 

[Jassen]

@Neostarwcc
Do a ping test to your Router, not to google or something. Do it on the cable, if you get more than 3ms - 4ms, something is wrong with the router. Try default packet size and try the maximum, for windows 65500.

 

[bill001g]

The thing is though my wife didn't have these disconnection problems before. She used to get lag a lot but I mostly fixing that by replacing her dinosaur age adapter.


If I were to get a powerline connection and a 60 foot ethernet cable or so how would I run that across the walls so that nobody would trip over them or anything? I think I'd have to buy her an ethernet card too because I think the integrated ethernet card on her motherboard does not work.

Her computer is from the stone age and I'm in the middle of trying to save up so I can upgrade it. So I guess I have a few options this summer or so. Upgrade her computer and fix my internet with a powerline adapter. Which powerline adapter should I get?

I missed this post. Powerline technology uses your electical wires in your house as a ethernet cable. It takes the place of the long ethernet cable. Sort of a ethernet cable you can plug into the electricity without frying your equipment.

You would need a short ethernet cable to connect it to the router and then another short ethernet cable to connect it to the remote pc. If the device on the far end only accepts wifi they make powerline units that can also put out wifi on the remote end.

Powerline units are greatly affected by the quality and path of the electrical wires in your house so it is very hard to say which units are best. It is unknown why some brands work better for some people and not others.

In general most the actual chips that do the work are made by qualcomm but they do not sell devices. TPLINK tends to be one of the better known brands that sell units.

You want at a minimum units that are AV2 based. AV2-1200 tends to be very common but you will see units with 1000 and 2000 numbers. AV2 is the latest homeplug and runs better than av200 or av500 units.

After that the model difference depend on how many ethernet ports you want, if you need wifi on the end, and things like if it has a power outlet since these units block the power socket.