Disappearing fast internet

[Rokas2260]

Hi!

Background: I got this difficult situation that's been going on ever since we moved to a new living place (3 months).. Before moving out, we had internet of 140mbps there were rare problems with it but nothing serious.. But now the 3 months that we lived in the place, we had lots of problems that we tried to fix along side the company of the internet that I'm using, we solved most of them but it's became sorta of a bull**** at the end with them..

Problem: So now we're thinking if we should change our internet provider, because our internet that we bought, which is 200mbps, is not there and we got barely 20mbps (just checked, it barely reaches 7mbps) at most apart from lost connections and wifi problems that occur very often, so we're paying for almost nothing and the company doesn't seem to be able to fix their problems (as in 2 months ago said that they will send us a new modem because our modem doesn't handle 200mbps but it doesn't even give us the 100mbps that it should like from our last living place)

So the question that I got is, if we should really get new internet provider?

Additional info: We use Technicolor internet provider and their TC7200.20 modem.
We have had used all available options on solving the problems for internet speed as well as contacting them more than 10 times (other 20 times them not picking up because the line is full with other people waiting as well most likely)


Small request if anyone knows: I am living in Germany, and if anyone does know any better internet providers and would recommend them instead than what we're having at the moment would be great to look them up..

 

[Solandri]

First thing you should do is test the speed with a computer connected directly to the modem with an Ethernet cable. This will let you determine if the problem is truly with the modem and the cable company's network, or if it's with your internal equipment (router, cables, WiFi network).

If you determine the problem is due to the modem or cable company, according to the specs, that's a DOCSIS 3.0 modem with 8x4 channels. Each channel has a nominal bandwidth of about 38 Mbps, so the theoretical max speed this modem should support is about 300 Mbps down, 150 Mbps up.

https://www.avanzada7.com/en/productos/networking/routers/tc7200-20

Since you're not getting anything close to that, obviously something is wrong. The simplest thing you can try is to request a cable modem reset. Call up your cable company and request that they reset your cable modem. A reset will reallocate which channels are assigned to your modem. The cable company will occasionally reallocate which channels are used by which houses. Sometimes your modem doesn't update properly and you're left stuck on just one or two channels. A reset will sync your modem's channels with the cable company's equipment. (Some ISPs let you reset the modem on your own via their website after you login.)

If a reset doesn't work, then there's probably a wiring issue in your house or between your home and the cable distribution box on the street. Unfortunately, fixing this requires the cable company send someone to your house with specialized equipment which measures the signal from the distribution box. I'm not sure how Germany does cable Internet, so you'll have to figure out who to call to request a person come out to check. One thing you can do on your own is to determine how the cable is wired inside your house. Mine had 5 splitters outside where the cable came into the house, with each extra cable going to a different room (for cable TV). Since I didn't need cable TV, we removed all the splitters and wired the cable coming to the house directly to the cable going to the one room where my cable modem was going to be. That improved the signal considerably.

 

[Rokas2260]

First thing you should do is test the speed with a computer connected directly to the modem with an Ethernet cable. This will let you determine if the problem is truly with the modem and the cable company's network, or if it's with your internal equipment (router, cables, WiFi network).

If you determine the problem is due to the modem or cable company, according to the specs, that's a DOCSIS 3.0 modem with 8x4 channels. Each channel has a nominal bandwidth of about 38 Mbps, so the theoretical max speed this modem should support is about 300 Mbps down, 150 Mbps up.

https://www.avanzada7.com/en/productos/networking/routers/tc7200-20

Since you're not getting anything close to that, obviously something is wrong. The simplest thing you can try is to request a cable modem reset. Call up your cable company and request that they reset your cable modem. A reset will reallocate which channels are assigned to your modem. The cable company will occasionally reallocate which channels are used by which houses. Sometimes your modem doesn't update properly and you're left stuck on just one or two channels. A reset will sync your modem's channels with the cable company's equipment. (Some ISPs let you reset the modem on your own via their website after you login.)

If a reset doesn't work, then there's probably a wiring issue in your house or between your home and the cable distribution box on the street. Unfortunately, fixing this requires the cable company send someone to your house with specialized equipment which measures the signal from the distribution box. I'm not sure how Germany does cable Internet, so you'll have to figure out who to call to request a person come out to check. One thing you can do on your own is to determine how the cable is wired inside your house. Mine had 5 splitters outside where the cable came into the house, with each extra cable going to a different room (for cable TV). Since I didn't need cable TV, we removed all the splitters and wired the cable coming to the house directly to the cable going to the one room where my cable modem was going to be. That improved the signal considerably.

Thanks for the reply.
I have did the test on this site ( http://www.speedtest.net/ ) if that's what you were asking, and yes on my computer with Ethernet cable. And here's the result that I just did: http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/d/9d47fd36-9d7a-4fed-beaf-ec243566525b

However, on wifi, I didn't understand how that's possible, but it had 16.20Mbps up and 7.82mbps down... (I've downloaded their app for the test)
When we did call the providers, they have tried resetting our modem in their ways, and we tried factory resetting ours.. As well as network reset just in case. And strangely just a week ago, we had for a day or two, internet speed of 15-16mbps but now again dropped to 10+ - mbps...

The providers also have mentioned that they are changing cables (months ago) But I can give them a call once again tomorrow if there's really nothing that much that I can do on my side...

 

[Rokas2260]

Update: Okay, I'm confused on what's going on with my internet completely... So it's like 3 am as I'm writing this and I've tried doing another test on that program from the site (which had crashed at least 10 time in the process) and it seems to have the internet of 200mbps now...? I've tried downloading a random file and yea it's working, downloading on torrent 210+mbps... So then what is going on, how come I can have some moments where I have very fast internet and other times I got barely of it ?

 

[Solandri]

Update: Okay, I'm confused on what's going on with my internet completely... So it's like 3 am as I'm writing this and I've tried doing another test on that program from the site (which had crashed at least 10 time in the process) and it seems to have the internet of 200mbps now...? I've tried downloading a random file and yea it's working, downloading on torrent 210+mbps... So then what is going on, how come I can have some moments where I have very fast internet and other times I got barely of it ?

If you're getting high speeds at night when everyone is asleep, but slow speeds during day, then your cable connection is oversubscribed. Cable internet does not give you a dedicated connection (you are the only person using it) like DSL. You are sharing the cable with a bunch of your neighbors. If they are using a lot of bandwidth, it decreases the bandwidth available to you.

The cable provider is supposed to create a new subnet when this happens - arranging you and some of your neighbors into a smaller grouping so there are fewer of you sharing the same cable. But they have to pay for and install more equipment to do this, so some do not.

As I don't know how cable Internet service works in Germany, I can't tell you who you need to talk to to get this fixed. You can ask your ISP, and maybe they can talk to the company which manages the physical cable and try to get something done. Changing ISP might help if they will install and use a totally different cable to provide service. But if they use the same cable, then you will likely have the same problem.

 

[Rokas2260]

Update: Okay, I'm confused on what's going on with my internet completely... So it's like 3 am as I'm writing this and I've tried doing another test on that program from the site (which had crashed at least 10 time in the process) and it seems to have the internet of 200mbps now...? I've tried downloading a random file and yea it's working, downloading on torrent 210+mbps... So then what is going on, how come I can have some moments where I have very fast internet and other times I got barely of it ?

If you're getting high speeds at night when everyone is asleep, but slow speeds during day, then your cable connection is oversubscribed. Cable internet does not give you a dedicated connection (you are the only person using it) like DSL. You are sharing the cable with a bunch of your neighbors. If they are using a lot of bandwidth, it decreases the bandwidth available to you.

The cable provider is supposed to create a new subnet when this happens - arranging you and some of your neighbors into a smaller grouping so there are fewer of you sharing the same cable. But they have to pay for and install more equipment to do this, so some do not.

As I don't know how cable Internet service works in Germany, I can't tell you who you need to talk to to get this fixed. You can ask your ISP, and maybe they can talk to the company which manages the physical cable and try to get something done. Changing ISP might help if they will install and use a totally different cable to provide service. But if they use the same cable, then you will likely have the same problem.

Oh yeaaaaaa, that makes sense ! Why haven't I thought of that.. Alright, so I'm gonna try having a talk with some members that live with me and see what we decide on this then since we know the problem for sure