Question Family stealing all bandwidth on Netflix

[ZACH301010]

So ever since my family has gotten Netflix the internet has been absolute trash. My ping is usually between 6-20 when they are not streaming on Netflix, but as soon as they get on it jumps to around 50-60 sometimes 90-100. My question is, is there something I can do as of right now to control how much bandwidth is used on Netflix with my current router or is it worth buying for example a Netgear Nighthawk XR500 or something similar so I can control how much is used.

 

[Roger Har Dang]

yes of course , but depends on your wireless access point . look into its set up . there should be an option like quality of service and such

 

[mtracy1991]

With newer routers, there is a 5 GHz area and a 2.5 GHz, at least for my router. I prioritize my PC apart of the hierarchy while everything else falls beneath it and nothing seems to be giving me issues at this point. You can try rolling around in your networking and see if this is available.

 

[bill001g]

Your current router may have QoS settings.

Still the first step is to determine whose traffic really is most important. The only real way to fix this is to buy more bandwidth from the ISP so everyone gets all they need.

QoS is just a electronic agreement on who does not get as much bandwidth as they want. To make your traffic not get ping spike will likely cause buffering and stalls in the netflix video.

It depends greatly on the router but what you need to do is set limit on the other machines so they can not exceed a certain amount of bandwidth. Other routers you can try to give your machines a minimum amount of bandwidth. In either case be sure your router can limit DOWNLOAD rates most only limit upload rates.

Still be very careful this is not the more common case where someone is donwloading large files and it taking a extra couple minutes is nothing. Netflix needs certain minimum levels of bandwidth to function setting it below those levels will make it almost unusable.

 

[kanewolf]

Also, if you aren't the one paying for the internet service, you don't get to unilaterally decide who gets priority.

 

[punkncat]

As suggested above, I would look into an increase of pipeline speed, if it's even an option.
If not, I might suggest you asking family members if they are willing to reduce video quality, and or to cache programs during off hours using the "watch later" feature.

 

[failboat]

What speeds are you paying for? Only a few options help with bufferbloat. ERX, openwrt, or ipfire are the best options. openwrt can be flashed to many routers.
ERX can hit 100Mbs and it's only $50. Some of the openwrt options can do more. With any shaping option you will lose about 10% of your bandwidth.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-g2P3R84dw

 

[ZACH301010]

Also, if you aren't the one paying for the internet service, you don't get to unilaterally decide who gets priority.

So I have to suffer for hours on end, whilst they get to live happily ever after?

 

[kanewolf]

So I have to suffer for hours on end, whilst they get to live happily ever after?

I did NOT say that or imply that. But if you unilaterally throttle other users you are just as selfish as they are. This is a political problem that needs to be settled with negotiation. You are resorting to warfare immediately.

 

[jsmithepa]

So I have to suffer for hours on end, whilst they get to live happily ever after?

Is the capitalistic rule, whoever pays is the boss. If you are the admin, u have some say on the matter.

QOS, or SQM as mentioned above.

 

[ZACH301010]

I did NOT say that or imply that. But if you unilaterally throttle other users you are just as selfish as they are. This is a political problem that needs to be settled with negotiation. You are resorting to warfare immediately.

Well what was the point of commenting then? You didn’t suggest a soloution and all you did was try to be the police..Also I never said I was going to “throttle” other users, I was literally just asking if there was something that I could do so that my family is able to watch Netflix whilst I’m still able to game.. Now I dont think that is “resorting to warfare”, is it?

 

[ZACH301010]

Is the capitalistic rule, whoever pays is the boss. If you are the admin, u have some say on the matter.

QOS, or SQM as mentioned above.

I don’t get, why your talking like I’m in court as well.. I was asking if there was something I could do so everyone’s happy...

 

[Deleted member 14196]

Odds are you’re not buying enough download bandwidth it sounds like you guys need between 60 and 100 Mb per second. If that is too much for you to afford try 20 Mb per second at least

Also those new little google routers are great for spreading a mesh Wi-Fi all over your house so there’s no dropouts

 

[The Paladin]

1. you need access to admin router rights i.e. name/password, if you do not have those, then well you need to have a talk with your father about it.

2. if you have access most routers permit you to set ip address priorities, look under advanced admin/QOS setting your desktop to highest and theirs to lowest will end up having them pausing and more questions than not. I suggest you set yours has highest and theirs at medium (how I have mine set for my streaming daughter glued to net flicks all day) and everything floats just fine for both parties.

Last solution is get your own ISp service. again this is not likely since you obviously live with your parents

 

[bill001g]

Again the problem is not enough bandwidth there is no magic solution to this problem. You just don''t want to hear that.

There is no way to make everyone happy someone is not going to get what they need.

So THAT is your problem. Whose needs are more important. When you can answer that question then you can look for a solution.

You already have been told the technical solution all involve you just declaring your game traffic more important than everyone else. If you think you can get away with it go for it. Be ready though if your parents figure out you degraded their netflix experience they may decide your game machine gets locked in the closet when they want to watch netflix.

 

[The Paladin]

dang bill001g , breath man breath.. lol

 

[ZACH301010]

Again the problem is not enough bandwidth there is no magic solution to this problem. You just don''t want to hear that.

There is no way to make everyone happy someone is not going to get what they need.

So THAT is your problem. Whose needs are more important. When you can answer that question then you can look for a solution.

You already have been told the technical solution all involve you just declaring your game traffic more important than everyone else. If you think you can get away with it go for it. Be ready though if your parents figure out you degraded their netflix experience they may decide your game machine gets locked in the closet when they want to watch netflix.

1. No kidding there's no magic solution.. Why do think i'm on here? To get advice on how to overcome this... Why would I not want to hear this if it's going to help me?

2. If there's no way to make everybody happy, then that's just a bit of bad luck isn't it? Even though people have suggested solutions that could help.

3. My problem is (if you actually read some of my responses) how can i make everyone happy, so that both my family and I are still able to watch and play what we want, when we want. If i did not say this in my actual question I apologise for the misleading information.

4. I know I have been told the "technical solution", and again if actually read some of my responses, you would've been able to clearly see that I was trying to get some of the people I disagreed with to understand that I want to make both my family and myself happy.. And yeah, i'm sure my parents are going to "lock away" a 17yr olds PC that he paid for..I'm not 12 I understand how issues are supposed to be taken into account... (with aggression and hatred obviously)

 

[Rogue Leader]

Ok ALL lets chill out here. If we have a solution for the OP then share it and let him try it, dealing with his family is his business and not ours. Maybe if he does it right he can find a happy medium, whether its using a technical solution or paying for increased bandwidth. Lets let the opinions go and stick to the technical stuff, got it?

 

[bill001g]

He was told in multiple post by mulitple people the solution is QoS.

The problem is QoS is not some click button. You have to determine which traffic is most important which is where the discussion of whose traffic is important came in.

The actual technical configuration after you get this is fairly straight forward.

The actual problem is not a technical one it actually IS a family problem since someone is not going to be happy not getting the bandwidth they desire.

 

[ZACH301010]

He was told in multiple post by mulitple people the solution is QoS.

The problem is QoS is not some click button. You have to determine which traffic is most important which is where the discussion of whose traffic is important came in.

The actual technical configuration after you get this is fairly straight forward.

The actual problem is not a technical one it actually IS a family problem since someone is not going to be happy not getting the bandwidth they desire.

I know this is my problem.. your first response actually helped so thank you, but again idk why you got so triggered in your second response when you were one of the people that originally suggested a soloution that would help.

 

[Rogue Leader]

If you knew this then what was the point of responding and telling me why I’m going to get my pc “locked away in a closet”. instead of trying to be the teachers pet, actually read the responses properly.. because all your doing in contradicting yourself and commenting on posts for no reason, wasting both of our time.

I was talking to everyone when I said CHILL out. This is my last warning. Let it go and move on to the technical side.

 

[ZACH301010]

]

I was talking to everyone when I said CHILL out. This is my last warning. Let it go and move on to the technical side.

Ok, my bad, sorry for the inconvenience

 

[USAFRet]

I've read this all the way through, and some basic questions have not been asked/answered:

1. What is the actual bandwidth you pay the ISP for?
2. Who pays this?
3. Is you personal system wired or WiFi?
4. How many users?

 

[ZACH301010]

I've read this all the way through, and some basic questions have not been asked/answered:

1. What is the actual bandwidth you pay the ISP for?
2. Who pays this?
3. Is you personal system wired or WiFi?
4. How many users?

1. We pay for 50mbps
2. My father
3. Wired
4. 5

 

[USAFRet]

"3. Wired "

And your "ping" increases when other people are using 'whatever'?
How have you determined this, and to what 'server' (a game server?) are you connecting to?

The much misunderstood 'ping' value is the time it takes for a round trip signal from your PC to whatever server and back.
You do not have a lot of control over that value.
And you can investigate the magical 'ping' number for each hop in the chain.

But the only one you can have any control over is between you and the router. And maybe the actual router if it is a crappy one.

Commandline, and run a couple of commands:

ping to your router. Generally, that would be ping 192.168.1.1 (change for your personal router IP address.
This should result in <1ms.

Next, tracert (shorthand for trace route)
tracert www.google.com
or
tracert www.whateveryourgameserveripaddressis.com
Do this when you are the only one connected, and when your family members are also doing their netflix thing.
Record the results.

The first hop in there should still be <1ms.
The second hop is to your ISP.
After that, it is completely out of your control.