Question Internet (both Wired or Wireless devices) drops to 0 kbps frequently

[ansonwlli]

This networking issue has occurred for a month already, and I sought further assistance from my ISP several times, tho nothing advanced. It's such a frustrating situation. Could someone please look into this case study and find me a bright future for my network at home please? Love you x3000


Problem 1:
Discord frequently restarted when I was in a voice channel (with/without other users in the channel).
Actions:
Reached out to the Discord Diagnosis Team for further assistance. (Reset Router and Modem, Adjust DNS address, Replace all the ethernet cables, Re-installing Discord, Install other versions of Discord).
Findings:
None of the actions above worked out, this is nothing to do with Discord since the problem initially appeared to have occurred even with other devices (PS5 connected with the ethernet cable, Mobile phone connected with Wifi)

Problem 2:
Whatsapp and Messages (Facebook) sent and received several messages at once (should have been sent out or received just seconds later) for mobile phones.
Actions:
I contacted BT for assistance several times via the hotline. They advised me to factory reset the router and modem, checked that everything was fine (internet speed and BT smart hub 2), unplug the external router of mine (which I’ve been using for a year already), Replace the BT smart hub 2 with a new one (they send to me).
Findings:
Initially, the problem had been sorted with all those potential solutions tried. I figured out the problem was not on the cable, my devices (because not only a singular device was affected), and BT smart hub 2, BUT the root could only appear on the modem (Openreach device attached to the wall).

Problem 3:
While having a Zoom meeting for lecturing, the voice of the lecturer appeared to be disrupted (disappeared) for seconds every 20 seconds approx. but the video of him was working (not so smooth tho).
Actions:
I open NordVPN and connected to a Glasgow region server, everything seems worked out fine (smooth and with no disruption).
Findings:
I have no idea how can a VPN could have better stability than my own networking across the same region. But this appears to be a temporary solution in order to carry out a stabilised connection for now.


Temporary Solution 1:
Using VPN
Remarks:
As long as I’m connecting to a server, there is a relatively stabilised connection than when I’m not connecting. I could not believe a VPN could beat my initial connection.. (in terms of stability within the same region)


Important Notes:
There is Packet Loss while I’m assessing the performance of the network connection (https://test.vsee.com/network/index.html)
The disruption happened when the packet loss is at 1~2% usually. (I know it is a small value in packet loss, but it does result in affecting the quality of connection)
Ethernet receive will drop to 0 Kbps mostly when I was having an unstable connection (Loading streams, Restarting Discord Automatically)


Connected to a Glasgow Region Server using NordVPN to watch a stream (broadcasting from Canada) on Twitch.

Normally watching a stream (broadcasting from Canada) on Twitch (without VPN).

 

[bill001g]

I suspect the IP addresses you blocked out don't really matter unless you are running without a router. They likely are 192.168.x.x which everyone uses. Just a comment not your issue.

What I would first try is to turn off IPv6 in your pc or maybe even in your router. Sometimes IPv6 takes a different path than IPv4 and also tends to be slower and more unstable for many people.....but IPv6 is the future

Most vpn servers do not support IPv6 so that maybe why it works on vpn but not directly.

After this it is very strange. It can't be something simple like your router or your internet connection to your house which are the 2 most common cause of data loss. Problems in these 2 places are common both with and without the vpn.
This means there is some issue between your ISP and other ISP and the path to the VPN hosting company uses different connections than the path to the problem servers. In many ways you hope this is not the issue because you can't fix these type of things.

I assume you are running the VPN on your pc. Maybe there is some other software on your machine that is intefereing and just running the vpn program somehow stops that. You want to look for any software that claims to accelerate network data, mostly this is so called gamer stuff. It is very commonly bundled in the bloatware with motherboards and video cards. A very common name is called CFOSspeed. Any software like this you want to uninstall.

If you have the option can you run the vpn on your router. If this also solve the problem then it unfortantly means there is some strangeness in the ISP network.

Key things is I first started using a VPN for that exact reason when I had a crappy ISP. Now I got used to using vpn so I use it even though i don't really need it.

 

[ansonwlli]

I suspect the IP addresses you blocked out don't really matter unless you are running without a router. They likely are 192.168.x.x which everyone uses. Just a comment not your issue.

What I would first try is to turn off IPv6 in your pc or maybe even in your router. Sometimes IPv6 takes a different path than IPv4 and also tends to be slower and more unstable for many people.....but IPv6 is the future

Most vpn servers do not support IPv6 so that maybe why it works on vpn but not directly.

After this it is very strange. It can't be something simple like your router or your internet connection to your house which are the 2 most common cause of data loss. Problems in these 2 places are common both with and without the vpn.
This means there is some issue between your ISP and other ISP and the path to the VPN hosting company uses different connections than the path to the problem servers. In many ways you hope this is not the issue because you can't fix these type of things.

I assume you are running the VPN on your pc. Maybe there is some other software on your machine that is intefereing and just running the vpn program somehow stops that. You want to look for any software that claims to accelerate network data, mostly this is so called gamer stuff. It is very commonly bundled in the bloatware with motherboards and video cards. A very common name is called CFOSspeed. Any software like this you want to uninstall.

If you have the option can you run the vpn on your router. If this also solve the problem then it unfortantly means there is some strangeness in the ISP network.

Key things is I first started using a VPN for that exact reason when I had a crappy ISP. Now I got used to using vpn so I use it even though i don't really need it.

Now that I tried to switch off the IPv6 from the router and PC for a day, the internet still keeps disconnecting somehow. It seems the problem isn't coming from there.

Regarding the gamer stuff, I'm not sure whether I have one with me now. I did look into the 'Apps and features; on Windows, but couldn't find something related to traffic shaping.

I tried to switch on the VPN option on BT smart hub manager on Chrome, but it doesn't seem to have an effect.

I am suspecting on the modem (or any wires/ devices outside the house) was the root cause of this. As the modem is the only thing I couldn't check and haven't replaced. I have been emphasising this issue to the BT agent, but their diagnosis always shows excellent performance for my network.

For now, I'll use VPN as a temporary substitution to make my internet become stable these days, hoping that the BT engineer could come and figure out what is the fault.

Anyway, much appreciate your advice on my problem. You enriched my vision of potentially influential factors on internet dropping. Thanks!!

 

[bill001g]

It is not likely the modem. Both the vpn traffic and the real traffic must pass through the modem.

It would be like mailing a box where the post office loses 50%. You could put the box in a bigger box (ie the vpn) but then the post office will still have a 50% chance of losing the bigger box with your smaller box inside.