Internet Speeds Suddenly Dropped

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ohsnapitskelz

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Aug 6, 2012
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My boyfriend recently built me an awesome new computer for gaming/study at college. It's got some pretty nice stuff inside and, when I first got it, was an amazing experience after using only a laptop for the past 3 years. This new computer did everything at least 3x as fast.

Just for fun, when I got the thing installed at my house for the first time, I ran a speed test. I was surprised to find that the download speed reached 20 Mbps and the download hovered between 2-4 Mbps, because usually the bandwidth was taken up by other devices like my parents' laptops and our iPods and iPads. I was very happy to have such a nice connection and even setup a new Minecraft server for a few friends and I to play on.

One day, we started to notice lag on the server, so I shut it down to try to uncover the problem. Then, I noticed my internet speed had just dropped in general. I did another speed test and found that my download speed now sat at or even below 1 Mbps and my upload speed was just below that at about 0.8 Mbps. I found this strange because, as far as I know, I didn't change anything on my computer at all. I didn't move it and nothing about the wireless router or modem has changed.

My wireless adapter is a Rosewill RNX-N180PCe and our router is a Netgear WPN824N.
Ask if you want any information on other things. :)

Any help would be appreciated!
 

skaz

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Most importantly, who is your ISP and what internet package do you have with them? Verify with whoever pays the bill that the internet package hasn't changed recently. Also try to run a few different internet speed test at different computers on the network and see if they get the same result. Post back with your results.
 

ohsnapitskelz

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My laptop results are about the same and my mom has also been complaining about slow internet speeds, thought I haven't run a test on her computer yet. It seems like all the computers are about the same though.

I'll double check the package with my dad when he's home (he's out of town) but I know we have Time Warner Cable. As much as I know, nothing has changed in a while.
 

skaz

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Make note on the computers you test if they are wired/wireless, and the exact download and upload speeds. If you want, go ahead and connect your laptop directly (hard wire) to the modem and bypass the router. Test your speeds. See if they still yield low results. If not, then we can start on troubleshooting your router next.
 

ohsnapitskelz

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Aug 6, 2012
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What I know so far:
Desktop (My room, the router is just outside), wireless: D - 1 Mbps U - .8 Mbps
Laptop From my room, wireless: D - 1.5 Mbps U - 1 Mbps
Laptop from living room (Downstairs, farther from router than my room), wireless: D - 1.7 Mbps U - 1.2 Mbps

I'll try other stuff in the morning.
 

Omar Kamal

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Mar 11, 2013
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that happened to me too my internet speed was about 700KB/s but now its lower than 50KB/s i use a usb modem and we have it for free (my brother works at thier company :p )i didnt change anything if u figured it out tell me at maddjoeman@gmail.com
 

vae victus

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Feb 1, 2013
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I might as well piggy back on this thread since I too have similar issues. Was using an old Netgear Wireless G last coupla years and it was working great for the entire household, suddenly speeds dropped into the dirt and connectivity became huge issues for everyone near and far from the router. Wired connection to modem worked fine and after calling my ISP they said that everything looked good on their end. Since i didnt want to trouble shoot, i decided to just buy a new Netgear R6300 router despite its pretty crazy high price. I figured might as well try to stay ahead of the curve for once and it claims to be awesomely strong in range and signal.

Right after installation and setup the thing worked like a charm. Signal strength was strong all over house and the handy Netgear Genie lets me monitor everyone's smart devices and their bandwidth.

A few days later suddenly i've come into sudden slow downs again. Using speedtest my DL rates cratered out but my UP rates still remain the same, I get the same answer from the ISP saying everything is peachy on their end. Eventually it became a pattern as certain times of day (noontime, late night) DL speed would be fast or slow but UP speed remained constant. I troubleshooted and saw that only the devices farther away are suffering this issue, whereas units nearby worked flawlessly.

Essentially i've hit the same problem as before except now it's happening to my shiny new $200 router. It's vexing me to no end, a friend suggested I port forward and cap the bandwidth on everyone so that no one is hogging it all. However I port forwarded before on the Wireless G so i dont think that would help (although i havent tried yet), also with my trouble shooting I made sure the 1 farther away device was connected to the router only, so it's not the issue of nearby units eating all the bandwidth, so i dont think capping everyone will make a difference.

However I guess I should first try port forwarding and capping people's bandwidth and test again. I'm open to suggestions and am facing a household of angry people who MUST HAVE BLAZING FAST internet for their smart devices from everywhere in the house:(. HELP MEEEEEE!!!!
 

vae victus

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A bit of a update.

Connectivity seems to be pretty stable now. I still get high speed times and low speed times at certain parts of the day, but the low speed times are at least bearable (~.5 mbs). Sometimes the low speed times will last up to an hour, but it seems to be happening less frequently lately.
 
My concern is there's maybe someone else in your network at those times of day so you need to check in the router's settings when it happens to see who's connected and swallowing more than a fair share of bandwidth.

I'm going to close this old thread now to keep the Forum tidy but please start a new one if the problem persists.

 
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