[SOLVED] PC connectivity problems in Mac household...

[RypliYutani]

PLEASE HELP!!

I’m not tech-savvy so apologies if I’m using terminology incorrectly. We are a family of Mac users, but we bought a PC (CyberPowerPC - Gamer Ultra Desktop - AMD FX-Series - 8GB Memory - 1TB Hard Drive) in April 2018 for one kid. Our ISP is Xfinity (400 Mbps download), we supplement with an Orbi router and 2 wireless mesh extenders/satellites, each equipped with Ethernet ports, if needed.

Our kid claims that he keeps getting “booted off” his online games, or that his PC goes “roaming” in foreign countries (& therefore unable to connect to our WiFi here at home in California) because all the Mac devices the rest of our household is using “hogs up” Bandwidth. Other than our kid’s PC, our typical household usage includes: 1 other PC, 1-2 Mac desktops, 3-4 Mac laptops, 4-5 iPads/iPods. Of course not necessarily all on/used at the same time due to work, school, scheduling, etc.

He often screams at us to get off WiFi. He says that only the Apple devices get to take advantage of the higher speeds ( we recently switched from ATT, at only 6 Mbps, during which the Apple devices never really had issues with WiFi, only our kid’s PC).

He says that his PC WiFi connectivity worsens or just cuts out the more family members are using more Apple devices. Also, that if a particular Apple device happens to be farther away from the modem, the Apple device apparently “works harder” to connect to the WiFi, therefore hogging up more bandwidth. When I’m home , I do try to turn all my Apple devices to airplane mode, except for the one I’m using. But as a practical matter, when family members are home doing work, school work, etc, it is not practical or convenient to keep getting off internet just so he can play games.

He has tried connecting his PC directly to internet via Ethernet cable to both the modem, as well as satellite/extender. But it seems it doesn’t help.

We CANNOT be the only family to use primarily Apples/Macs with the 1 PC user with problems, right? Could it be a problem with the PC itself? Admittedly, it’s not the most high-end model. When we offer to help him buy a new one, he says it won’t make a difference.

I’m frustrated about this, any insight and information as to how I can resolve this would be so very gratefully appreciated.

Thank you!!
Rypli

 

[bill001g]

Wifi is very bad idea for gaming all kinds of stuff causes interference both inside and outside the house. Adding mesh garbage makes the wifi even more susceptible to interference since you now have multiple wifi signals in the path. You need to run very simple network using the so called "extenders" on ethernet cable. This makes them into AP. You should not even consider this unless your signal from the main router is completely unusable. Mesh is just networking for dummies. To get good performance and good coverage from wifi you have to spend some time designing a solution not just throw in a bunch of boxes and push a magic button.



Mac devices do not use more bandwidth than other devices. It all depends on the application. A mac surfing web pages uses nothing but a roku watching netflix 4k can use 40mbps.

Still wifi is the wild west when it comes to sharing. There is no central control so every device on its own determines if it is safe to transmit data. If device can not hear each other multiple may transmit and when the signals get to the router they corrupt each other. This is totally ignoring your neighbors signals blasting into your house.

If the kid can get a ethernet cable directly to the main router he will have no issues. I will assume you do not have someone in your house running torrents and using up the 400mbps bandwidth constantly. Games need almost no bandwidth likely less than 500kbps so it is unlikely you have bandwidth issues. Note games need 500kbps upload speed so if you happen to have applications sending data you can exceed your upload bandwidth which I suspect is much less than the 400mbps download.

Your router likely has a bandwidth usage meter or your ISP can tell you. I doubt you are anywhere close to 400mbps, it is actually fairly hard to use that much bandwidth over longer periods of time.

 

[jsmithepa]

A question asked everyday.

Gamer Setup - This router can save your marriage! (or family)

 

[RypliYutani]

Wifi is very bad idea for gaming all kinds of stuff causes interference both inside and outside the house. Adding mesh garbage makes the wifi even more susceptible to interference since you now have multiple wifi signals in the path. You need to run very simple network using the so called "extenders" on ethernet cable. This makes them into AP. You should not even consider this unless your signal from the main router is completely unusable. Mesh is just networking for dummies. To get good performance and good coverage from wifi you have to spend some time designing a solution not just throw in a bunch of boxes and push a magic button.



Mac devices do not use more bandwidth than other devices. It all depends on the application. A mac surfing web pages uses nothing but a roku watching netflix 4k can use 40mbps.

Still wifi is the wild west when it comes to sharing. There is no central control so every device on its own determines if it is safe to transmit data. If device can not hear each other multiple may transmit and when the signals get to the router they corrupt each other. This is totally ignoring your neighbors signals blasting into your house.

If the kid can get a ethernet cable directly to the main router he will have no issues. I will assume you do not have someone in your house running torrents and using up the 400mbps bandwidth constantly. Games need almost no bandwidth likely less than 500kbps so it is unlikely you have bandwidth issues. Note games need 500kbps upload speed so if you happen to have applications sending data you can exceed your upload bandwidth which I suspect is much less than the 400mbps download.

Your router likely has a bandwidth usage meter or your ISP can tell you. I doubt you are anywhere close to 400mbps, it is actually fairly hard to use that much bandwidth over longer periods of time.

Wifi is very bad idea for gaming all kinds of stuff causes interference both inside and outside the house. Adding mesh garbage makes the wifi even more susceptible to interference since you now have multiple wifi signals in the path. You need to run very simple network using the so called "extenders" on ethernet cable. This makes them into AP. You should not even consider this unless your signal from the main router is completely unusable. Mesh is just networking for dummies. To get good performance and good coverage from wifi you have to spend some time designing a solution not just throw in a bunch of boxes and push a magic button.



Mac devices do not use more bandwidth than other devices. It all depends on the application. A mac surfing web pages uses nothing but a roku watching netflix 4k can use 40mbps.

Still wifi is the wild west when it comes to sharing. There is no central control so every device on its own determines if it is safe to transmit data. If device can not hear each other multiple may transmit and when the signals get to the router they corrupt each other. This is totally ignoring your neighbors signals blasting into your house.

If the kid can get a ethernet cable directly to the main router he will have no issues. I will assume you do not have someone in your house running torrents and using up the 400mbps bandwidth constantly. Games need almost no bandwidth likely less than 500kbps so it is unlikely you have bandwidth issues. Note games need 500kbps upload speed so if you happen to have applications sending data you can exceed your upload bandwidth which I suspect is much less than the 400mbps download.

Your router likely has a bandwidth usage meter or your ISP can tell you. I doubt you are anywhere close to 400mbps, it is actually fairly hard to use that much bandwidth over longer periods of time.

Wifi is very bad idea for gaming all kinds of stuff causes interference both inside and outside the house. Adding mesh garbage makes the wifi even more susceptible to interference since you now have multiple wifi signals in the path. You need to run very simple network using the so called "extenders" on ethernet cable. This makes them into AP. You should not even consider this unless your signal from the main router is completely unusable. Mesh is just networking for dummies. To get good performance and good coverage from wifi you have to spend some time designing a solution not just throw in a bunch of boxes and push a magic button.



Mac devices do not use more bandwidth than other devices. It all depends on the application. A mac surfing web pages uses nothing but a roku watching netflix 4k can use 40mbps.

Still wifi is the wild west when it comes to sharing. There is no central control so every device on its own determines if it is safe to transmit data. If device can not hear each other multiple may transmit and when the signals get to the router they corrupt each other. This is totally ignoring your neighbors signals blasting into your house.

If the kid can get a ethernet cable directly to the main router he will have no issues. I will assume you do not have someone in your house running torrents and using up the 400mbps bandwidth constantly. Games need almost no bandwidth likely less than 500kbps so it is unlikely you have bandwidth issues. Note games need 500kbps upload speed so if you happen to have applications sending data you can exceed your upload bandwidth which I suspect is much less than the 400mbps download.

Your router likely has a bandwidth usage meter or your ISP can tell you. I doubt you are anywhere close to 400mbps, it is actually fairly hard to use that much bandwidth over longer periods of time.

Thank you so much for your time!! Cheers

 

[RypliYutani]

A question asked everyday.

Gamer Setup - This router can save your marriage! (or family)

You said no email, but Thank you for the link! Cheers