My download speeds aren't that great anyway, as I have a lower end package which gives up to 25 Mbps. In reality I usually only get 16 Mbps but that's good enough for my needs. The last couple days however the speeds have slowed to around 5 or 6 Mbps, on all my devices. I haven't hard wired to the modem to test it (I have a PC in another room and iPhones...no laptops), though Comcast believes it's functioning properly. My router is probably 4-6 years old iirc. It's a Linksys WRT54GL. Could this be the problem? No idea if that's old for a router or if they can outlive people.

Thanks!

hardwire a pc into your cable modem and run a speed test first, then run a hardwire test into your router. Be sure to reset your modem any time you reconfigure your network or you won't get an IP address

What is the time of day you're testing your speed? With cable internet you can get large drops in bandwidth during peak usage times.

I'll borrow a laptop from my friend and run this test. Supposing hardwiring to modem gives adequate (good) speeds, what can we determine if:

(a) hardwiring to router gives same speed as when hardwiring to modem, and only going wireless gives slower speeds?


(b) hardwiring to router gives slower speeds than when hardwiring to modem?

Just the opposite. It was around 3am. Right now at 6:55pm I'm getting roughly 16Mbps, which is about as good as I've ever seen it (wireless).

answers in bold

a salesman once told me that routers get crappy over time naturally. not sure if i believed him or not, but if you're upgrading computer hardware and not routers you might have some issues as legacy support may fall off a bit or not work as well with newer tech.

To the question you answered above, does the area you live get colder at night by a significant margin? More humid at night?

Obviously you want to run these tests when you're experiencing the issue.

Also, what OS are you running? Can you do a continuous ping to a website like yahoo or bing when things are going slow? If you're dropping a lot of packets while hardwired to the modem, like more than 1%, get your ISP on the line and scream at them until they come fix the issue. Literally just call back until you get someone who knows wtf they're doing, as a lot of ISP support people can have virtually no training.

Cool man, thanks! My PC's OS is Windows 10.

login to your router check your firmware version and see has there been a firmware upgrade since your version

Also do you wireless phones in same vacinity.

you could use an wifi analyzer check what channels the stuff around you using , cordless phones etc if on the 2.4Ghz band use something channels 1 and 6 and 11

i'd check your firmware version first
then check with a wifi analyzer (you can get apps for mobiles that do this free)

upgrade firmware, reset , check environment , then if that fails ring ISP

Ok I ran some tests and here's the results:

(1) Hard wired to modem: 65 Mbps

(2) Hard wired to router: 18 Mbps consistently (7 tests) on testmy.net, but consistently 35-36 Mbps on speedtest.net, which I thought was odd that the discrepancy differed by a factor of 2.

(3) Wireless, in same room as router: 11-15 Mbps.

(4) Wireless, in usual spot (not same room as where I house the router): 12-13 Mbps

So what does all this mean? Is this drop off in speed normal or is my router low quality and/or in need of replacement due to aging?

Many thanks!

replace the router, it's probably old and spent

if you can do a factory reset of it first just to see if that helps, or maybe upgrade the firmware after a factory reset, you might see some improvement. Worth a shot before trashing it and buying a new one

i'd still recommend doing the continuous ping test in both wired-to-modem and wired-to-router configs just to check, but I think the problem is the router, or possibly the cables between router/modem (unless it's the same cable you used from router to computer)

did you check firmware , did u check if there is anything that could be causing a possible interference i.e cordless phones etc anything using the same channels in the locality


also your router supports dd-wrt before buying new i'd do that (would probably do that anyways even if working)

http://www.dd-wrt.com

Thanks guys! I haven't done the reset or firmware update yet. Agreed, definitely worth a shot.

As far as interference issues, I don't think there's a problem there. Only 2 phones in the entire house, both iPhones. My iPhone usually is near my PC. But I've tested the speed when the iPhone was off/far away, and it doesn't seem to make a difference. I have Amazon Firestick too, but I'm never on my PC and streaming through Firestick at the same time.

different cable, but that cable (the one I used from router to PC) doesn't explain the slow wireless speeds right? I normally don't use that cable. The only one I use is the one from the modem to router, which is a different one.

Bad cable between router and modem could explain poor wireless speeds. But if it's the same cable you used from pc to modem when you got higher speeds then it's probably not the cable

Reset the router (factory reset). Checked for firmware updates. There were no current updates for my hardware version. Last one was 2002! lol. Rechecked speeds. Still getting around 10-15 Mbps. Time to ditch the router and get a new one?

probably yes

still worth try the http://www.dd-wrt.com/site/support

if ur gonna replace it anyways might as well keep it as a back up.


the router only supports up to 802.11g most newer equipment will be N and AC

if you are replacing the router and have done a factory reset on it, i.e log into via a web browser and reset it there. Try bringing it to a friends house and see does it still only give them speeds. It would def rule out your connection at home as the cure or the cause.

Going straight from modem to pc ruled out the problem being his home connection.

He's losing 30-50 mb over direct wire to router, the problem is the router, possibly even a physical issue.

It'd be good to keep in a junk drawer somewhere in case he needs a second router for testing purposes later on, but no point wasting time with it when it needs replaced.

oh i agree

i'm just a hoarder and hate throwing stuff lol

lol so am i. no chance that thing hits the trash can til at least 2027, even though i plan on getting a new router in a couple days. many thanks for all your help guys.

Glad to help. Whatever you get, be sure to immediately disable WPS. It still comes on a lot of new hardware, sadly, and it's about the least secure thing you could imagine.

GTK, and tyvm!!