Is there a way to test the integrity of your internet connection over a long period of time?
I seem to be fairly consistanly dropping my connection on large downloads on my PC. (1GB+ size files). To test, I started two seperate downloads of the same file, on two different sites, and they both timed out at the same time at different positions in the file, about 7% and 24%.
I've also had consistant drops from Xbox Live, and am wondering if the two are related.
The only thing I did recently was add a wireless router to my network. It is set up, passworded properly, so that no one else is using it.
It's very annoying when I cannot download files properly.
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Can't sleep, clown will eat me.
Try changing the 'Channel' on the wireless broadcast. Might be catching interference that is dropping your signal for brief periods.
Move it at least 2 points away from where it is now.
Also, you may have set a password, but if the SSID is still broadcasting I can almost guarantee that it's a matter of when, not if, someone will break your key. Make sure and turn that SSID broadcast off.
Move it at least 2 points away from where it is now.
Also, you may have set a password, but if the SSID is still broadcasting I can almost guarantee that it's a matter of when, not if, someone will break your key. Make sure and turn that SSID broadcast off.
Norellicus wrote:
Try changing the 'Channel' on the wireless broadcast. Might be catching interference that is dropping your signal for brief periods.
Move it at least 2 points away from where it is now.
Also, you may have set a password, but if the SSID is still broadcasting I can almost guarantee that it's a matter of when, not if, someone will break your key. Make sure and turn that SSID broadcast off.
Move it at least 2 points away from where it is now.
Also, you may have set a password, but if the SSID is still broadcasting I can almost guarantee that it's a matter of when, not if, someone will break your key. Make sure and turn that SSID broadcast off.
Just to add, my PC and Xbox are both connected with cables. The only thing using the wireless in my laptop.
I will turn off this SSID Broadcast.
Just for reference. This is my setup.
Of course, it could just be coincidence that the connection issues happened around the same time as my adding the wireless router. It could just be an issue with Charter, though the quality of the service has been superb for the past few years.
Edit:
Weird, I can no longer access the wireless router's configuration page. Really odd. 192.168.2.1 used to be it, I wonder if the linksys router assigned a new address to it?
Edited, Apr 24th 2008 6:16pm by TirithRR
Can't sleep, clown will eat me.
Ok. I'm kinda lost.
I tried to remove the linksys router from the setup, and put all 4 wired PCs on the Belkin, and connect to the modem through that by itself. I could not do that, couldn't get it to work. I think it's because the Belkin doesn't have a WAN port (Only able to connect to wireless modems?) It has a port called "Modem" but I couldn't get it to work with the cable modem hooked to that.
Right now I took the Belkin out, and am back to only the Linksys. Sat back and downloaded a large file. It still timed out at about 22 minutes of activity though.
So. It appears to be either a problem with the modem or a problem with Charter themselves?
I tried to remove the linksys router from the setup, and put all 4 wired PCs on the Belkin, and connect to the modem through that by itself. I could not do that, couldn't get it to work. I think it's because the Belkin doesn't have a WAN port (Only able to connect to wireless modems?) It has a port called "Modem" but I couldn't get it to work with the cable modem hooked to that.
Right now I took the Belkin out, and am back to only the Linksys. Sat back and downloaded a large file. It still timed out at about 22 minutes of activity though.
So. It appears to be either a problem with the modem or a problem with Charter themselves?
Can't sleep, clown will eat me.
What are you downloading that is 1GB +?
Azazel, Immortal Lion wrote:
What are you downloading that is 1GB +?
It was the Shaiya MMO client. I tried all the avialable mirrors, and made 2 seperate DLs at different times, and the both timed out at the same moment on my side (with 7% completed on one, and 24% on the other).
I only use this Shaiya client to test my DL since I am getting about 400k from them, and it's something large that will take me about 45 minutes total.
I've also been being disconnected periodically from Xbox Live, FFXI(on the 360), PSU, and the Shaiya Game. I just never put them together as related until I started seeing these large download timeouts.
Can't sleep, clown will eat me.
Link the download, I'll you know if it times out on my 20M line.
Before I get too into this, let me say that this is an unspecific enough problem to be dozens of things, some related to your hardware, some not. It's not the sort of thing where I, or anyone, will be able to say "Oh that's this".
Here's what I'd do:
If you are comfortable enough with the hardware, hard reset both routers using the mechanical method (usually a little recessed "button" on the router itself that will reset the firmware to default). Power cycle both routers, connect them to just your PC, and test again. Then connect them to the just the XBOX and test that. Then test the wireless with the laptop.
If you're not comfortable enough to do that, definitely power cycle both routers, leaving them unplugged for a few minutes and test again.
It's absolutely possible this is your ISP.
Before I get too into this, let me say that this is an unspecific enough problem to be dozens of things, some related to your hardware, some not. It's not the sort of thing where I, or anyone, will be able to say "Oh that's this".
Here's what I'd do:
If you are comfortable enough with the hardware, hard reset both routers using the mechanical method (usually a little recessed "button" on the router itself that will reset the firmware to default). Power cycle both routers, connect them to just your PC, and test again. Then connect them to the just the XBOX and test that. Then test the wireless with the laptop.
If you're not comfortable enough to do that, definitely power cycle both routers, leaving them unplugged for a few minutes and test again.
It's absolutely possible this is your ISP.
Disclaimer:
To make a long story short, I don't take any responsibility for anything I post here. It's not news, it's not truth, it's not serious. It's parody. It's satire. It's bitter. It's angsty. Your mother's a *****. You like to jack off dogs. That's right, you heard me. You like to grab that dog by the bone and rub it like a ski pole. Your dad? Gay. Your priest? Straight. **** off and let me post. It's not true, it's all in good fun. Now go away.
To make a long story short, I don't take any responsibility for anything I post here. It's not news, it's not truth, it's not serious. It's parody. It's satire. It's bitter. It's angsty. Your mother's a *****. You like to jack off dogs. That's right, you heard me. You like to grab that dog by the bone and rub it like a ski pole. Your dad? Gay. Your priest? Straight. **** off and let me post. It's not true, it's all in good fun. Now go away.
Smasharoo wrote:
Link the download, I'll you know if it times out on my 20M line.
Before I get too into this, let me say that this is an unspecific enough problem to be dozens of things, some related to your hardware, some not. It's not the sort of thing where I, or anyone, will be able to say "Oh that's this".
Here's what I'd do:
If you are comfortable enough with the hardware, hard reset both routers using the mechanical method (usually a little recessed "button" on the router itself that will reset the firmware to default). Power cycle both routers, connect them to just your PC, and test again. Then connect them to the just the XBOX and test that. Then test the wireless with the laptop.
If you're not comfortable enough to do that, definitely power cycle both routers, leaving them unplugged for a few minutes and test again.
It's absolutely possible this is your ISP.
Before I get too into this, let me say that this is an unspecific enough problem to be dozens of things, some related to your hardware, some not. It's not the sort of thing where I, or anyone, will be able to say "Oh that's this".
Here's what I'd do:
If you are comfortable enough with the hardware, hard reset both routers using the mechanical method (usually a little recessed "button" on the router itself that will reset the firmware to default). Power cycle both routers, connect them to just your PC, and test again. Then connect them to the just the XBOX and test that. Then test the wireless with the laptop.
If you're not comfortable enough to do that, definitely power cycle both routers, leaving them unplugged for a few minutes and test again.
It's absolutely possible this is your ISP.
http://shaiya.aeriagames.com/download
I tried the Filefront and Curse.com links. I use the curse.com now for testing because it supports resuming with GetRight.
I did talk to our IT guy at work today when we were pulling the network cables into the new offices. He mentioned something about the cable company not liking to share a single internet connection in a household. That I should connect the modem to one of my PC, get another network card in that PC, and set up a network with internet sharing through that PC.
Personally, I don't believe that. I always thought that the Modem didn't really see anything beyond the Router when hooked into the WAN port? That there really wasn't any difference as far as the modem was concerned. I also don't like that idea if it means that the main PC has to be on all the time to share the connection.
I will have to isolate the issue by doing as you suggested, Smasharoo.
Can't sleep, clown will eat me.
Downloaded from Gamershell in 5 minutes, no problems, the other mirrors varying times but no timeouts.
Disclaimer:
To make a long story short, I don't take any responsibility for anything I post here. It's not news, it's not truth, it's not serious. It's parody. It's satire. It's bitter. It's angsty. Your mother's a *****. You like to jack off dogs. That's right, you heard me. You like to grab that dog by the bone and rub it like a ski pole. Your dad? Gay. Your priest? Straight. **** off and let me post. It's not true, it's all in good fun. Now go away.
To make a long story short, I don't take any responsibility for anything I post here. It's not news, it's not truth, it's not serious. It's parody. It's satire. It's bitter. It's angsty. Your mother's a *****. You like to jack off dogs. That's right, you heard me. You like to grab that dog by the bone and rub it like a ski pole. Your dad? Gay. Your priest? Straight. **** off and let me post. It's not true, it's all in good fun. Now go away.
Personally, I don't believe that. I always thought that the Modem didn't really see anything beyond the Router when hooked into the WAN port?
Right. A cable modem doesn't care what you plug into it for the most part.
Disclaimer:
To make a long story short, I don't take any responsibility for anything I post here. It's not news, it's not truth, it's not serious. It's parody. It's satire. It's bitter. It's angsty. Your mother's a *****. You like to jack off dogs. That's right, you heard me. You like to grab that dog by the bone and rub it like a ski pole. Your dad? Gay. Your priest? Straight. **** off and let me post. It's not true, it's all in good fun. Now go away.
To make a long story short, I don't take any responsibility for anything I post here. It's not news, it's not truth, it's not serious. It's parody. It's satire. It's bitter. It's angsty. Your mother's a *****. You like to jack off dogs. That's right, you heard me. You like to grab that dog by the bone and rub it like a ski pole. Your dad? Gay. Your priest? Straight. **** off and let me post. It's not true, it's all in good fun. Now go away.
Norellicus wrote:
Try changing the 'Channel' on the wireless broadcast. Might be catching interference that is dropping your signal for brief periods.
Move it at least 2 points away from where it is now.
Also, you may have set a password, but if the SSID is still broadcasting I can almost guarantee that it's a matter of when, not if, someone will break your key. Make sure and turn that SSID broadcast off.
Move it at least 2 points away from where it is now.
Also, you may have set a password, but if the SSID is still broadcasting I can almost guarantee that it's a matter of when, not if, someone will break your key. Make sure and turn that SSID broadcast off.
Try changing the channel to 1 or 11, they are the least used channels.
As for SSID broadcast, it doesn't matter at ALL if it is broadcasting or not. If someone wants in, they will get in. All that turning off SSID broadcasting does, is when it sends out a signal, it says "hey I'm not broadcasting, don't show me please."
Normal clients respect it, and it remains hidden.
To someone trying to find a wireless to get into, they wouldn't even notice if its broadcasting or not, they would see it, and crack it within 2 minutes (for a 128bit key)
To answer your original question - ping.
on Windows.. open up Command Prompt and type: ping /t google.com
it will send an echo request a second until you stop it with CTRL+C, then it will display results.
This is my results from Linux, so it might be a bit different than yours.
--- google.com ping statistics ---
6 packets transmitted, 6 received, 0% packet loss, time 5003ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 79.005/79.754/81.063/0.716 ms
0% packet loss = good
I'm not sure if windows has the min/avg/max/mdev but if it does, you would want the numbers to be anywhere from 0-90, and the mdev to be as low as possible
If there is packets being lost, it would require a bit more investigation into the cause, post your results of a ping test, leave it on for an hour or two.
I lost 6 packets in 3000 requests. (Couldn't wait for a full hour, only about 30 minutes).
I haven't been able to test much stuff because of work and all. But I did put everything back to the way it was before I added the wireless router (took the wireless router out).
Only the 3 computers on the router, and the router hooked to the modem. I still get the very small, but still there, packet loss.
I guess it's time to just hook the modem directly to my PC alone and see what I get.
Then, I guess call Charter. But they'll just tell me "Stop looking at all that ****!".
I haven't been able to test much stuff because of work and all. But I did put everything back to the way it was before I added the wireless router (took the wireless router out).
Only the 3 computers on the router, and the router hooked to the modem. I still get the very small, but still there, packet loss.
I guess it's time to just hook the modem directly to my PC alone and see what I get.
Then, I guess call Charter. But they'll just tell me "Stop looking at all that ****!".
Can't sleep, clown will eat me.
These questions are based on whether or not this was going on prior to the addition of the router.
Have cable as well? How's the reception? Running through a splitter or does your internet have its own wall jack?
You may want to have the ISP send a tech out to check your lines as well. If the problem was there prior to your adding the router, there could be a signal issue either at the drop, the outside splitter, the node or the wire in the wall. And, having worked for Charter for a number of years, I can tell you that they tend to just toss a splitter on the main line rather than run a new one. So it's a possibility.
Have cable as well? How's the reception? Running through a splitter or does your internet have its own wall jack?
You may want to have the ISP send a tech out to check your lines as well. If the problem was there prior to your adding the router, there could be a signal issue either at the drop, the outside splitter, the node or the wire in the wall. And, having worked for Charter for a number of years, I can tell you that they tend to just toss a splitter on the main line rather than run a new one. So it's a possibility.
Oh, one other thing, you may want to ask to be escalated to Tier II as well. The Tier 1 folks are only given like 600 seconds or so to fix an issue iirc and that may not be nearly enough time to sort it out.
Wordaen, The Master of Disaster wrote:
These questions are based on whether or not this was going on prior to the addition of the router.
Have cable as well? How's the reception? Running through a splitter or does your internet have its own wall jack?
Have cable as well? How's the reception? Running through a splitter or does your internet have its own wall jack?
I didn't notice it until I added the wireless router, but thinking back, I do believe it started as soon as I hooked up my xbox to my router (Wired). But that too may have been just coincidence.
I do have cable as well, and I believe (but will check) that the internet cable is a seperate jack on the box coming into the house. Personally my cable is fine, but there is a poorer cable running in another portion of the house, that needs to be replaced (bad reception in one room).
Wordaen, The Master of Disaster wrote:
You may want to have the ISP send a tech out to check your lines as well. If the problem was there prior to your adding the router, there could be a signal issue either at the drop, the outside splitter, the node or the wire in the wall. And, having worked for Charter for a number of years, I can tell you that they tend to just toss a splitter on the main line rather than run a new one. So it's a possibility.
Oh, one other thing, you may want to ask to be escalated to Tier II as well. The Tier 1 folks are only given like 600 seconds or so to fix an issue iirc and that may not be nearly enough time to sort it out.
Oh, one other thing, you may want to ask to be escalated to Tier II as well. The Tier 1 folks are only given like 600 seconds or so to fix an issue iirc and that may not be nearly enough time to sort it out.
Is that Tier 1/2 just for phone support? (Also, last time I called tech support on the cable, they gave me a stupid computer that forced me to talk to it, and it couldn't understand what I was saying).
I do remember being signed up for a special 1 month deal a couple months ago. Just about double the speed for about 75% the cost. But as soon as the promotion ended, we didn't want to pay the extra amount. The issues seem to be related with the drop down to a lower service, just didn't notice until I started using the connection more heavily.
Can't sleep, clown will eat me.
TirithRR the Mundane wrote:
I didn't notice it until I added the wireless router, but thinking back, I do believe it started as soon as I hooked up my xbox to my router (Wired). But that too may have been just coincidence.
I do have cable as well, and I believe (but will check) that the internet cable is a seperate jack on the box coming into the house. Personally my cable is fine, but there is a poorer cable running in another portion of the house, that needs to be replaced (bad reception in one room).
I do have cable as well, and I believe (but will check) that the internet cable is a seperate jack on the box coming into the house. Personally my cable is fine, but there is a poorer cable running in another portion of the house, that needs to be replaced (bad reception in one room).
Well, it may not be a splitter issue but if you are on the low end of signal strength, you are going to run into issues so it really couldn't hurt to have them send a tech out to check the lines and signal, maybe even swap the splitter on the outside of the house, those can get all jacked up as well causing all sorts of problems. Also, make sure you have the firmware updated on the router and what is the make of the router? I can look into it a bit for you if you like. Might not have an answer but two pairs of eyes never hurts solving an issue.
Quote:
Is that Tier 1/2 just for phone support? (Also, last time I called tech support on the cable, they gave me a stupid computer that forced me to talk to it, and it couldn't understand what I was saying).
I do remember being signed up for a special 1 month deal a couple months ago. Just about double the speed for about 75% the cost. But as soon as the promotion ended, we didn't want to pay the extra amount. The issues seem to be related with the drop down to a lower service, just didn't notice until I started using the connection more heavily.
I do remember being signed up for a special 1 month deal a couple months ago. Just about double the speed for about 75% the cost. But as soon as the promotion ended, we didn't want to pay the extra amount. The issues seem to be related with the drop down to a lower service, just didn't notice until I started using the connection more heavily.
Well, we used to allow the Tier I a maximum of 600 seconds before making them escalate to Tier II so it could be that you are getting the "let's get this one off my phone so I can go on break" support responses. It's also possible that they need to adjust your speed from the headend (where your signal originates from) as well. I am going to assume you have done the powercycle dance with the router and modem already but, from what I recall from Charter, their provisioning tools are not the best on the market so they may need to reset your modem to send the right config file down to it.
Now, bear in mind it could be the router itself, not saying it isn't. I just have lots of experience dealing with Charter's technical products and their myriad connectivity issues so I don't want you to miss that as a possible problem as well. Easiest way to check for a cable issue is to check your lower channels, not your upper (digital) ones. Do you have any ghosting, tiling or spotty reception on those? If so, you likely have either a signal or wiring issue.
My lower channels are weak. Five (Fox) gets crappy reception often on half my TVs. I don't watch 2-4 all that often. I always believed that was problems with my connections though. I need to clean up a few connections we made years ago down stairs.
I've got this fancy coax kit at work that was made for industrial ControlNet connections, I might be able to borrow it for a few days and use it to make some nice solid cable connections at home, and upgrade my lines while I'm at it.
The router is a Linksys BEFSR41, I updated to the latest firmware right before trying to install the Belkin wireless router onto my network (but the odd connectivity issues were happening before that).
I've got a few things on my list that I need to check out now. But, I just have to find time. Hopefully later this week, or weekend.
Even if these turn out to not be the problem it will still be good to get everything cleaned up and out of the way.
I can't seem to eliminate the routers from my current setup though, since my modem only seems to work with the original router. I can't even hook the modem directly to my PC. Probably something that was setup in the modem when started. It'd be nice to simply remove everything except the PC, Modem, and Cables.
I've got this fancy coax kit at work that was made for industrial ControlNet connections, I might be able to borrow it for a few days and use it to make some nice solid cable connections at home, and upgrade my lines while I'm at it.
The router is a Linksys BEFSR41, I updated to the latest firmware right before trying to install the Belkin wireless router onto my network (but the odd connectivity issues were happening before that).
I've got a few things on my list that I need to check out now. But, I just have to find time. Hopefully later this week, or weekend.
Even if these turn out to not be the problem it will still be good to get everything cleaned up and out of the way.
I can't seem to eliminate the routers from my current setup though, since my modem only seems to work with the original router. I can't even hook the modem directly to my PC. Probably something that was setup in the modem when started. It'd be nice to simply remove everything except the PC, Modem, and Cables.
Can't sleep, clown will eat me.
Smasharoo wrote:
TirithRR wrote:
Personally, I don't believe that. I always thought that the Modem didn't really see anything beyond the Router when hooked into the WAN port?
Personally, I don't believe that. I always thought that the Modem didn't really see anything beyond the Router when hooked into the WAN port?
Right. A cable modem doesn't care what you plug into it for the most part.
Actually, thats not completely true. A few years back I was setting up a home network and was having the same problems. Constant timeouts with downloads of any decent size. About twice a week I would get locked out of the router and had to do a hard reset. After 3 Linksys routers and 2 other routers (Belkin and Netgear IIRC) I called a friend of mine over who is a network administrator. My network was set up fine, no problems on my end. I made several calls to Comcast and Linksys who passed the blame back and forth to each other.
I did some research on the issue and found out Comcast, along with a few other cable companies had something on their networks that would lock out routers it found on home networks if it wasn't setup by the cable company themselves.
A workaround can be found here or here. I don't know if they work or not but I can't find the one I used. Also keep in mind these were designed specifically for Comcast/Linksys workarounds. The second link is to a forum with several complaints about the Comcast/Linksys issue.
Edited, May 5th 2008 6:35am by Raolan
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