Help identifying what is draining my bandwidth

[ATLga]

I wonder if restricting 2.4 to n-only and 5.0 to n/ac is possible and might help.

OE

Possibly but I was trying not to muddy the waters to much and introduce as few changes as possible just to see how it behaves. OP is welcome of course to give it a shot. I have some errands to run and will check back in later...

 

[Crimmo]

Different regions offer up different channels. I'm US and 157 is an option available to me and not that important. I'd just stick to 36 and see how it works for you.
Is there anything in particular that is an issue for you while streaming on the fire stick? Netflix, Youtube TV, Hulu, Prime, etc., or nothing in particular.

Cheers, will do. We watched the Mandalorian yesterday and had some buffering on Disney, we use a Sports TV channels online streaming service and that buffers too but the big one is the IPTV service for regular tv channels.

 

[Crimmo]

I wonder if restricting 2.4 to n-only and 5.0 to n/ac is possible and might help.

OE

I'll try this too, none of these options mean anything to me so I appreciate the insight.

 

[Crimmo]

I made all those changes, switched to non-auto, the channel changes to n/ac etc. Unfortunately whatever I did ultimately stopped the internet totally , now that maybe my fault and not the advice. I restored it back to the way it was and at least the internet service came back.

 

[ATLga]

I made all those changes, switched to non-auto, the channel changes to n/ac etc. Unfortunately whatever I did ultimately stopped the internet totally , now that maybe my fault and not the advice. I restored it back to the way it was and at least the internet service came back.

Setting the channels to fixed absolutely should not "stop" your internet service, especially using the ones you were already showing being used. Changing the other values very well could have caused an issue; Possible the fire sticks didn't like being that restricted. When you said internet "stopped" was that wifi or all internet period...all clients lost access. Were they connected and couldn't surf or lost connection too.
If you want to give it another shot, just make the changes I mentioned and nothing more. Then report back if you wish.

Who is your ISP and what is the make/model of the equipment that they placed in your home

 

[cooloutac]

are you using your isp's dns servers? I get buffering with amazon prime, or video quality changes sometimes when using my isp's dns so I switch to 3rd party dns servers. maybe try changing them. when it gets really bad I put the tv behind a vpn. maybe you can do a traceroute to the video server just to make sure its your home network that is the problem.

 

[Crimmo]

Setting the channels to fixed absolutely should not "stop" your internet service, especially using the ones you were already showing being used. Changing the other values very well could have caused an issue; Possible the fire sticks didn't like being that restricted. When you said internet "stopped" was that wifi or all internet period...all clients lost access. Were they connected and couldn't surf or lost connection too.
If you want to give it another shot, just make the changes I mentioned and nothing more. Then report back if you wish.

Who is your ISP and what is the make/model of the equipment that they placed in your home

Basically, the laptop couldn't connect to the internet immediately after the change, the TV did connect for a short while after the changes but eventually it couldn't connect either. My ISP is Virgin Media, part of Liberty Global, the router is made by Compal in China.

 

[Crimmo]

are you using your isp's dns servers? I get buffering with amazon prime, or video quality changes sometimes when using my isp's dns so I switch to 3rd party dns servers. maybe try changing them. when it gets really bad I put the tv behind a vpn. maybe you can do a traceroute to the video server just to make sure its your home network that is the problem.

thanks, how would I do a traceroute?

 

[Trip]

@Crimmo - Apologies for the lull in replies. I see you're using an ISP-provided Compal CH7465LG-LC combo cable modem & router (link to specs and internals). First red flag with that device is it's Intel Puma 6 based. Pume 6 at past points was riddled with bugs related to connection stability. Most should be patched by now, but if your ISP hasn't completely done so with your hardware, that alone could be causing, or at least contributing to, the issues you're noticing with stuttering/buffering of data streams. Additionally, that Compal uses Celeno wifi chips, which may also have their own issues.

I would consider replacing that Compal box with Broadcom-based Docsis (cable modem) hardware and Qualcomm-based wifi; hopefully your ISP might have alternate hardware to offer, but more often than not you'd be best served by taking things into your own hands and buying your own standalone cable modem (example: Netgear CM600) plus a separate wireless router, or, if your home is large enough, a wired router and multiple access points or a consumer mesh system if you can't hard-wire your APs. That would help you put more of your network's quality within your control, and opposed to being tied to the abilities of (or lack thereof) your ISP-provided equipment.

Beyond that, there is a small chance there might be an issue with your ISP's network itself, which you'd be able to test for with something like PingPlotter, installing that on a hard-wired PC connected to your router, and letting it run, then observing it's output for any abnormally high ping and/or packet loss on any of the hops (IP addresses) upstream of you.

If you were to do all of the above, and, per my initial reply, make sure to buy an SQM-capable router, such as Eero, I'm sure we could sort out your streaming issues.

 

[Crimmo]

@Crimmo - Apologies for the lull in replies. I see you're using an ISP-provided Compal CH7465LG-LC combo cable modem & router (link to specs and internals). First red flag with that device is it's Intel Puma 6 based. Pume 6 at past points was riddled with bugs related to connection stability. Most should be patched by now, but if your ISP hasn't completely done so with your hardware, that alone could be causing, or at least contributing to, the issues you're noticing with stuttering/buffering of data streams. Additionally, that Compal uses Celeno wifi chips, which may also have their own issues.

I would consider replacing that Compal box with Broadcom-based Docsis (cable modem) hardware and Qualcomm-based wifi; hopefully your ISP might have alternate hardware to offer, but more often than not you'd be best served by taking things into your own hands and buying your own standalone cable modem (example: Netgear CM600) plus a separate wireless router, or, if your home is large enough, a wired router and multiple access points or a consumer mesh system if you can't hard-wire your APs. That would help you put more of your network's quality within your control, and opposed to being tied to the abilities of (or lack thereof) your ISP-provided equipment.

Beyond that, there is a small chance there might be an issue with your ISP's network itself, which you'd be able to test for with something like PingPlotter, installing that on a hard-wired PC connected to your router, and letting it run, then observing it's output for any abnormally high ping and/or packet loss on any of the hops (IP addresses) upstream of you.

If you were to do all of the above, and, per my initial reply, make sure to buy an SQM-capable router, such as Eero, I'm sure we could sort out your streaming issues.

No problem, your post is so helpful. Yes, it is Virgin Media in Ireland and they don't have alternative hardware so I will have to get new kit. It is proving difficult to find a European retailers with Netgear CM600. I found this list https://www.dontwasteyourmoney.com/products/netgear-cm600-modem/#allproducts maybe some of the others might be similar. For the wifi itself should I consider the options in your first post, such as Asus RT-AX88U or Ubiquiti EdgeRouter? Thanks again for taking such time and care to help.

 

[degrub]

I would check with your isp , or maybe you can login to the modem to check the firmware version to see if it is current firmware. Certainly tell the isp what has been going on and that you know about the firmware issues and their contribution to your issues. Ask them if they have pushed all the firmware updates for the puma chipset available. Maybe there are some consumer protection laws in E.U. that would apply ?

 

[cooloutac]

thanks, how would I do a traceroute?

depends on your operating system. in windows you can use tracert command from a command prompt, to say 13.225.214.74 if prime video in my area. You can set your firewall to log connections to find the ip of the streaming service. or just traceroute to their website or ask their tech support for an ip address. And then see if you get a high latency in one of the hops then show that list to your isp on a live chat conversation. Usually if is within 7 hops of your network they must address the problem.

but if all streaming services you connect to buffer I would just call the ISP and complain to them. Post traceroutes on their ofrums and raise hell. Threaten to change services. I usually only have buffering problems with prime video when using my ISP's dns servers for example, sometimes on a friday night, but netflix and hulu always work fine.

I now set my router to use cloudflare dns to avoid the issue, and I will throw them behind a vpn for rare cases when it gets really bad. Have you tried changing your DNS servers and see if it makes any difference first? You can use this tool here to find the fastest public ones in your area. https://www.grc.com/dns/benchmark.htm It is considered unsafe to use your ISP's dns servers nowadays. OpenDNS, Quad9, UltraDNS, Cloudflare, Google, or almost anything is better then your ISP's DNS for routing,, speed and security.