Streaming slow on home network, most devices/apps are buffering

Brumboy

Brumboy

Brumboy

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Joined
11 Jan 2011
Posts
2,285
Hi so for the past few days I've been having a very frustating experience. Basically no matter what device (TV, tablet, phone, PC, laptop) and what app (Reddit, Video streaming apps, IPTV) there is a lot of buffering. The only apps that works well are Netflix and YouTube. It's like something is limiting the bandwidth. Are there any router settings that would limit or effect streaming? Thank you!
 
Oops, good point

ISP - Zen
Router - FRITZ!Box 7530
Speed - 55MB
DNS - Cloudflare
Network - 5.0ghz
Channels - scanned and using the least busy channels

I'm doing speed tests on my PC and it's saying 25MB..so that's definitely not right.

Here are the WiFi adapter settings:

Intel AX200 Setting Name Setting State
802.11a/b/g Wireless Mode Dual Band 802.11 a/b/g
802.11n.ac.ax Wireless Mode 802.11ax
ARP offload for WoWLAN Enabled
Channel Width for 2.4GHz Auto
Channel Width for 5GHZ Auto
Fat Channel Intolerant Disabled
Global BG Scan blocking Never
GTK rekeying for WoWLAN Enabled
MIMO Power Save Mode NO SMPS
Mixed Mode Protection RTS/CTS Enabled
NS offload for WoWLAN Enabled
Packet Coalescing Enabled
Preferred Band No Preference
Roaming Aggressiveness Lowest
Sleep on WoWLAN Disconnect Disabled
Throughput Booster Enabled
Transmit Power Highest
U-APSD support Disabled
Wake on Magic Packet Enabled
Wake on Pattern Match Enabled

I'm using Cloudflare's DNS server settings
 
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Right so I've just connected the network cable to my PC and it's reporting 28MB..that's super strange, no other devices connected
 
mickyflinn said:
Need to get onto your provider to see why your getting half the speed your paying for.
Click to expand...
Yeah I'm on the phone now waiting. They already did a line test and said the throughput reported was accurate at 55MB. So the issue is most likely with the router. I guess they will suggest to factory reset the router
 
If you've turned the router off and on loads then you've likely hosed the FTTC sync rate. If you log into the router what do the stats show? 28Mbps should still be plenty for all your streaming to work without issue, so this probably isn't your problem.

Do you use a VPN? Turn that off to start with.
 
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Caged said:
If you've turned the router off and on loads then you've likely hosed the FTTC sync rate. If you log into the router what do the stats show? 28Mbps should still be plenty for all your streaming to work without issue, so this probably isn't your problem.

Do you use a VPN? Turn that off to start with.
Click to expand...
When I say loads I mean once or twice a day for the past 3 days, so about 6 restarts in total. That shouldn't be an issue right?

The sync rate is 55MB according to Zen & the router settings

No VPN is used. I've gone through the router settings and nothing has changed or seems suspicious.
 
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Yeah everything is normal there.

I've factory reset the router now and it's still doing mid 20's in the speed tests on every device including my PC with a LAN cable

Not sure what to do now, still waiting for a call back from Zen
 
What do you mean "everything is normal" - are there any recent orders showing or not? Some people have been moved from BT Wholesale to Zen's own network and it shows as a migration order in their account, and the performance of the connection goes down the toilet as a result.

And try to go easy on the router resets or it's going to think there's a fault and lower your sync rate.
 
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Caged said:
And try to go easy on the router resets or it's going to think there's a fault and lower your sync rate.
Click to expand...
@Brumboy Be especially careful of this, as the DLM can be quite aggressive and won't release you back to better speeds again for a good long while (days, weeks even). Whilst at the same time the adjustment to your sync rate is done by increasing CRC and Line Nosie that ends up; you guessed it, slowing you down (so more error checks and margins for errors are tollerated).
 
Caged said:
What do you mean "everything is normal" - are there any recent orders showing or not? Some people have been moved from BT Wholesale to Zen's own network and it shows as a migration order in their account, and the performance of the connection goes down the toilet as a result.

And try to go easy on the router resets or it's going to think there's a fault and lower your sync rate.
Click to expand...

I've checked and there are no recent orders. Interesting I did not know that. That would explain a lot if it did show that.

So when I say router resets I just mean unplugging it. I've factory reset it today once (did nothing to improve the performance).

However; I have done 2 speed tests on our smartphones and they're showing 50MB. But our work laptops & personal PC devices are showing 27MB, this is a mixture of LAN, 2.4 & 5.0ghz networks. I have even done a system restore on my device incase. The router has been factory reset.

I even did a LAN cable to my PC without any other devices connected as soon as the factory reset was done.

The fact the 2 smartphones are saying 50MB makes it even stranger
 
Any act of dropping VDSL sync could be seen as a line fault and the Openreach equipment will slow your line down to try and regain stability.
 
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I've called Zen and they said they did a line test and said it was synced at 55MB and no change was made to it so not sure what to think

But as I said in my last comment the 2 phones are doing 50MB so it can't be the line, but then I've factory reset the router and the performance is still halved on every other device
 
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