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.
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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
 
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.
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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
 
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.
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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
 
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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Caged said:
Describe how everything is connected, what spec cables are being used, what rate your wired devices are linked at
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To keep it simple I only have my PC connected at the moment, I've tried the following:

Router to PC via CAT 8 Ethernet Cable - running at 1GB - Realteck PCie 2.5GBE Family Controller
Router to PC via Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200 Adapter - running at ↓292  ↑325, tested on 2.4ghz and 5.0 ghz networks, different channels etc

Drivers are updated, windows is updated, router synced at 55MB
 
Orcvader said:
Well at least it came out clean, so this "cat 8" cable doesn't seem to be causing issues.

Just to make sure assuming you're using speedtest.net, have you tried other servers?
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So I've had the router off for 15 minutes or so.

2 speedtests now show 50MB and 3 show - 31, 27, 17MB. Very weird how they're all almost different..
 
Armageus said:
Stop turning it off - it isn't going to help


Depends what else is going on via your network at the time - even a momentary download via any other device can impact a speedtest (depending on what if any traffic shaping algorithm is in operation)
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Yeah I know, but I guess the issue is somewhat resolved. But buffering on some other video streaming is still an issue.

In other news..I can now get FTTC..so I've ordered 900MB..bit of a Christmas present to myself :D
 
ChrisD. said:
Hopefully you won't get any of the issues others have been experiencing with Zen.
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Right so I've read a few things about this, from my understanding, the lines are BT's anyway right? so how much difference can a reseller make on a fibre service. I've been with Zen for a long time and never had issues so I'm not sure. Are these issues area specific? EE, Talktalk and a few others are also available, prices are similiar so it's a case of who's more reliable but is there a way to check this in my area beforehand
 
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Hmm well that's not good. Thank you for that information I had no idea. So what do you suggest? The FTTP won't be activated until 20th Janaury 2023, so plenty of time to cancel.

BT, TalkTalk & EE are available. From having a look it seems BT are more reliable out of those.

Is there any way for me to find out if this line is managed by Zen? I could call and ask I guess!

Actually you know what's interesting, on Zen the package for 900MB states at 450MB minimum speed, but with BT their 900MB states a minimum of 700MB, that's a huge minimum speed difference. So perhaps that is indicating something
 
ChrisD. said:
It depends what you want exactly, I don't think BT/EE/TT customer services will be the same level what you would expect from Zen historically.

All Zen will tell you is that their own backhaul causes no problems. They haven't publicly acknowledged any issue but are quietly letting people leave their contracts.

I can highly recommend Aquiss, you will however require your own router. You can use the Zen one if they don't ask for it back.
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So I just called and Zen said everything is BT owned/managed. I did actually call twice and speak to two different people just to make sure this information is accurate. They have no current plans for this at my exchange. He did say they have 400 exchanges that they are taking over or whatever the term was.

So for now it's good news since it's not on Zen's backhaul. The performance shouldn't be an issue since it's all BT.

I have looked at Aquiss they do look good, I've just put a request in to see what packages they have for me.

Really good information from everyone in this thread thank you :)
 
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