quote:

Originally posted by lastmanstanding

Here's the results.
Ping ms 23
Download mbps 17.82
Upload mbps 1.51

What all that translates to I'll need a interpreter

That's sure is slower than the 30 you're paying for. I know with my setup, I need to run this at various times of the day as it will change based on outside demand. I believe 25 mbps is what you need for 4k streaming - if that matters.

Try if early in the morning, at noon and again at 7 pm to see how it varies.

I'm currently paying for 20mbps 30 is the upgrade available. Have to purchase a ethernet cable to hook up that way.

quote:

Originally posted by Shaql:
I'd tell them to replace the 20Mbps modem first.

This.

quote:

Originally posted by snipes:

quote:

Originally posted by Shaql:
I'd tell them to replace the 20Mbps modem first.

This.

This they will do. For $200

quote:

Download mbps 17.82

You're getting 90% of the full 20 mbps.

A good next step would be to try the Speed Test connected directly to the Modem \ Router using an ethernet cable. That will remove the wifi connection.

You're grabbing a baseline of your speed so if you do upgrade you'll know if it made a difference in a quantified way.

Is your buffering problem consistent? Always bad or does it vary during the day? Run the speed test when you notice buffering issues and see if the speed changes. If your speed changes \ varies because of external load it'll still vary with a faster modem?

quote:

Originally posted by lastmanstanding:
I'm guessing this is DSL? It's a phone line coming into the house going to the modem/router. The location of the modem router is in a back bedroom of the house but only a single wall separates the main tv from the modem. At one point I thought maybe the modem being located in the back bedroom was the problem. I purchased a wifi booster/extender from my ISP provider and installed that but the same buffering problem exists. It's hard to put your'e finger on the problem which could be by design.

Is speed the problem, the modem/router, ISP choking me back or the Apps servers? My guess is either the ISP is choking back at times in which case it will never change or the App providers servers are insufficient to handle the traffic at times which also most likely never change regardless what I do on my end.

Yup - you have DSL (ignore everything I said above about cable modems ).

If you're getting 17+Mbps that's not too bad for a 20Mbps service.

I'd be curious if you still have buffering issues if you ran an Ethernet cable to your TV. Signal issues with wireless routers can be a PITA to resolve.

Also curious what speed test results you'd have when you're experiencing buffering issues (although to be fair, that should be run with an Ethernet cable as well).

We have three smart tv's. Two in the house and one out in the garage. All three have exhibited the same problems. All three tv's have a attached Amazon Fire Box. Not the stick but the box. I never use the laptop for streaming movies or tv all it's used for is web surfing. I have noticed on occasion that if the tv is buffering pages on my laptop will load slowly or time out but this is not always the case. Amazon seems to be the least problematic but the one I stream the least.

There is no way to run hardwired ethernet cable to all the tv's. Possibly one. We do not have a full basement so running wires must be run along floors and drilled through walls.

Run a temp hard wire from the DSL modem to the Amazon box, either a long wire plugged directly into both, or, move the box to where you can plug it into the modem and hook up a tv temporarily in that room.

See if you experience better connectivity, speed, reduced issues for a day or two.

If the problem goes away it's your wifi signal from the modem and I"d agree that 17 isn't bad on a 20 service using wifi.

An alternative would be to run your own wifi off the modem with a MESH system from Google or Orbi, this will have all the backbone traffic on one side of the wifi and user connections on a different path. Tends to help distribution of traffic and reduce any speed problems with the connections and backbone separated.

Asked earlier but did not see if you have an alternative service provider in the area such as cable. If so see what the new customer rate is, you might get a big discount for signing up and faster speeds, new equipment etc.

At the very least you could leverage it with your current provider...

Getting back to the original point of the thread, no, $200 isn't all that high for a DSL modem/WIFI router combo.

I guess the real question is, how many of your devices are actually streaming at the same time. You say you have 3 TV's, so if for example, at a given time any one of them is streaming in 4k, you're maxed out at your current throughput. Pushing your speed up to 30MBPS "might" allow you to add one more device operating simultaneously at 4k. Might.

So the real question is, how many TV's do you want to be able to operate at once, and at what resolution?

It really boils down to what content you're streaming, and what resolution it is... My FireTV displays at 3840x2160(4k), but the actual streamed content varies between 1080p and 4k.

Well just received the new modem/router today. Looks vastly different than what I have this one is coned shaped rather than a stand up tower type like my existing one. But that probably means nothing.

Probably won't swap out until later today or maybe later tomorrow and see where that gets me besides install frustration and aggravation. These things never go well for a techno rube like me. To answer the above question 90% of the time it's one tv streaming (not in 4K) one lap top and the wife playing on her phone and I don't think she uses wifi as she has free unlimited data.