EDITED: Any suggestions for brand/type of router? After following suggestions, it looks like I am going that route (see what I did there). Thanks everyone!



Our internet as of late has been very slow and inconsistent. In short, we are the kings of buffering. We have broadband that worked well until the last while. By way of background, we have had our current router for some time. It is an Apple Airport Extreme Base. When we finished our basement, I added several eero Beacons to extend service and that seemed to work well until recently.

We have reset our router without any success. When I do speed checks, we range all over the place. At this point, I’m thinking my Apple router and me eeros Beacons don’t like each other, the Apple is outdated or something else but this is not my field of expertise. Thoughts and suggestions appreciated.


Thanks!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: BB61,

can you check the speed / latency at the modem itself. It might be a problem with your provider vs. your router.

Try unplugging it for a minute.

I had the buffering & freezing big time. In my case it was an outdated Modem (8) yrs old.

Three correct answers. ^^

Reset, hardwire to laptop/test, replace if the first two are not the problem.

This is from the other night. I’m at work now. Hopefully this helps.

Do you have several Apple devices? My wife and kids used to have loads of background tasks running that would eat bandwidth.
Whenever I would see bad response I would go to all those devices and shut down those tasks and speed would be back to normal.

I’d replace that AND your modem while you’re at it.

Apple hasn’t been in the router biz for several years now.

I’m a big fan of TP-Link mesh routers. Got one off Amazon called an Archer A7 that has been great so far.

What kind of internet service do you have? Cable? FIOS? hopefully not DSL

Broadband - othe air. Until last year, that was the only option besides 4G. I now have a Comcast box in my front yard so I could go that route but I’m always reading about how bad their CS is so I’m not so sure about moving to them.

We have 4 Apple devices. Three computers and one iPad. No iPhones.

What's up with the upload being 0.0?

9.2Mbps seems slow now but 15 years ago you'd have bragging rights. Spectrum's basic speed is 200Mbps down and 10Mbps up. My desktop is wired and routinely exceeds that. Wireless chromebook 75down.

Basically wifi routers, the transistors that put out the power on them have somewhat of a limited life span. The output gets a little degraded year after year, they generate a little more noise.

So yeah, if it's been over 5 years since you got the wifi / router, it's probably time to replace.

quote:

Originally posted by doublesharp:
What's up with the upload being 0.0?

"Oh, mercy, yes! We got to have that upload!"

quote:

Originally posted by BB61:
EDITED: Any suggestions for brand/type of router? After following suggestions, it looks like I am going that route (see what I did there). Thanks everyone!

Thanks!

I have this one going on 8 months or so now and like it a lot:

TP-Link Archer A7

If your network is simple, your coverage needs are small to average, and your max download speed is ~200gb or less, I don't think you can miss with this router, especially given the price. TP-Link AC1750

Depending on your coverage needs.
If you need more then a single access point or your modem is in a non-ideal location take a look at a mesh system.

I purchased TP-Link Deco M9 Plus systems for my parents houses. I used 2 units at each house. I bought refurb from B&H.

They are not highly customizable but have been very reliable so far.

Edit: It was the M9 Plus system, not M5
The M9Plus has dedicated 5Ghz backhaul

This message has been edited. Last edited by: eyrich,

quote:

Originally posted by BB61:
Broadband - othe air. Until last year, that was the only option besides 4G. I now have a Comcast box in my front yard so I could go that route but I’m always reading about how bad their CS is so I’m not so sure about moving to them.

Looking at that speed test result of yours made me have a sad. (and no, not just the zero bps upload )

Broadband over the air is OK if it is the only option, but definitely, if there's a Comcast box already in the yard, check what your cable internet options are. They should be about 10-40X faster than that test result, or higher.

Also, if Comcast thought your neighborhood was worth wiring, there may be others who wired it up, also. Whichever one(s) you check into, ask and see if they have a new customer deal - that could lower the cost of you trying out their service.

Definitely, though, hold off on any new hardware till you decide. If you go with a new provider, your existing eeros with their current hardware will probably square you away. I love my eeros- have a setup at home and at the weekly rental property.

RE: Comcast CS - I think Comcast's no better or worse than any other utility/ISP, re: tech/customer support. We had good luck with them in the CA house, but of course YMMV.

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
Three correct answers. ^^

Reset, hardwire to laptop/test, replace if the first two are not the problem.

Agreed, first test with wired connection at the router THEN test at various points in the house with Wi-Fi, THEN test with DIFFERENT mobile devices.
That data needs to be compared.
Not go to speculate without any more data.

One additional piece of information would be nice as well, what speed are you paying for?

^^^^
20 mps. Originally this was plenty fast. We upgraded to this speed last year and it worked fine until recently. And, no new devices.

If you get T-mobile signal, their cell service Wifi works very good for the price ($50/month). My friend's house (with only 2 bars out of 4) gets 45-75 Mbs down and 10-30 Mbs up (generally dependent upon the time of day). No it doesn't come close to my fiber, but compared to her other alternative DSL provider of 20 Mbs down 5 mbps up and $65 a month, it's much better. 1st hand experience since I set it up for them and it performed much better than I was expecting.

https://www.t-mobile.com/isp