Internet saturation.

[davehc]

Has anyone experienced this. It has become a nuisance of late?
I am a big user of the internet. I have a home LAN operating successfully, through a router. Admittedly, the router is a little old, but serviceable.( LinkSys WRT54G).

Often, when I switch on (As I said, lately), I have to reset the router and ISP modem, and then reconnect my computer. Now, this itself was a pain. But, added to that, there is another manisfestation. I switch off every night, so nothing is being stored in memory, but I find, over a period of days, that the connection gets slower and slower. Following the same reset procedure, it reverts to normal, again.
Local family information is that it is the ISP's modem which needs changing. Any support for this idea?
I should also point out, in anticipation, that I have tried the IPV6 suggestions, with no visible effect. Also, the trouble shooter shows, rightly or wrongly, that my connection as far as the router, is working, but there is a disconnection to the modem. (This on all the Lan computers)
Any ideas?

 

[Phone Man]

First I would bypass the Router and plug one computer into the modem and see if the problems stays. If it clears then get a new Router. If the problem comes back then contact you ISP.

Jim

 

[win7clutz]

Who is your ISP?

 

[davehc]

I dobt it would interest you Denmark TDC - The principal server in the country.

Thats's a thought, Phone Man!

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there davehc

I suspect the problem is with the local infrastructure being swamped by promises it can't keep -- once you start rolling out really decent download speeds a LOT more people start doing things they swore they would never use a computer for such as watching a lot more video (large bandwidth required for a decent non-pixellated picture on a good monitor / LCD TV) and making a lot of audio music servers streaming internet radio / music around their homes all day.

This of course HIDEOUSLY increases contention on the lines -- and even though Denmark has one of the best Internet infrastructures in Europe - even it can get overwhelmed.

Until more infrastructure is in place you are probably stuck with it -- but if you are a BIG user of bandwidth then I should look at a CABLE supplier or a dedicated service or even think of some newer ADSL2 suppliers (45 mb speed possible)


Routers also do eventually give up the ghost although in my whole association with computers I've ever only had one "go south" on me and that was after I'd soaked it in hot coffee.

If you do replace a router you might as well get one of those new ones that do the new 802.11n - 104 mb (2 X faster than 802.11g 54 mb) .

They are all compatable with the older standards as well so you don't have to change all your wireless cards in your client computers at the same time.

Your Lan needs to be able to network with 1000MB /s -- most new wired connections can handle that. A new router will give you decent internal WIRED LAN connections as well.

Even if the Internet access drops speed your LAN will still benefit with faster connections for local sharing, db access, file transfer etc etc.

Another trick - especially if you have some things like "squeezeboxes" or other stand alone Wireless music / multi-media servers is to disable DHCP for at least a part of your LAN. This will avoid contention of IP addresses when your stand alone music servers start - these don't register themeslves normally on your LAN - they just connect through the router. But they DO obviously have IP addresses and if these aren't recognized by DHCP then you've got a conflict which won't be reported.

On a local Lan I tend to think it's better in any case to turn off DHCP since sometimes you need to port forward to specific machines on your LAN from outside it such as RDP or access any application on a server on you Lan remotely.


Cheers
jimbo

 

[davehc]

Thanks Jimbo.Very useful comment.
Heavy useage would not, I think, be at my end. I spend most of my internet time on sites such as this, with no great interest in music or movies.etc. My other Lan users are very light.
Router? I have thought it is time I updated, but have not had any (apparently) router related problems, other than the present complaint.
As you are obviously aware, Denmark is ahead of the field in many computer areas, and there has been an astronomical increase in Internet useage over the past year. Even the old 80 year old farmee opposite me has just asked me to setup a computer with an internet connection for him!!!

 

[Phone Man]

Also check your cable between the Router and Modem. Try a new one and see what happens. Years ago I had a router and the WAN port went South with similar problems.

Jim

 

[brady]

Run some tests the next time it 'drops'.

Run ipconfig /all (from cmd) and post the results
Run tracert to google.com or your internet provider's website.
run Netstat -a -b to see what's holding connections

list goes on, but these will tell us interesting facts about your connection status.

 

[WiFi Ed]

Very mysterious. I have the same router as you and 3 computers connected to it (2 desktops, wired, and one notebook, wireless). The router is always on (it might get turned off/on every 3 months or so) and my download/upload speeds are very stable (Time Warner Cable ISP - 15M down, 2M up).

Do you have the latest firmware available for your router?

Support and Services

 

[davehc]

Thanks all. The response here is very gratifying. It gives me a few hints to work with.
Hi Ed. Yes, I do have the firmware up to date.This was my Netstat readout, under working conditions.

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there
I asume there's no "invisible" background Internet processes working on your machine(s) -- hopefully you've virus scanned and checked all running processes with some sensible AV software.

If the problem with slow internet access only exists on one machine then SOMETHING MUST BE running on it to slow it down -- I'd wipe the disks and do a clean OS install on that machine.

If you've got general degradation and its NOT an infrastructure program -- then its new router time -- they aren't very expensive and you can get newer one's with faster WIRED and WIRELESS connections for your LAN.

Note when testing disable the Wireless settings on your router -- you don't want "outside" users using up your bandwidth.

Typical wireless connections aren't terribly secure -- change your Router Wireless key phrase regularly and always add at least ONE special character such as an ! into your pass phrase - a simple little thing like this causes horrendous difficulties for password cracking algorithms -- even brute force one's.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[zigzag3143]

Thanks all. The response here is very gratifying. It gives me a few hints to work with.
Hi Ed. Yes, I do have the firmware up to date.This was my Netstat readout, under working conditions.

Have you run an anti virus on it lately? In netstat there are a slew of open ports where no ownership can be discerned. That sometimes indicates a trojan running in the background. If that is the case it would explain the problem.

 

[davehc]

Antivirus and malware programs run resident. I perform a full scan fortnightly.
I have found a licencing program, with the help of process Explorer, connected with Paintshop, called Protexis. Googling indicates that it reports back and forth on the web. It is not a virus or trojan, in the true sense, but I am going to dump it. I am investigating it further!

 

[davehc]

No need for any more suggestions for the moment, guys. I am still deep in investigating. One thing I did not check but have now. Today I got the usual response with a lack of internet connection and the two or three yellow bars in the icon. A quick tour showed that my lan was 100% to two other computers.
My telephone line, for what it is worth, is faultless so the suspicion is falling on the TDC Broadband Modem.

 

[davehc]

I thank you for the suggestions. I have saved them for possible future use.
The problem turned out to be , however, much simpler.
I had a temporary neighbour, renting about 60 meteres from my setup. My knowledge of internet protocol is somewhere down the lower middle of the scale!! I cannot explain why, sometimes, strange things happen with computers. Must be little green men running around.
But I had noticed that, quite often, my internet connection was showing a Netgear connection, but very very weak. I had enquired from my next door, young neighbour, if he had such a router, but he said not.
But, I digress. Yesterday there was a lot of activity, with loaded tractors and trailers (I live in the country), moving back and for from the rented property. I had heard, previously, that it was about to happen, as the property had been sold.
Last night, and on opening this morning, I noticed a remarkable increase in my internet access. When I checked this morning, I found the net gear coonection had gone.
No problems since (I hope, or later).
Thanks again for taking the time to help me on this.

 

[smarteyeball]

Cheeky devil. Have you secured that wireless connection with stronger security like enabling WPA2?

 

[davehc]

Yes sir!! I don't think he was so cheeky. He was a "no longer young" farmer, and I doubt he knew much about computer technology. Probably did not even know he was not using his own connection but wondered why everything took so long!!

 

[smarteyeball]

Since the situation is resolved, in hindsight it's rather amusing that both of you were probably muttering and scratching your head at the same time wondering why both your connections were suddenly so slow