Having a weird tech issue that literally can't be googled.

"If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent" (essextee) 09/09/2019 at 18:34 • Filed to: None

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So, like, my desktop has been getting shit internet lately. Speedtest says I have 2mpbs download and 6mbps upload, with the connection dropping out occasionally and requiring me to manually reconnect to the network. My laptop, sitting in the same location with the same signal strength, manages a rock steady 50 down and 10 up.

This hasn’t always been the case, the desktop was blazing fast until two months ago. At first I thought my brandless wireless card was failing so I replaced it with a name brand one. No dice. The connection drops out less often but I’m still experiencing the same slowness issues.

It’s not the router, the other 12 or so devices in the house connect just fine. Poking around the router config page reveals no settings that would negatively impact my PC specifically.

I can’t come up with any combination of keywords to search for that gets me the results I need. I just get a flood of n00b how-tos telling me to reboot my router and update wifi drivers. That’s no help to me and it makes it impossible to search for help online.

Since I’ve ruled out hardware, the only thing else I can think of is something somehow got misconfigured in Windows. I’ve checked everything I can think of though and can’t find anything wrong. Tried disabling TC/IP v6, tried manually setting a DNS server, etc. Nothing has helped.

So, any ideas what this could be before I resort to a fresh Windows install?

Thomas Donohue > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent 09/09/2019 at 19:04

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Delete the wireless adapter, then add it again?

Also, what’s the date on the driver for the card?  It may have updated to a newer/generic driver that’s not really compatible  (in which case the above suggestion won’t work unless you have the older drivers)

facw > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent 09/09/2019 at 19:04

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Don’t have much to recommend, do you have a restore point before the slowness started? Might be less painful than reinstalling everything. Are you getting good signal from the wifi? Any difference between 2.4GHz band and 5GHz band?

Are you having packet loss? (from a command prompt run ping -t 192.168.0.1 (o r whatever your router i s IP ), and hit ctrl-c after a bit ).

If you run tracert oppositelock.kinja.com, I assume the slow part is reaching your router (if there is a slow part)?

VajazzleMcDildertits - read carefully, respond politely > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent 09/09/2019 at 19:17

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I never specialized in wifi, but I wonder if the laptop is hogging the lion’s share of the available signal. This is less true now but basic wifi signals are half duplex, which means if one thing is talking the others have to shut up. Modern wifi protocols mean that this isn’t as big of a deal, but we should still rule it out.

1. What I would do is get a third device, put it in the same place as your Desktop is, and sanity check while the laptop is present how well that thing does. Tablet, Chromebook, Phone, or anything you know with a verified working adapter should do.

2. Normally wifi adaptors come with software to analyze signal strength that it’s receiving, or you can check your router’s admin UI interface to determine how strong the signal is to the client, if it possess that data.

3. Windows will also tell you how fast the wireless connection is established on the network adaptor status , (depending on version and client software) and I’d sanity check your network stack by running a wired line to the same exact router as another test, to rule out some kind of client/router negotiation failure at the IP level, not the wifi level.

4. On a compatible smartphone or mobile device, there are lots of wifi signal analyzer apps. Check your router’s signal and what channels it is on to trasmit your wifi, and see if any other neighbors have a strong signal on a similar channel. I’ve used Wifi Analyzer before which is available for Android. Check out the color and shape of your signal parabola.

5. Also, speaking of which, you can go onto the router and manually pick a frequency/channel range that might be clear of obstruction which might help.

6. They also sell bigger, stronger antennas for wifi adaptors (this is a long shot) and also you may wish to consider a WIFI repeater, which is $$ but might work.

A lot of OEM drivers are kind of crap and they get maintained poorly, so it’s possible that you might just have had drawn the short straw there, which I am sorry about since there isn’t much to do there except buy something else.

I’m not an expert, but I have been around - I wound up just spending the gratuitous amount to go to a wifi mesh network and never looked back, and my family finally stopped complaining. But it was really expensive. Hopefully this gives you some ideas. 

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > facw 09/09/2019 at 19:23

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Everything seems to go to shit after bouncing through that comcast one at step 6. My laptop is going through the same IP but everything after functions fine.

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > Thomas Donohue 09/09/2019 at 19:24

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Issue occurs with multiple wireless cards though, and I hadn’t done any driver update before this occurred .

facw > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent 09/09/2019 at 19:29

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Hmm, that’s weird... Makes it seem like there’s some (probably hopelessly obscure) configuration issue that’s making things not play nice at that stop. You could try reaching out to Comcast, but you’d probably have to waste a ton of time fighting through stupid scripts, and accusations  it’s your problem to get to someone who knows what they are talking about.

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > facw 09/09/2019 at 19:30

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Can ping router fine but see packet loss 50% of the time pinging further than that

facw > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent 09/09/2019 at 19:34

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Yeah, that’s just odd. I don’t know enough about modern networking standards but it seems like if you can chat freely with the router, it should be able to send those packets along just as well as it can with your other devices.

Aremmes > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent 09/09/2019 at 19:37

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Ditch the wiffy card on the desktop and run a proper Ethernet cable from it to the router.

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > facw 09/09/2019 at 19:37

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Hey look a new low score

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > Aremmes 09/09/2019 at 19:40

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That’s not possible in this application.

gin-san - shitpost specialist > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent 09/09/2019 at 19:40

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holy shit that is awful

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > facw 09/09/2019 at 19:40

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It’s like some server somewhere has decided it doesn’t like me.

someassemblyrequired > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent 09/09/2019 at 19:43

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Comcast just thinks you’re  making DDoS attacks on Oppo

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > gin-san - shitpost specialist 09/09/2019 at 19:43

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My ISP is just awful in general, with bad peaks and lows in service throughout the day. Half an hour ago my laptop got 50mbps down. Now it’s getting 7.5.

Only other option in my area is DSL, which is even worse.

facw > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent 09/09/2019 at 19:48

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66.208.232.230 is still a Comcast IP, so yeah it seems like something in their network really doesn’t like what you are sending but I’m at loss as to why. Something it doesn’t like about how the packets sent f rom your PC are structured? Deep Packet Inspection gone awry? Different routing for your other devices for some reason?

404 - User No Longer Available > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent 09/09/2019 at 19:50

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Longer shot but has anyone moved in lately? Could be another router causing conflicts.

Try InSSIDer, I use this to find recommended channels for routers.

https://www.metageek.com/products/inssider/

My X-type is too a real Jaguar > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent 09/09/2019 at 19:53

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Localized signal interference, are you running 2.4 and 5 as separate networks? Can you isolate the 5?  What’s the speed on that?

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > My X-type is too a real Jaguar 09/09/2019 at 20:02

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Connection with router is strong. Some comcast server upstream is eating my packets.

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > 404 - User No Longer Available 09/09/2019 at 20:03

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I’ve ruled out any hardware issues on my end. Connection with router is strong.

My X-type is too a real Jaguar > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent 09/09/2019 at 20:12

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Call Comcast tech support, ask them to reprovision your modem. If they don’t know what to do ask for tier 2 wireless repair. 

tpw_rules > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent 09/09/2019 at 20:13

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Did you move something around the house?

I had an egg-face moment when I first moved into my dorm in uni and the wifi absolutely sucked on my desktop. I escalated all the way up the tech tree until they sent someone with a signal analyzer to see what was going on. He takes one look at my setup, then points out the wifi dongle is sitting right against the metal bedsprings. A 1 foot USB cable and my internet was 20x faster.

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > tpw_rules 09/09/2019 at 20:15

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Nope. Nothing has changed.

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > My X-type is too a real Jaguar 09/09/2019 at 20:17

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It's actually my own modem, and every other device has flawless connectivity. It's just my desktop pc.

coqui70 > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent 09/09/2019 at 20:57

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Ran a quick whois:

http://whois.domaintools.com/66.208.232.230

Is a Comcast device

http://whois.domaintools.com/151.101.66.166

Is a Fastly device (Fastly provided content delivery and other web services)

Somewhere in between the routing goes nuts, are you using some service from Fastly? Maybe Comcast and Fastly don’t get along network-wise.

facw > coqui70 09/09/2019 at 20:59

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I get 151.101.66.166 at the end of my trace as well. I’m guessing that’s just the delivery network kinja uses.

coqui70 > facw 09/09/2019 at 21:20

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Run netstat and look for any oddities - or if you have network security software installed run a scan.

facw > coqui70 09/09/2019 at 21:31

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Did you mean to reply to EssExTee? I’m not having any trouble. And just to confirm, Fastly seems like it’s normal:

We use Fastly as our Content Delivery Network (CDN) and cache our pages pretty heavily. 

From:

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

coqui70 > facw 09/09/2019 at 21:37

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Sure did. 

Jason Spears > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent 09/09/2019 at 21:51

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Definitely something suspect at that hop where latency goes from 2 digits to 4. Here’s my traceroute, also from Comcast. I hit an IP in the same subnet class C as your problematic one, but I don’t see any issues.

[2019-09-09 21:46.50] ~
[spearsjc.DESKTOP-VSLH4K0]  tracert oppositelock.kinja.com
Tracing route to kinja.com [151.101.130.166]
over a maximum of 30 hops:
1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms 192.168.1.1
2 11 ms 11 ms 11 ms 96.120.4.117
3 10 ms 11 ms 11 ms 68.86.107.205
4 24 ms 11 ms 10 ms 162.151.154.121
5 16 ms 15 ms 15 ms be-7725-cr02.56marietta.ga.ibone.comcast.net [68.86.93.125]
6 17 ms 17 ms 14 ms be-11491-pe04.56marietta.ga.ibone.comcast.net [68.86.83.178]
7 13 ms 12 ms 11 ms 66.208.232.30
8 14 ms 11 ms 11 ms 151.101.130.166
Trace complete.

Do you have problems with all internet sites, or just kinja?

Sorry, re-read your original post.

diplodicus forgot his password > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent 09/10/2019 at 09:20

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Even if you own the modem comcast can reset the settings 

Have you logged on to the modems GUI and looked at any of the settings in there?

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > diplodicus forgot his password 09/10/2019 at 11:17

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Did you actually read the whole post?

diplodicus forgot his password > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent 09/10/2019 at 12:33

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Yes an d you don’t mention your modem just your router

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > diplodicus forgot his password 09/10/2019 at 14:09

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Sorry, I should clarify: I have cable. Modem & Router are the same device.