UPC Fine Wired but Crawling Through Wireless

lawdable

Hi guys,

I've noticed a few people have had issues with their UPC, and I was wondering if anyone had found a solution.

I'm on the 5mbs service and when hard-wired to my laptop I get nearly 5mbs.

But when I run the signal through a wireless router it becomes exceptionally slow. (0.07mbs if I'm lucky!)

UPC suggested it was the router, so I bought a new one, but that is just the same.

It's not the laptop, as my house-mate has found the connection to be very slow also.

The issue arose about 5 days ago.

Any thoughts or advice?

Gooch2k4

lawdable wrote: »

Hi guys,

I've noticed a few people have had issues with their UPC, and I was wondering if anyone had found a solution.

I'm on the 5mbs service and when hard-wired to my laptop I get nearly 5mbs.

But when I run the signal through a wireless router it becomes exceptionally slow. (0.07mbs if I'm lucky!)

UPC suggested it was the router, so I bought a new one, but that is just the same.

It's not the laptop, as my house-mate has found the connection to be very slow also.

The issue arose about 5 days ago.

Any thoughts or advice?

Are you using the router UPC supplied you with?

Knasher

Have you tried switching wireless channels? If its a new issue its possible that you or one of your neighbors has just bought some new hardware which is putting out a lot of noise on the same band as you are trying to use (assuming of course that both your old and new routers are using the same channel).

lawdable

It seems from the other thread that lots of people have been having exactly the same problem.

Your UPC connection is fine until out of the blue some day in the past 3 weeks your wireless stops working, or slows to an incredibly slow pace.

You phone UPC and they say: hard-wire from the box to your computer and do a speedtest. You do so and amazingly your connection works fine. They tell you the problem must be with the wireless router, which understandably they won't provide you with support for.

You are almost embarrassed that you called them with a problem that has turned out to be with your kit, you apologise and use the connection hard-wired rather than wireless.

You then buy a new wireless router, but the problem still exists.

There's something very wrong with UPC, and they really need to sort it out. But why is it that their signal works fine when you hard-wire to your computer, but not when you run it through a wireless router???

lawdable

Gooch2k4: I was using the one they supplied, but have just replaced it with a new one.

Knasher: We've had no trouble with interference from the neighbour's router before, and it seems from the volume of complaints here recently that something has gone wrong on UPC's end of things.

jor el

lawdable wrote: »

There's something very wrong with UPC, and they really need to sort it out.

The issue has absolutely nothing to do with UPC, so why should they try to fix it. The hard wired connection is the only one that matters. Any wireless signal can suffer from a host of problems, and none of these are UPC's fault or problem to deal with.

lawdable wrote: »

But why is it that their signal works fine when you hard-wire to your computer, but not when you run it through a wireless router???

You're comparing apples and oranges. The Wifi issues have nothing to do with the broadband. It works fine wired because there is no problem with the broadband. The problem is the Wifi network, or the router.

lawdable

Jor_el: With respect, it seems that all of a sudden a large group of people have had one of two problems at exactly the same time: (i) their UPC becomes exceedingly slow; or (ii) the UPC works fine hard-wired, but not when sent through a wireless router.

Have a look at the main thread on this.

Their service is only of use to me if it can be wirelessly routed, which it can't. Normally I'd assume that the problem has nothing to do with UPC, but the combination of the sheer volume of complaints and the absence of an alternative explanation is that (as strange as it sounds) their connections can be perfect when hard-wired but not when wirelessly routed.

Crazy, but true; and definitely up to them to solve.

bealtine

lawdable wrote: »

Hi guys,



I'm on the 5mbs service and when hard-wired to my laptop I get nearly 5mbs.

But when I run the signal through a wireless router it becomes exceptionally slow. (0.07mbs if I'm lucky!)

Sounds like the channel that the wifi is on is already in use or has recently come into use. Change it in the router configuration and see if that helps.

DingDong

Any number of things can effect your wireless performance. In your case its something local as you have replaced the UPC router and are still having problems . First thing to try is using inssider to look for a free wireless channel or skip this and just randomly pick a new channel.

jor el

lawdable wrote: »

Jor_el: With respect, it seems that all of a sudden a large group of people have had one of two problems at exactly the same time: (i) their UPC becomes exceedingly slow; or (ii) the UPC works fine hard-wired, but not when sent through a wireless router.

I see no evidence that a large group of of UPC customers have all suddenly started having issues with their broadband. All Wifi networks can suffer from speed issues. This has always been the case, and always will, and is independent of operator. People are noticing it on UPC, because UPC's speeds exceed the capability of Wifi networks, where most other ISPs don't.

lawdable wrote: »

Their service is only of use to me if it can be wirelessly routed, which it can't. Normally I'd assume that the problem has nothing to do with UPC, but the combination of the sheer volume of complaints and the absence of an alternative explanation is that (as strange as it sounds) their connections can be perfect when hard-wired but not when wirelessly routed.

The lack of an explanation that you like does not mean that an impossible explanation is the right one. A Wifi network issue is not caused by UPC, in any way. It's simply not possible.

lawdable wrote: »

Crazy, but true; and definitely up to them to solve.

You don't seem to be understanding this, so I'll say it again. It's definitely not up to UPC, in any way, so stop saying that. The Wifi network is a completely separate and different thing to the broadband. If it works perfectly when wired, then there is nothing wrong with your connection.

With more and more Wifi networks, portable phones, mobile wifi, etc, there are more and more interferers. Only you can fix the issues in your home with the Wifi network. Change the channel, move the router, move the computer, and so on.

watty

Many many things can slow WiFi
Microwaves, Licence free local Wireless, Video Senders, other WiFi units, Nintendo DS or Phone with WiFi on, Security Cameras (FM analogue or IP MPEG WiIFi) ...

Also the power and effectiveness of the WiFi in the laptop, PC or Xbox or what ever limits the speed as much as the WiFi base as it's two way.

bgoz10

Does anyone know how to disable the wireless on a cisco epc2425? I am buying an airport extreme from apple as the wireless on the cisco is rubbish??

watty

Apple is overpriced. It also has some problematic "features"
Get an airport designed and made by a real network company, not a Fashion house.
Netgear
Cisco/Linksys
Dlink
Plenty others.

Not Belkin. Near Apple prices but poor designs.

bgoz10

I just read through about 50 reviews on amazon.com of the airport extreme and ppl have said that they have all switched from belkin, netgear, linksys etc and find the airport extreme to be alot better so i think ill be goin for that one!

Anan1

watty wrote: »

Apple is overpriced. It also has some problematic "features"
Get an airport designed and made by a real network company, not a Fashion house.
Netgear
Cisco/Linksys
Dlink
Plenty others.

Not Belkin. Near Apple prices but poor designs.

Can you give me a bit more detail on exactly why I shouldn't buy an Airport extreme? Bear in mind that convenience, speed, and reliability is everything to me - i've no interest in messing around trying to save a few quid.

jamesmc123

Jor_El clearly has not seen this issue occurring and clearly would change his mind if he encountered this. I get speeds of 0.1 Mbps and a minute later can get 11 Mbps wirelessly. I have the same issue with Wireless and UPC have admitted that it is a signal issue. I have tried everything to no avail, changing channels, tweaking a lot of values. A technician is coming to the house this Wednesday and I will post what happens.

jamesmc123

Thanks DingDong. Will try later using inSSIDer 2.0 to see what could be happening locally. http://www.metageek.net/products/inssider

There really seems to be a lot of UPC work going on in my area, D16.
It would be good if other people who have had wireless crawling would report their issues here also, especially if changing channels has no effect and good speeds seem to be random without any apparent local issues or unrelated to the router used.

jor el

jamesmc123 wrote: »

Jor_El clearly has not seen this issue occurring and clearly would change his mind if he encountered this.

Yes I have, and no I would not. If the wired connection works fine, then there is no broadband problem. If the wired works fine but the wireless does not, then the issue is the wireless network. I don't know how I can explain that any simpler without resorting to crayons and Barney the Dinosaur.

jamesmc123

Used inSSider and switched channel to 1 from 11 which was giving me about zero Mbps.
For my 15 Mbps I now am getting about 9 Mbps using http://www.upc.ie/broadband/speedtest/
Let's see how long it lasts as it usually can last for a day or so. Sure I can change channels every few days/hrs ;-) What else would I be doing. I bet the issue will return and will ultimately prove to be a router/UPC issue.

As I mainly use an iTouch, smug wired only Jor_El from UPC would have me connecting via a cable ;-)
Let's see what the UPC technician discovers on Thursday.

jamesmc123

By the way, my neighbour has Irish Broadband (Netgear router) and 2Mbs wired and 2Mbs (less a few Kbps) wireless downloads consistently for years, not 1/3 loss in downoad/upload speeds. What do others have with UPC wired and wireless? Please share.

teddy b123

Id say you have to resort to the picture cause some people still dont believe you, i tried drawing one but it ended up looking like a 5 year olds (touchpad and paint dont mix) so i wont be showing it off to anybody

jor el

jamesmc123 wrote: »

I bet the issue will return and will ultimately prove to be a router/UPC issue.

It will never be a UPC broadband issue, as you'd know if you read this thread properly. It may be a crap Wifi router, but that's not what you bought, and not something UPC can or will fix.

jamesmc123 wrote: »

By the way, my neighbour has Irish Broadband (Netgear router) and 2Mbs wired and 2Mbs (less a few Kbps) wireless downloads consistently for years, not 1/3 loss in downoad/upload speeds.

802.11G has a maximum throughput of 54Mbps, under ideal conditions. Since conditions are never ideal, that speed drop dramatically. 54Mbps is also divided between upload and download, it's not for both directions. At 2Mbps, there is plenty of room for reduction in the Wifi network speed before you see issues. At 15Mbps or 30Mbps, there is practically no room for error. Hence you will almost never get that kind of speed on an 802.1G network.

As I've said countless times, if the wired connection works perfectly, then there is nothing wrong. Your Wifi speed will always vary, and cannot be controlled by UPC or any ISP.

jamesmc123

jor el wrote: »

Yes I have, and no I would not. If the wired connection works fine, then there is no broadband problem. If the wired works fine but the wireless does not, then the issue is the wireless network. I don't know how I can explain that any simpler without resorting to crayons and Barney the Dinosaur.

Perhaps the 2425 is not great.

I see another post where a guy had UPC 15mbps installed: " i'd warned him against getting the 2425 so he specifically asked for the 2203 and said he had to use a specific router from his work when he's working from home.

when the engineers came out to do the install, it still took him 10 minutes to convince them he didn't want the cisco tho, they really didn't want to give him a 2203. i imagine they're like gold dust these days. "

jor el

If you can get a modem only from UPC, no router and no wireless, then add your own Wifi router, this might be better. It would depend on the rotuer you add though. Some are crap (Belkin), others could be better.

If there's something in your environment that's interfering with Wifi in a serious way, there may not be any router that is immune to it, or even less susceptible to interference than the crappy routers are.

Anan1

jamesmc123 wrote: »

By the way, my neighbour has Irish Broadband (Netgear router) and 2Mbs wired and 2Mbs (less a few Kbps) wireless downloads consistently for years, not 1/3 loss in downoad/upload speeds. What do others have with UPC wired and wireless? Please share.

I replaced my UPC 2425 with an SA2203 and an Airport Extreme, i'm getting 28ish down & 2.7ish up over wifi on a 30Mb connection.

bhickey

jamesmc123 wrote: »

I bet the issue will return and will ultimately prove to be a router/UPC issue.

The issue won't return as long as your own wireless network works.

If you're using your own wireless router then you're just wasting UPC technicians' time calling them out. You've seen that the bandwidth is being delivered by UPC.

vibe666

jamesmc123 wrote: »

Perhaps the 2425 is not great.

I see another post where a guy had UPC 15mbps installed: " i'd warned him against getting the 2425 so he specifically asked for the 2203 and said he had to use a specific router from his work when he's working from home.

when the engineers came out to do the install, it still took him 10 minutes to convince them he didn't want the cisco tho, they really didn't want to give him a 2203. i imagine they're like gold dust these days. "

you are quoting me, and it was taken out of context.

the 2425 isn't a great router and the wireless on it is pretty poor when using 15-30mbps broadband as you can't always get the most out of it, but your problem is not related to that.

the person i was referring to is far from an average user. he's a 'tinkerer' and likes to have complete control over every bit of equipment in his house and the epc2425 is a poor choice for someone like that.

the problem you were having was simply down to wireless interference as jor_el has said many times already and can be solved in two minutes by changing the wireless channel to one with less interference, simple as that (as you finally found out).

i've had to change my wireless channel at home four times now in the last five years due to additional interference popping up at regular intervals from new wireless routers from neighbours getting online.

anything that operates on the 2.4Ghz frequency <- click the link can affect your wireless connectivity and you'd be amazed at what sorts of things can have an adverse effect.

its likely to happen again as more of your neighbours get online (or buy new wireless phones or any number of other things) but the simple cure is to change the channel. if/when you eventually run out of free 2.4ghz channels you switch to a router and wireless card that supports 5ghz and carry on, but either way, none of this is UPC's fault.

MunsterCycling

lawdable wrote: »

Jor_el: With respect, it seems that all of a sudden a large group of people have had one of two problems at exactly the same time: (i) their UPC becomes exceedingly slow; or (ii) the UPC works fine hard-wired, but not when sent through a wireless router.

Have a look at the main thread on this.

Their service is only of use to me if it can be wirelessly routed, which it can't. Normally I'd assume that the problem has nothing to do with UPC, but the combination of the sheer volume of complaints and the absence of an alternative explanation is that (as strange as it sounds) their connections can be perfect when hard-wired but not when wirelessly routed.

Crazy, but true; and definitely up to them to solve.

With respect, Jor_el has a point. Have you used inSSIDer to scan for the presence of other WiFi signals in the area? Look for some free space if you can find any.

jamesmc123

UPC replaced 2425 with a new 2425 last Thursday and all is working ok since.
The UPC technician said he had seen issues like mine before and replacing the 2425 seemed to sort it out.
So thanks for all the pointers but none of them really helped me but I especially like Inssider too in case I need to scan for other users on the same channel.
So anyone else getting similar symptoms to mine and if changing channels and calling UPC technical support does not resolve your issue, ask them to change the router.

iknorr

i have upc for around 2 weeks now.

I have serious issues over wifi...speeds changing all the time. i was using a wifi analyser on my phone while doing speed tests on the laptop.
At one stage i counted 17 different wifi networks. about 10 were upc.

Wifi channel set to auto.

Results:
The speeds varied depending on the channel and whatever wifi networks are on the channel and the power of same.

I noticed all the wifi networks were jumping channel every few minutes and that the strenghts were varying drastically.

So 17 different wifi signals all searching for a free channel. 13 channels available with a 3 channel crossover.

it was looking like disco lights on the analyser due to the varying strengths and channel hopping.

It basically boiled down to this. Too many routers are continuously searching for a better channel. Sometimes these channels are better others times they are worse. either way they do not stay stable due to another router checking out another channel etc.

Channel 1 seemed to be a little quieter than the other channels. I tried that and i noticed a slightly better signal & much more stable speeds at 7-9mb

The speed of the wifi network is directly related to the strength of the network. The strength of the wifi network depends on physical items ( walls etc) but more importantly interference around 2.4 ghz such as other routers, wireless phones etc and the distance from the router. So if theres lots of other routers around, the strength will be weaker and the speed will be slower.

If i move the laptop to within the 1 meter of the router, i receive speeds of 14.x mb i have a 15mb line.

At night, some of the routers disappear from the analyser....probably turned off when peeps go to bed.
The speed at a distance increases, more stable and the channel hopping is less frequent on the networks

Now theres alot in what i just said but all you need to know about the problem is in there.
If you dont then its back to father ted and the cows "those are far away".

Jehuty42

jamesmc123 wrote: »

So thanks for all the pointers but none of them really helped me

Really?

Knasher wrote: »

Have you tried switching wireless channels?

bealtine wrote: »

Sounds like the channel that the wifi is on is already in use or has recently come into use. Change it

DingDong wrote: »

look for a free wireless channel or skip this and just randomly pick a new channel.

jor el wrote: »

Change the channel

And finally, from yourself:

jamesmc123 wrote: »

Used inSSider and switched channel to 1 from 11 which was giving me about zero Mbps.
For my 15 Mbps I now am getting about 9 Mbps

Yeah, no help there.
:rolleyes:

jamesmc123

Jehuty42 wrote: »

Really?





And finally, from yourself:


Yeah, no help there.
:rolleyes:

You make it sound as if I hadn't tried changing the channel in the last few weeks before and channel 1 also has given issues!
To correct myself now, what is interesting is that when the issue occurred, using Inssider 2.0, you will see RSSI (Received signal strength indication) as 0. I see some poor UPC neighbour UPC***** has the same issue, it jumps from 0 to approx. 80 every few seconds and they also have a Pegatron corp vendor(Cisco 2425 maybe). Hopefully they are using wired only.

jamesmc123

iknorr wrote: »

i have upc for around 2 weeks now.

I have serious issues over wifi...speeds changing all the time. i was using a wifi analyser on my phone while doing speed tests on the laptop.
At one stage i counted 17 different wifi networks. about 10 were upc.

Wifi channel set to auto.

Results:
The speeds varied depending on the channel and whatever wifi networks are on the channel and the power of same.

I noticed all the wifi networks were jumping channel every few minutes and that the strenghts were varying drastically.

So 17 different wifi signals all searching for a free channel. 13 channels available with a 3 channel crossover.

it was looking like disco lights on the analyser due to the varying strengths and channel hopping.

It basically boiled down to this. Too many routers are continuously searching for a better channel. Sometimes these channels are better others times they are worse. either way they do not stay stable due to another router checking out another channel etc.

Channel 1 seemed to be a little quieter than the other channels. I tried that and i noticed a slightly better signal & much more stable speeds at 7-9mb

The speed of the wifi network is directly related to the strength of the network. The strength of the wifi network depends on physical items ( walls etc) but more importantly interference around 2.4 ghz such as other routers, wireless phones etc and the distance from the router. So if theres lots of other routers around, the strength will be weaker and the speed will be slower.

If i move the laptop to within the 1 meter of the router, i receive speeds of 14.x mb i have a 15mb line.

At night, some of the routers disappear from the analyser....probably turned off when peeps go to bed.
The speed at a distance increases, more stable and the channel hopping is less frequent on the networks

Now theres alot in what i just said but all you need to know about the problem is in there.
If you dont then its back to father ted and the cows "those are far away".

Thanks for this.
I still have IrishBroadband available to me and had literally one issue in 3 years using it wirelessly (when I had a Linksys router connected) and had to change the channel to 7 I think so this must not be auto searching. I also think 1 is the least busy channel being used from monitoring Inssider. UPC is definitely the most prevalent around me too, about 7 out of the 13. I also see some hotel/businesses also. I have stopped my router autosearching and will set only to 1. It's a shame I cannot see the signal strength but the feature is not enabled as RSSI is not a reliable measure. There are so many smartphones and itouches now also so people are no longer as wired as they used to be. I plan to connect the Linksys wrt54g (also Cisco) soon and hopefull this will perform better.

PixelTrawler

I was searching this sub forum as I'm also now getting the exact same thing.

It used to be fine but now I'm finding I have to reset the wifi router every day or so and I get the speed back for a while.

Fine off wired.

Can we all suddenly be experiencing dodgy routers and wifi channel interference?

Edit: actually good tips above there, Ill try a few different channels and see how it goes. Could always be something next door for example.

jamesmc123

Solyad wrote: »

I was searching this sub forum as I'm also now getting the exact same thing.

It used to be fine but now I'm finding I have to reset the wifi router every day or so and I get the speed back for a while.

Fine off wired.

Can we all suddenly be experiencing dodgy routers and wifi channel interference?

Edit: actually good tips above there, Ill try a few different channels and see how it goes. Could always be something next door for example.

It would be interesting to be able to troubleshoot these kinds of issues a bit more.
Use Inssider to check what your RSSI (RSSI - the level of signal strength (including noise)) values are, what channels are being used by everyone when you are experiencing difficulties.
I have had issues even when I am 2 metres away from the wireless router. I even disconnected the phones etc.

vibe666

other 2.4ghz wifi signals cause most of the interference you'll get on your pwn wifi network, but they only tell half the story. to find out what other interference there may be in the 2.4ghz band, you'll need a proper 2.4ghz spectrum analyser.

dect phones, baby monitors, bluetooth devices, car alarms, video senders, microwaves and god knows what else all create electromagnetic interference around the 2.4ghz frequencies that your wifi works on and none of those things will even be visible to inSSIDer.

it's an invaluable tool, but just because you can't see a problem on a particular frequency, doesn't mean there isn't one.

jamesmc123

vibe666 wrote: »

other 2.4ghz wifi signals cause most of the interference you'll get on your pwn wifi network, but they only tell half the story. to find out what other interference there may be in the 2.4ghz band, you'll need a proper 2.4ghz spectrum analyser.

dect phones, baby monitors, bluetooth devices, car alarms, video senders, microwaves and god knows what else all create electromagnetic interference around the 2.4ghz frequencies that your wifi works on and none of those things will even be visible to inSSIDer.

it's an invaluable tool, but just because you can't see a problem on a particular frequency, doesn't mean there isn't one.

Thanks for this advice. I have a UPC bundle which includes 2.4ghz phones and yes I have a baby monitor in use sometimes so will check if I can change the channel on this;

I like the sound of this Wi-Spy 2.4x:
http://www.metageek.net/products/wi-spy but it's a bit pricey

I still think what is interesting is to watch the RSSI value going to 0 using inSSIDer when the problem is being encountered. This is probably a sign that the router is suggesting change the channel or reboot. I would like to hear anyone's feedback on this.