Bizarre internet behaviour

Markus Antonius

I have a set top box (Zgemma linux OS) and Amazon firestick connected to a television on the opposite side of the house to my Eir router (Huawei). I use powerline adapters and a switch array to allow me to connect the set top box and firestick to the internet via ethernet cables with excellent connections (for the last 2 years).

I bought a TP link travel router the other day to give a WI-FI access point in the same room as the television. I connected the travel router by ethernet cable to the switch and was delighted to see a stable 95Mb/s both up and down:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-Support-Extender-UK-TL-WR902AC/dp/B01NAYG15H/ref%3Dsr_1_3?crid=GD9B2BZMUDTE&keywords=tp+link+travel+router&qid=1669649340&sprefix=tp+link+travel+router%2Caps%2C345&sr=8-3

However, after a while the connection of the set top box and any device connected to the wifi tanks in speed (10Mp/s down, 1Mps up, very unstable)

What I think is happening is the set top box is drawing internet from the travel router rather than directly from the powerline adapter. The reason I think this is because I had a static IP assigned to the set top box (xxx.xx.1) but when I checked in the router settings it had reassigned to xxx.xx.100 and the speeds of the set top box tended to match the bad performance of the devices connected by wifi.

After a while of checking through the router settings I'm stumped as to how I can force the set top box to stick to it's static IP and not change to the travel router.

Any help would be appreciated

Spear

Does the travel router have a DHCP server of it's own? My first thoguht is that the clients are renewing their DHCP lease, getting a response first from the travel router, and thus using that as their gateway.

Markus Antonius

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119931661#Comment_119931661

Yes it does! Do you think I should leave it as dynamic?

Edit: By DHCP server do you mean a fixed IP? It has it's own DHCP reservation in the Eir router.

Spear

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119931745#Comment_119931745

Dynamic is most likely the router's WAN config, where it can act as a DHCP client. What you want to do is disable is the travel routers ability to act as a DHCP server itself, so it's not responding to the other machines first.

Markus Antonius

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119931766#Comment_119931766

Gotcha! I have this tether app which lets me change the settings of the TP link devices I have on the network. I'll see if I can sort it here.

Thanks for the help on this.

Edit: On checking the tether app - it looks like the travel router has hijacked all devices in the house and assigned them their own IP :O the nerve.

Markus Antonius

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119931766#Comment_119931766

Ok, I have found the DHCP Server option on the travel router settings and disabled it. Everything is working perfectly now!

Thanks a lot for the help. Thought I was going to have to return it.

Spear

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119932323#Comment_119932323

That's the danger of multiple DHCP servers, first to respond wins. So if the travel router is quicker, it takes over, like you saw.

gameoverdude

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119932323#Comment_119932323

This is great to hear. Wouldn't have been able to help you, but some communities on boards are invaluable. Fair play to you all.

Might start a new thread soon on why my fiancé's Epson printer doesn't like ink on start up. Google first though.