Netflix kills my internet speed?

[StockDC2]

I have a very annoying problem. Netflix seems to take up about 29MBs of my internet (Speedtest usually shows a steady 30MB down but only 1MB when one of our TVs is streaming Netflix). How is this even possible? Does anyone else experience similar slowdowns?

I am using Comcast's Blast internet with a Cisco E4200V2 wireless router. Any help is greatly appreciated.

[VirtualLarry]

That doesn't sound right at all.

Btw, that should be 30Mbit/sec, not MB (bytes).

Is this over wireless, or wired?

[dave_the_nerd]

Well, netflix will use a lot of bandwidth if it's available. That's a lot though.

Wireless will ruin everything.

Do you have an activity monitor or something that can watch data use on the computer as it streams?

[kevnich2]

Even at HD quality - netflix only uses about 5mb/s Now if more bandwidth is available, it will download a bit higher and just buffer more so you'll see occasional 20mb/s spikes and then no activity for another 30 seconds or so but it doesn't stream any higher than 5mb/s currently.

[WT]

Agreed with the above posters - Netflix worked surprisingly well even on my old DSL 3Mb connex. Dumping that for a Comcast connex that ran at 24Mb was a huge help, but it never used more than 6 when streaming.

[spidey07]

Wireless is inherently slow, so a constant load like that on wireless will slow down any other wireless client significantly.

[mvbighead]

I'm not sure how it works precisely, but I remember when I was using certain services that were less than optimal for the ISP, they'd throttle my bandwidth. If I disabled said service, my bandwidth went back to normal, when reenabled, it dropped.

Now, Netflix should not be a service for which they throttle, but some cable providers try to do whatever they can to force you to use cable, and not Internet based services.

Granted, if Netflix is actually pulling 29 down, then you have a different problem. If that continues to happen, you could try DDWRT and see if you can limit bandwidth to all devices at 50%. That way, Netflix would max at 15, leaving 15 untouched. It's not ideal, but it could resolve your issue.

[JoeMcJoe]

Wow, I wish I got 30 MB speed on my ISP!!!

When you do a speedtest and gives you 30 Mbps, are you sure it doesn't include speedboost?
If you have the lowest speed tier, there is a chance that the Netflix stream could use up most of the bandwidth.

If you want to make Netflix look worse, go here: https://account.netflix.com/HdToggle and lower the speed.

[StockDC2]

Thanks for all of the great replies!

I unfortunately do not have an activity monitor. Any recommendations?

There are a few TVs around the house that stream Netflix and they are all quite far from the router/modem. Using an ethernet cable is not a possibility .

I guess the next best thing to do is figure out how much data Netflix is using and then give my ISP a call and see what they have to say.

[spidey07]

If the signal strength to the wireless clients is low, they will massively consume time cycles. What you're seeing is to be expected. Only remedy is 802.11n, but even then that depends on what the signal strength and signal to noise ratio is for the clients.

Try changing channels to 1,6,11 to see what works best and orient antennas. If they TVs are actually the clients, they are notorious for having bad radios and antennas, making the timeslots issue even worse. Wireless wasn't really meant to stream multiple videos, one only.

A client connected at 5.5 or 11 Mbs streaming a 2-3 Mbs stream will completely consume all the wireless bandwidth available.

[JackMDS]

OP, may be you want to describe exactly what you have there (in technical terms) and how (Network wise) everything is connecting.

It might be that you are unaware of what the source of the actual problem is.

[sygyzy]

I agree with Jack. If the OP describes his setup better, we can try to help.

[StockDC2]

Sorry about that Jack.

- Our main TVs that we use for Netflix are two LG 47LM6200's.
- The router is a Cisco E4200V2.
- The modem is a standard Motorola that we're renting from Comcast.
- There are no ethernet cables connected to the router.
- The bedroom TV gets 2 signal bars out of 5.
- The living room TV gets 5 bars out of 5.

I just tried switching the router to an old D-Link and it seems that my computer's internet is fine even with the living room TV streaming Netflix. However, the signal strength in the bedroom is very weak so it is unable to play either Netflix or Youtube.

Could it be the router that is causing the issue? The V4200 doesn't have the best of ratings.

#firstworldproblems

[JackMDS]

Unlike CPU overclocking and Video card frame pushing, Wireless Networking is complicated.

As an example, One can have a situation that Router X works better than Router Y in on location.

On the other hand the exact same Routers can end up in a different location that Y work better than X.

Why? Because the Antenna arrangement of one Router is different than in the other and each arrangement works differently in different location (depending on the actual physical environment and the Signal noise level).

The E4200 is a good Router and there is no point to look for a "Holy Grail" Router because there is None.

Best is to lay a cable to a location closer to the bedroom and install there the old D-Link configured as an Access Point. ( Using a Wireless Cable/DSL Router as a Switch with an Access Point - http://www.ezlan.net/router_AP.html ). such solution will provide extra Wireless bandwidth because the feed is cable.

Or use the D-link as a main Router flash the E4200 with DD-WRT configure it as a Repeater and extend the signal toward the bedroom.

Repeater solution will provide Higher signal but all the Devices will get the feed from one main Wireless feed and the result might not be good even with more "Bars".