Fast internet speed, but unstable?

[Nay]

So im renting a room from a family. They basically only use internet for netflix etc.
My PC is just one floor below where the router is.

At normal times, internet is good. The speed is 83/20 on speedtest. But its very unstable.
I can stream a tv show fine for an hour and then it starts going up and down. Ping can reach up to 3500ns for like 20secs, then go back to normal, and it can keep doing this a few times. Then ping goes stable again at ~25ms.
And i noticed if i start for example youtube the ping goes crazy up to 1000 just to load it - takes a minute or so to stabilize again. I never experienced such behaviour before.

Im not sure what causes this. Im using a wifi card on my desktop and thought maybe the card was bad. But its the same on my cell phone.
Im kind of limited too to what to do since i dont have access to the modem,router or anything.

Heres a screenshot where the top values are the normal ones.
http://prnt.sc/eeryhh

Appreciate any help!
Thanks.

 

[Elixer]

How do you know what they use?
Do they have other family members also using it unknown to the parents?

Without router control or looking at modem signal levels, can't really say what the problem is.

 

[Nay]

Well honestly, i dont know.
They said they usually dont notice anything, so im guessing they barely use internet. But they said they had some problems with netflix the other day. But that day internet was messed up.
It should only be me and them using it. No kids. They said theyll check it out. But wonder if i can do anything from this side or tips?

 

[dave_the_nerd]

When you are seeing the high latency, try running a traceroute to, say, www.google.com. That will tell you where the latency/delay is being introduced. (Between you and the router, the router and the ISP, the ISP and the internet backbone, etc.)

My assumption with WiFi is interference. Very common in a shared living arrangement. Hardwiring would help in that instance. But if you have an old, low-powered router and it's getting hammered by, say, bittorrent or something, you'd see similar symptoms.

So that's where I'd start.

 

[Nay]

Thanks,
how do i traceroute to www.google.com? is it by the ping command in cmd?
Yea the symptoms really reminds me from heavy bittorrents.

For example just now i opened twitch.tv, and here is a screenshot of me ping:ing google.com in cmd
http://prnt.sc/eesiwv

If i could i would go wired connection, but im totally isolated from them.
So could it be that the router itself is old, like you said?

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Thanks,
how do i traceroute to www.google.com? is it by the ping command in cmd?

tracert www.google.com

It will should you line by line output of each step in the path from your computer to wherever you specify. If you post the output here, we can help you make sense of it.

Yea the symptoms really reminds me from heavy bittorrents.

For example just now i opened twitch.tv, and here is a screenshot of me ping:ing google.com in cmd
http://prnt.sc/eesiwv

If i could i would go wired connection, but im totally isolated from them.

Fair enough. I know not everybody has that option. Any chance somebody was running a microwave or a 2.4GHz cordless phone? Those are notorious.

So could it be that the router itself is old, like you said?

Could be. Very low end ones can't handle too many clients or too much traffic. Would be better to eliminate other factors first, since routers cost $.

 

[Nay]

I see, thanks for explaining. ill post the output here.
http://prnt.sc/eet1oa

Hmm no idea. Im sure they have a microwave, but i dont know if its placed near the router. Same with cordless phone.
In my room i have neither. Just a cell phone, TV, and a TV-box for channels etc.

Oh. internet also likes to spike. can be fine ping and a sudden 1500¨+ ms ehere and there

 

[dave_the_nerd]

I see, thanks for explaining. ill post the output here.
http://prnt.sc/eet1oa

That looks like a period when ping and internet access were behaving normally. But it does look like you're doing some double NAT, which is horrible and which you should stop ASAP, if possible. (It can work, it just frequently doesn't.)

http://www.practicallynetworked.com/networking/fixing_double_nat.htm

The 10.239.0.1 IP is interesting, too. Are you on some kind of private network on a campus or small municipal LAN or something?

Hmm no idea. Im sure they have a microwave, but i dont know if its placed near the router. Same with cordless phone.
In my room i have neither. Just a cell phone, TV, and a TV-box for channels etc.

Doesn't have to be near, really, just in the same house. Especially if the house isn't terribly large.

Oh. internet also likes to spike. can be fine ping and a sudden 1500¨+ ms ehere and there

Internet cutting in and out and your ping time going up and down are likely the same problem. Solve one, you solve the other.

 

[mxnerd]

Yeah, you should remove double NAT first.

192.168.38.1 and 192.168.0.1 looks like double NAT.

Solve that first before taking other steps..

Ask landlord what router model he is using and see if it has QoS configuration that can be adjusted.

 

[Nay]

I read up on the link, i think i almost understood (sorry not that good at these things).
So in order to check for the double NAT i need access to the router, which i could do by connecting to it in the browser?
Ill also ask if i can manage to get the model of the router.

So if i find any of the stated IP (10.x.x.x or 192.168.x.x range ) on the WAN port, what should i do with it?

No im actually renting like a room in a house. Its just a family + me here. So it should be a normal home network.
What does the 10.239.0.1 IP say?

Thanks again btw!

 

[mxnerd]

I don't know. But it looks like probably your landlord connect 2 routers and put them in cascade.

10.239.0.1 is also a private IP, but more likely it's your ISP's internal network range, not your landlord's. You won't be able to do anything with it.

You can try to visit those 3 IP addresses (192.168.38.1, 192.168.0.1, 10.239.0.1) using browser but I bet you can't login without a password.

Ask your landlord whether he can put his second router 192.168.38.1 in access point mode) and with an IP address maybe 192.168.0.2 in the same range with main router. Uplink one of 2nd router's LAN port to main router's LAN port and go from there.

QoS settings differ greatly among routers. You need to find out exact model and someone here might be able to help.

 

[Nay]

So if i understood right ill try making the 2nd router an access point (how do i do that with setting an specific ip)?
Then do a wired connection from the 2nd router to the main router?

 

[mxnerd]

You have to ask your landlord do it for you if you don't own the 2nd router.

 

[Nay]

I see thanks. Im not so sure they know how to do it like step by step.

So yeah, 192.168.38.1, 192.168.0.1, tried those and i dont have the logins. If i get my landlord to login for me, or give me the login id/pw, can i do what i need to do myself?

 

[mxnerd]

I doubt that he will give you the password, unfortunately. Even if he give the password of 2nd router to you, you can only change the router to access point mode. Without knowing 1st router model/setup, and a willing landlord, there is nothing you can do.

 

[Nay]

I see. well he might let me in to try to change it with him. Could you please explain a bit further on how to exactly change? Or do i need to know the exact model first for the 1st and 2nd router?

 

[mxnerd]

You need to get router brands and models.

 

[Nay]

I didnt manage to get the brand+model but it was as you guys said. The TV-box that they get internet from also acted as a modem, and it was connected to another router. So when we used the TV-box/modem/router. it works perfectly fine now.

Thanks for the help guys, really appreciate the fast help

 

[mxnerd]

Glad you solved it.