SOLVED - Belkin N600 & Motorola SB6121 - Still slow...?

[chazdraves]

The short-and-sweet is that we recently moved and had to switch service providers. Previously we had a Motorola SB901 that worked flawlessly with Charter's service and provided a guaranteed 23Mbps on a 12Mbps subscription. Unfortunately, our router/modem combo didn't work with our new provider (Mediacom) at our new house. We tried their's (Cisco something...) and it was terrifying; then, they told us it would be $10/month for the router plus "Wireless Home Networking Package" and we said screw it and bought the above equipment based on reviews and recommendations both from the general Net and Mediacom customers.

So, the new equipment seems to be great but the connection is still iffy. When I visit speedtest.net, it tells me I have a connection of 60Mbps and yet I frequently cannot buffer a 480p Youtube video. It was worse for the last couple of weeks until I finally disabled "QoS/WMM" and locked the channel number, but it's still dicey. Sometimes simple webpages just refuse to load, videos will buffer at incredible clips and then stop, etc...

Are there other basic settings I should adjust on the router similar to QoS? I have an appointment for a tech tomorrow, but I'd love to cancel it and just fix the problem myself tonight. As an aside, I'd consider myself very tech savvy but networking has always been Greek to me...

Thanks,
- Chaz

 

[ch33zw1z]

Do you have the same issues when plugged directly into the modem?

 

[chazdraves]

Very good question. The modem/router are located behind a shelf unit that isn't particularly convenient to access for that purpose. I suppose that would pretty much rule out the cause though, eh?

The other problem is that these issues occur across multiple devices without an ethernet port including a Roku player and my wife's Android tablet.

I'll have to look into that, but it'll take a little more than I've got tonight. I was hoping that perhaps there were other obvious culprits such as QoS that might be the causation that a network novice like myself might be unaware of the need to disable? Otherwise, you're right, that should really be my next step...

Thanks,
- Chaz

 

[ch33zw1z]

Very good question. The modem/router are located behind a shelf unit that isn't particularly convenient to access for that purpose. I suppose that would pretty much rule out the cause though, eh?

The other problem is that these issues occur across multiple devices without an ethernet port including a Roku player and my wife's Android tablet.

I'll have to look into that, but it'll take a little more than I've got tonight. I was hoping that perhaps there were other obvious culprits such as QoS that might be the causation that a network novice like myself might be unaware of the need to disable? Otherwise, you're right, that should really be my next step...

Thanks,
- Chaz

You can disable QoS altogether, it's not required. Rule that out quick.

All the devices have the same point of failure, the router. ruling out the router is the next step.

When you buy your own hardware, sometimes you'll need a spare 🙂

 

[chazdraves]

Just wanted to close this thread out. The technician stopped by yesterday and gave everything a once-over. Turns out the inbound signal was a little hot, but that wasn't causing our problems. Apparently Mediacom in this area is in the process of switching over to DOCSIS 3.0 and they've been having some sort of software issue as a result. They haven't nailed down the problem entirely but expect it fixed by the end of the week. Good to know it's not on my end for a change! 🙂

Thanks,
- Chaz

 

[ch33zw1z]

cool, thanks for the update. Once in a while the ISP will fess up 😛