Wi-Fi suddenly as slow as Dial-Up

[Stg-Flame]

I've had this Motorola Surfboard router for probably 3-4 years now and recently my Wifi has been disconnecting constantly at night and the speed has been less than useful. I'm using Xfinity's highest Blast Package and I average about 140MB/s for download on my PC (not on wifi). About a month ago before I started having issues, I would average around 100MB/s on Wifi, but now I can't even load Speedtest.net and it takes about a minute and a half just to load Google.

Is my router dying or could something else be the culprit? My router is downstairs next to my PC and we usually use my girlfriend's Kindle Fire to watch Netflix at night in our living room upstairs, which is directly above where my router is located, and we can no longer get anything to load on the Kindle while on my Wifi.

I've tried standing right next to my router which increases the speed by a fair amount, but it still takes about 30 seconds to load Google.

Edit: After reading some more articles, I should clarify that we haven't added any new blutooth devices in the last two years, but the signal is slowly degrading.

 

[VirtualLarry]

100MB/sec and 140MB/sec are gigabit-esque speeds.

Are you sure you have a gigabit internet plan?

If you have a wired PC, then when your wireless is acting up, try running a speedtest on the wired PC.

That will tell you if it's your ISP connection, or your wifi.

If it's your wifi, have you tried multiple wifi devices? Might also use an app to check for wifi congestion.

 

[Stg-Flame]

I have ran tests while the wireless was going down and my wired speed was consistently above 130MB/s and yes the plan is correct.

The only wifi devices I own are my phone, my girlfriend's phone, her Bose sound system, and her Kindle and every single one of them are experiencing the same problems in the same spots in the house. Downstairs next to my router we can stream Netflix (though it does take longer than it used to just to load them), and upstairs in the living room, bedroom, dining room, etc. we can't get enough signal to even load a simple webpage like Google. Since I router doesn't have an antenna, I tried turning it on its side as some people had claimed the antenna is internal for the Surfboards and I can now stream Netflix upstairs (only in rooms directly above the router), but the quality is really low and it will occasionally buffer as if it's not getting a full signal.

Like I said, this problem has been getting worse and worse over the last two months or so and since the last four days, we can't get a signal upstairs period.

 

[JackMDS]

It is time to build a WIFI Network consists on a Good Wireless Router and few Access Points.

 

[Ketchup]

I'm my experience, most cheap routers average around the lifespan you are seeing. I bought something a little higher end about a year ago, hoping things go a little better this time around. But I would recommend trying a new router before wasting too much time with it.

 

[Stg-Flame]

My first thought was the router is dying because I show full signal strength everywhere in my house, but if I'm not standing next to the router, I can't do anything on WiFi.

The surfboard was $95 around five years ago. Any recommendations on a new one?

 

[boomerang]

My first thought was the router is dying because I show full signal strength everywhere in my house, but if I'm not standing next to the router, I can't do anything on WiFi.

The surfboard was $95 around five years ago. Any recommendations on a new one?

Will you be purchasing a replacement modem as well as a new router? You have the opportunity now to move away from a combo unit like you have.

 

[Stg-Flame]

Will you be purchasing a replacement modem as well as a new router? You have the opportunity now to move away from a combo unit like you have.

I don't know. What's the benefits? My only experiences with modems is back when I still had dial-up.

It is time to build a WIFI Network consists on a Good Wireless Router and few Access Points.

I honestly don't know what this means. I had DSL for a long time and couldn't ever play any game online and finally found an apartment that had cable connections and called Comcast for Xfinity. Since they are the only ones in my area with cable (and with cable being the fastest in my area), I didn't give it much thought other than how much it was going to cost per month.

I'm my experience, most cheap routers average around the lifespan you are seeing. I bought something a little higher end about a year ago, hoping things go a little better this time around. But I would recommend trying a new router before wasting too much time with it.

If I could try a router without committing to buying it, I would. I barely make enough money to pay my bills (work outside the oil field sucks) and I don't have a lot of disposable income with the holidays near.

 

[boomerang]

If I could try a router without committing to buying it, I would. I barely make enough money to pay my bills (work outside the oil field sucks) and I don't have a lot of disposable income with the holidays near.

Your best option may be to rent a combo unit from Comcast. I think they're charging $10 a month now. Two years of rent will be about the cost of a new modem and a new router.

You do own the unit you have now, correct?

 

[VirtualLarry]

my wired speed was consistently above 130MB/s and yes the plan is correct.

I barely make enough money to pay my bills

You can afford a gigabit internet plan with Comcast, but can barely afford to pay your bills?

Not sure if trolling. Consider getting cheaper internet. Priorities, man, priorities.

If you really have a gigabit plan, then don't mess around with any consumer router gear, especially not a combo unit. Get a small ITX board, case, PSU, RAM, CPU, additional Intel server-grade NIC or dual-port of same, and set up a pfSense box, or Sophos UTM or something. Round that out with some UniFi APs.

 

[JackMDS]

May be you can leave the Arris as is and add this configured as an Access Point.

https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Wire...rd_wg=9g4yg&psc=1&refRID=7ETPHETVCM542HBFSBGX

Using Wireless Routers (or Modem/Wireless Router) as a Switch with an Access Point - http://www.ezlan.net/router_AP.html

 

[Stg-Flame]

Your best option may be to rent a combo unit from Comcast. I think they're charging $10 a month now. Two years of rent will be about the cost of a new modem and a new router.

You do own the unit you have now, correct?

I bought it from Best Buy, so yes I own it.

You can afford a gigabit internet plan with Comcast, but can barely afford to pay your bills?

Not sure if trolling. Consider getting cheaper internet. Priorities, man, priorities.

If you really have a gigabit plan, then don't mess around with any consumer router gear, especially not a combo unit. Get a small ITX board, case, PSU, RAM, CPU, additional Intel server-grade NIC or dual-port of same, and set up a pfSense box, or Sophos UTM or something. Round that out with some UniFi APs.

The difference is $10 for my plan if I get cheaper internet from Comcast. My mortgage is around $1,500. I don't think going from a $70 plan to a $60 plan is going to be a life-changing difference in my month-to-month bills. That being said, I won't be building a new computer just for Internet. This router has served me perfectly fine for the last four years and up until recently it has started acting up. I'd much rather just go buy another router than build a whole computer. The whole point of this thread was to hopefully find some troubleshooting tips to verify if the router is dying or if something else is going on. After reading numerous articles and from what I've gathered from here, it looks like I need a new router. I'd like as little to do with Comcast as possible, so if all else fails, I'll just buy a new router. I'll also give them a call and look into renting one from them if it will be cheaper in the long run.

 

[Ketchup]

Is this modem/router combo something you can dial into? Should be. If anything, you can turn off the router portion, get a $30 or $40 wireless N Netgear from Walmart, and have something that will last you a couple years at least.

 

[Stg-Flame]

Is this modem/router combo something you can dial into? Should be. If anything, you can turn off the router portion, get a $30 or $40 wireless N Netgear from Walmart, and have something that will last you a couple years at least.

I don't think so. I never heard of dialing into the router.

 

[Ketchup]

It's an expression. See if something like this works for you:

http://www.voipmechanic.com/motorola-surfboard-modem.htm

Summary: Open your browser and type in 192.168.100.1. Look for options pertaining to router functionality.

 

[Stg-Flame]

For some reason my wifi was working perfectly fine last night, but this morning it's off again.

I've changed the channel in the router to 5GHz when our Bose stopped detecting the wifi, but I eventually changed it back to 2.4GHz. I'll check out that link.

 

[boomerang]

The Wifi Analyzer app is free and can show you how many other networks are available along with their signal strength and what channel they're on. Could be very useful for troubleshooting.

 

[Stg-Flame]

I'll check that out as well. Thanks