Independent Testing

[Civrel]

I don't know a lot about a lot of the testing that my isp (ATT)  does when they come out to tell me every time that the is no problem with my signal, which may well be the case.   However, when I am surfing and I click on a link, ant link, it takes 10 of 15 seconds or open when no one else is streaming. 

 

I pay for a 12 mbs service  because that is all my ISP says that the old copper lines will support.  OK, I can live with that.  However, all of the speed tests (Ookla, ATT Speed Test and Testmy.net) all say that I am running in the 2.5 mbs range, except when the ATT tech shows up , then I get 12-13 mbs.    As soon as they leave, back to 2.5 again.  I showed then the tests and they say that either the tests are wrong or I am streaming on multiple devices (which I am not) and the tests are not a true measure of the speed.  All of my testing is done on a laptop that is hardwired to the modem.. 

 

We each have a cell phone (2) each have a tablet (2), we have two smart tv's, two Apple TV's, a WiFi printer and a desktop, 10 devices that use WiFi.  While these devices show up in the list of devices do they really use that much bandwidth when they are idle, turned off  or asleep? 

 

Is there any type of independent service that is available to test my signal other then my ISP or confirm that my connected devices do or do not use a substantial chunk of my bandwidth when off, asleep or idle? 

 

I attached a copy of my signal graph. The flat line on the right side is over a two day period.  The spike up on the right side is when the tech was here.

[CA3LE]

That's strange that it mysteriously gets better when the tech is around.  So it was right after they left, you tested again and 2.5 Mbps?

 

I see spikes in your latency too. https://testmy.net/rt/Civrel

 

 

What I would do if the issue is consistent is reset the router, factory defaults with the reset button.  If the modem is a separate unit unplug it for 15 seconds.  

 

The reason you want factory defaults is because you want to disconnect all the other machines (variables).  Then set up your very best computer on the fresh network.  Wired if you can.

 

Get back to testing here at TestMy.net and see if you're still having an issue.  Maybe do this over night since you'll have to have the other devices down for good results.  I see that you've tested overnight before and you were at 2.5 Mbps...  Let me know what you see and I'll advise from there.

 

If you're wireless, make sure that you're following best practices by searching good for "wireless feng shui" -- here's a result.  https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/wireless-feng-shui-optimize-house-wifi-reception/

 

If you find that the issue is alleviated then I would add one machine back at a time until you see the drop in speed.  That should point you to the computer and then you can dig deeper.

 

You can also put something like a pfSense or OPNsense router on your connection to help track down a computer and even application that may be using too much bandwidth.  Maybe you have bit torrent running in the background or something... or maybe your neighbor has broken in and has bit torrent or another bandwidth intensive task running.  You can build a tiny pfSense box for like $40 out of a Raspberry Pi, run a VM that does it or repurpose an old machine to do it.

 

 

[CA3LE]

 

A couple of tutorials on setting up pfSense on virtualbox and opnsense.  Once setup your traffic routes through the virtualbox and you can the sniff out and block offending traffic.

 

Highly effective but it's more advanced.  May have a learning curve depending on your background with computers and networking.