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Internet dropping on one device only (not ADSL and not WiFi)

mbeard
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Registered: ‎06-09-2018

Internet dropping on one device only (not ADSL and not WiFi)

Hello everyone,

 

To get straight to the point, does Plus.Net throttle traffic in such a way that would cause the WiFi properties on my laptop to report that it had lost internet connection while still having strong WiFi, the router still having broadband and internet, and all of the above working fine on my mobile phone. 

A temporary fix is to disconnect and reconnect the laptop to WiFi, but that may only last for a few seconds.  A work around used to be to USB tether to my phone, but that has stopped working now too, while my phone is still able to use the internet at the same time.  The problem tends to kick in during gaming, streaming, and downloading files.  This makes me wonder something has identified my laptop using bandwidth more than just web browsing as offensive in some way and is kicking it out?  I have removed the virus killer that was bundled with my laptop. Other ideas?

 

Thanks

Mike

41 REPLIES 41
jab1
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Re: Internet dropping on one device only (not ADSL and not WiFi)

@mbeard The scenario you present suggests more a problem with your laptops WiFi - it is impossible for an ISP to do as you suggest, they just can't monitor to that depth.

As the problem seems to occur during heavy use, maybe you are maxing out your bandwidth and this causing the symptoms you describe?

The second paragraph is merely my initial thoughts, but I can't think of any other reason. Maybe one of our more technically gifted members will come up with further thoughts.

John
mbeard
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Re: Internet dropping on one device only (not ADSL and not WiFi)

@jab1 Thank you for your reply. I think that it occurring while USB tethered to my phone, but my phone still functioning fine, proves that it is not my laptop's WiFi. I suppose something else about how the laptop handles high levels of internet traffic could be to blame but I've never heard of anything like this behaviour.
jab1
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Re: Internet dropping on one device only (not ADSL and not WiFi)

I won't argue with your reasoning, but that is because I don't quite understand it.Wink

You say this happens only when using high-bandwidth applications - what is your connection speed? and are you using more than one of these at the same time?

I recently downloaded a very large file, and was unable to do much while that was in progress. For reference, this was with a connection speed of around 7.7Mb/s on a 7 year old i3 Samsung laptop.

John
Townman
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Re: Internet dropping on one device only (not ADSL and not WiFi)

Which router is in use here?

Superusers are not staff, but they do have a direct line of communication into the business in order to raise issues, concerns and feedback from the community.

mbeard
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Registered: ‎06-09-2018

Re: Internet dropping on one device only (not ADSL and not WiFi)

@jab1 Thanks again John. Tethering to a mobile phone means that you can share its internet connection. It can be done via USB or Bluetooth. So when tethered I can have the situation of my phone able to access the internet while my laptop has no internet at all.

I'm not just talking about things timing out due to low bandwidth. The WiFi icon gains an exclamation mark and the properties say that it has no internet connection.
mbeard
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Re: Internet dropping on one device only (not ADSL and not WiFi)

@Townman it's a Plusnet rebadged Sagemcom 2704N.
jab1
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Re: Internet dropping on one device only (not ADSL and not WiFi)

Get you now, Mike. It must be a bad day - I do know what tethering is.😁

It still sounds like a hardware problem to me, given your comment about the exclamation mark.

John
Baldrick1
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Re: Internet dropping on one device only (not ADSL and not WiFi)

@mbeard 

This Hub is known to be very vulnerable to buffer bloat, see https://www.bufferbloat.net/projects/bloat/wiki/What_can_I_do_about_Bufferbloat/

This could be your problem.

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jab1
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Re: Internet dropping on one device only (not ADSL and not WiFi)

@Baldrick1 As I have not and will never give house-room to that router,  I'll rely on you comments, but still ask 'why would it knock out the OP's WiFi?

John
Townman
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Re: Internet dropping on one device only (not ADSL and not WiFi)

I have experience of that router simply sulking on WiFi.  Wired devices continue to function, but wifi devices go uncommunicative.  Typically after 10-14 days continuous connectivity.

As you are finding rebooting the router 'cures' the problem until next time.

Superusers are not staff, but they do have a direct line of communication into the business in order to raise issues, concerns and feedback from the community.

mbeard
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Re: Internet dropping on one device only (not ADSL and not WiFi)

@jab1 just to clarify, my WiFi is not knocked out, I still have a connection with strong signal. Just that Windows says that I don't have internet.
Baldrick1
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Re: Internet dropping on one device only (not ADSL and not WiFi)

@jab1 

I agree that it's a bit of a long shot but it's the fact that the happening during gaming and streaming that triggered the thought that it could be buffer bloat. Another theory could be that @mbeard  had some flaky software on his computer that is having some form of buffer overflow issue.

With regards to the experience of @Townman  I can't understand why the WiFi on the laptop stops whilst @mbeard  still has, presumably wireless, access via his mobile phone.

I seem to be turning my argument back to it potentially being some sort of laptop software issue!

@mbeard  What happens if rather than rebout the hub you reboot your computer when this happens?

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mbeard
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Re: Internet dropping on one device only (not ADSL and not WiFi)

@Baldrick1 Interesting! I've run a quick test on my phone and the ping does fluctuate into the 1 to 2 second range under load! I'll test on the laptop later on.
However, I've googled around a bit and the described symptoms seem to be slow traffic rather than losing usage of the internet. On the other hand, Windows apparently decides if it has access to the internet by sending a test message to a server and or DNS. If those packets got dropped because of the buffer being full I guess that would create the behaviour that I'm seeing. Presumably Android is less fussy about lost packets.
mbeard
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Re: Internet dropping on one device only (not ADSL and not WiFi)

I'll fire up the laptop and try the various rebooting suggestions later on. I'm sure I'd have tried both when this issue first arose but not with an eye to buffers. Since then I've been on the laptop manufacturers forum and nobody mentioned buffer issues. I'll raise the possibility there and see what's said.