Ping

[ReneeXOXO]

By chance, any other tech geeks out here to bounce ideas off of?

In our home, we have 3 wireless access points, with one master/slave. My laptop is not compliant with N-mode, it's G only. All 3 points broadcast mixed though.

My issue is my MFC broadcast is severely pixelated. My bandwith is stellar. My pings suck balls!! I don't get any <1ms and few 1ms. I get anywhere from 2-55ms with many time outs. Presuming maybe there were too many items using the wireless routers we shut off everything else except our iphones. Still got sucky pings.

Now, we do have a buttload of other wireless items broadcasting in our neighborhood. And our house could just be sensitive to picking up all the excess traffic. But would it really cause such slow pings??

My electric circuits are wonky in the laptop lid - often my backlight cuts out and I have to close the lid then reopen after 5 secs. So another theory is perhaps the antenna in my lid is also wonky? But we tested a diff netbook whose not suffering from circuit questions and it still had slow pings too.

Any insight?

Speedtest.net last clocked my download at 3.9Mbps!! wtf!!?? Upload was fine around 1.9 though. We're just soo baffled - and frustrated - and borderline angry b/c we can't fix it. It's like there's a massive EM interfering. Sun spots? :lol:

 

[schlmoe]

First off, I WFH (work from home) also, and I would not trust my income to a fluky wireless connection or any protocol that could be intercepted. Same goes for online banking or anything sensitive. But that's just me. If you want to maximize your security, bandwidth and throughput, go wired. Most wireless routers have 4 lan ports. You can get pre-made cables on the WWW very cheap (i just got a 50 footer for less than $10US). You can also get bulk cable, RJ45 plugs, crimpers, etc. if you want to go that way. I recently picked up a set that had a cable tester, crimper tool [(RJ11 (telco), RJ45 (network) and coax (cable and old style network)], and few other things for $15US. The wiring pin-outs are readily available on the WWW. This is what I would do, go wired, and use the wireless for your smartphones and when you move the PC from room to room.

So that's not what you asked...
Misc comments:
1. doubtful that neighborhood traffic is the issue
2. doubtful that the backlight/lid is the issue...the antenna is not an electrical part, just a wire
3. What are you pinging? MFC, or some other website?
4. Any problems with any other website, or just MFC?

It's tough to diagnose/trouble shoot from afar, but here are some things to check:

1. are there any other PCs in the house you can test?
2. Get a network cable and see if the same issues remain.
3. the antenna connection (from the antenna to the mini wireless card) could be loose, therefore, try #4
4. you can buy a wireless N USB adapter with an antenna pretty cheap, I've seen off brands for $10-15
5. the next thing I would do is try the PC at the "main" router (with a cable, a la #1), i.e.: the router/WAP that the cable or DSL plugs in to.

If none of these things work/help, AND you only have problems with MFC, the issue could be before the feed hits your house, i.e.: MFC and your ISP or ISP's backbone are not communicating. The first thing I would do would be to change your DNS/DHCP servers. By default, they are the ISP servers. Google has their own DNS servers and it takes 20 seconds to switch it. Google has a good instruction page to do this.

If you call an "in-home" tech, they may tell you something different...that's cool, there's always more than one way to skin a cat, and this issue could have HUNDREDS of other potential problems causing this. Also, with the vagaries of electronics, routers/WAPs do not always play nice with each other (even the same MFG), and the tech may use this to try to sell you something you don't need.

Another model made a post that her friend started up a tech site...you could take a look and ask him: http://www.diytechsupport.net/

Good luck!

 

[ReneeXOXO]

We were pinging the diff access points from my laptop, the netbook, and the PC. Going hard we get <1ms consistently when pinging 10.10.10.1 from any of terminals so the problem lies with access point communication...I think. We're fairly certain there's a breakdown in communication long before anything talks to the ISP. But that might be worth looking into. For some reason, my laptop had the worst pings too. :angry4:

We only realized there was a problem when my husband logged in as a basic to see me camming - goof ball. My end shows my cam feed as mostly smooth with an occasional freeze. But it turns out, members/guests were seeing some heavy pixels. Not even old skool Mario 8-bits but more like 3 pixels. Upon ending MFC software and just bringing the cam up on its own there no issues. So it's not the cam...we even tried diff cams.

For now I'm staying wired...as long as the iceweasels and routeweasels don't run off with the cable.

 

[ReneeXOXO]

And just for giggles - at one point our microwave caused significant enough EM interference that all wireless activity was shut down whenever the microwave was in use!!! No shit...the shielding on the microwave apparently was not shielding so microwaves were being emitted all ovah the place!

Needless to say that thing got replaced asap.

 

[schlmoe]

Before you go out and spring for a new microwave, be aware that what you experienced has been known for years. Most wireless network devices use 2.4 ghz, the same as 1st and 2nd gen cordless phones, certain remote controls, and unfortunately microwave ovens. Unless the door/seal on the oven is damaged, you're probably OK.

Back to your problem, since you answered some questions, you have 2 choices: stay wired, or start from scratch...

1. disconnect all the wireless routers/WAPs, except the one that accepts the WAN connection (cable/dsl).
2. (OPTIONAL) go to each device's MFG websites and look for an updated firmware package (FOLLOW ALL THE INSTRUCTIONS)
3. (OPTIONAL) if it was me, I would power down the WAN connected router, then on the "main" PC, I would change the "WORKGROUP" name (assuming you use Windows). Then change the WORKGROUP name on all PCs/notebooks.
4. reboot all PCs, then power on the main router.
5. logon to the main router, and CHANGE THE ADMIN PASSWORD
6. go to the "wireless" tab/page on the main router admin, set the correct workgroup name.
7. change the SSID (the wireless network broadcast name) [I would "hide" it, if possible]
8. Select WPA/WPA2, rather than WEP (if possible)
9. change the "keys"
10. when all this is done, try to connect all networked PCs wirelessly
11. when all this is done, go back to main router, go to the DNS/DHCP page/tab and assign an IP (hardcode) for the remaining routers/WAPs (still powered off).

OK, if everything is working, connect cable from the main router to #2 router (wan port).
on the main PC, open a browser, type in the IP you assigned to router #2, then set up the same info as you did on the main router: 5-9 above (SSID, encryption type, and encryption keys MUST BE THE SAME)

test all PCs

Go to router/WAP #3, wash, rinse, repeat.

Again, good luck!

 

[nzhere]

Check in your model software and make sure the new BETA video is turned OFF

 

[Zoomer]

Try the pingtest http://pingtest.net/ - because this will also tell you your packet loss and jitter, giving a much fuller picture than "ping" alone.
I'd also check CPU usage of laptop whilst running software + cam etc.

 

[ReneeXOXO]

Try the pingtest http://pingtest.net/ - because this will also tell you your packet loss and jitter, giving a much fuller picture than "ping" alone.
I'd also check CPU usage of laptop whilst running software + cam etc.

Isn't the numerical diff between your pings also called jitter? I just bring up cmd and run "ping 10.10.10.1 -t" and it pings continuously. Then I just subtract my quick pings from my slow pings and call that my jitter... at least, the jitter from my laptop to the access point via wireless communication.

 

[ReneeXOXO]

Check in your model software and make sure the new BETA video is turned OFF

Thank you. It was turned off once upon a time and reset itself to BETA. I corrected that...again.

 

[ReneeXOXO]

Okay - first, thanks for all the advice y'all!!

Second, our newest leading theory is crosstalk interference with or baby monitor. My connection was suckiest in our bedroom...and the only thing between it and the access point upstairs is our child's room with - you guessed it - the baby monitor. So we turned that off and retested our pings. Got 1ms-5ms! Phenomenal improvement over our timeouts and 1-58ms pings prior.

Third, thank you thank you again.

Schlmoe, I'm still keeping your other ideas on the back burner in case my issues aren't completely resolved with the baby monitor turned off.

xoxo

 

[pronky]

Try the pingtest http://pingtest.net/ - because this will also tell you your packet loss and jitter, giving a much fuller picture than "ping" alone.
I'd also check CPU usage of laptop whilst running software + cam etc.

here is my ping test result. i got it from here http://www.whoisxy.com/
Pinging cooltamil.com [64.64.4.118] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 64.64.4.118: bytes=32 time=51ms TTL=52
Reply from 64.64.4.118: bytes=32 time=51ms TTL=52
Reply from 64.64.4.118: bytes=32 time=53ms TTL=52
Reply from 64.64.4.118: bytes=32 time=51ms TTL=52
Ping statistics for 64.64.4.118:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 51ms, Maximum = 53ms, Average = 51ms