Southy_SWFC

At home I'm pretty good with this kind of thing as I used to work for a Broadband company but I'm not sure how things work here.
The set up at the moment is that we have a landline by one company (whos name I can't remember), the internet through TimeWarner and the TV through Direct TV.
I've been looking into a MagicJack+ so if its as good as it sounds then we'll be cancelling the phone line because its rarely used these days and costs 60-70$ a month.

My problem is with the internet. If we use a magicjack I think we'll need a new router as it often disconnects here if too much stuff is using it and this will be a further drain on it. We've got an ancient looking box plugged into the phone and then that into a DLink router by a ethernet cable. If I'm to replace these with newer ones, do I need both or can I just get a new router and do without whatever that other box is for?
When the account holder is home I'm going to have him ring the phone company and see what needs to be done to cancel and then TimeWarner to see if we can up the speed on the line. Just out of interest, what is a good price for a Broadband company over here? I think we pay 60$ a month for the internet which to me sounds a lot but could be standard. At home I pay £5.

Anyway, I'll leave it there for now and see if you can help out.


Thanks in advance

Michael

If I understand you correctly, your computer is using a wi-fi connection and disconnects intermittently. Is that correct?

If that is the case and you live in an apartment or condo complex and using an old 802.11b/g router, everyone in your complex is using the same and everyone is competing for three bands (7 channels each) on the 2.4 Ghz band. This causes throughput to go up and down during the day and can fluctuate between less than 1 mb/s and 15 mb/s possibly causing problems.

Use the following test at various times during the day and evening to determine your throughput. Also wire your computer directly to the router to determine what is the maximum throughput of the cable modem (likely is about 25 mb/s but could be higher) and to also determine if the server is bogging down (try another server if bit rates randomly change when direct wired).

http://speedtest.net/

Once you determine your problem and it is the wi-fi that is causing you the problem, upgrade your router to an 802.11n router and use the 5 Ghz band for your connection to the computer. However your computer must have 802.11n capabilities and can be determined by going to the control panel/device manager/network adapters and it should indicate whether 802.11n is supported. If it doesn't indicate that it is supported, you can purchase a 802.11n usb adapter for you computer for less than $20.

The 802.11n router must be a dual band router and not just have the 802.11n capabilities that does not support the 5 GHz band. The problem with the 5 GHz band is that it doesn't have a lot of distance so you have to use the antennas, is not too far away, and is not behind a wall that highly restricts high frequencies. Many new devices such as the iPhone and wireless printers support 802.11n but not the 5 GHz band so for those you use the 2.4 Ghz band (I set up my router with names such as MyComputer2.4Ghz and MyComputer5.0Ghz) so that I know which to connect to for different devices.

All these problems with distance for the 5 Ghz band is a god send when living in an apartment or condo since signals are not strong enough to affect many of your neighbors routers which should allow you to get a consistent throughput of approximately the speed of your cable modem even if everyone else is using the 5 Ghz band. Besides all the problems of routers fighting for bandwidth and causing collusions on the 2.4 Ghz band, bluetooth uses the band, your microwave radiates at 2.4 Ghz destroying your connection, as well as many other devices. Just turn on your microwave oven (or possibly even your next doors neighbors microwave oven) and watch your connection be totally destroyed.

However I probably wouldn't use magic jack but instead get something like Vonage which is pretty inexpensive and is very reliable.

Mummy in the foothills

We live in the middle of no where so don't have access to the cheap internet like many do, but our local phone company has started to bundle, we can have home phone (with 500 min a month anywhere in the US included) DSL and now they have added TV for $110 a month. For around here it's a bargain.
But some friends have ditched the home phone in favor of cell phones, others use Magic jack which they swear works great. But even then our DSL would be $60 a month on it's own.
The cable TV Company also does DSL but then they have to use either cell phones or land line and land line on it's own with no international plan is something like $25 a month plus calls.

Southy_SWFC

Its a house that we live in, not an apartment.

I've just been looking at the setup here which hasn't helped things in my head. The ancient box turns out to be a cable modem which is connected to a DLink router by an ethernet cable. I'm wondering if the cable router is not up to the job of handling the bandwidth when several things are plugged into it.

What I'm looking to do is get a new cable modem which will then have the router plugged into it. Then when we get a MagicJack I'll plug that into the DLink router and the phone line.

Another thing I'm not sure about is whether I'll be able to keep all of the phones in use like they are now or whether it can only be done with one.

I'm also going to get in touch with TimeWarner and see how much it'd be to get the phones switched over to a digital service instead of using the magicjack.

Its all bloody complicated

Michael

As in the previous post, hard wire your computer to the router to determine the speed of the cable modem and line speed support from Time Warner. Normally the cable companies will support a slightly higher speed than the cable modem (typically a DOCSIS 2.0 which supports about 25 mb/s but could be DOCSIS 3.0 which supports higher bit rates).

Also as stated in the previous post, the microwave oven can easily destroy a wi-fi connection. I believe you have some wi-fi connections (although not stated by you) or else you would have a mess of wires.

Southy_SWFC

I'll go and do the speed test now.

Forgot to mention that we are on a wireless connection through the DLink router. I think the thing thats confusing me is that its cable broadband which isn't something I've ever used.

Southy_SWFC

Now i'm plugged directly into the cable modem.

Speed test says I get 13.65mbps download and 0.45 upload.

sime303

Give time warner a call and ask for a new modem. You can also get wireless cable modems from TWC but I am not sure if that costs more on top of the monthly internet bill.

fatbrit

Obi110 + Google Voice.

Much better solution.

Michael

It is possible that is all the speed that Time Warner supports on it's line (seems very low), the server you are using may be bogged down so try other servers to make sure, or the cable modem is DOCSIS 1.1 which is pretty old.

Michael

Through Comcast, mine is 25 mb/s download and 4 mb/s upload.

Michael

If you can find the model number on the cable modem, you can search the internet for that model and it will tell you which DOCSIS version it is using. Sometimes people go and just purchase their own cable modem for less than $100 (pair it up through the provider) and save the $5 or so monthly modem fee (by returning the modem) that many providers charge.

I would do that but I can't because my cable modem is also a VOIP device and I can't purchase that combination on the open market. I would really like to upgrade to DOCIS 3.0 to see if comcast supports higher than 25 mb/s on their line but I can't do that because of the combination. Aslo if I have a DOCSIS 3.0 cable modem, I will get instant increased speeds as soon as they upgrade the line speed which happens frequently as they get rid of more analog channels (went from about 4 mb/s to 25 mb/s in 2 years as they phased out part of the analog channels).

Southy_SWFC

I've just spoken to TWC to see what they can do. It turns out we only get the 10mbps service anyway and its 10$ extra per month to put it up to 20mbps which I think we'll do. For them to add digital phones it'll be 30$ a month which will save us around 40$ a month.
Also, they said that if I take the router to one of their stores then they'll replace it for a new one free of charge. Can't argue with that.

Thanks for all your help

Michael

They probably already support 20 mb/s or better to your house currently and it is only the cable modem that they will provide. I would go to Best Buy and purchase a DOCSIS 3.0 cable modem and see if it improves your throughput. If it doesn't, return the modem and get the upgrade through Time Warner.

You will have to call Time Warner to pair it up but they have to do that. Also check their web site to see which cable modems they guarantee support for. Usually it is a long list of cable modems (several hundreds) from DOCSIS 1.0 through 3.0.

Michael

However upgrading your cable speed won't do you much good for your wi-fi connection since you are pretty much limited to about 15 mb/s without a 802.11n dual band router. Only on a direct connection, you will see a significant speed improvement with the old router.