Internet

[razor2010]

We have had Rogers internet for a few years.  We have had problems with our connection being really slow.  We have called serveral times and once they replaced our modem, another time the wiring, then I was told to reboot the modem and router as our firmware was out of date on the router.  So we purchased a new router with up to date firmware and it is still slow.  I have to reboot daily and sometimes serveral times in a day.  NEED HELP!!!! What is next

[Chris]

You shouldn't have to buy a new router to get new firmware. Most manufactures if not all offer free firmware updates on their websites. You just have to go to the manufactures site and download the specific firmware for your router and follow their instructions on how to install it.

Now there could be many reasons for the slow connection.. Even having the modem near a large electric appliance could cause issues (though not likely).

Are you connecting wired or wirelessly? Have you run speed tests off a speed test website? Does your computer have up to date virus scanning? Is your wireless secured so no one else could be on it downloading?

Any one or a combination of those could affect the speed of your connection.

Also which tier of service do you have?

[razor2010]

Here are my answers to your questions, I had to get a new router as the person who set up our router before did not tell us password so could not update firmware.  So Rogers recommended to buy a new one.

Now there could be many reasons for the slow connection.. Even having the modem near a large electric appliance could cause issues (though not likely). NO

Are you connecting wired or wirelessly?Wireless

Have you run speed tests off a speed test website?Right now it is Download 9.70 and upload is 0.50 and it is not too slow yet as it was rebooted not long ago.

Does your computer have up to date virus scanning?Yes

Is your wireless secured so no one else could be on it downloading?Yes

Any one or a combination of those could affect the speed of your connection.

Also which tier of service do you have?Express

[Chris]

Try running the speedtest when the modem is at it's slowest...

Are you download a lot using bittorrent?

Sorry I'm grasping at straws.. Have you tried a direct connection wire from the modem to the computer to see if it starts happening again? Atleast in that case you could eliminate the router as the problem...

I don't think the problem is the router since you said it started before with the old one.. But they've also replaced everything else... So it's hard for me to say....

[RogersErin]

Thank you for your suggestions Chris!

[tandar]

A good way to determine if the router is at fault or not would be to directly connect your pc to your Rogers modem without the router and test it that way for a few hours.  If the problem persists then you know the issue is not with the router, however if the speeds are fine then you know there is an issue with the router configuration or with one of your network devices.

[Netbug]

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razor2010 wrote:
Have you run speed tests off a speed test website?Right now it is Download 9.70 and upload is 0.50 and it is not too slow yet as it was rebooted not long ago.

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Going on the assumption that you are a HiSpeed Express customer, that throughput measurement is spot-on for what you should be getting.

Now you stated that right now it is running smoothly as you rebooted the devices a "not long ago". Most likely what is happenning is that on one of the computers connected to your router there is some form of application running that is dominating the connection after getting online. Normally this would be some form of misconfigured P2P software such as Limewire, Kazaa, E-Donkey, etc.

The fact that the connection speeds up when you reboot the devices is most likely due to the application losing the connection, thus not consuming bandwidth, and not reestablishing for some time.

As stated by Chris and Tandar, for troubleshooting this what I would start with is a single computer direct to the modem for a few hours. If the speed remains consistant with this single PC connected, then move to the router and start adding devices back on the network one at a time with long periods between to determine which is causing the slowdown.

You could also check your usage (either on your My Rogers account or by calling in to tech support and getting them to check it) to see what your upload to download ratio is. Though far from a clear picture, if the uploads are 1/4 of the downloads or greater, that is a pretty good indicator of either filesharing or VoIP activity, both of which can cause slowdowns if something is wrong with them.

Very rarely in my experience is a slowdown caused by a router, it is almost invariably one of the other devices in the home. At this point, it's just process of elimination.