PC Tech Wifi performance degrades as uptime accumulates?

[Jason]

When I first got this USB 3.0 wifi adapter for my desktop, it was working great. Lately I've been having weird speed issues: if I do a fast.com speed test, I'll hit the expected ~200 Mbps speed for my connection, then it'll stay there for a couple of seconds, then it'll plummet down the 60-100 Mbps range and give a final score somewhere around that range. Rebooting the computer seems to temporarily but not permanently fix this. I'm pretty sure it's not the router or the internet connection because my phone does fine on fast.com speed tests while this is happening on my computer. And I just tried using different browsers and got the same behavior.

 

It's also not just fast.com, I've seen the speeds jump around a lot while downloading things off Steam too. I'm also definitely not on the 2.4 GHz connection. As the connection degrades, it feels like there's latency adding too, and not just speed degradation--for example it'll take weirdly long to start loading pages after clicking links, and it seems like 60 Mbps vs 200 Mbps shouldn't really make a difference for web browsing unless there's also latency coming into play. But again, my phone does not seem to experience this latency when the computer starts having it.

 

Does anyone have any idea what could be going on? When I plugged the adapter in it just worked, I didn't have to install anything, so it seems like there isn't anything obvious like reinstalling the relevant software to try.

[SimpleG]

7 minutes ago, Jason said:

When I first got this USB 3.0 wifi adapter for my desktop, it was working great. Lately I've been having weird speed issues: if I do a fast.com speed test, I'll hit the expected ~200 Mbps speed for my connection, then it'll stay there for a couple of seconds, then it'll plummet down the 60-100 Mbps range and give a final score somewhere around that range. Rebooting the computer seems to temporarily but not permanently fix this. I'm pretty sure it's not the router or the internet connection because my phone does fine on fast.com speed tests while this is happening on my computer. And I just tried using different browsers and got the same behavior.

 

It's also not just fast.com, I've seen the speeds jump around like this downloading things off Steam too. I'm also definitely not on the 2.4 GHz connection.

 

Does anyone have any idea what could be going on? When I plugged the adapter in it just worked, I didn't have to install anything, so it seems like there isn't anything obvious like reinstalling the relevant software to try.

Your router should have multiple 5g channels, maybe the one you are on has become congested ?

Have you tried another USB port or different PC to see if it follows?

[Jason]

9 minutes ago, SimpleG said:

Your router should have multiple 5g channels, maybe the one you are on has become congested ?

Have you tried another USB port or different PC to see if it follows?

 

Yeah, a week or two ago I downloaded a wifi analyzer app onto my phone and based on what I was seeing I tried switching from Auto a specific channel. It didn't really seem to do anything. Just gave it another go with yet another channel and the first speed test looked promising but the second one is now back to doing the same thing. And now I just tried switching USB ports and it seems like it may have actually made it worse.

[Jason]

Okay, now back on the original USB port and it's better than the other port but still the same as before.

[SimpleG]

1 minute ago, Jason said:

Yeah, a week or two ago I downloaded a wifi analyzer app onto my phone and based on what I was seeing I tried switching from Auto a specific channel. It didn't really seem to do anything. Just gave it another go with yet another channel and the first speed test looked promising but the second one is now back to doing the same thing

That pretty much was my next suggestion, really the only thing left to try would be a different PC.

 

 

[SimpleG]

2 minutes ago, Jason said:

Okay, now back on the original USB port and it's better than the other port but still the same as before.

That really shouldnt make a difference 

[SimpleG]

Maybe a driver issue with your USB?

[Jason]

6 minutes ago, SimpleG said:

That really shouldnt make a difference 

 

You'd certainly think so, right?. 

 

3 minutes ago, SimpleG said:

Maybe a driver issue with your USB?

 

How would I diagnose that? 

 

Also I tried plugging it into my work MacBook Pro but it wouldn't automatically recognize it, and I don't have any other computers I can try it on. 

 

[Jason]

Well this is fucking bizarre, I tried turning off the guest wifi to see if maybe that was the source of the problem, and now the phone and the computer are both reporting that there's no internet available on the network after the reboot that required. Tried unplugging the router and plugging it back in and STILL nothing. Tried turning guest wifi back on and am now waiting for that reboot...I'll return to this in the morning regardless of what happens with this reboot, I need to go to sleep. 

[SimpleG]

2 minutes ago, Jason said:

How would I diagnose that? 

Not sure you could, if its a win machine you can go to hardware manager and see if shows and any issues . You could also just uninstall the USB driver and reinstall them over. 

[Jason]

Wait WTF, could the problem be Steam, even though I'm not downloading anything from Steam? I just quit Steam and it seemed like the speed test was normal again. Now I've fired Steam back up and it doesn't seem like it it's tanking it again...but I started closing out of things and running speed tests as I closed things and it seemed like closing Steam was what caused the change.

[Xbob42]

Sounds like you got something funky going on if turning off the guest wifi turned into not having internet, and turning off Steam coincided with a speed increase.

 

Also why do you have guest wifi running? You hate your guests enough to not give them the real credentials? Goddamn man you gonna let someone in your house but no in your wifi?

[Jason]

25 minutes ago, Xbob42 said:

Sounds like you got something funky going on if turning off the guest wifi turned into not having internet, and turning off Steam coincided with a speed increase.

 

Also why do you have guest wifi running? You hate your guests enough to not give them the real credentials? Goddamn man you gonna let someone in your house but no in your wifi?

 

Because I've been thinking of setting up wireless filesharing and I figured step one was not letting people onto the main network? So far I haven't actually put anyone on the guest wifi yet though.

 

I guess I may try factory resetting the router, the fact that only the desktop experiences the slowdown makes me sort of dubious that the slowdown issue is on the router side of things but it does seem warranted after the weirdness with turning off the guest network last night. But I'm thinking something it's more likely that something has gotten fucked with my PC's configuration, especially now that whether or not Steam is running seems to be a factor here.

[cusideabelincoln]

Are you able to connect your desktop with an ethernet cable and test the speed?

[Jason]

3 minutes ago, cusideabelincoln said:

Are you able to connect your desktop with an ethernet cable and test the speed?

 

I got this wifi adapter in the first place because I was consistently only getting 80/80 on ethernet despite being rated for 200/200. It's a very long ethernet cable that's going through the wall and I didn't want to deal with re-running a new cable; I'm assuming that the length of the of the cable is connected to why the speed wasn't 100% but it's also possible the cable got beat up in a move, I guess.

[cusideabelincoln]

Cat 5 cable should work fine up to 100 meters while Cat 6 is about 50m.  Were close to those limits?

 

Edit:

Also why kind of ISP do you have (cable, fiber) and what is the make/model of the modem?

[Jason]

9 minutes ago, cusideabelincoln said:

Cat 5 cable should work fine up to 100 meters while Cat 6 is about 50m.  Were close to those limits?

 

Edit:

Also why kind of ISP do you have (cable, fiber) and what is the make/model of the modem?

 

Based on my Amazon history the cable should be this. But I've had it for 10 years now and it's gone through multiple moves.

 

My ISP is Starry and I'm using their router. I think it's just a router with no modem, and that there's a switch for the building up where the antenna is on the roof.

[cusideabelincoln]

Ok then.  Well your phone and Macbook operate fine, so if we focus on your desktop there is an option to do a network reset in Windows 10.  

 

-Right-click on the network icon in the taskbar notification area

-Select "Open Network & Internet Settings"

-Click on "Network Reset"

 

That should return everything network-related as if you just reformatted, and then it will automatically set up the configuration from there.

[Jason]

35 minutes ago, cusideabelincoln said:

Ok then.  Well your phone and Macbook operate fine, so if we focus on your desktop there is an option to do a network reset in Windows 10.  

 

-Right-click on the network icon in the taskbar notification area

-Select "Open Network & Internet Settings"

-Click on "Network Reset"

 

That should return everything network-related as if you just reformatted, and then it will automatically set up the configuration from there.

 

I had no idea that network reset was there, so thanks, I'll give that a shot right now. 

[Jason]

So far so good, but it forced a reboot and reboots have always provided a temporary fix for this. Gonna leave Steam running in the background and hopefully in a few days it's still working okay.

[cusideabelincoln]

Just now, Jason said:

So far so good, but it forced a reboot and reboots have always provided a temporary fix for this. Gonna leave Steam running in the background and hopefully in a few days it's still working okay.

 

If the issue comes back, I would suggest contacting Starry's customer support (technical division) and troubleshooting with them.  It's sort of a long shot, but perhaps they have some recommended settings that need to be set in Windows and/or router for their service.

[Jason]

1 hour ago, cusideabelincoln said:

 

If the issue comes back, I would suggest contacting Starry's customer support (technical division) and troubleshooting with them.  It's sort of a long shot, but perhaps they have some recommended settings that need to be set in Windows and/or router for their service.

 

When I first contacted them thinking there was potentially a problem on their end (granted that time I was getting literally a megabit down so I think it really was a separate problem on their end and that it then just resolved itself by the time they responded, BUT...) they told me to factory reset the router. If this returns I'm gonna do the factory reset and then contact them again if that still doesn't resolve it. If it comes to that, hopefully having already done the factory reset will at least them fast track me to elevating it to someone who can help me beyond rudimentary troubleshooting stuff. 

[Jason]

Now, on to trying to sort out why my left Galaxy Bud won't charge despite the charging case seeming to recognize when I place it in the case.

[Jason]

So far so good on the wifi performance. My left Galaxy Bud is still refusing to charge though.

[Jason]

Just now, BlueAngel said:

Try cleaning the gold contacts on them with rubbing alcohol.

 

On the Bud itself or the pins in the case?

 

Anyhow this is assuming I have the rubbing alcohol at home I think I do, considering it's still impossible to find.

[Jason]

51 minutes ago, BlueAngel said:

I would do both honestly, sounds like the bud is making bad contact to the case it's probably some ear wax causing the issue.

 

No go on finding the rubbing alcohol. I'll try looking again tomorrow I guess.

 

I'm noticing that the case is completely discharging, so it seems like it recognizes the Bud enough to try to charge it, and then just futiley expends all of its battery on trying to charge the Bud.

[Jason]

On 6/18/2020 at 10:09 AM, BlueAngel said:

Run to a pharmacy or something and grab a bottle lol for a $1 it's worth a shot.

 

Wiped everything down with 99% isopropyl alcohol and looks like it's not helping.

[Jason]

On 6/23/2020 at 5:37 PM, BlueAngel said:

Not sure man, have you tried resetting them through the Galaxy Wearable's app?

 

Lost track of this but yes, that was one of the first things I tried.

[Jason]

On 7/9/2020 at 1:35 PM, BlueAngel said:

Yeah that's a strange one, have you tried posting on https://www.reddit.com/r/galaxybuds/ might be worth a shot.

 

Tried that, no response.

 

Are the Beans supposed to supersede the Buds+, or is it going to be more like them being the Airpod Pros in the lineup vs the Buds+ being the Airpods? Don't really want to buy the Buds+ right now if the Beans are going to drive the price of the Buds+ down but would be more keen if they won't have that downward price pressure on the Buds+.