Tired of Crappy Support by Cable Providers, cutting the cord!

[highfigh]

I have done some research into the 802.11 standards. Boy, I thought Dell would have some answers about the n and ac. After 30 minutes, back to sq 1.
I finally went on line to a couple of informative web sites.
Discovered that the ac standard only affects, for the better, the 5gH band. One laptop to router has 433 Mbs speed indicated on the local area connection window. And it clocks 120 down
The n standard covers the 2.4gh and 5gH band but it is at 150 to router but max on line speed check is
only around 75-85mbs. AC also has wider bandwidth, higher speed.
Also discovered that the laptop has specs of 1x1, 2x2, etc, n on the wi-fi spec section. That applies to the number of antennas for each band in the laptop that has higher on line speed but perhaps not the connection speed to the wi-fi router.
Next upgrades are ac and subsets.
What a trip to get to the bottom of all this.

I will be looking for those better specs on my next laptop, just because.

I don't know if you looked in Wiki for the info, but if you search 802.11 in Wiki, it will list all of the versions.

You can also look for a WiFi network adapter that inserts in a USB port. My last laptop didn't do 802.11n and I needed to check network speeds on n routers, so I got the Asus for about $30. Since my internet speed has never exceeded 50MBs, which is well within the 802.11g standard, it has never been an issue because almost nothing coming from the internet is going to need the top speeds (Gigabit, or 500MBs). Within a network, data flows much faster but again, WiFi can't be as fast as wired.

 

[mtrycrafts]

I don't know if you looked in Wiki for the info, but if you search 802.11 in Wiki, it will list all of the versions.

You can also look for a WiFi network adapter that inserts in a USB port. My last laptop didn't do 802.11n and I needed to check network speeds on n routers, so I got the Asus for about $30. Since my internet speed has never exceeded 50MBs, which is well within the 802.11g standard, it has never been an issue because almost nothing coming from the internet is going to need the top speeds (Gigabit, or 500MBs). Within a network, data flows much faster but again, WiFi can't be as fast as wired.

Thanks. I did search wiki and Google. Interesting results.
.11AC only applies to 5GHz.
My new router has issues with the 2.4 GHz band with a g and an n device. It is supposed to handle each with its appropriate speeds but now it locked to the lower g speed. Of course if I force it to n the g device is not functioning.
I want what I payed for.

 

[mtrycrafts]

Which setting?

WiFi can't be as fast as wired- it's part of the design and implementation of preventing data collisions- it's usually about half the speed.

If you want to find the computer's real capabilities, go into the Device Manager, Network Adapters and look for the one(s) you want to see- google the brand/model number and if it doesn't show 802.11ac, it's still capable of good speed, but not close to Gigabit. 802.11n tops out at around 300MBs.

On my linksys router there is a tab "Media Prioritization." in it there is another tab for "settings" and there is a box for "downstream bandwidth" that can be manually entered most any number.
Mine was set to 66,500kbps or so. And of course on ethernet speed checks, it brickwalled at that speed. I put zero.
Now, since cable is 100meg down, ethernet connection is at 120meg down. Nice.
And, just noticed that on this new wifi initial auto setup it was 0. Now, somehow it went back to 66,500.
More experimentation. The wifi connection with laptop to router shows 150mbps on that device manager for 2.4GHz band. When the 150 shows in device manager, I can clock over 80megs but when it goes to 72 in the device manager only clocks around 40 megs.

I may need to upgrade my Tivo g antenna to an n so I can force router to n; more $$$.

 

[j_garcia]

AC is what you want but not all devices support it yet, at which point it will use the speed the device supports since it should be backwards compatible. My phone and chromebook support it but none of my other devices do The more devices that are simultaneously using, the slower your total speed will be too.

 

[highfigh]

Thanks. I did search wiki and Google. Interesting results.
.11AC only applies to 5GHz.
My new router has issues with the 2.4 GHz band with a g and an n device. It is supposed to handle each with its appropriate speeds but now it locked to the lower g speed. Of course if I force it to n the g device is not functioning.
I want what I payed for.

The 5GHz is the carrier frequency, not the data speed/throughput. The problem with using two different 'levels' of WiFi is that the slower one causes the router to dumb itself down to that level and the faster one will only operate at the lower speed. Also, higher carrier freq.uency may be faster and carry farther in free space, but if it hits dense materials, it's attenuated more than a lower frequency. If you use cordless phones, a baby monitor, have wireless alarm sensors and some lighting controllers, they can all cause problems for WiFi.

The easy way to solve this is to buy a USB network interface, like the ASUS I mentioned- it operates in 802.11n and prevents the network slowdown. It's a lot less money than buying a network interface that needs to be installed- I looked into that and decided to pass since the internal one for my laptop was $75. $30 was much better and it works well.

 

[mtrycrafts]

The 5GHz is the carrier frequency, not the data speed/throughput. The problem with using two different 'levels' of WiFi is that the slower one causes the router to dumb itself down to that level and the faster one will only operate at the lower speed. Also, higher carrier freq.uency may be faster and carry farther in free space, but if it hits dense materials, it's attenuated more than a lower frequency. If you use cordless phones, a baby monitor, have wireless alarm sensors and some lighting controllers, they can all cause problems for WiFi.

The easy way to solve this is to buy a USB network interface, like the ASUS I mentioned- it operates in 802.11n and prevents the network slowdown. It's a lot less money than buying a network interface that needs to be installed- I looked into that and decided to pass since the internal one for my laptop was $75. $30 was much better and it works well.

This would be for my Tivo wifi adapter.
Would I specifically need one of theirs? Or any brand will do? Is the connecting software to their channel info center in the Tivo unit itself or that wifi adapter of theirs?

 

[highfigh]

This would be for my Tivo wifi adapter.
Would I specifically need one of theirs? Or any brand will do? Is the connecting software to their channel info center in the Tivo unit itself or that wifi adapter of theirs?

I don't think the brand has anything to do with anything, as long as it works. I bought an ASUS because a friend manages a computer store and that's what they sell. He recommends things because they work, not because he or the store make money on them. The protocols take precedence over brand.

 

[highfigh]

Since we're dumping on providers, I thought I would refresh the complaints I have with ATT. I'm installing equipment for a previous client and he bought a house that was apparently built to withstand some kind of blast or war. The walls ceilings are covered with metal lath (screen) and plaster, even on the basement ceiling, which made pulling speaker wires for the living room and office a real challenge. I'm really glad I bought some hole saws with carbide edges.

ATT scheduled the initial installation for TV and internet, based on the homeowner's description of the house, which included info about the materials and construction methods. The installer showed up, looked around and connected the gateway, but had a hard time with the TV receivers that aren't hard wired. They have a booster, but he didn't have one, nor did he seem to know what to do with it if he had. He spent more time in his van and eventually left around 3PM. He then returned and picked up the TV receivers, but left the remotes and HDMI cables. The homeowner called the next day and was told that someone would be there the next Friday, a week after the original install. That guy got the TVs working, but declined drilling any holes from the attic to the living space because of liability concerns. The network was never great and the second floor bedroom at the North end doesn't have sufficient signal to even connect.

ATT promised coverage throughout the house, which is two stories, about 45' x 85' with a garage at one end and a full basement. The WiFi drops off quickly and my iPhone loses the network in the kitchen, roughly 35' from the router.

Yesterday, I called to get someone there to check the network and advise on what could be done. Once the installer was over 2 hours late for the time I expected him, I called to find out when he would be there and the automated message asked if I was calling about the service appointment for TODAY, so I finally reached someone and rescheduled for this morning, between 8:30 and 1PM and specifically asked that they send someone who's experienced in difficult network situations. During that conversation, it was explained that the time window for them to show up in 4 hours and the work takes whatever time needed. I told her that Time Warner now has a one hour window and she said " I don't care about Time Warner". I said she better be because people are going to leave ATT, including me. I should have gotten her name, but..... The installer finally showed up after 9:45, but I didn't bother to comment.

The first question I asked was "Are you good with difficult homes, regarding WiFi?" and he said, "Not really, why?".

I explained the "promise" to have coverage throughout the hose and he said that applies only to wired performance, not wireless. I repeated the comment about the coverage and was told that it was "part of the fine print". I asked about using access points and he told me they can't even get them from the warehouse. He also said the installers can't contact the local Level 2 support team, which sounds ridiculous but, having jumped through many of their hoops in my attempts to reach them, I have to think he was being honest. When I made some comments about the bad WiFi performance I have, he said "You know most of those routers are refurbs, right?".

Bottom line, ATT can't do more than a basic setup, WON'T guarantee the performance and doesn't want to do much to satisfy their customers. They care more about adding customers and specifically, they care about DirecTV, but U-Verse is sucking hind teat.

They can KMA if they think I won't leave.

 

[mtrycrafts]

I don't think the brand has anything to do with anything, as long as it works. I bought an ASUS because a friend manages a computer store and that's what they sell. He recommends things because they work, not because he or the store make money on them. The protocols take precedence over brand.

Well, more testing and I remembered that the Oppo 103 has a wifi adaptor stick with usb.
I plugged it in to the Tivo, nothing. I plugged it into several computers, and it worked as it supposed to and a green light blinking that didn't happen in the Tivo.

The Tivo directions I saw on line shows their N connector plugged into a power adapter and with a ethernet port to connect to the Tivo ethernet port.
So, it seems that the usb port on their recorders is modified, not enough voltage or power for a wifi N adapter. I guess they are forcing you to buy their device only.
Bummer.

 

[speakerman39]

My TWC cable is coming out on Monday! My TV has Rocku, so I plan to start using that instead. Plus, I can get a few local channels over the air. For the time being, I will keep my internet with Time Warner. Although, I also plan to look into other alternatives. Nothing wrong with saving a few pennies here and there.

Cheers,

Phil

 

[ParadigmDawg]

Since we're dumping on providers, I thought I would refresh the complaints I have with ATT. I'm installing equipment for a previous client and he bought a house that was apparently built to withstand some kind of blast or war. The walls ceilings are covered with metal lath (screen) and plaster, even on the basement ceiling, which made pulling speaker wires for the living room and office a real challenge. I'm really glad I bought some hole saws with carbide edges.

ATT scheduled the initial installation for TV and internet, based on the homeowner's description of the house, which included info about the materials and construction methods. The installer showed up, looked around and connected the gateway, but had a hard time with the TV receivers that aren't hard wired. They have a booster, but he didn't have one, nor did he seem to know what to do with it if he had. He spent more time in his van and eventually left around 3PM. He then returned and picked up the TV receivers, but left the remotes and HDMI cables. The homeowner called the next day and was told that someone would be there the next Friday, a week after the original install. That guy got the TVs working, but declined drilling any holes from the attic to the living space because of liability concerns. The network was never great and the second floor bedroom at the North end doesn't have sufficient signal to even connect.

ATT promised coverage throughout the house, which is two stories, about 45' x 85' with a garage at one end and a full basement. The WiFi drops off quickly and my iPhone loses the network in the kitchen, roughly 35' from the router.

Yesterday, I called to get someone there to check the network and advise on what could be done. Once the installer was over 2 hours late for the time I expected him, I called to find out when he would be there and the automated message asked if I was calling about the service appointment for TODAY, so I finally reached someone and rescheduled for this morning, between 8:30 and 1PM and specifically asked that they send someone who's experienced in difficult network situations. During that conversation, it was explained that the time window for them to show up in 4 hours and the work takes whatever time needed. I told her that Time Warner now has a one hour window and she said " I don't care about Time Warner". I said she better be because people are going to leave ATT, including me. I should have gotten her name, but..... The installer finally showed up after 9:45, but I didn't bother to comment.

The first question I asked was "Are you good with difficult homes, regarding WiFi?" and he said, "Not really, why?".

I explained the "promise" to have coverage throughout the hose and he said that applies only to wired performance, not wireless. I repeated the comment about the coverage and was told that it was "part of the fine print". I asked about using access points and he told me they can't even get them from the warehouse. He also said the installers can't contact the local Level 2 support team, which sounds ridiculous but, having jumped through many of their hoops in my attempts to reach them, I have to think he was being honest. When I made some comments about the bad WiFi performance I have, he said "You know most of those routers are refurbs, right?".

Bottom line, ATT can't do more than a basic setup, WON'T guarantee the performance and doesn't want to do much to satisfy their customers. They care more about adding customers and specifically, they care about DirecTV, but U-Verse is sucking hind teat.

They can KMA if they think I won't leave.

I got suckered into DirectTV with them. We have had uverse for years and each year when the contract is up and they raise the price I just call, threaten to leave and they work out a deal for me. This year they wouldn't budge unless I went with Direct so I did.

It has been horrible. I have audio drops every few seconds with DD and the only way to prevent is to use PCM.

The picture drops out if a cloud even passes by and my new "top of the line" modem/router won't even reach to the backyard. The old cheap one had no issues. Plus the faster speed seems way slower.

I am at a point where I may just eat the early term fee and get something else.

When I call for service they are slow and useless and nothing ever improves. At least most of the installers will talk bad about ATT while they are in your house.

 

[highfigh]

I got suckered into DirectTV with them. We have had uverse for years and each year when the contract is up and they raise the price I just call, threaten to leave and they work out a deal for me. This year they wouldn't budge unless I went with Direct so I did.

It has been horrible. I have audio drops every few seconds with DD and the only way to prevent is to use PCM.

The picture drops out if a cloud even passes by and my new "top of the line" modem/router won't even reach to the backyard. The old cheap one had no issues. Plus the faster speed seems way slower.

I am at a point where I may just eat the early term fee and get something else.

When I call for service they are slow and useless and nothing ever improves. At least most of the installers will talk bad about ATT while they are in your house.

In contrast, Time Warner's Business Class installers are, well, sometimes pretty good. I did an office a few years ago and if they could send the installer on a Wednesday, so I could make sure the phones were working BEFORE the end of the weekend before Memorial Day, when they were moving to the new location. Guy showed up at 3:30 that Friday and I happened to be in the area, so I was goinf to do a drive-by to see if the clown had shown up, or if they were just blowing us off. He was there, so I stopped and saw him talking on his cell phone. I asked what was going on and he said the battery for his drill had died. Didn't have a second one, either. WTF??????????? I let him use my hammer drill and bit, which went through the concrete wall in seconds. He did the rest of the install and when I saw that he didn't use drywall anchors to mount the internet and phone modems, I went outside to get some, but he was still there, so I asked for some. He asked why I needed them and I told him that the screws were already pulling out of the drywall. His supervisor was sitting next to him and I don't care if he didn't like me saying that. Sales screwed the pooch on that one, in several ways- the services sold weren't activated and then, the phones stopped working completely a couple of weeks later.

Fast forward to yesterday, when I was working on a building for the daughter of the woman who owns the office I described above- didn't receive a call when he was on his way, but he was there on time, got the job done quickly and knows what he's talking about.

The key to a robust network- use a better router than the IP provides if the performance is bad. Broadband providers (cable companies, not DSL- DSL is supposed to be immune to the demands placed on the service by neighboring users because each line is separate) usually offer a separate modem as an option to the combined modem/router and there are several benefits to this, mainly that there's no monthly cost. It also means the homeowner and/or someone else needs to set up and maintain the configuration, but the equipment tends to be better although Time Warner is using better equipment now, like Ubee and Ruckus (their only brand of Wireless Access Points). Unfortunately, U-Verse equipment doesn't always like to play well with others, so it's kind of a crap shoot but their gateways (the word they use for the modem/router) can be set to act as a modem, so a different router and other hardware can be used (it requires setting it to Bridge mode, which disables NAT and prevents it from being a router behind a router, which doesn't work).

Personally, I think it's time for a big, horkin' Class Action suit against ATT for the p*ss poor customer service. Also, they need to use different phone support. Totally aggravating.

 

[mtrycrafts]

...

Personally, I think it's time for a big, horkin' Class Action suit against ATT for the p*ss poor customer service. Also, they need to use different phone support. Totally aggravating.

They certainly manage to be on the bottom on the Consumer Reports survey, year after year.
They don't care.

 

[speakerman39]

Dropped my TWC cable and home phone today. Still have their internet though. My TV has Roku and my BR player has some streaming channels as well. I plan to just use the free stuff for the most part. I can also get 3-4 local channels in HD. So, no real loss for me. Feels good to save some money though. There is also a RED BOX very close to my home. Might start renting a BR every once in a while. Most are only $1!

Cheers,

Phil

 

[highfigh]

They certainly manage to be on the bottom on the Consumer Reports survey, year after year.
They don't care.

I'm almost an hour into phone calls to ATT to find out how to disable NAT and use a different router- they're effing helpless! I feel like a dam ping pong ball in a hurricane!

Next call is going to be to Customer Retention and I WILL get a major discount for the time wasted, bad service and performance, or I WILL be leaving- U-Verse AND cell phone.

 

[j_garcia]

AT&T had even worse service than Comcast for me. I will never go back to them.

Getting a confirmed 240 down, 12 up, though OOKLA reports it incorrectly, which is really odd. OOKLA says I am only getting 30 down. We noticed some weird redirect showing my IP as different, which I think has something to do with how Comcast gives you those speeds. Honestly, I don't notice much difference, so I am now curious if "upgrading" was worth it at all. We'll see when my bill shows up. I already had to call them because of that odd speed indication, and while on with them they said I was being charged for their modem even though they can clearly see I am using my own... Company is run by a bunch of robots reading scripts.

 

[highfigh]

Update- for anyone who wants to use their own router with ATT, give up- they don't allow disabling NAT and that means you would be trying to have a router ahead of another router. I'm done with them and as much as I dislike Time Warner at times, I'm forced to use them for internet now. The ATT gateway's WiFi is weak, their support sucks and I just wasted almost 2 hours- nobody knows networking or their hardware well enough to tell me what I needed. That could have taken 5-10 minutes, with almost 5 minutes of waiting. They kept trying to tell me to turn off the WiFi. I also googled 'ATT Customer Relations' and found nothing, although I know they have a Customer Retention department.

 

[highfigh]

AT&T had even worse service than Comcast for me. I will never go back to them.
Company is run by a bunch of robots reading scripts.

And they just don't stop talking!That alone wastes half of the time on calls to them and I'm sick of it. Between waiting for an installer to show up on the last two occasions, I wasted close to 4 hours and if I add the hours wasted on the phone trying to get simple answers, my customer is not going to be happy, but I need to bill for my time. I'll cut him some slack, but I was calling on his behalf.

I don't have a problem with a company that tries to add customers but when they can't even satisfy the ones they already have they're doing it wrong. Very wrong!

 

[mtrycrafts]

Update- for anyone who wants to use their own router with ATT, give up- they don' allow disabling NAT and that means you would be trying to have a router ahead of another router. I'm done with them and as much as I dislike Time Warner at times, I'm forced to use them fro internet now. The ATT gateway's WiFi is weak, their support sucks and I just wasted almost 2 hours- nobody knows networking or their hardware well enough to tell me what I needed. That could have taken 5-10 minutes, with almost 5 minutes of waiting. They kept trying to tell me to turn off the WiFi. I also googled 'ATT Customer Relations' and found nothing, although I know they have a Customer Retention department.

At least Comcast allows your modem and router. I have them.
Clocking 120 down with ethernet connection. Will report when my new wi-fi adapter comes for the laptop.
As is, with forced N on the 2.4 GHz band, between 75 GHz to 95 GHz.
Speednet must be having problems with such speeds as somewhere near the end or just before upload, get a red message, forgot now what it said. But no issues with https://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/
And in most cases with the ethernet, it just jumps right up there.

 

[highfigh]

At least Comcast allows your modem and router. I have them.
Clocking 120 down with ethernet connection. Will report when my new wi-fi adapter comes for the laptop.
As is, with forced N on the 2.4 GHz band, between 75 GHz to 95 GHz.
Speednet must be having problems with such speeds as somewhere near the end or just before upload, get a red message, forgot now what it said. But no issues with https://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/
And in most cases with the ethernet, it just jumps right up there.

I called Time Warner about a commercial job and was told that they don't allow users or IT people to change the settings in their routers, but they do allow it for residential. I had tried logging in using the user ID and password on the gateway, but it didn't let me in and this is what prompted my first call to tech support. The first guy I spoke with today kept telling me he could set the modem to Bridge mode, which is just plain wrong- routers are set to Bridge and I told him that I wanted it to remain a router (which it wouldn't, if it was set to Bridge Mode) and that I needed to open a couple of ports so the owners of the building could view the security camera feed when they aren't on site but he just didn't seem to understand. I thanked him for his time and called back, in an attempt to reach someone who knows how to do this and was told it isn't allowed, so I called the Sales Engineer whose name I got from a business class rep. He told me the same thing, but then suggested that I google search for the name of the gateway and add 'login password' because he isn't supposed to tell anyone. I did that, found similar info on several links and none worked. I tried the info on the bottom and got in- I might not have paid attention to upper/lower case or used that exact combination but opening the ports AND logging into the DVR on my laptop & cell phone took about a minute, in total.

These providers need to realize how much time they waste for callers- if I'm on the clock, I don't need five people asking the same questions, blathering on about crap that has absolutely nothing to do with the issue and they need to LISTEN.