Varying speeds of data transfer

[Alex2507]

Bear with me here on account of limited IT vocabulary. My issue is became apparent while streaming Plex via Wi-Fi from BSA's account onto a Roku Ultra device. I decided to hardwire it but had to use a extra long HDMI cable that is oddly fat, like 1/2" thick. Not only did it not help but a connection check on the device showed 80 or 90 MBPS while in the past I remembered it being over 200 MBPS.

I went back to my standard Wi-Fi connection using recommended length BJC HDMI cables and only then realized the HDMI cables wouldn't affect the speeds the device was seeing. My connection test on the Roku Ultra still showed numbers in the 80 and 90 MBPS range. This morning I ran a Ookla Speed test on my laptop and got close to 50 and 50 download and upload results. The problem is that I remember those numbers being over 300 MBPS in the past. So I ran the test again and got numbers close to 250 upload and download. That might be because the laptop had recently been turned on but I thought it had been on long enough. It was a matter of a few minutes. A third speedtest showed numbers close to 250 MBPS again.

It's Verizon Fios connected to the house. I'm wondering what could cause the variation in speeds. What tipped me off is the Plex streams buffering and switching to lower and lower resolutions. Last night it was 82 MBPS and right now (5 AM-ish) it's 227 MBPS. There can be a couple of phones connected via Wi-Fi and one TV hardwired to the router plus a laptop connected via Wi-Fi. It didn't matter that my Roku Ultra was connected via Wi-Fi verses being hardwired.

Oh, and I had unplugged everything and plugged it back in after waiting a minute or so trying to get things to stream Bluey of all things. I'm looking to at least understand if not actually fix the problem. To get around the issue last night I set the stream to a fixed speed on the Roku Ultra to like 12 or 20 MBPS versus Automatic which would eventually degrade to something like 300 KBPS and look lousy.

BTW, once I got it going the 5 year old niece watching Bluey had a pretty content little smile on her face. This was not only Bluey but Bluey with a pretty decent 2.1 audio system hooked up to it and it was virtually uninterrupted, entire seasons of Bluey. As you can imagine, I f^%&ing hate Bluey.

 

[lovinthehd]

I've never had speeds that high, but definitely had issues with Plex from a different AH member when my service was generally 50-75 mbps When I had dsl service it was probably impossible

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

An HDMI cable has nothing to do with your Wifi speeds. Besides, HDMI speed is not measured in Mbps, but Gbps The wifi speed can vary a lot and depend on bazillion things, like distance from your wifi (I assume you're using VZW Fios provided modem for wifi), your neighbors, cheap LED lights, microwaves, your neighbors' wifi, and lots of other things.
The Roku Ultra has an Ethernet port, so that's your best and easiest option for getting consistent and high speeds.
Other options would be to look for newer Wifi, one that specifically support Wifi 6, or somehow shortening the distance between VZW modem and your Roku.
Here's some light reading on the subject:

https://www.wired.com/story/how-to-make-your-wifi-better-faster/

Improve Your Wi-Fi Speed in 10 Simple Steps

Got the Wi-Fi speed blues? Learn how to speed up your Wi-Fi connections in this easy 10-step guide.

www.highspeedinternet.com

10 Ways to Boost Your Home WiFi for a Faster Internet | TP-Link United Arab Emirates

Due to the Coronavirus crisis, many are stii sheitered-in-piace and working from home, so fguring out how to improve your WiFi speed is more important than ever. Typicaiiy, there are severai reasons for siow WiFi speeds. If you want to get things running smoothiy with iess disrupton, we...

www.tp-link.com

If you have android mobile phone, you could use this handy program to troubleshoot your wifi:

WiFi Analyzer - Apps on Google Play

Optimize your WiFi network using WiFi Analyzer, Get the most out of your WiFi.

play.google.com

or this one:

WiFi Analyzer (open-source) - Apps on Google Play

Optimize your WiFi network using WiFi Analyzer (open-source)

play.google.com

 

[jinjuku]

So you are Verizon fiber and it's 300 Synchronous service? Are you using their router or yours? If yours is it integrated Wifi?

How much square footage is your home and how far away from the Wireless are you?

How is streaming from your on premise Plex?

 

[TLS Guy]

Bear with me here on account of limited IT vocabulary. My issue is became apparent while streaming Plex via Wi-Fi from BSA's account onto a Roku Ultra device. I decided to hardwire it but had to use a extra long HDMI cable that is oddly fat, like 1/2" thick. Not only did it not help but a connection check on the device showed 80 or 90 MBPS while in the past I remembered it being over 200 MBPS.

I went back to my standard Wi-Fi connection using recommended length BJC HDMI cables and only then realized the HDMI cables wouldn't affect the speeds the device was seeing. My connection test on the Roku Ultra still showed numbers in the 80 and 90 MBPS range. This morning I ran a Ookla Speed test on my laptop and got close to 50 and 50 download and upload results. The problem is that I remember those numbers being over 300 MBPS in the past. So I ran the test again and got numbers close to 250 upload and download. That might be because the laptop had recently been turned on but I thought it had been on long enough. It was a matter of a few minutes. A third speedtest showed numbers close to 250 MBPS again.

It's Verizon Fios connected to the house. I'm wondering what could cause the variation in speeds. What tipped me off is the Plex streams buffering and switching to lower and lower resolutions. Last night it was 82 MBPS and right now (5 AM-ish) it's 227 MBPS. There can be a couple of phones connected via Wi-Fi and one TV hardwired to the router plus a laptop connected via Wi-Fi. It didn't matter that my Roku Ultra was connected via Wi-Fi verses being hardwired.

Oh, and I had unplugged everything and plugged it back in after waiting a minute or so trying to get things to stream Bluey of all things. I'm looking to at least understand if not actually fix the problem. To get around the issue last night I set the stream to a fixed speed on the Roku Ultra to like 12 or 20 MBPS versus Automatic which would eventually degrade to something like 300 KBPS and look lousy.

BTW, once I got it going the 5 year old niece watching Bluey had a pretty content little smile on her face. This was not only Bluey but Bluey with a pretty decent 2.1 audio system hooked up to it and it was virtually uninterrupted, entire seasons of Bluey. As you can imagine, I f^%&ing hate Bluey.

I have a strong hunch that the issue is your router. If it was supplied by your cable company then you can be pretty much certain it is junk and the cause of your problem. The ones Comcast provide are just horrid pieces of excrement for instance. So get a good router and preferably one that uses mesh technology.

 

[Alex2507]

Here's some light reading on the subject:

Your idea of light reading scares me before I even click on it. I think the issue is that I need to clear my head of the usual mayhem in order to give a single topic its due attention. And I will. Thanks.

So you are Verizon fiber and it's 300 Synchronous service? Are you using their router or yours? If yours is it integrated Wifi?

It's their router.

How much square footage is your home and how far away from the Wireless are you?

30 or 40 feet from upstairs to downstairs.

How is streaming from your on premise Plex?

The only thing I do with Plex is stream BSA's content. It's always over 200 MBPS except that one time that it was below 100 MBPS and that was both wired and wifi. Content didn't play well then.

The internet speed test on my laptop over Wi-Fi just now showed 240 download and 185 upload over Wi-Fi. The network connection to Roku just showed 201 and it was 223 a few days ago.I think that would be the same as "on premise Plex".

A wired connection to the laptop was something crazy over 300. It was a couple of years ago when I set up a 75' BJC cable from the upstairs router to where SWMBO has a work from home set up that she can use here.

We're still trying to get moved in here all the way but our speeds at our condo are pathetic in comparison. We use a Shield TV device there pretty successfully. Not really important, just trying to explain our circumstances. Normally she works from the condo.

I might re-do the internet distribution here where the Roku device gets used to be more like the way it is at our condo where we use a Shield TV device. It's just work that I would rather put off until I get some other things in order.

I have a strong hunch that the issue is your router. If it was supplied by your cable company then you can be pretty much certain it is junk and the cause of your problem. The ones Comcast provide are just horrid pieces of excrement for instance. So get a good router and preferably one that uses mesh technology.

The thing is that it's been pretty reliable for many years before I got involved a couple of years ago. It's just over the last couple of weeks that it acted weird a couple of times. Like 95% of the time it has worked like a charm. I'm very hesitant to go messing around with something I don't understand well while it works fine for all the important stuff. Even now I gotta learn about mesh technology and probably about the router we are using. I just looked up our router. It's a Verizon G3100. Luckily I had a picture of it on my phone for the password I've had to enter a few times recently.

Thanks everybody for chiming in here.

I still have to read the stuff BSA linked. I'm slow but I get there.