Seeking Advice for poor & inconsistent DL speeds [ Edited ]

[Steppinrazor87]

Could anyone guess as to why I am getting such poor dl speeds? I would like to know the right course of action to take with customer service i.e. who to contact, what questions to ask, etc. Any help is appreciated. 

As of right now streaming video is often unwatchable due to buffering, internet connection slows/drops during online gaming leading to disconnects (PC and Xbox Live), all wireless devices on network all experience these issues. Downloads from varying sources (Microsoft, Google, Dropbox, Amazon etc) often slow to a crawl (<50 Kb/s). Occasionally dl speeds will be closer to acceptable 12-14 Mb/s but that is rare, with no discernible pattern with regard to time of day. 

I originally thought that the 2Wire Router was poor quality and setting up my own router as a AP would help but these issues seem to be pointing to a deeper problem that.

Edit1 rephrased for clarity

[Computer-Joe]

Looks like you're fighting considerable interference. Can you post individual IP Profile tabs for line 1 and line 2?

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I really want to become a procrastinator, but I keep putting it off.
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“Our great democracies still tend to think that a stupid man is more likely to be honest than a clever man, and our politicians take advantage of this prejudice by pretending to be even more stupid than nature has made them." :Bertrand Russell

[Steppinrazor87]

Sure thing, here you go

[JefferMC ACE - Wizard]

I guess the first thing is to be sure the symptoms you're seeing are caused by line issues and not wireless.  I would do that by connecting as many devices as you can by Cat 5e cable to the i38HG.  If the problem remains, then proceed.

The stats look pretty similar for the two lines, but the bitloading graph for line 1 shows a lot more nulls than then one for line 2.  Given your error stats, I'd start by calling technical support and describing your service problems.   After seeing your error counts, they should be willing to send out a premise tech, who should confirm the line problem diagnosis and send a line tech to fix up the lines.  You can try showing the bitloading graphs to either tech you get to talk with, but be prepared for any reaction, including, (1) "What's that?", (2) "You shouldn't be looking at that," or (3) "Thanks, that's good information that will help me locate the problem."  #3 is not the most likely response.

If they give you a line about there being a charge for dispatching a tech if the issue is in the house, the iNID is outside your house and the stats are coming from it.  If the problem is wireless interference, well then, they may have a point.

BTW, do you have an AM radio station tower at about 760 Khz near your house?

[Steppinrazor87]

Thank you so much for all the info you've provided so far, and that last thought was spot on. Atlanta's WSB 750 AM is located ~2.2 radial miles away. How should I proceed?  Thanks in advance, I have to head into work, but I'll follow up this evening.

More info, I live in a home with 3 other roomates. There are a total of 4 laptops, 2 desktops, 4 smartphones, 2 tablets, 1 PS3 and 1 Xbox between us, although usually no more than 4 of those devices are connected at any given time. Also, for these tests only one pc has been connected to the 2Wire. I've heard that the ATT router can struggle with that many devices, and I originally planned on using my Netgear WNDR3400 as an AP behind the 2Wire and disabling 2Wire wireless. 

If you think it could be wireless interference, I would greatly appriciate any tips on how to set up the WNDR3400 for optimal performance. Router behind Router or AP, channel selection, WAN settings for N/G etc, should I flash dd-wrt (is there big advantages). I'm comfortable changing settings with the router so long as you can point me in the right direction. I saw somejoe posted recently about channel selection and I did use android Wifi Analyzer to pick a channel but I see now that I didn't consider the Radio tower. 

From Wikipedia "The AM transmitter and radiating tower are located northeast of the city just inside (west) of Interstate 285, where the Northlake Tower Festival shopping center now stands on the south side of LaVista Road, opposite the northeastern terminus of Briarcliff Road. The valuable land near the regional Northlake Mall was leased for the strip mall, in which every metal object used in the construction of the building had to be tied to an earth ground to prevent radio-frequency energy from energizing it like an antenna. These objects, including plumbing and ductwork, are technically part of the ground radial system. The radio tower itself is located in the middle of the parking lot, with stores to the east, west, and south."

Edit 1: added more tower info

[Computer-Joe]

Your stats from the IP Profile don't look that bad, but according to your Error Tables, things haven't been too bad when the screenshots were taken. Your Bitloading does show that you have a pretty noisy connection, especially line 1.

You mention "all wireless devices on network all experience these issues". Is it only wireless devices, or do wired (ethernet) devices experience the same problems?

If it's only wireless devices, it could be a problem with wireless interference affecting your local WiFi network.

http://forums.att.com/t5/Features-and-How-To/How-to-Minimize-Wireless-Interference/m-p/2303003#M1138

If your problem includes wired devices as well, then your issue could be the noisy line. You can either have them try to clean up the connection, or maybe lower the profile to reduce the number of errors. You don't mention what speed tier your paying for, but you mention 12 - 14 Mbps as acceptable, so I'm assuming your on the 18 Mbps plan. Maybe, if they chould drop your profile from 25/2 down to 19/2, it might improve things for you.

__________________________________________________________
How can you be in two places at once, when your not anywhere at all?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I really want to become a procrastinator, but I keep putting it off.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There are three kinds of people, those that can count, and those that can't.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Our great democracies still tend to think that a stupid man is more likely to be honest than a clever man, and our politicians take advantage of this prejudice by pretending to be even more stupid than nature has made them." :Bertrand Russell

[JefferMC ACE - Wizard]

Both of your lines show that big null at about 750 MHz, and the most likely culprit in that range is an AM station.  A choke on your drops might be able to help with that, and possibly the other frequencies on line 1.  Something you can ask a tech about when you have one at your home.

As Computer Joe has rightly pointed out, it is important to figure out whether your problems are related to wireless or wired.  Making sure that even wired devices experience your performance issues is an important first step.  If they do not, then adding your own access point would be a logical step.  I added my own Wireless Router as an Access Point in my home due to the poor performance of the 3800's Wireless feature.  OTOH, your wireless can be pristine, but that won't help if your connection between the RG and the VRAD is bad.

[Steppinrazor87]

Thanks again, I'll get to working on it. As suggested, I plan on testing wired connectivity first, if it seems okay I'll set up my own AP and see if that fixes the problems.

Do y'all suggest flashing dd-wrt or using default firmware on the Netgear? It is capable of n/g dual band, any tips on the most efficient way to connect our devices (Other than what was covered by the guide linked above)?

Either way I'll be contacting ATT about potential AM interference from the nearby 750 tower, and potentially to check the lines if the above steps don't resolve the problems.

Thanks for the help,I will report back soon.

[Steppinrazor87]

Wired connection did seem to improve performance on speedtest (14-16 Mb/s DL),  far better than I was getting over default 2Wire i3812v wireless. Sufficient for my needs but not the 18 Mb/s I paid for. 

I went ahead with the WNDR 3400 as an AP. (Disabled DHCP> Assigned IP within same subnet but out of 2Wire's assignment range > connected lan to lan > configured wireless settings (b/g + a/n networks, best available channel, SSIDs, Passphrases etc) > Disabled 2Wire Wireless AP.

Performance is equivalent to wired connection in any room adjacent to router but tails off quickly (just not as quickly as the default router) as you move further away (-68 to -70 dBm avg with dips falling to -80m, and DL's from 8-12 Mb/s) in the bedrooms. Also the router from the Uverse installation is in a terrible location (basement corner, far side of house from the three 1st floor bedrooms, tech said it was the only spot that would work), I used a 25' Cat5e I had on hand to place my router in a more central location. 

Given erratic signal strength at moderate distances, congestion on most channels, N suffering far worse than G network, the huge dip at 750 on the bitloading chart among other less severe drops, I feel that the evidence suggests significant wireless interference is causing most of my problems. Furthermore, wired and near router wireless performance suggests some interference on the lines as well, albeit much less significant. 

How should I approach customer service? 

[JefferMC ACE - Wizard]

The wireless features of the RG are not stellar, but are apparently adequate to the majority of AT&T U-verse customers.  I would say that the correct fix to your wireless connection issues is the one you've just done to troubleshoot: connect your own wireless access point in a central location.  You can have more than one if you need greater range.  Note that if you're using 802.11n in the 5 MHz band, the signal will fall off over distance faster than traffic in the 2.4 GHz band.  If setting up more than one, I suggest that you manually set the channels to avoid conflicts.  Keep the SID and security settings the same and you can drift between them as you move around the house.  I don't think Customer Service will be of any help here.

16 Mbps on an 18 Mbps connection is really within the "up to" weasel room.  You could call in and see if they'll work on it   If they don't seem interested, then explore dropping to 12 Mbps service and save a few bucks.   That should either save you money or get their attention.

[Computer-Joe]

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Steppinrazor87 wrote:

Wired connection did seem to improve performance on speedtest (14-16 Mb/s DL),  far better than I was getting over default 2Wire i3812v wireless. Sufficient for my needs but not the 18 Mb/s I paid for. 

I went ahead with the WNDR 3400 as an AP. (Disabled DHCP> Assigned IP within same subnet but out of 2Wire's assignment range > connected lan to lan > configured wireless settings (b/g + a/n networks, best available channel, SSIDs, Passphrases etc) > Disabled 2Wire Wireless AP.

Performance is equivalent to wired connection in any room adjacent to router but tails off quickly (just not as quickly as the default router) as you move further away (-68 to -70 dBm avg with dips falling to -80m, and DL's from 8-12 Mb/s) in the bedrooms. Also the router from the Uverse installation is in a terrible location (basement corner, far side of house from the three 1st floor bedrooms, tech said it was the only spot that would work), I used a 25' Cat5e I had on hand to place my router in a more central location. 

Given erratic signal strength at moderate distances, congestion on most channels, N suffering far worse than G network, the huge dip at 750 on the bitloading chart among other less severe drops, I feel that the evidence suggests significant wireless interference is causing most of my problems. Furthermore, wired and near router wireless performance suggests some interference on the lines as well, albeit much less significant. 

How should I approach customer service? 

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You could also try using ethernet over powerline adapters to get a wired connection to each of your roomate's personal spaces, and then just do a single wireless AP for the common areas of the house.

__________________________________________________________
How can you be in two places at once, when your not anywhere at all?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I really want to become a procrastinator, but I keep putting it off.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There are three kinds of people, those that can count, and those that can't.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Our great democracies still tend to think that a stupid man is more likely to be honest than a clever man, and our politicians take advantage of this prejudice by pretending to be even more stupid than nature has made them." :Bertrand Russell