Windows 10 WiFi fast download but slow streaming/buffering

[kevphil]

My WiFi has fast download (750 bps) but slow streaming/buffering. YouTube videos and other sites' content can only (sometimes) be played at 720p. 720p60 is impossible. NetFlix works okay, after stuttering several times when beginning a show.

I have AT&T Elite. My main computer is directly connected via Ethernet and is very fast. My laptop (ASUS Eslate) is about 6 years old and has built-in WiFi. It is connected to my TV video, about 75 feet from the Router. When I have downloaded software, it runs fast enough. But when I try to stream videos, it pauses to buffer (I guess) every 5 seconds. My Speedtest figures are: 7.65 Mbps - Upload is 1.47 Mbps.

I have downloaded the latest video drivers but that has not helped. I have thought about getting a repeater, but since I am relatively close, I doubt that would help.

Any ideas or guidance? Thanks!

 

[BIGBEARJEDI]

Hi,
I think that's a type there on your end (750 bps); did you mean 7.50Mbps?? Because 750 bps is 0.0000075 Mbps. It's quite tough to have seamless streaming on Netflix or other streaming media via Wi-Fi on an older laptop. I have an 8-year old Sony laptop which is a high-performance entertainment device with a dual-core Intel CPU 8000 series, 4GB of RAM, and a good graphics chip; HD 3400.

There are several things you have to do in order to get decent video streaming on your laptop; I use mine daily on my HDTV at 1080i. Last year when I was on Verizon; my download speed via speedtest was about 6.75-7.00 Mbps. About 3 years ago, it was 1.5 Mpbs and it was near impossible to watch anything on Netflix. The speed you have is good, so the limiting factor could be the graphics chip in your ASUS laptop.
It might be helpful if we had your laptop specs; you can go to Link Removed and download the free SPECCY diagnostic and upload the output text file back here to this thread for us to look at.

Just so you know, 75 ft. is not that close to your router, unless you are using an N or AC router. If you still have a G router, then you may need a Range Extender (repeater). They cost about $80 on Amazon. Make sure to only buy name brands for this device (Cisco/Linksys or Netgear); others have lots of issues. You can test this by walking your laptop over to the location in your home or apartment where your router is physically located. Fire up the laptop and connect via Wi-Fi. Fire up Netflix and watch a TV show that you have watched on your desktop PC that is hardwired to the router that had no buffering. If it runs smooth; i.e.: no buffering or lagging, you have a Wi-Fi distance/signal-strength issue that can be fixed by adding a Range Extender for your router to that part of your house. Problem solved.

I've been doing home and office wi-fi's since they were invented decades ago. You have a common problem. Usually people read the specs on their router box and if they say a 100 ft. or 300 ft. coverage diameter they automatically assume you can put a laptop out at the edge of that diameter and still do video streaming from the Internet. It's not that simple, there may be other devices in your home, especially on the 2.4GHz Wi-Fi channel that are interfering with your signal such as cordless phones, microwaves, fluorescent lighting, etc. If your router doesn't have 5GHz capability, you might consider replacing it with a model that can do this. 2.4GHz routers only have 16 channels and if you have a lot of neighbors who also have 2.4GHz routers, then you may have a crowding situation and don't get sufficient bandwidth to stream, even then you get good speed, that isn't enough to do streaming. 5GHz routers have something like 320 channels and therefore are much less crowded resulting in your router being immune to crowding and bandwidth degradation. The rub here is that if you have a 6 year old laptop it may not have a N or AC adapter built into it and therefore cannot employ the 5GHz connection a new router would have. At that point you might try buying an N or AC USB adapter. Plug that into your laptop's USB port and try the 5GHz connection. Retest your Netflix. That may take care of the problem.

In regards to only being able to view 720p resolution on your laptop, that's probably a function of your Graphics chip and your CPU chip; so until we can see specs for your exact laptop model it's hard to tell if you should be able to run higher or not. If you didn't buy a high-performance laptop (over $900 US), chances are your hardware is limiting you there. To go higher you'd have to replace the laptop with a better CPU & GPU chip combo. My Sony was $1200 when I bought it and I specifically got it for movie watching (DVD & Streaming) since it was designed to do both 1080i and 1080p; pretty advanced for 2008.

Hope that proves helpful. Let us know your full hardware specs.

Good luck,
<<<BIGBEARJEDI>>>

 

[kevphil]

Hi,
I think that's a type there on your end (750 bps); did you mean 7.50Mbps?? Because 750 bps is 0.0000075 Mbps. It's quite tough to have seamless streaming on Netflix or other streaming media via Wi-Fi on an older laptop. I have an 8-year old Sony laptop which is a high-performance entertainment device with a dual-core Intel CPU 8000 series, 4GB of RAM, and a good graphics chip; HD 3400.

There are several things you have to do in order to get decent video streaming on your laptop; I use mine daily on my HDTV at 1080i. Last year when I was on Verizon; my download speed via speedtest was about 6.75-7.00 Mbps. About 3 years ago, it was 1.5 Mpbs and it was near impossible to watch anything on Netflix. The speed you have is good, so the limiting factor could be the graphics chip in your ASUS laptop.
It might be helpful if we had your laptop specs; you can go to Link Removed and download the free SPECCY diagnostic and upload the output text file back here to this thread for us to look at.

Just so you know, 75 ft. is not that close to your router, unless you are using an N or AC router. If you still have a G router, then you may need a Range Extender (repeater). They cost about $80 on Amazon. Make sure to only buy name brands for this device (Cisco/Linksys or Netgear); others have lots of issues. You can test this by walking your laptop over to the location in your home or apartment where your router is physically located. Fire up the laptop and connect via Wi-Fi. Fire up Netflix and watch a TV show that you have watched on your desktop PC that is hardwired to the router that had no buffering. If it runs smooth; i.e.: no buffering or lagging, you have a Wi-Fi distance/signal-strength issue that can be fixed by adding a Range Extender for your router to that part of your house. Problem solved.

I've been doing home and office wi-fi's since they were invented decades ago. You have a common problem. Usually people read the specs on their router box and if they say a 100 ft. or 300 ft. coverage diameter they automatically assume you can put a laptop out at the edge of that diameter and still do video streaming from the Internet. It's not that simple, there may be other devices in your home, especially on the 2.4GHz Wi-Fi channel that are interfering with your signal such as cordless phones, microwaves, fluorescent lighting, etc. If your router doesn't have 5GHz capability, you might consider replacing it with a model that can do this. 2.4GHz routers only have 16 channels and if you have a lot of neighbors who also have 2.4GHz routers, then you may have a crowding situation and don't get sufficient bandwidth to stream, even then you get good speed, that isn't enough to do streaming. 5GHz routers have something like 320 channels and therefore are much less crowded resulting in your router being immune to crowding and bandwidth degradation. The rub here is that if you have a 6 year old laptop it may not have a N or AC adapter built into it and therefore cannot employ the 5GHz connection a new router would have. At that point you might try buying an N or AC USB adapter. Plug that into your laptop's USB port and try the 5GHz connection. Retest your Netflix. That may take care of the problem.

In regards to only being able to view 720p resolution on your laptop, that's probably a function of your Graphics chip and your CPU chip; so until we can see specs for your exact laptop model it's hard to tell if you should be able to run higher or not. If you didn't buy a high-performance laptop (over $900 US), chances are your hardware is limiting you there. To go higher you'd have to replace the laptop with a better CPU & GPU chip combo. My Sony was $1200 when I bought it and I specifically got it for movie watching (DVD & Streaming) since it was designed to do both 1080i and 1080p; pretty advanced for 2008.

Hope that proves helpful. Let us know your full hardware specs.

Good luck,
<<<BIGBEARJEDI>>>

 

[kevphil]

Hi,
I think that's a type there on your end (750 bps); did you mean 7.50Mbps?? Because 750 bps is 0.0000075 Mbps. It's quite tough to have seamless streaming on Netflix or other streaming media via Wi-Fi on an older laptop. I have an 8-year old Sony laptop which is a high-performance entertainment device with a dual-core Intel CPU 8000 series, 4GB of RAM, and a good graphics chip; HD 3400.

There are several things you have to do in order to get decent video streaming on your laptop; I use mine daily on my HDTV at 1080i. Last year when I was on Verizon; my download speed via speedtest was about 6.75-7.00 Mbps. About 3 years ago, it was 1.5 Mpbs and it was near impossible to watch anything on Netflix. The speed you have is good, so the limiting factor could be the graphics chip in your ASUS laptop.
It might be helpful if we had your laptop specs; you can go to Link Removed and download the free SPECCY diagnostic and upload the output text file back here to this thread for us to look at.

Just so you know, 75 ft. is not that close to your router, unless you are using an N or AC router. If you still have a G router, then you may need a Range Extender (repeater). They cost about $80 on Amazon. Make sure to only buy name brands for this device (Cisco/Linksys or Netgear); others have lots of issues. You can test this by walking your laptop over to the location in your home or apartment where your router is physically located. Fire up the laptop and connect via Wi-Fi. Fire up Netflix and watch a TV show that you have watched on your desktop PC that is hardwired to the router that had no buffering. If it runs smooth; i.e.: no buffering or lagging, you have a Wi-Fi distance/signal-strength issue that can be fixed by adding a Range Extender for your router to that part of your house. Problem solved.

I've been doing home and office wi-fi's since they were invented decades ago. You have a common problem. Usually people read the specs on their router box and if they say a 100 ft. or 300 ft. coverage diameter they automatically assume you can put a laptop out at the edge of that diameter and still do video streaming from the Internet. It's not that simple, there may be other devices in your home, especially on the 2.4GHz Wi-Fi channel that are interfering with your signal such as cordless phones, microwaves, fluorescent lighting, etc. If your router doesn't have 5GHz capability, you might consider replacing it with a model that can do this. 2.4GHz routers only have 16 channels and if you have a lot of neighbors who also have 2.4GHz routers, then you may have a crowding situation and don't get sufficient bandwidth to stream, even then you get good speed, that isn't enough to do streaming. 5GHz routers have something like 320 channels and therefore are much less crowded resulting in your router being immune to crowding and bandwidth degradation. The rub here is that if you have a 6 year old laptop it may not have a N or AC adapter built into it and therefore cannot employ the 5GHz connection a new router would have. At that point you might try buying an N or AC USB adapter. Plug that into your laptop's USB port and try the 5GHz connection. Retest your Netflix. That may take care of the problem.

In regards to only being able to view 720p resolution on your laptop, that's probably a function of your Graphics chip and your CPU chip; so until we can see specs for your exact laptop model it's hard to tell if you should be able to run higher or not. If you didn't buy a high-performance laptop (over $900 US), chances are your hardware is limiting you there. To go higher you'd have to replace the laptop with a better CPU & GPU chip combo. My Sony was $1200 when I bought it and I specifically got it for movie watching (DVD & Streaming) since it was designed to do both 1080i and 1080p; pretty advanced for 2008.

Hope that proves helpful. Let us know your full hardware specs.

Good luck,
<<<BIGBEARJEDI>>>

 

[kevphil]

I lost my reply, so here we go again! Anyway, Thanks, BigBearJedi! Some clear, concise answers. You've given me hope! lol

My Eee Slate is an ASUS i5 U470@ 133 GHz. It has 4 GB of RAM, integrated Intel HD video, and an Atheros AR9002 WB-1NG Wireless Adapter. I tried disabling this main adapter and running a D-Link DWA-130 USB Adapter (about $25), but it was slower than the built-in adapter.

I don't know what the speed of my Router is, but since I'm not buying the fastest service AT&T offers, I think it's likely a 5GH model.

I am attaching the Spec Sheet you suggested. (Holy crap! That's a lot of info!)

Somehow, I got the impression that my wireless could go way more than 75 feet, so it gives me hope to hear that a "repeater" may indeed solve my problems. Testing the tablet as you describe would require me to muck about with the display settings a bit (it uses my HD TV as its main output) and its hook-up, but that does sound like a perfectly reasonable test.

I do live in an apartment complex and there a lot of tenant WiFi channels around here.

BTW: I bought it from a friend of mine who needed a quick cash infusion, so I gave him $500 for it. I think it was over a grand new. I'm a digital illustrator, so I had intended to use it for sketching in front of the TV, but it quickly became my entertainment "hub."

I'd love to hear your further thoughts. If you can make a specific recommendation for a repeater, I'd be grateful. Thank You very much!

 

[Neemobeer]

Really need to know the model of your router to get a better idea. Most likely the router is the bottle neck in the wireless sense. Post the router make and model. I would wager it has either fast Ethernet or gigabit Ethernet ports on it which is why the hardwired equipment is running a lot faster, plus wireless technology is CSMA/CA which means it has to account for collisions when sending and receiving data which makes it slow down.

 

[kevphil]

It's an AT&T Model 3800HGV-B. That's as much info as I can find, aside from Serial numbers, etc. Of course, I'm not expecting WiFi to be as fast as Ethernet. Just better than it is now. Attached is the Owner's Manual, which I found online. Thank You!

 

[Neemobeer]

Looks like this is a 802.11b/g router. If you are connecting with the b standard you are only going to get a max of 11Mbps and that is the theoretical speed so you will most likely get half of that at short range. b and g operate in the 2.4Ghz range so they can suffer from interference from things like microwaves and cordless phones. If you have an android phone you can download wifi analyzer and see what your signal strength is. The lower it is the lower the speed will be down to about 1Mbps or less

 

[kevphil]

All of which means what--? Would I benefit from a "repeater"? (I am still going to do the test BBJ suggested, to determine if my laptop's speed increases with proximity to Router.) In any case, thanks for your input.

 

[Neemobeer]

If you wanted faster speeds wireless you would need a router and possibly a computer that supports a newer protocol such as n or ac.

 

[BIGBEARJEDI]

Neem is right on both counts. Reading through the router manual it is indeed an 801.11b/g router. That manual seems to be quite old, written c.2002; 14 years ago. Additionally, 2wire the company went out of business in 2010. That means that router is at least 6 years old! Could be as old as 14 years old. You cannot speed up your wifi using Technology from over a decade ago! Range Extenders (you keep calling it a repeater-wrong term) will also not help if the radio signal generated by your router is too weak to provide a signal to run at the speeds you are expecting. New wi-fi routers are $80-$150, well worth it if you want modern wi-fi speeds. It's your network and your tablet computer; so you have to make a decision on what you want to do now.

Best of luck,
<<<BBJ>>>

 

[kevphil]

How could I get a new Router and remain an AT&T customer? Seems to me I saw them advertise installing a WiFi system. I guess I'll just talk to them, as unpleasant an experience as that may be! Thanks, guys.

 

[BIGBEARJEDI]

This would be the case if your ADSL Modem had a built-in Wi-Fi router combo unit. Not all ADSL Modems are combos; I had one from Verizon (a Westell 6300) DSL Modem that had no Wi-Fi router function, so I had to buy a Cisco/Linksys Wi-Fi router separately as a 2nd device and connect that into the DSL Modem. Verizon then upgraded me to a newer version (Actiontec) which was a combo unit in 2014 due to problems with the old Westell units. I'm now on Charter (Spectrum) and they installed me a new ARRIS stand-alone Cable Modem-and I also replaced my old Cisco E2000 Wi-Fi router in February of this year to Cisco/Linksys EA6400.

If your AT&T router is a combo unit including Wi-Fi which it appears to be, then you should have them upgrade you. If AT&T no longer provides new combo units, and they install you a ADSL Modem only, you can then go to Best Buy or Staples or newegg.com online and buy whatever Wi-Fi router you want. I think neem will agree with me that you really need an 802.11AC type router (most modern) to give you the strongest Wi-Fi signal you can get, so at a distance of 75 feet from the router you should be seeing 4/5 bars on your signal strength icon; or 80%. If you scrimp on your router, and you only get 2/5 or 3/5 bars (40% or 60% signal) you can pretty much kiss goodbye any decent streaming of media from the Internet to your HDTV (such as Netflix we talked about). I will only install the top name brands on this kind of equipment, Cisco/Linksys or Netgear. The other brands are junk IMO. This router was brand new last year and top-rate by PC Magazine and others as well:
Link Removed
I paid $300 for it for my customer who has a huge 3-story mansion with 6200 sq. ft. It works awesome for him; and he has like 25 devices on his home network including his custom home theater room. The price has dropped in half to $169.99 at amazon as in the link above. This is the best one I've seen yet for the price.

If your AT&T router is NOT a combo unit, then you should be able to buy whatever Wi-Fi router you want from whatever seller or store you want as I indicated above. It is important to spend the money and get a high-quality name brand. If you don't you will be back here in 2 weeks complaining about your crappy Wi-Fi signal and how things are still lagging/buffering. Just sayin'.

I haven't had any customers in over 5 years with AT&T since they are not a provider here where I live now *resort town*. I actually had AT&T about 10 years ago, and back then they were providing the combo units. The thing to remember with Combo units: DO NOT BUY THESE FROM 3RD PARTY OR ONLINE AFTERMARKET PLACES SUCH AS EBAY!! It's better to buy or lease the combo unit directly from the provider, AT&T in this case, and tell them you want one from a AT&T service truck or wherehouse!
This is because if you are leasing that equipment from AT&T on a monthly basis, it's called "Premises Equipment", AT&T owns it and therefore makes sure, in fact must guarantee it if you read your Service Agreement with them, to operate correctly. This requires them to have the latest firmware and updates to operate correctly on their network. If they install or send you a combo unit that fails their loopback tests, then they have to pay to replace it with one that will. I've worked for 3 different phone companies, and this is a well-known fact. Bottom-line, don't try to cut corners by buying a Combo unit from anyone else than your provider (AT&T)!!

So you know, Combo units go from $50 (Verizon) to $250 or so in the ADSL Modem configurations. Most providers will lease you a new unit for $15/mo. or sell you one for full-retail price. If you decide to buy it and save some finance charges, you can save $30-$40 or so, and even if you own the unit, your provider will still service it as if it belongs to them and not you--since it was an approved and tested model!!
If you are short on cash, I'd go with the lease option; I have done this with several providers in the past, Cox, AT&T, Dish, Road Runner, Charter, Verizon, etc. and it really works to your advantage. If you have to buy both an ADSL Modem and separate Wi-Fi router, that could cost you upwards of $400. If you can lease a combo unit from AT&T; you only have to come up with $15/mo. right now!!

If AT&T gives you a standalone ADSL Modem only, then you could buy a high-quality AC router such as this cool Netgear Nighthawk router! That's under $200 and should solve all your problems.

Put on your big-boy underwear and call AT&T and get a new modem or modem/router combo unit and get your Wi-Fi upgraded to a current technology and your problems will go away!

Let us know how it goes.
<<<BBJ>>>

 

[kevphil]

First, Thanks, Bear. I appreciate you guys' time very much. BTW: I tried your idea for a test, Bear, about walking my laptop toward my router. It never did better than 720p, which is what I'm getting from its current location.

I did some looking on the AT&T site, and they offer a combo, specifically for WiFi, that is $100. Unfortunately, they expect you to order thru their store, to be delivered by mail, and they expect the user to install it. As you can maybe tell, I'm not all that competent in the WiFi world. And $100 is a lot, right now. I may call them and get more detail, but I gather their "WiFi Special" is at least a one time fee. It's funny: The WiFi combo is just a black box, while their less capable one (that I have now) looks very futuristic.

A side note: NewEgg uses the terms "range expanders" and "repeaters" interchangeably. Maybe they do that for dummies like me. But that device is not what I need.

What does ADSL mean? When the line was originally installed, it was supposedly "fiber optics" but as far as I could tell, they just piggy-backed on the regular phone line.

Again, thanks a lot for your help.

 

[kevphil]

From some more reading at AT&T, I would not be buying, but leasing the "RG" (Router/Gateway--?) for $7 extra on my monthly bill. Forever. LOL I do believe that I shall just do nothing, and be happy with what I got.

 

[Neemobeer]

If you got the current modem/router combo from your ISP you are most likely already paying them a monthly leasing fee. You could buy your own equipment, all you would need is to call your ISP after and they generally just need the MAC address from the modem to get you switched over. That way you wouldn't be stuck with that old equipment nor have to pay that leasing fee anymore. The modems are a little more pricy at around $100 and you can get a decent enough router for $40+.

 

[kevphil]

As recently as last year at this time, AT&T let you outright buy their equipment, or someone else's. As I understand things, you now must lease their equipment. Their WiFi-specific GR is presumably a lot faster than the 2Wire 3800HGV-B I am using now. I don't see any lease charge on my current Internet bill, but this was probably 8-9 years ago, and I may have bought it outright. (I realized that I have had the current device longer than I initially thought.) I guess I can call and talk to someone. That much is free. Thanks!