Cell Phones and Tech Shit

[bearass]

Google Fi users, I had a free nest mini able to claim when I opened my fi app today. Have til 12/31 to claim.

[Weasel]

Google Fi users, I had a free nest mini able to claim when I opened my fi app today. Have til 12/31 to claim.

Great looking out!

[The_Niddler]

I checked out a Sony Xperia 1, was a pretty cool phone.
Not buying a new phone any time soon, but the widescreen ratio when turned was nice.

And I got the PS4 remote play app working on my Google Pixel 2 XL the other day.
Nice feature to have especially being in a Madden league for drafts or trade talks, etc.

[The_Niddler]

Anyone here use Visible for cell phone service?

My wife and I and a coworker just showed up.
We are in need of 1 more person.

It is a Verizon owned company like Cricket is for ATT, so it uses Verizon towers.

Normal price is $40 per month for unlimited everything.

Then, you can start a party and have up to 4 people in the party.
If 2 in the party, bill is $35 each per month.
If 3 in the party, bill is $30 each per month.
If 4 in the party, bill is $25 each per month.

We have 3 of us right now, so our bill for service is $30 each per month.
We are looking for 1 more person.

The way the party works, you cannot see any details about the other members, just their names and the last 4 of their cell phone numbers and everyone has their own log in to the app, so it can be completely random people in the party.

Let me know if you are interested.

[Weasel]

Okay, have Comcast internet and Google Wifi. I was having issues with inconsistent wifi speeds so upgraded to the Google Wifi. At times Ill have the advertised speeds when I run a speed test, but about half the time its significantly lower, to the point where most videos buffer. At that time Ill reset everything (modem, router) and itll get the speeds back up to par. Itll last a couple days before having to repeat the reset. Whats going on thats causing this? Is there something I should be changing? Replace the modem?

[The_Niddler]

Okay, have Comcast internet and Google Wifi. I was having issues with inconsistent wifi speeds so upgraded to the Google Wifi. At times Ill have the advertised speeds when I run a speed test, but about half the time its significantly lower, to the point where most videos buffer. At that time Ill reset everything (modem, router) and itll get the speeds back up to par. Itll last a couple days before having to repeat the reset. Whats going on thats causing this? Is there something I should be changing? Replace the modem?

What modem do you have?
Is it a 4x4, 8x4, 16x4, etc. This is how many channels it has available for downloading and uploading.
Then, what do you use for wifi? You say google, the google mesh system? How many pods?
I highly doubt this is the issue as I know the google wifi is usually pretty damn good and I have never used the google app, but does it allow you to look at the pods?
Make sure the pods are not on the same channel and causing a conflict if their umbrellas are overlapping.
If the umbrella coverage from two pods is overlapping, which it should slightly, they cannot be on the same channel or it will cause issues.

My guess is that it is something with your modem. Especially if, when you have the issue, rebooting your modem fixes it for a few days.
It could be that your ISP, Comcast, is changing your IP address every few days and you have to reboot it to pick up the new address. I wouldn't think this is the case since I use Comcast and have never had to reboot, but it is a possibility.

Next time it happens, instead of rebooting everything, only reboot your modem from Comcast.
That way you can start to narrow down if it is your modem or google wifi router that is having an issue.
Rebooting everything leaves it wide open still.

If you rent your modem from Comcast, if just rebooting the modem fixes it, call them and demand a new modem.
If you are using google wifi, mesh, router and pods, then tell Comcast you only want a modem, not a modem/router combo.
Better yet, buy your own modem and save yourself the $10 per month they are charging you to rent it from them.

Is it just a modem that they gave you or a modem/router combo?
If it is a combo, then you should put it into what is called bridged mode since you are using google wifi for your router. This turns off the router portion of it and basically just makes it a modem.

Having two routers going can and most likely will cause you issues.

If you can give me some info on the model you are using for your modem or modem/router, I can help a little more.
And then you are using google wifi (Router and pods for your wifi?).

[Weasel]

Ill check the modem info when I get home, I know I own it and dont rent, replaced it a couple years ago I think. Google wifi mesh network. Ill also just reset the modem like you mentioned to see what that does. Interestingly even when I direct connect to the router the speeds are poor at times.

Its weird, sometimes itll be several days where it needs a reset. Other times Ill reset, be good to watch a show, and an hour or two later its back being a shithead.

[The_Niddler]

Ill check the modem info when I get home, I know I own it and dont rent, replaced it a couple years ago I think. Google wifi mesh network. Ill also just reset the modem like you mentioned to see what that does. Interestingly even when I direct connect to the router the speeds are poor at times.

Its weird, sometimes itll be several days where it needs a reset. Other times Ill reset, be good to watch a show, and an hour or two later its back being a shithead.

It could be your modem still giving you bad speeds and then that carries over to your router even when hard wired to the router.

Will be $60-$100 for a decent 16x4 Docsis 3.0 modem.
For $85, here is a nice 32x8 modem that is compatible with Comcast:
https://www.amazon.com/ARRIS-SURFboard- ... lp_pl_dp_7

[dakshdar]

Piling on to this modem discussion with hope of being lead to the promised land by JD for an upgrade:

I'm still running an Arris SB6121 4x4 DOCSIS 3.0 modem. Time to upgrade?

My internet is (I think) 200 MB down/10 MB up (Spectrum). I've got a Linksys 3 node mesh network running in the house - no troubles with that.

Is it time to bump up the old modem now that it's about 5 years old?

I've had no problems with the Arris since buying it, so I'd be fine with sticking with that type - what's the new one to get if that's the case?

Should I just get the one you just linked to Weasel? Any reason to consider a 3.1 modem? Lots of comments about a bad chipset on the SB6190. Comments pushing people to the SB6183.

[dakshdar]

I'm impatient and saw I could get the SB6183 delivered today if I ordered now. Free returns to nothing left to lose. Seems more than capable for my current internet speeds and still good even if I bumped up to 400 MBPS at some point. Price point ($68) was nice as well.

Hope I'm not making a big mistake!

[Weasel]

You get it on Amazon Joe? Just got the 32x8 Nids linked for $52 OTD.

[dakshdar]

I did not get that one. Whether it was accurate or not, the reviews mentioned that the chipset in it was faulty and prone to failure.

$52 for a refurbished one? I didn't see a new one under $85.

[Weasel]

Correct, refurbished. Damnit, hope I didn't just buy a lemon

[dakshdar]

Most of the pages I read were like this one:

https://approvedmodemlist.com/intel-pum ... t-defects/

[dakshdar]

The new router took me from hardwired speedtest of 80-120 mbps to 230 mbps.

All my mesh wifi devices are picking up nearly 80 mbps no matter where they are in the house. Not sure why that's much lower, need to investigate, but seems better overall.

[The_Niddler]

I'm impatient and saw I could get the SB6183 delivered today if I ordered now. Free returns to nothing left to lose. Seems more than capable for my current internet speeds and still good even if I bumped up to 400 MBPS at some point. Price point ($68) was nice as well.

Hope I'm not making a big mistake!

That is a nice modem you bought Joe.
16x4 should help improve things over the 4x4 you had.
I am still running a 4x4 myself and thinking of upgrading to the one you bought or the one I posted to Weasel.

I will have to read up on the article you linked to with the defect in the modem chipset defect.

As far as your wireless signal only being 80, you have to remember, being 5 feet away from your modem and you will not get what you pay for.
There are tons of things that can interfere with your signal.
80 is still a damn good connection over wireless.

And the new modem has more channels for throughput so you should be just fine.

My son and daughter are starting to stream on their tablets a lot now, so I want to upgrade my modem and see if it helps.

[The_Niddler]

It appears that the SB6190 that I linked does, in fact, have the defective Intel chipset inside.

So I apologize and you may want to return it Weasel and get the one Joe bought.
Or if you do go with a different modem, check the box and if it uses and Intel chipset, for now, stay away from it.


Here is a good 24x8 modem that is compatible with Comcast:
https://www.amazon.com/MOTOROLA-MB7621- ... tralosp-20

[Weasel]

WHat should I look out for with the modem to know whether the chipset has issues?

[Weasel]

Just looked (probably should have remember to do this from the jump) and this is the model modem I have:

https://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-Gigabit- ... B01M981YYL
Looking at the specs, seems like this should be plenty capable of doing the job, no?

[dakshdar]

I know with Spectrum I can get 400 mbps for another $20 a month, but it seems like I'm wifi limited at this point (it's not going to improve there). Only thing the extra could help with is overall bandwidth (maybe?) but I'll wait a little to see if we have an issue with that.

The last thing I have to check (on my day off Friday) - right now I run my modem to an older router that I use as a switch and then have my mesh network connected to that. I can't imagine it will make much difference but I'm going to go direct to the mesh network router instead and use the extra ethernet port there to get the signal over to the older router (that I may replace with a switch anyway).

The other router isn't that old and I'm sure the hardwired ports in it are not hurting my bandwidth, but it's worth a check.