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Need help diagnosing a tech problem
Hey ladies,
I need some help with a tech problem. I'm going to outline the problem I'm having and see if you have any ideas for fixing it since I can't seem to come up with anything.
For the last several weeks around 3:00 AM -- 6:00 AM (and sometimes later) my bitrate drops dramatically and generally disconnects me completely. I've tried everything from clearning my cache to restarting my router/modem. I've even replaced my router twice because the wireless wouldn't work. I have the Comcast X1 Blast Pro internet plan. It's the only thing in my area that offers an upload higher than 1 Mbps.
The weird thing is my internet isn't going out. I can navigate to any site I want it's just my stream that's shit. I've noticed that after 8 AM it tends to get better and I don't have as many issues.
At first, I thought it was just the SM broadcaster so I tried going back to the Adobe Encoder. I'm still running into the same issues. THEN I thought "well maybe it's just Streamate" so I thought I would try Chaturbate and MFC but I'm having similar issues on both sites as well. I usually cam overnight. It's when I've always made the most.
The thing is, I check my internet speeds and everything seems to be fine. I have 100 Mbps down and 12 Mbps up and I cam on a wired connection not a wireless.
Sometimes if I do a hard reset on my router it will fix the issue for a little bit but usually not.
I have an i7 laptop with 3.2Ghz processor and 8 GB of RAM. I'm running Windows 10
I have good lighting.
I make sure I don't run any other programs when I cam and I'm only using about 30-40% CPU when running the SM broadcaster. I don't splitcam because that makes it even worse.
I've also gone so far as to disconnect all other devices from my internet connection while I cam. There was a time a couple years ago when my frame rate/bitrate would tank if my roommate watched Netflix on her PS3 while I cammed.
So far nothing is helping.
Any ideas?
If it were just one website I would blame it on the site but it's all three sites that I cam on so it's got to be something on my end right? '
Sorry I feel like this post is a mess. Let me know if I need to clarify anything. I am just at my wits end. I've always cammed overnight as that's when I seem to do the best but if I can't stay connected at night I guess I need to look into switching to days.
Thanks in advance for any ideas you might have.
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Re: Need help diagnosing a tech problem
Also just something else I've noticed. I upload my photosets to southern charms via FTP and lately the uploads have been taking forever when they use to be lightning fast.
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Re: Need help diagnosing a tech problem
Sounds like Internet throttling. Isp turns down the speed to handle load. You can get round this with mtu like gamers do. However if you go through colarado data centre to get to seattle then there is an issue with one of nodes there.
Google tcpip mtu. And a smaller packet than the 1500 mtu size should take care of the throttle issue. SM only uses 2mb of the upload.
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Re: Need help diagnosing a tech problem
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Selenasecret
Sounds like Internet throttling. Isp turns down the speed to handle load. You can get round this with mtu like gamers do. However if you go through colarado data centre to get to seattle then there is an issue with one of nodes there.
Google tcpip mtu. And a smaller packet than the 1500 mtu size should take care of the throttle issue. SM only uses 2mb of the upload.
Thanks. Not actually sure what any of that means but I know how to Goggle so I will find out and see if it fixes my issue.
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Re: Need help diagnosing a tech problem
Sorry for the dumb questions but is MTU Manipulation what I'm looking for?
Thanks
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Re: Need help diagnosing a tech problem
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Re: Need help diagnosing a tech problem
What was suggested is over my head...but I have same package from Comcast. Fought with them for many years about it, until a technician suggested that is maybe the time that Comcast updates. I have had various responses from other ppl at Comcast, but that is just what I'm thinking. I am in ga. Mine usually is either 12-2 am or like 3-6 am. And they do 'throttle' my download speed, that'd been confirmed but can't find evidence of them throttling my upload. Hope that helps.
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Re: Need help diagnosing a tech problem
Quote:
Originally Posted by
sweetgapeach
What was suggested is over my head...but I have same package from Comcast. Fought with them for many years about it, until a technician suggested that is maybe the time that Comcast updates. I have had various responses from other ppl at Comcast, but that is just what I'm thinking. I am in ga. Mine usually is either 12-2 am or like 3-6 am. And they do 'throttle' my download speed, that'd been confirmed but can't find evidence of them throttling my upload. Hope that helps.
Thanks that does sound like it could be part of my issue since it seems to be around the same time every night.
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Re: Need help diagnosing a tech problem
Question--do you know if your ISP caps your speeds after a certain amount of data is used per month? As in, do you not notice this problem until you're closer to the end of your billing cycle?
When you run a speed test, do you see the speed spike up to your 'normal' expected speeds and then suddenly drop to a specific slow speed and stay right there almost horizontally? That would be very hallmark of a speed cap/throttling.
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Re: Need help diagnosing a tech problem
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Issabelle
Question--do you know if your ISP caps your speeds after a certain amount of data is used per month? As in, do you not notice this problem until you're closer to the end of your billing cycle?
When you run a speed test, do you see the speed spike up to your 'normal' expected speeds and then suddenly drop to a specific slow speed and stay right there almost horizontally? That would be very hallmark of a speed cap/throttling.
It doesn't appear to be anything like that as far as I can tell. It is in fact near the end of my billing cycle right now though. When I was on the phone with support last night the girl claimed that they "NEVER" throttle speeds so we'll see. I have a tech coming out Sunday morning. We'll see what happens!
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Re: Need help diagnosing a tech problem
This has to be some sort of weird throttling capped speeds thing. At exactly 7:30 AM on the nose my speeds increased and I stopped having issues streaming... I have a feeling around midnight (or earlier.. last night it was 10:00 PM) the speeds will tank and I won't be able to stay connected. I'm documenting everything so I can have a detailed discussion with the tech on Sunday.
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Re: Need help diagnosing a tech problem
Yeah, my provider claimed he'd never capped or throttled speeds before either. And yet when I brought irrefutable evidence I got a whole lot of bullshit that amounted to 'oops, that's a total accident and I have no idea how you got capped!'
Camming is a pretty high bandwidth usage activity. Many companies have speed/data cap ranges for different times of day. If the speeds are increasing at exactly the same time each and every day, you can bet good money there's some sort of limitation being placed on your line by time.
Ex. My company was capping speeds between 5 p.m. and 11 p.m. on weekdays and 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. Friday to Sunday (busy usage nights) to deal with the 'primetime rush.' They denied this quite heavily, but the cap was very obvious and very illegal. When I used satellite internet (oh goddddd), I would get a certain monthly 'cap' from like 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily of, say 50gigs per month, and then a separate cap from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. (non-peak hours) of 50 more gigs. My speeds would be drastically reduced if I hit any of these caps. Dish Network did not advertise this fact, by the way, but other customers and CS reps who'd left did out them for this very sketchy business practice. My entire point is--drill that technician, because I guarantee the tech will know what's going on.
Fun factoid--in the US if a company you call says they are recording the conversation 'for quality assurance,' then you have the right to record the conversation as well (without notifying them) and use it later if you have to take this matter up with the FCC or BBB. Just an aside if you have continuing issues that your contract doesn't explain and need to take it up with a 'higher power.'
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Re: Need help diagnosing a tech problem
I had a while where my internet speeds would drop down really slow during the days, even youtube vids would pixelate and buffer. And each day once 5pm hit I had magically fast internet again. They denied throttling too, a tech came out and did who-knows-what and it hasn't happened since.
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Re: Need help diagnosing a tech problem
I've been having a similar problem at 10pm every night. Usually I work days and am done right around 10pm, but when a show runs over, all of a sudden, my stream drops to 100kbps. When I wake up in the morning it's fine again. This whole past week, I have been getting a late start so have been working much later. I suspected throttling as I had this issue when I lived in Panama. I reset my cable modem by pulling out the coaxial cable and then the power cable. Let it sit for 10 minutes and then plug the power cable, then the coaxial back in. It never works the first time. I always have to do it twice, 10 minutes each, and then my speed is back to normal. Give it a whirl and see if it works for you.
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Re: Need help diagnosing a tech problem
Thanks I'll give it a try. The internet tech came today and tested our ports and they were all very dirty. She fixed some wires in the wall and upgraded our modem. Our speeds shot up faster than they have ever been before so I thought that my problems were solved. But, I just went to log in and nope... can't get above 1 fps and 100kbps with the Sm broadcaster and no more than 10 fps and 300 Kbps on the adobe encoder. Chaturbate is also still not working. Going to try reseting the new box. It's just so weird that it's ONLY affecting my upload speeds. My DL speed is still super high. I'm seriously at a loss for what to do.
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Re: Need help diagnosing a tech problem
Argh... I'm still having trouble and now my upload speed is getting so bad at night I can't even upload videos to my clip sites. Well, I can but it literally takes hours to finish the upload. I'm so lost... still.
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Re: Need help diagnosing a tech problem
Staples, I hope it all works out for you. I know it can be maddening not knowing what the hell is going on. I can't figure out why watching DailyMotion videos (the day's episode of General Hospital) is so horribly laggy on my new laptop (i7...Verizon Fios high-speed internet), yet it plays beautifully when I watch it from my iPhone.
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Re: Need help diagnosing a tech problem
Is everything still happening within the same time frame Staples?
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Re: Need help diagnosing a tech problem
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Genoveve
Is everything still happening within the same time frame Staples?
Yes around 7:30 PM to 7:30 AM.
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Re: Need help diagnosing a tech problem
Upgrade the firmware on your router. That almost always fixes upload speeds.
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Re: Need help diagnosing a tech problem
Quote:
Originally Posted by
hyori
Upgrade the firmware on your router. That almost always fixes upload speeds.
My router is a comcast router so I can't. At least not according to everything I've read online. Should I maybe get my own router?
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Re: Need help diagnosing a tech problem
^^ Yes! Get your own router, the ones given to you by your ISP always suck. I recommend the Netgear Nighthawk because it has AC3200. You won't need to hardwire anymore because WiFi will be faster.
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Re: Need help diagnosing a tech problem
Quote:
Originally Posted by
hyori
^^ Yes! Get your own router, the ones given to you by your ISP always suck. I recommend the Netgear Nighthawk because it has AC3200. You won't need to hardwire anymore because WiFi will be faster.
Thanks I'll get one when my next check gets here and see if that helps.
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Re: Need help diagnosing a tech problem
Question to help pin point the problem--what kind of connection are you using? Ethernet? And is that ethernet cable connected to the router or coming straight from the line-in internet cable?
I'm currently in slow upload hell and with my type of internet I know it's a signal strength issue. My ISP can't be assed to fix it, which doesn't help, but I can possibly help you troubleshoot. I still stand by it sounding like some form of throttling by your ISP.
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Re: Need help diagnosing a tech problem
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Issabelle
Question to help pin point the problem--what kind of connection are you using? Ethernet? And is that ethernet cable connected to the router or coming straight from the line-in internet cable?
I'm currently in slow upload hell and with my type of internet I know it's a signal strength issue. My ISP can't be assed to fix it, which doesn't help, but I can possibly help you troubleshoot. I still stand by it sounding like some form of throttling by your ISP.
That's really what I think and I straight up say that when I talk to customer service but they swear up and down that they don't do any kind of throttling lol! I am on an ethernet. It's plugged into the router/modem box that comcast gave me. The big reason I think it's throttling is that it's the exact same time every single night and it lasts for exactly 12 hours and then it's fine for the 12 daytime hours.