Slow Internet, Connection Dropping on Time Warner Cable Modem (long term)

[eppywish]

Hello. As requested, I'll put out my computer information (just know that problems are widespread for all users connected on wireless).

I have an Asus X555lb laptop that is about a year old. I use a USB wireless adapter (TP-WN722N) that uses ath9k - the internal wireless chip is Mediatech of some model I no longer remember that never really worked well to begin with. I run Ubuntu 16.04 with dual boot with Windows (but windows cannot boot due to no fault but my own ). My processor is Intel-i5 Broadwell and although there is an Nvidia chip inside I do not utilize it due to compatibility.

My problems initially started over a year ago. Internet would get slow for all users connected on wireless, including Smartphones, but work fine for those connected by Ethernet. Every 15-25 minutes, wireless will load constantly - on Google Chrome you will see it say 'resolving host' in the bottom left corner before it failed with a host name unresolved error. Firefox says connection timed out. My computer says I'm still connected to the wireless. In fact, I can continue actively playing an MMORPG when this happens so long as I'm not loading any new areas, and utilize the chat.

That modem was a Ubee - the new one we got last weekend is also a Ubee of a newer model. We use the modem as a router. We had the old modem for 5 years with no problems prior to this issue beginning. I can short term resolve the problem by reconnecting the Internet (just clicking the network dropdown from my laptop and disconnected/reconnecting) but this only works for around 15-25 minutes. The first time this occurred I power-cycled the modem for 5 minutes and the wireless worked fine for 6 months before the problem occurred again.

The problem repeated itself between power-cycles with no apparent permanent fix. Three weeks ago it became extremely bad. Power-cycling no longer fixed the problem - I left it unplugged overnight and it started dropping DNS connection within an hour after.

Problem continued on the new modem. Strangely, the connection did work until I connected the wireless printer to LAN. Then problems started again. I connected the printer by wire afterwords and it temporarily went away.

Unfortunately, for no obvious reason I can find, the connection is constantly dropping everyone on the network every 15-20 minutes (from PC), freezes Smartphones every 30 minutes, and is extremely slow. We are getting 3 MB/s instead of the 30 MB/s download we pay for. Tried to contact Time Warner but the representative, after learning we had indeed rebooted the modem (Several times) was at a loss for what could be happening, said he would look into it, and never called back.

Here I am hoping someone may have experienced something like this or might understand what is going wrong. Could it be the large amount of users connected?

On Ethernet (works fine), we have the Printer, the TV (for netflix), and the Satellite Dish.

On Wireless it is two laptops (very occasionally a third is used but there is no change when that one is on versus off), an iPhone, 2 Smartphones frequently, 1 infrequently (my brother occasionally visits), and a very infrequent Nintendo 3DS (the 3DS suffers from losing connection when moved, but cannot determine if that's due to the crappy internet capabilities it has or the modem dropping it).

My phone is a 7 year old Samsung flip phone that does not connect to the Internet. 

According to the modem settings, interference is within acceptable range. I have looked everywhere trying to find problems. The only thing I can find that I do not understand comes from the built in modem firewall.

On the local log I see (several hundred in counts) TCP- or UDP-based Port Scans. Most of these hundreds are from the two DNS servers of my ISP ( 209.18.47.62 and  209.18.47.61). 1 or 2 are from google's DNS servers. The others are from ping tests I do using the speedtest.net service. I couldn't find much information about this in particular... could this be causing the slow down? The target for all of these in the logs leads to my internal IP.

http://screenshot.sh/m7VEXWNb0faKR (for visual... next section is target, which is my IP of course, and the source, which is one of the DNS servers mentioned or something from the speed test).

Any advice? I've really had enough of this.

[Geek-9pm]

You said:

My problems initially started over a year ago. Internet would get slow for all

So you have no issue withering Ethernet?
It looks like your have about 5 devices that use Wireless from time to time.

You may just have to just tolerate what you have. FYI, the Wi-Fi system was never meant to be a 24/7 reliable connection. By its nature, it is subject top interference.

If you are a commercial user of WI-FI, there are solutions for a price.

A commercial user would be a restaurant or cafe that offers wireless Internet to customers. Or a college campus.
 Such a venue would have multiple AP (Access Points)  over the area. Would you watt that? It may reduce the problem down to a point that is more tolerable.

[eppywish]

Unfortunately I am in a residential area. I'm considering getting a hub (or whatever it is called) that allows for more ethernet ports to connect to the Internet so I can connect my laptop and enjoy reliable internet.

I'm not sure if it's the users. If I'm the only one on the network it still is slow and unreliable as when there are others using it.

[Geek-9pm]

I'm not sure if it's the users. If I'm the only one on the network it still is slow and unreliable as when there are others using it.

If you reset the router, and your are the only user, does the speed improve?

[eppywish]

It does, unfortunately.

Oddly enough the problem might stop on its own for no apparent reason and come back within a day to a few weeks later. There is no change on activity or which devices are used. I wonder if the neighboring networks could be causing interference for us? I first started noticing their networks as available many months ago when I first found the problem.

[Geek-9pm]

Eppywish,
To prevent other wireless users from getting into your wireless, you must use a password that is hard to guess and you must use current recommended security.
Please read this:
http://www.computerhope.com/jargon/w/wpa.htm
Links provide more info. ]

WPA2 (Wi-Fi Protected Access II) provides security and encryption for data transmissions and general computer connectivity and is a replacement for WPA. WPA2 was made available in 2004 and all network devices from 2006 and on are required to be WPA2 certified. Devices prior to 2006 may or may not be compatible with WPA2.

If you have weak security in the wireless, you neighbors might be sucking up your Internet service. Check wireless  security settings in the router.
WPA2  is recommended.

[eppywish]

Our wireless is protected by a password, using WPA2-AES. It's the default password that came with the Modem which isn't guessable but if all Ubee passwords of the modem are the same then it is possible someone is on the network, although I do not see any unknown IPs connected.

[Rustys]

I wonder if the neighboring networks could be causing interference for us? I first started noticing their networks as available many months ago when I first found the problem.

Yes they can if they are transmitting on the same channel and if the signal strength they put out is strong enough.

You might want to logging to the device that supplies your WiFi and try a different channel.  May take a few tries to find the correct one that works best for you.

[eppywish]

I did a scan from my laptop for the wireless AP's and saw all three (there's only three networks nearby that aren't my own) are on the same channel: 6. If I scan them from the modem it doesn't' actually pick up on them, likely resulting in it not changing channels (since it's on auto) and saying there isn't any interference.

I set my channel to 11 instead, and after the initial network loss I've had perfect internet since. Speedtest is back up to 30+ MB/s and regular download speed, and I haven't (yet, knock on wood) lost DNS connection. Hopefully it works. If so, it'll be the easiest solution that I hadn't thought was a problem...