Router & modem slowly dying?

My aunt recently called me up to say her internet seemed really slow recently. She has a laptop that's probably one and a half years old, and a Linksys modem and router that are at least six years old (I'm guessing it's a BEFCMU10 modem and WRT54G router from the pictures, but I'm not exactly sure), with Comcast internet (not sure of the speed she pays for).

She went into Best Buy and talked to Geek Squad, and they said that the modem and router were most likely dying, and she needed new ones. I didn't think that they were able to slow die though, I thought they just died one day (I've had a few routers die over the years, but they seemed fine right before it). I was just wondering if he was being honest, or just trying to sell a new router & modem; can they really die over time and slowly go bad?

 

I am not sure about dieing either...not the right term regardless, is she getting constantly slower speeds? Try doing a trace route out to google or some other site and see if there is any packet loss between the fist few hops. try replacing the router first if anything imho. take yours over there or something similar to save costs

 

I'd look for something else first- she should probably call her ISP and make them check if the line parameters are OK.
Best Buy's solutions to the problem seems like a way to make more money- router and modem dying at the same time and doing it by gradually slowing down, yeah right

 

I don't know too much about what's exactly happening, but she said that her speeds have been slowly dropping. I'll try a traceroute and try out my router too to see if that helps.

Can I ask what you mean by checking the line parameters? Not too sure what that all means. I'll have to ask her what kind of speeds she should be getting too and do some online speed tests to see what she's really getting.

I kind of figured that Best Buy/Geek Squad wasn't being 100% truthful, though I don't really trust them too much to start with (no offense to anyone that works there ).

 

Usually you get info about upstream and downstream frequency, SNR (Signal to Noise Ratio) and transmit power. That should be available in Connection/Status Tab in Linksys modem.

 

too bad we can't get Geek Squad to 'slowly die'......

 

Unfortunately, Comcast locks you out of a lot of areas of the modem (even when you own the modem)--including all of the above.

I agree, it is unlikely that both are dying at the same time, and I have never seen a modem slowly die. They just die.

A router, however, I have seen exhibit this behavior. I concur that most times it works or it does not, but I recently ran into one where data transmission slowed dramatically over a week. I shut it down overnight and it came back up at full speed, and slowly began degrading again.

However, this is one router in 20 years of looking at this stuff.

Assuming there are not two routers like that out there, consider:

a) sounds like your cable service has been there a while. One often overlooked part of the equation is the "neighborhood" LAN. Unlike DSL, where you have a direct line to the head office, cable internet works on a concept of network segments. You and everyone else in your neighborhood will be on one segment. When you are the only person on that segment, you get screaming fast connection, but as more people in your neighborhood join, the segment clouds up and bandwith -- or rather throughput -- drops.

b) cable condition--again, it looks like you have been there a long time. The network drop from the street to the house can degrade after 8-10 years. Have her call comcast and ask specifically about upstream and downstream frequency, SNR (Signal to Noise Ratio) and transmit power. It does not matter what the answer is or if she does not know what it means--we just want Comcast to look at it.

c) Older computer--maybe she has a virus/worm/trojan that is consuming bandwidth. Can you bring a laptop to the site and check conditions?

d) try a speed test and report the results.

 

Another approach:

Unprotected or too easy password on her wlan? Maybe too many neighbours using her connection? That would make it feel slow.

Not related to the above:
You could install DD-WRT on that WRT54G. That gives a new life to the router.

 

Have you checked to see if her PC is free of adware and spyware and viruses? Any of these will slow you down.

It could also be a thermal problem (router), related to the above working it hard...

Has you tried a direct connect to see if the slow conditions still exist?

 

Is the speed always slow, or only at certain times of day? Cable companies seem to think it's funny to group 30+ houses onto a single fiber line and claim no knowledge of why the connection is so slow between 6pm and 11pm

 

Try pinging a few common sites first through Windows command prompt. The common things too, like restarting/resetting the router for example. Also check position of the router, you may not think a couple CM or " in a different direction can drastically change your signal, but it can, and try keeping it in the most open area with walls as far away as possible.

 

On the wireless side if your using WEP aor WPA tkip these will slow you down. Most all computer work best with WPA(2) AES.

I left Comcast/Time Warner years ago for the same slow response. I currently with Verizon FIOS now. What a difference.

 

I've been out of town the past week, that's why I haven't responded to anyone. Thanks for the replies, I'm thinking of heading out to her house this weekend, so I'll bring my laptop and router with and try some of the stuff you guys suggested and see what happens. Thanks.