Will multiple networks in the same house cause any problems?

[Denkou]

This may seem like a silly question, but I know next to nothing about networking so bear with me here.

I recently moved back in with my parents and my dad, unfortunately, has DSL (AT&T Uverse). The plan is rated at 18mbps down, Speedtest usually gets me between 14-16mbps down and 0.6mbps up. It is absolutely terrible! It's okay if you're just browsing the web, but for gaming it does not cut it. I get frequent lag spikes and disconnects and it is pretty much impossible to play anything other than single-player games.

I've troubleshooted it as much as I can. I've power cycled it (several times) and have also tried plugging an ethernet cable directly into the modem instead of using Wi-Fi, but it seems like no matter what I do it's still the same. The contract for the plan doesn't end until September, but I don't think I can last until then with this god-awful internet. What I was thinking of doing was getting cable internet under my own name/plan, which will solely be used by me (3 devices, PC, laptop, and phone). The only thing I'm unsure of is whether or not having multiple networks under one roof will cause any interference or slowdown at all, especially over Wi-Fi. Ideally I would have my PC plugged directly to the modem, but my laptop and phone will still be connected via Wi-Fi.

The last question I have for you folks is how fast of a plan do I need for gaming? Comcast Xfinity is the main cable internet provider in my area. They have a 10mbps plan for $29.99/mo, 25mbps for $39.99/mo, and 250mbps for $69.99/mo. I think I can go ahead and rule out the 250mbps plan since it's a huge jump in price, which leaves the 10mbps vs. 25mbps plan. Now, I know 10mbps is slower on paper than the DSL plan that my dad has, but I believe that the DSL plan doesn't just suffer from slow speeds but also high ping. From my understanding, DSL is dependent on how far you are away from the provider's central location while cable is not. In addition to that, my brother in law (who lives not too far from me) has the 25mbps Comcast plan and his Speedtest results regularly show him at the 60-70mbps range, which leads me to believe that if I get the 10mbps plan I may actually get faster speeds than advertised. Of course, my mileage my vary. Considering that I'm going to be the only person using the cable network, is it worth the extra $10/month to get the 25mbps plan or will 10mbps be fine for me?

Thank you in advance for anyone able to help me out with this!

[Ulsaki]

Will multiple networks in the same house cause any problems?

The only thing I'm unsure of is whether or not having multiple networks under one roof will cause any interference or slowdown at all, especially over Wi-Fi.

The answer to your first question is "maybe", as there are many variables.

If you're using the 2.4GHz part of the spectrum for your WiFi, there are only a few non overlapping channels for use: 1, 6, 11. If you only have to worry about a single competing network, as long as there's no overlap between channels then you won't have any problems. However, your area may have lots of wireless networks.

If you're using the 5GHz spectrum (and can disable the 2.4 part entirely), you don't have to worry about this for the most part (unless you start channel bonding, but it can hop to another frequency unless it's saturated around you).

The last question I have for you folks is how fast of a plan do I need for gaming?

Those speeds are shocking for the price. You have my sympathies.

Gaming does not require "speed" for the most part, it requires quality. In other words, low latency and packet loss, things Comcast is not renowned for. The speed you get on the existing DSL is fine, but the quality is what's destroying it for you. Incidentally such poor quality shouldn't be, and it sounds like something is wrong.

leads me to believe that if I get the 10mbps plan I may actually get faster speeds than advertised

As long as you don't rely on this, that's fine. If you don't have a contracted service, things could change at any time. 25Mbps will be far better than 10 unless you plan on avoiding large patches and never downloading games off Steam.

From my understanding, DSL is dependent on how far you are away from the provider's central location while cable is not

Strictly speaking, cable is no different from DSL here. You're sending various frequencies down a wire/cable of some type. With cable internet, they install nodes much closer to houses, so there's typically less wire to send the signals down.

DSL sends the signals to your local telephone exchange (or if on FTTC, it goes over copper to your local cabinet before going over fibre backhaul to the exchange). These nodes are typically further away than a cable installation, hence the slower speeds.

G.fast brings nodes much closer than FTTC, but given the dominance of cable over there and the general lack of ADSL, it seems unlikely that it would ever get implemented. FTTH will probably be as a result of cable companies gradually shortening their coax cable runs until they use fibre entirely.

[Deleted]

I understand your struggles, I don't know my upload speed but I have 0.2-0.4 mb/s down. Now I play using my mobile 4g network. I always figured it would be very expensive but most games don't actually use that much data. With WoW I've used 30mb per hour on average with skyping/ts, I have a 8gb cap per month on my mobile so I use it instead and it gives me 20-30ms and is very constant which is great.

The only downside is when your PC has automatic updates and starts downloading.

[chazus]

If you're worried about network issues (Not that there really is any), why not just ditch the DSL entirely (I know you still have to pay it... but just get rid of the equipment/network) and just everyone use cable?

[Mad_Murdock]

What I was thinking of doing was getting cable internet under my own name/plan, which will solely be used by me (3 devices, PC, laptop, and phone).

Well, aren't you a meanie. Going to live in their house, but keep the good internet all to yourself.

As the others have stated You shouldn't have much of an issue with 2 wireless networks. I've ran such for different reasons. Most of the newer equipment will jump channels if a channel is in use (though not 100%) If nothing else, you can normally set the channels to avoid conflicts.

[Denkou]

If you're worried about network issues (Not that there really is any), why not just ditch the DSL entirely (I know you still have to pay it... but just get rid of the equipment/network) and just everyone use cable?

My dad's contract for the DSL service doesn't expire until September, so he'll have to pay a large cancellation fee if he cancels now. The plan is for me to get cable now, and then come September my dad will cancel the DSL and we'll all be on cable. At that point I may opt for the higher-speed cable package if it turns out that it can't handle the added devices.

We had Comcast cable internet before we switched to DSL and it was fine. I think what I may do is just go ahead and get Comcast and then run a long cable from the modem to my PC. Unfortunately the cable plug is on the opposite side of the house, but thankfully we already have holes drilled in our wall for the cables from when we had Comcast a long time ago, so running a cable shouldn't be too much of a problem. It might be more of a hassle to set up but it beats dealing with the fickleness of wireless networking.

Those speeds are shocking for the price. You have my sympathies.

Gaming does not require "speed" for the most part, it requires quality. In other words, low latency and packet loss, things Comcast is not renowned for. The speed you get on the existing DSL is fine, but the quality is what's destroying it for you. Incidentally such poor quality shouldn't be, and it sounds like something is wrong.

As long as you don't rely on this, that's fine. If you don't have a contracted service, things could change at any time. 25Mbps will be far better than 10 unless you plan on avoiding large patches and never downloading games off Steam.

Unfortunately, that's the best option I have. The only ISPs in my area are AT&T Uverse (which is the DSL I have, max speed 18mbps), Comcast Xfinity or Sonic.net. Sonic.net is more expensive than Comcast even. I have a buddy who works for Comcast and also have my old Comcast cable modem, so that may help me save a bit on the cost (depending on how much he can help me out). No Google Fiber or Verizon Fios yet; I believe Fiber is coming here in the fall.

As far as the quality thing, that makes perfect sense to me. 18mbps is not amazing but it should be fine for gaming, given that it's stable. The thing is, it's not stable. At times my internet is fine, I can download large files or stream videos at high resolutions without a hitch...and then a few seconds later my ping will spike up and everything will go to shit. I think the ping is more of the culprit than anything; it goes from as low as the 50s to as high as 7000 (not a typo) in WoW, and then back down again and everywhere in between. And like I said before, even running a wired connection plugged directly into the modem yields the same results, so for sure it is not just my wireless adapter causing the problems.

[ZealousBlade]

My dad's contract for the DSL service doesn't expire until September, so he'll have to pay a large cancellation fee if he cancels now. The plan is for me to get cable now, and then come September my dad will cancel the DSL and we'll all be on cable. At that point I may opt for the higher-speed cable package if it turns out that it can't handle the added devices.

We had Comcast cable internet before we switched to DSL and it was fine. I think what I may do is just go ahead and get Comcast and then run a long cable from the modem to my PC. Unfortunately the cable plug is on the opposite side of the house, but thankfully we already have holes drilled in our wall for the cables from when we had Comcast a long time ago, so running a cable shouldn't be too much of a problem. It might be more of a hassle to set up but it beats dealing with the fickleness of wireless networking.

I believe he wasn't telling you to cancel the contract, more along the lines of stop using that one (while still paying for it) and ditch that equipment. Pay for a better connection on the side and you all use that one instead.

[Ulsaki]

As far as the quality thing, that makes perfect sense to me. 18mbps is not amazing but it should be fine for gaming, given that it's stable. The thing is, it's not stable. At times my internet is fine, I can download large files or stream videos at high resolutions without a hitch...and then a few seconds later my ping will spike up and everything will go to shit. I think the ping is more of the culprit than anything; it goes from as low as the 50s to as high as 7000 (not a typo) in WoW, and then back down again and everywhere in between. And like I said before, even running a wired connection plugged directly into the modem yields the same results, so for sure it is not just my wireless adapter causing the problems.

That level of jitter is insane and something is seriously wrong. There's 3 main possibilities:

1) There is a physical problem with the line.
2) There's something wrong with your network. A damaged modem/router. Something wrong with your PC. Could be many things there if it's the problem. Does anyone else get such bad QoS problems? Can you try another modem? Are filters plugged in correctly? Does the modem go into the main phone socket?
3) Your ISP runs a very bad service and the problems are due to traffic congestion their end.

[Denkou]

I believe he wasn't telling you to cancel the contract, more along the lines of stop using that one (while still paying for it) and ditch that equipment. Pay for a better connection on the side and you all use that one instead.

Oh, yeah we could do that then. If having two networks won't cause interference then we may just keep using it then. Honestly, it is fine for simple web browsing which is all my parents do anyway, but for gaming or streaming or anything then it does not cut it.

That level of jitter is insane and something is seriously wrong. There's 3 main possibilities:

1) There is a physical problem with the line.
2) There's something wrong with your network. A damaged modem/router. Something wrong with your PC. Could be many things there if it's the problem. Does anyone else get such bad QoS problems? Can you try another modem? Are filters plugged in correctly? Does the modem go into the main phone socket?
3) Your ISP runs a very bad service and the problems are due to traffic congestion their end.

Everything is plugged in correctly. Modem goes into phone socket. Problem is the same no matter what PC or device we use it from, whether wired or wireless. My PC is only a few months old and there shouldn't be anything wrong with it, as far as I know. Unfortunately, I don't have another modem I can try it on, I believe AT&T requires you to use their own modems for their service that you either have to buy or rent from them. I'll check with my dad how much it'll cost to have them send someone out to troubleshoot it, I'm assuming it's quite a bit though and I would rather not do that if I can fix it on my end. I've tried just about every option short of replacing the modem, though.

[Ringthane]

Does DSL still require those phone filters to be plugged in? It's been so many years since I've seen anyone use DSL that I wasn't sure. Maybe they need a new one of those to cut down on some of that jitter.

[Denkou]

Does DSL still require those phone filters to be plugged in? It's been so many years since I've seen anyone use DSL that I wasn't sure. Maybe they need a new one of those to cut down on some of that jitter.

Yup, there is a filter. It's plugged in properly but maybe it's bad. I guess ordering a new one wouldn't hurt, they're like $8 on Amazon.