New XR500 owner needs big time HELP!

[TeCNeEk]

Hey everybody, I recently purchased the XR500 and I love this router. The past month for me has been a nightmare. I decided to buy the Netgear C7100V Gateway to power my internet and phone, and to ditch the Comcast supplied modem. Ever since around that time a month ago, my internet and routing has been TERRIBLE. I ended up returning that Netgear Gateway back to Best Buy, and traded in that old Comcast gateway(kept having terrible ping loss with it specifically) for their best current one which is the XB6. The problems persisted. Terrible ping and only receiving 1/3 of the speed I am paying for. After talking to no joke 25+ different agents, having 4 techs come out, one of which ran entire new coax cables and wires from the house to the pole, the issues still continue and the techs were lost for answers. NOW, to an issue which I think might be at the heart of this, and its the TERRIBLE routing I am experiencing. I was hoping the XR500 Geo-Filter could perhaps correct some of this, but the source of it all is Comcast's routing.

I live in Virginia, and the routing is taking me to Tennessee, down to Georgia, up to Chicago, and over to Iowa, and beyond before I reach a destination. Before all this started I had a 30ms ping on my base comcast gateway. Ever since, I am now being connected to Iowa servers on Apex Legends(PS4), which is what I mainly play, and its giving me a 45ms ping on those Iowa servers compared to my actual state of Virginia servers where I get a 75ms ping, a long shot from the 30ms I would receive before all this started. When I do speed tests, I get better ping in Iowa, Tennessee, Georgia, etc, than I do my actual server, one being as close as 35 minutes away on Speedtest.net. Here is some of my questions:

1. Simplest question first: I have the XB6 set to bridge mode and everything seems to be working fine, but my speeds are the same as before and ping in a few 'ms' worse. Should I find the MAC address of the built in router in the XB6 and type it in for the XR500, or just continue to use the MAC that the XR500 gave me?

2. Is it possible that a VPN could correct this routing issue and just connect me straight to the closest server/easiest traffic? Comcast's routing is killing my ping and putting me in a recommended server 15 hours away. 

3. Should I contact Tier 3 Support for comcast to perhaps fix this routing issue?

I have spent dozens and dozens of hours this past month trying to fix it. It all comes down to this routing issue or whatever you would want to call it. I miss my 30ms ping to my local server. I miss having a steady good internet speed. I currently have the 600mbps package from Comcast and its like it throttles at 300. It will be flying on every speed test I do, and once it hits 300+ it starts to throttle back down. It dont even come close to 350 and drops down to 250-310mpbs(iPhone and Laptop). On my PS4 it is a different story. I am getting about 125mb download speed, and this is with it set at the highest priority on QoS, and with a reserved IP. 

Please guys, ANY help would be incredible, as I'm a bit of an amateur when it comes to this stuff. Just mentally exhausted from the past month or so.

[Netduma Fraser]

Hey, welcome to the forum!

I can understand your frustration and this is definitely an annoying issue. To answer your questions quickly:

1. I don't think this would actually do anything unless you experienced the issue with the router but not the modem.
2. This could work yes, if you find one that has a server close to you then it may circumvent the routing issue but would make the speed issue worse.
3. Yes absolutely, it's ridiculous that you're even having this issue.

I would look at the contract you have with your ISP very closely, I'm in the UK so it may be different but there is a stipulation in my contract that if they fail to provide the minimum speed (which is about half what I pay for) for a continuous month then you can either get money off or they will have to fix the issue. If there is no sort of stipulation in your contract about this or they won't fix this then I'd seriously consider seeing whether you can go with a different ISP. Perhaps filing a complaint with the FCC or BBB is an option as well.

[TeCNeEk]

1 hour ago, Netduma Fraser said:

Hey, welcome to the forum!

I can understand your frustration and this is definitely an annoying issue. To answer your questions quickly:

1. I don't think this would actually do anything unless you experienced the issue with the router but not the modem.
2. This could work yes, if you find one that has a server close to you then it may circumvent the routing issue but would make the speed issue worse.
3. Yes absolutely, it's ridiculous that you're even having this issue.

I would look at the contract you have with your ISP very closely, I'm in the UK so it may be different but there is a stipulation in my contract that if they fail to provide the minimum speed (which is about half what I pay for) for a continuous month then you can either get money off or they will have to fix the issue. If there is no sort of stipulation in your contract about this or they won't fix this then I'd seriously consider seeing whether you can go with a different ISP. Perhaps filing a complaint with the FCC or BBB is an option as well.

Thanks for the reply! I was thinking about going with another ISP but with fear of paying to get out of a contract.I live with a family member who uses the phone and tv aspect of the package, where as I use the internet. I may try to downgrade the package to just tv and phone and find internet with someone else. Comcast recently ran brand new wires and coaxes to my house so hopefully that could be of use to another ISP. I think I might try a VPN first if it means actually routing me correctly and not trying to put me in distant servers. It's weird because now I get a 80ms ping on the Virginia server(my state), when before it was 30ms. Now the game is connecting me to Iowa servers with a 45ms ping and I'm a 16 hour drive from Iowa. I can notice a big difference too when I play when compared to before and its driving me crazy.

[Netduma Fraser]

In terms of networking Iowa and Virginia aren't too far apart so under normal circumstances I wouldn't expect the ping to be too bad either. It's definitely worth speaking to them first and checking your contract. You may be able to get a free trial as well for a VPN to see if it makes any difference.

[TeCNeEk]

1 hour ago, Netduma Fraser said:

In terms of networking Iowa and Virginia aren't too far apart so under normal circumstances I wouldn't expect the ping to be too bad either. It's definitely worth speaking to them first and checking your contract. You may be able to get a free trial as well for a VPN to see if it makes any difference.

I tried a VPN and not a lot of luck. I’m now faced with getting a new ISP. The thing is my partner wants to keep Comcast for TV and phone services. Don’t we need a modem in order to keep the phone services? They’ve been with Comcast since ‘95 so they don’t want to switch. Maybe a better option would be a phone and internet plan with another ISP and let her keep the Comcast cable? I just want to return my supplied modem and buy my own and get another ISP. I’m done with Comcast’s Internet. It shouldn’t be a problem getting another ISP to activate internet should it if I bring my own compatible modem and router? I’m just going to be super passed off if even with a new ISP I’m getting the same bad routing. 

[Netduma Fraser]

I don't think you necessarily need a modem for the phone line, it depends how they set it all up. You can get a second line in if you want to do that, otherwise you should just be able to switch the Internet package - it depends on the ISP but they may want you to use their modem however generally shouldn't be an issue, especially if you're just going for an internet package.

[TeCNeEk]

22 minutes ago, Netduma Fraser said:

I don't think you necessarily need a modem for the phone line, it depends how they set it all up. You can get a second line in if you want to do that, otherwise you should just be able to switch the Internet package - it depends on the ISP but they may want you to use their modem however generally shouldn't be an issue, especially if you're just going for an internet package.

Thank you for all the info. I might try Verizon Fios. What modem would you recommend to pair with the XR500? Should I set up my new ISP before canceling the other one? Would that new ISP need to run coax cables? Comcast just put in all new wiring two weeks ago. 

[TeCNeEk]

2 hours ago, Netduma Fraser said:

I don't think you necessarily need a modem for the phone line, it depends how they set it all up. You can get a second line in if you want to do that, otherwise you should just be able to switch the Internet package - it depends on the ISP but they may want you to use their modem however generally shouldn't be an issue, especially if you're just going for an internet package.

Just found out Comcast is the only good ISP in my area.  If I keep Comcast and VPN didn’t work, I’m at a loss what to do. 

[Dilly Dilly]

I have a similar setup with a Xfinity gateway in bridge mode connected to the XR500 with 600 Mbps D/L speed, and have no trouble getting full advertised speeds with low ping.  Have you tried a new Ethernet cable between your modem and router? Or have you tried running custom DNS servers on the router?  I am running with OpenDNS servers for the filtering ability that it provides.  Good luck.

[TeCNeEk]

3 hours ago, Dilly Dilly said:

I have a similar setup with a Xfinity gateway in bridge mode connected to the XR500 with 600 Mbps D/L speed, and have no trouble getting full advertised speeds with low ping.  Have you tried a new Ethernet cable between your modem and router? Or have you tried running custom DNS servers on the router?  I am running with OpenDNS servers for the filtering ability that it provides.  Good luck.

Thank you for the reply. What do you mean for the filtering ability? I put my DNS as cloudfire (1.1.1.1 - 1.0.0.1). This issue has been going on for a month with three different modems, I ran all new coax and wiring, had 4 techs come out. The problem persists. I just want to fix my ping problems.  

[Guest Killhippie]

10 hours ago, TeCNeEk said:

Thank you for the reply. What do you mean for the filtering ability? I put my DNS as cloudfire (1.1.1.1 - 1.0.0.1). This issue has been going on for a month with three different modems, I ran all new coax and wiring, had 4 techs come out. The problem persists. I just want to fix my ping problems.  

The problem could be the DNS servers you put in, as depending where Cloudflares servers are in relation to you they could slow you down and/or increase ping. Akamai and Cloudflare etc are CDN providers( A CDN is a network of computers that delivers content. More specifically, it's a bunch of servers geographically positioned between the server of web content or a game for instance or YouTube etc, and the user requesting it, basically delivering the content faster and reducing latency by using the nearest one to you with the best routing) So if that server is along way away it can muck things up. Try OpenDNS they are very good, but also try Comcasts and see which works the best. Some DNS providers may have a server near you some may have one thousands of miles away increasing latency and ping, hence experimenting to see what's best for you.

[TeCNeEk]

5 hours ago, Killhippie said:

The problem could be the DNS servers you put in, as depending where Cloudflares servers are in relation to you they could slow you down and/or increase ping. Akamai and Cloudflare etc are CDN providers( A CDN is a network of computers that delivers content. More specifically, it's a bunch of servers geographically positioned between the server of web content or a game for instance or YouTube etc, and the user requesting it, basically delivering the content faster and reducing latency by using the nearest one to you with the best routing) So if that server is along way away it can muck things up. Try OpenDNS they are very good, but also try Comcasts and see which works the best. Some DNS providers may have a server near you some may have one thousands of miles away increasing latency and ping, hence experimenting to see what's best for you.

I will try OpenDNS when I get home. I believe a few weeks ago I ran a DNS Test and Cloudfare’s 1.1.1.1 came in at first with speed and it’s secondary 1.0.0.1 came in at third. I will try a different one. Does the DNS I pick make that big of a difference? Could that fix my issues? I ran another trace route this morning and it’s all messed up. It’s like slingshotting me in the worst directions and I’m ending up in the Midwest somewhere. I miss my low ping and consistent net speed. 

[Dilly Dilly]

You mentioned that all of your coax cables were replace, but if you haven’t already, you may also want to check your Ethernet cable between your internet gateway (modem) and your XR500.  I once experienced an issue where my speed was degraded due to bad Ethernet cable.

[Guest Killhippie]

15 hours ago, TeCNeEk said:

I will try OpenDNS when I get home. I believe a few weeks ago I ran a DNS Test and Cloudfare’s 1.1.1.1 came in at first with speed and it’s secondary 1.0.0.1 came in at third. I will try a different one. Does the DNS I pick make that big of a difference? Could that fix my issues? I ran another trace route this morning and it’s all messed up. It’s like slingshotting me in the worst directions and I’m ending up in the Midwest somewhere. I miss my low ping and consistent net speed. 

DNS servers can cause issues with content delivery, alas it could also be how your ISP routes your traffic, in which case there is not much you can do about that. Hope DNS changes help. When i could not download movies online from my Satellite provider, sky (you can watch via the dish and download via the internet box sets and movies and watch Netflix etc) changing DNS servers to OpenDNS helped, but I only lived 60 miles from the servers for both DNS providers (cloudflare and OpenDNS) which were based in London and my pings to London are 7ms. Hope you get things sorted out.

[Netduma Fraser]

On 1/5/2020 at 12:16 AM, TeCNeEk said:

Thank you for all the info. I might try Verizon Fios. What modem would you recommend to pair with the XR500? Should I set up my new ISP before canceling the other one? Would that new ISP need to run coax cables? Comcast just put in all new wiring two weeks ago. 

On 1/5/2020 at 2:01 AM, TeCNeEk said:

Just found out Comcast is the only good ISP in my area.  If I keep Comcast and VPN didn’t work, I’m at a loss what to do. 

There are no specific modems that are recommended as any should work just fine. No they shouldn't need to. What do you mean by it's the only good one - in terms of speed?

[TeCNeEk]

On 1/6/2020 at 8:55 AM, Killhippie said:

DNS servers can cause issues with content delivery, alas it could also be how your ISP routes your traffic, in which case there is not much you can do about that. Hope DNS changes help. When i could not download movies online from my Satellite provider, sky (you can watch via the dish and download via the internet box sets and movies and watch Netflix etc) changing DNS servers to OpenDNS helped, but I only lived 60 miles from the servers for both DNS providers (cloudflare and OpenDNS) which were based in London and my pings to London are 7ms. Hope you get things sorted out.

I ran a DNS test and Cloudflare was showing as the fastest server for me so I went with it. My ISP server was second. 

15 hours ago, Netduma Fraser said:

There are no specific modems that are recommended as any should work just fine. No they shouldn't need to. What do you mean by it's the only good one - in terms of speed?

I live in the boonies and I have a 600mb Comcast plan, but I am only receiving anywhere from 90mb to 200mb of it. Latency is horrible. The only other ISP in my area only offer 5-20mb plans. No thank you.  

[Netduma Fraser]

Did the DNS change make any difference?

It depends on how important this issue is to you, if you can't get Comcast to do anything then it may be possible to get a second line out with that other ISP. In terms of Comcast, do you know if you have a dynamic or static IP?

[TeCNeEk]

On 1/8/2020 at 1:36 PM, Netduma Fraser said:

Did the DNS change make any difference?

It depends on how important this issue is to you, if you can't get Comcast to do anything then it may be possible to get a second line out with that other ISP. In terms of Comcast, do you know if you have a dynamic or static IP?

Thanks for the reply! The issue is very important. So I bought a AVP to clean my computer and it also checks for any problems or insecurities, I had a weird feeling I had a rogue DCHP. I looked under a feature that shows connected IPs to my network and there was like 6 different ones ranging from all kinds of crazy IPs. My 192.168.1.1(standard router IP) was at the bottom of the list, and all the other ones were ones I’ve never even seen before. I deleted all of those and just kept my router IP on my network. I then noticed I was connected to my local servers again. Weird right? Coincidence? OPing, not as good as it was, is my urgent problem at the moment. Been trying different things like disabling QoS or setting the sliders to 70/70. Disabled Media Server. Tried Geo-Filter but I play Apex which is based on preset servers so I was testing it out between Filtered and Spectating. I noticed my ping fluctuates drastically and doubles in number every few seconds. What do you recommend on getting the lowest possible ping? Thank you for all your help so far.  

[TeCNeEk]

On 1/8/2020 at 1:36 PM, Netduma Fraser said:

Did the DNS change make any difference?

It depends on how important this issue is to you, if you can't get Comcast to do anything then it may be possible to get a second line out with that other ISP. In terms of Comcast, do you know if you have a dynamic or static IP?

Also, what is the deal with my DHCP, IP, and Gateway all being the same? Anytime I put my gateway to 192.168.1.1, the internet don’t work even when I try running a new test on DumaOS. That has to be an issue right since that’s not even my gateway. I am getting a lot of “DoS attacks” and constant “DHCP Lease Change/ New event” prompts in my log. 

[TeCNeEk]

And one last thing, I did a release and renew on Router settings. Results are below. Also pinged the random Gateway that I am linked too. I can’t change it to my router as my gateway. :/ 

[Netduma Fraser]

If you're using the router with a pure modem then the WAN IP/Gateway/Public IP on the router will be the same so that's nothing to worry about. What were the crazy IPs you mentioned, do you have an example? Those log entries are normal so nothing to worry about there. If you have a static IP from your ISP it may be worth calling them and getting them to change it, may be that IP is the cause of the routing issues. If it's dynamic then turning off the modem/router for 5 minutes should change it. I would also recommend you saturate your network by doing lots of downloads and streams while following this guide and trying different Anti-Bufferbloat percentages to find what lowers the ping/keeps it as stable as possible http://support.netduma.com/en/support/solutions/articles/16000074717-how-to-test-your-internet-ping

[TeCNeEk]

7 hours ago, Netduma Fraser said:

If you're using the router with a pure modem then the WAN IP/Gateway/Public IP on the router will be the same so that's nothing to worry about. What were the crazy IPs you mentioned, do you have an example? Those log entries are normal so nothing to worry about there. If you have a static IP from your ISP it may be worth calling them and getting them to change it, may be that IP is the cause of the routing issues. If it's dynamic then turning off the modem/router for 5 minutes should change it. I would also recommend you saturate your network by doing lots of downloads and streams while following this guide and trying different Anti-Bufferbloat percentages to find what lowers the ping/keeps it as stable as possible http://support.netduma.com/en/support/solutions/articles/16000074717-how-to-test-your-internet-ping

But wouldn’t there be a conflict with Gateway IP’s if my router is saying that foreign IP is the gateway, but the IPs I have issued to my devices are 192.168.1.XX? My PS4 has the Gateway as the 192.168.1.1, but the router gateway itself says the 76.XX.XXX.XX. I should have a dynamic IP, but it’s remained the same for a while. I turned off both the modem and router for 15 minutes and WAN IP remained the same, no IPs changed. 

[Netduma Fraser]

The gateway IP is essentially the IP of the device above the device you're looking at. So the PS4's gateway is the XR500 LAN IP 192.168.1.1. The XR500 gateway is the IP that your modem gives it which is your public IP address, that is normal. Okay so you may have a fixed IP, I would request your ISP to change your IP and see if you encounter the same issues.

[TeCNeEk]

3 minutes ago, Netduma Fraser said:

The gateway IP is essentially the IP of the device above the device you're looking at. So the PS4's gateway is the XR500 LAN IP 192.168.1.1. The XR500 gateway is the IP that your modem gives it which is your public IP address, that is normal. Okay so you may have a fixed IP, I would request your ISP to change your IP and see if you encounter the same issues.

Ok so I should just keep my Gateway IP on the PS4 as the LAN IP(192.168.1.1)? The only thing I hate is anytime I call Comcast they disable my Modem’s bridge mode to look into my modem for issues, and then I have to go back in and set it again and reset my modem and router. Can they actually change the IP from their location? Thanks. 

[Netduma Fraser]

Yes just keep the PS4 settings as automatic and that's fine. Yes there should be no reason they can't do that if they've given you a static IP.