Computers & Electronics

Other computers lose internet access while downloading?

  • Last Updated:
  • Jan 10th, 2014 11:42 am
Tags:
None
Deal Expert
User avatar
Mar 27, 2007
15657 posts
588 upvotes

Other computers lose internet access while downloading?

Whenever I download something via Stem or torrenting, all of the other PCs and internet-connected devices in the house suddenly drop internet. They can still connect to the router, but with no internet access. It doesn't matter which device downloads a torrent or on Steam, all other PCs drop. The one PC in question can use it fine, even while downloading. This doesn't happen with Yotuube videos or anything else: it's pretty much strictly Steam and torrenting.

Any ideas what could be causing this? This began after I got a new router.
11 replies
Deal Addict
User avatar
Jul 27, 2009
2392 posts
461 upvotes
There could be many reasons. First of all how much is being uploaded and downloading affect your internet connections? Another thing to try is reset your router and start new and begin trouble shooting from there. Another thing is what is your ISP down load and upload speed and with whom?

Oh, don't forget to unplug both the router and modem for 30secs and plug them back in. What new modem?

The last time this kind of thing happen to me is when the ISP throttle your connection for torrenting but that's why you need to trouble shoot one thing at a time to make sure it's not the ISP throttling you. But it could be a bad router that can't handle the congestion. Does all the connection go back to normal when you turn off utorrent or it's still disconnected and your router need a reboot for it to be working again?

But you can scrap the idea that your ISP is throttling you if this never happen with the old router. So it's definitely the new router so check the router settings and get the latest and stable firmware.
Deal Expert
Oct 6, 2005
16872 posts
2557 upvotes
Which router do you have? Could be that you ran out of upstream - causing the other machines to time out, or your router exhausted it's state map?
Deal Expert
User avatar
Mar 27, 2007
15657 posts
588 upvotes
LEXX911 wrote: There could be many reasons. First of all how much is being uploaded and downloading affect your internet connections? Another thing to try is reset your router and start new and begin trouble shooting from there. Another thing is what is your ISP down load and upload speed and with whom?

Oh, don't forget to unplug both the router and modem for 30secs and plug them back in. What new modem?

The last time this kind of thing happen to me is when the ISP throttle your connection for torrenting but that's why you need to trouble shoot one thing at a time to make sure it's not the ISP throttling you. But it could be a bad router that can't handle the congestion. Does all the connection go back to normal when you turn off utorrent or it's still disconnected and your router need a reboot for it to be working again?

But you can scrap the idea that your ISP is throttling you if this never happen with the old router. So it's definitely the new router so check the router settings and get the latest and stable firmware.
Yes, this only began happening after getting the new router. To expand, it only began after installing dd-wrt. With the stock firmware it worked fine from what I can recall. It's a TP-Link TL-WR84IND.

When I pause a uTorrent or Steam download, other PCs immediately regain access. Looking online didn't yield any people in a similar situation as me, so I'm not sure what's going on. I'm going to troubleshoot one thing at a time to see if I can find the cause.
Deal Expert
User avatar
Dec 12, 2009
29541 posts
20458 upvotes
It is probably a QoS issue. Your internet connection is probably being maxed out and so the other PCs appear to have no internet access.
Deal Addict
User avatar
Jul 27, 2009
2392 posts
461 upvotes
Who is your cable provider and what speed do you have with them? What was your uploading and downloading speed that slow down every other PC? Are the other PC on wifi or connected through ethernet cable? Try changing/balancing your download/uploading speed in your Torrent program but first find out what internet package and the speed that came with your ISP. Or else turn off any downloading and do a speed test to see what you are getting for downloading and uploading. Hopefully you didn't bought a 6Mps package.
Deal Addict
Aug 28, 2010
1300 posts
365 upvotes
Toronto
My gf had this issue with Bell and their modem/router. After she switched to Rogers (and new modem) the problem went away.

Ergo its either your modem and router :P lol if that helps
Deal Expert
User avatar
Mar 27, 2007
15657 posts
588 upvotes
LEXX911 wrote: Who is your cable provider and what speed do you have with them? What was your uploading and downloading speed that slow down every other PC? Are the other PC on wifi or connected through ethernet cable? Try changing/balancing your download/uploading speed in your Torrent program but first find out what internet package and the speed that came with your ISP. Or else turn off any downloading and do a speed test to see what you are getting for downloading and uploading. Hopefully you didn't bought a 6Mps package.
My ISP is Cogeco. My plan is outlined here. It doesn't matter what speed I'm currently going: typically torrents at 3.5MB/sec, and Steam around the same. Early this morning I was having issues with as low as 1.9MB/sec. I think MB = megabytes. It really doesn't matter the speed, it just drops everyone else out. If I download something through my browser, even if I hit something like 6MB/sec, it doesn't drop anyone else out. It's strictly for torrenting and Steam.
Deal Guru
Feb 9, 2006
13378 posts
8308 upvotes
Brampton
It's a QoS issue. You need to turn it on.

Also DD-WRT disables the hardware accelerated NAT on the TP-link.
Without QoS on in stock firmware the hardware accelerated NAT is able to cope.

With DD-WRT's NAT and QoS disabled your other machines don't stand a chance.

It's not so much the speed as it is the packets and number of simultaneous connections.
You can try bumping the number from 4096 to 8192 or go straight to 65565 or lower the idle connection times for TCP.

DD-WRT is great 3rd party ware. However left stock it's garbage compared to some stock firmware, because the settings don't take advantage of the connection, hardware or do any traffic management.
Jr. Member
Apr 1, 2012
153 posts
15 upvotes
Toronto
I had the same issue running Tomato. I turned on QoS and it's fine now.
Newbie
Nov 24, 2011
70 posts
33 upvotes
NIAGARA FALLS
If you are running the newest version of DDWRT try downgrading to a previous version. I use DDWRT on my main router and access point and had an issue with the access point until I downgraded to a previous software version. If you are downloading at 2-6 MB/s that would mean you have a connection in the range of 12-48 Mb/s. Based in Niagara falls and on cogeco I would estimate you have either the 20 or 30Mb/s package. 8Mb (Mega bits) = 1 MB (Mega Byte).

Top