If you can solve this problem, I’ll buy you a gold membership (or extend your current one).


TLDR:

My home internet is “buffering” when I’m working online or streaming a movie. ISP can’t figure it out.


My current setup:
-ISP is Nextlink

-Service plan is 100 download / 50 upload. (The best they could offer at the time)

-The dish is mounted atop a 20’ pole on my roof, pointed at a tower across town (I’m in the country, small 1 stop light town, so the tower isn’t that far away). At the base of the 20’ pole is a power module (I guess that’s what it’s called?). Coax cable from there to inside the house. That cable goes to a small power supply they call a “POE”. From there it goes to the router.

Long version:

I’ve been with this ISP since March of 2020. Up until about 6 months ago the service has been good.

6 months ago we had a really hard windstorm pass through here and ever since I’ve had this terrible (what I describe as) buffering issue.

Doesn’t matter if it’s on my laptop when I’m working (work from home doing AutoCAD), or watching a video on fb on my phone or streaming a movie from prime on the tv. Every few minutes I get a spinning circle like the video is buffering, then it plays again for a few minutes then buffers again.

When this first started we thought it was because our tv was old (10 years or so old), so we bought new one. Same issue.

My isp sent me a new router and poe.

That didn’t fix the problem.

I went out and bought my own router, still didn’t fix the problem.

Couple weeks ago the isp came out and replaced the power module at the base of  the 20’ pole, still didn’t correct the issue.

I’ve called the Helpdesk hundreds of times and nearly every time it’s the same process, unplug everything, wait 3 minutes, plug it all back in, do a speed test on 20 different speed test websites. All they can say is must be the source of the video. ??

A few weeks ago i finally got ahold of a guy at the Helpdesk who knew what he was doing. He said he could see the tower log (tower that my dish is pointed at) and he could see where it shows the signal has been dropping off. He said he would pass the info to his supervisor and he would be able to take a more in depth look. A few days later I get an email stating the issue has been fixed. Which it wasn’t.

About the only thing that hasn’t been replaced is the dish itself.

I’m also in the middle of a two year contract with these guys.

Would anyone have any idea how to fix this? What do I need to tell my isp to get them to fix the problem or where to look for the problem?

Obviously switching to a new company is the answer and we do have fiber on our street now, but I’m in a two year contract and as far as they are concerned, their gear & service is working.

Big windy?  Have they checked the dish?  Re-aimed it?

Most likely.  

Next guess would be to check the cables - connections first, then put a meter on them to check for continuity.  You could possibly have water intrusion in the coax.

This.

First I’d look at any trees, especially conifers that are in line with the dish target.  
Wet needles are like small capacitors and ‘suck’ the signal strength.  Look up ‘Fresnel Zone’.
Problem gets worse during rain, dew or other wet events.  

Next I’d have all the connections redone or cables replaced.  The storm event makes this highly likely.  

Next I’d look at any unmanaged switches in line.  
Unmanaged switches can’t flush their buffers when a flaky connection introduces CRC errors and the like and the buffer fills up.
Rebooting the unmanaged switch clears the buffer which is why tech support insists on a reboot.  
Replace with a more expensive managed switch.

As others have said, check the coax and dish alignment.

TL/DR TL/DR  TL/DR TL/DR TL/DR TL/DR TL/DR TL/DR
You Have been warned...

Without someone being able to log into your Radio Or Subscriber Unit (Gadget on Roof Aiming at the tower) their guess is almost useless...

Also, if normal WISP type gear, the cable between your POE and the Gadget on the roof is Cat5x+ Ethernet Cable...
If you look at your POE, its probably very simple. 1 tiny LED light (or none) may have a brand or logo embossed into it, it will have 1 power cable 12-15" long, two RJ-45 connectors on one side or another. This is how you know its Cat cable or Coax, if Coax, it'll have a round F type connector like CATV uses or some type of screw on.

Is the brand your WISP use UBNT/Ubiquity ???

If so, Things you'd want them to look at: (They are gonna be like WTF? How does this dude know the voodoo)
Downstream/Forward signal level, Should be better (closer to zero) than -60, everyone wants it lower, depends on the spread, distance and obstructions.
Upstream/Reverse Signal level, should be close to the same, but no more than 3db diff or something is either off alignment or side lobed.
QAM, Ideally it would be 8X/8X, 6x is Meh, 4x is crap, any worse, its not working.
Capacity, tells how much theoretical bandwidth is possible between your radio and the tower in a perfect situation, depending on freq Power level, channel width and over all quality of signal. Hopefully you are on a 5Ghz and your cap is mid 200Mbps or better.

Often times we do the Reboot dance too. Its standard procedure.  Uptime can effect. Also, folks will like and tell me they have rebooted everything 3 times today.
I'm like strange, the device uptimes shows 9 months, 2 days, 5 hours, 33 seconds and counting.  Let me do that for you....
To do the Power Dance (POE and Router)
Pull power to the POE, watch the light go out, give 45 seconds or better. The POE stores a bit of power, so a quick unplug/plug just makes it angry.  
After plugging it back in, give it 2mins to sync back up and be stable.
Then go to the router, do the same dance, depending on the routers firmware and condition, think 2-5 mins, usually closer to 2.

The problem could be on your end. I'll tell you how to test in a min.
The problem could also be
Between you and the tower. Could be between you the tower and 3 other towers over lapping each other.
From your towers Back Haul and the next hop back or any hop between it and the main office.
Something on their Backbone fiber.  Not likely, if it was everyone would be jumping up and down.

Some of these RF issues can be a Chore to find, then get resolved.

I had one yesterday where I went into the customer's radio and did a "Site Survey". This is where the radio stops what its doing and listens, then provides you with a list of things it sees and tells you what its host name is, if it recognizes the type, what Freq, and at what level is see it.  

On this one, the lower or Hotter is sees it, the more it could be overlapping or causing degradation if in or near your channel width.  

EX:If you're set to 10 mhz, you only see 10Mhz stuff. 20, only 20mhz on up....  Thats the band width, not the Freq.  EX Center Freq of 5660/20Mhz Width the band goes from 5650-5670 and thing in that range or a few MHZ on either side can be an issue.

Problem is, if you scan at 10mhz, you only see other 10 Mhz wide stuff, you'll miss 20, 30, 40, 60, 80, etc...

I scanned at each channel width (10 on up) and I saw like from 12-32 devices on each Width...  WTF!!!!
Most were customer routers or WiFi devices with Host names of Charter,  ATT, TMobile, some another tower or AP of ours.  

Everyone's simple solution is PICK ANOTHER better channel. There are only so many channels and its not really that many.  
The wider the channel, the more space it takes, the more it can overlap or interfere with something else.

I could go on and on and on about RF/ Frequencies in Cable TV and Fixed Wireless networks...

To test/Eliminate if its on your network, from your router back to your PC, phone or whatever. do the following:

Look at that POE. Specially the LAN Port...  
Unplug your router from it.
Plug a Cat5x+ cable in to it and into the Ethernet port on your test PC...
One that you know is good and will run like a raped ape.  
Reboot, get an IP and see if you get traffic.  If so proceed.
Try youtube, Hulu, Netflix, speed tests (various ones OOKLA is usually the best) and see what you get.  
Also, while you are not doing much, open a DOS prompt window (in the search bar, bottom left, unless you moved it, type CMD and enter)
once you have a DOS window open, type the following ping -t 8.8.8.8  
Let it run from 2-3 mins to a few hours. This just runs a continuous string of pings from your PC out to Googles DNS farm and back.

Each line will look something like:
Pinging 8.8.8.8 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time=20ms TTL=118
Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time=20ms TTL=118
Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time=20ms TTL=118
Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time=20ms TTL=118
Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time=20ms TTL=118
Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time=20ms TTL=118
Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time=29ms TTL=118
Only thing you really care about is Time=XXms (the lower the better)

Then hit CTRL-C (at the same time) to kill the ping process.
When you do, you should get something like the following

Ping statistics for 8.8.8.8:
   Packets: Sent = 13, Received = 13, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
   Minimum = 20ms, Maximum = 29ms, Average = 20ms

You want to see are 100% of your pings going through, if not, what % is it? Should be 99.5%

What is your average time?  You want it somewhere from 1 to 30ms(lower the better) especially if if you're a gamer or use VOIP.
If streaming Netflix or another good service or downloading files and surfing, 31-60ms will work, again, the lower the better.  
If it gets up higher than that, you start seeing speed issues...  
Also, if your losing packets, your device (using TCP/IP) is spending more time and cycles re-sending lost packets than just sending the 1st time.

So after all that If you are not seeing any thing of worry, the problem is from your router back.
Something could be over lapping the Freq your router is using.
You have 1 freq/channel from your house to the tower.
you also have 1 freq/channel from your router to your devices.  You might need to make sure they are not on the same Freq/Channel.

Hope that helps some.  

I hate speed issues, they can be like searching for a single serial numbered grain of sand in the middle of a desert.
Without tools and training, it can be hard to find.  I wish I had better monitoring and collecting tools to monitor my network.

I'm fairly certain its Fixed wifi, no coax... Even though I think he may mistakenly did mentione coax earlier....

99% chance its Outdoor shielded ethernet cable. Better be...
Possibly flooded or Gel filled.

With that you could unplug the cable that comes in from the outside an plugs into the POE port of the POE and inspect the male and female connectors for moisture, corrosion or burn marks....

If moisture about 6" needs cut of, then reterminated and then score the outer jacket about 8-12" back from that and do a drip loop.  This will let the water (talking drips, not a flow) drain out before the POE....

But, if he does what I told him, it would tell him if the issue is in house or ISP and give him ammo to call them back with...

This guy gets it...

Fucking trees and hills (are beautiful but) suck ass for a wireless network with any shots over 3-4 miles..

Do this from behind the router and at the POE...

The POE lan port is essentially the Demarcation point, like the Telco box on the outside of a house.
The phone company will test voice or data back to the CO and isolate your house's wiring....

Radios misaligned? Something blown down/in obstructing the path?

@This_Is_Necessary

Any updates or anymore testing?

Keep us in the loop, I'd like to know what the issue and the resolution were.

Use the UISP Design center site to see check your line of sight to the tower. See if 20' is really high enough to get a good signal.

Sorry guys, I’ve been busy all week.

I really appreciate all the responses from everyone. I can see have people who know what they’re talking about on here. I’m certain we will find the right answer to fix my issue.

This weekend I will start looking at the suggestions on here for the things I can control. First I’ll look at the tree issue. May have to get the drone out so I can see the view from the dish atop the 20’ pole.

I will update tomorrow afternoon.

Thank you.

Do you know where your tower is?
Direction is obvious, what direction does it point, but exactly where is it?

I always tell customers get up there and use binoculars and see if you can see the APs...

If you can, thats a good sign...
Fixed wireless can penatrate some trees  of Foliage, but not a lot, without degradation of signal....

Sounds like fixed/canopy wifi. I had this for years providing service.

Most recently got upgraded to high speed wifi 100 down and 30 up. Speeds were very inconsistent and I had the same issues as you

Alot of it also has to do with if  towers are being overloaded and the ISPs equipment, I worked for the ISP that I use now for a while in NOC.

Having too many customers on 1 AP and overloading them was a pain in the ass, I finally got upgraded to fiber last month and all my issues went away.

Got up on the roof Sunday afternoon

I can see blinking light at the top of the tower, and my dish is pointed in that direction.

Google maps says it’s 1.1 miles from my house and there are trees in the way.

Yup thats not a good shot. Pretty common to get alot of calls in the spring and early summer for exactly that reason. They should be able to see that theres an issue pretty clearly by looking at the stats on the equipment. Higher elevation or a chainsaw will fix it though.

Yup a common issue with LOS signals. Trees that weren't a problem before suddenly are a problem in spring when the leaves come in on the new taller growth.

Especially when it rains.

Looks like a UBNT Power Beam, Link to a PowerBeam 5 on UBNT Store.

Not sure what that white box is, on the tripod, maybe a UBNT POE Switch??
Not sure why they'd put one of those in unless you have a 2nd or 3rd device up there that needs Ethernet and power.

That LOS between the Tower and your subscriber unit, (The fact you can see the light) is not the worst I've seen by far.
Are you sure thats your WISPs tower?  Sounds silly I know with that tower being there, but Its a bit tall for the average WISP and most WISP powers don't have the big triangle platform on them like the cell towers do.

We get customers all the time telling us their version of whats going on and where the tower is from them.  They are almost always wrong.

I wonder if it is a 2.4 ghz or 5?  
A 2.4 would definitely fair better through the foliage, but would have a lessor capacity.  

The white box looks like a lightning arrestor.

Been working at a WISP for 12 years.  Get the fiber connection. Call their cancellation dept and tell them it isn't working right and they can't fix it, and you want to cancel.  They will let you out of the contract if you press hard enough, they don't want you trashing them on social media.  If you want to make sure you are in the right and it isn't a problem on your end, plug a laptop with an ethernet adapter (usb dongle if needed) directly into the LAN port on their POE adapter bypassing your router in the process and test it from there.  If you still have the same issue, the problem is on their end, and you have already done your part by going through the torturous outsourced tier1 support process multiple times with no resolution.  Explain this to the cancellation person you speak with.  If you are feeling generous let them send you directly to a tier2+ in house tech that can take another look before you ditch them.  Call during normal business hours 8a-5p mon-fri even if their site says they are open 24/7, you are more likely to get someone that actually works at that company and not a third party call center.

I suggested this several posts back, but never saw the results...

Post on their Facebook page a picture of the buffering icon and they will release you from the contract.

Yeah there is no way I'd deal with a WISP when there is fiber available. We have been on fiber for a few years now and its been great. $75/mo for gig up/down and rock solid reliable after a few teething problems the first few months.

Get rid out of that WISP contract ASAP when it's obviously not a clear shot at this point.

Get starlink.

I am serious, I have heard you can get at HD now.

Did you ever do the tests that Castle Bravo and I suggested?

Did you ever get back with them (the wisp) and ask the things I asked?

Did you ever reply if you were sure if that was your WISPs tower and not a major cell provider???

UPDATE:

First off, I apologize for the delay in updating this thread. I wanted to make sure I had something to update.

I continued to go round and round every day with my isp and they would not budge, they would not admit the problem was there’s and wouldn’t do anything to try and correct the issue.

While this was going on, I was calling & emailing the only fiber company that services my street, trying to convince them the fiber cable bundle on the pole in front of my house was theirs. After two weeks they agreed it was and as of yesterday, I now have 1 gig fiber service here at the house.

smullen & currently- I bought each of you a gold membership.

Thanks again for all your help guys.

Thanks, I appreciate the membership, but did not expect anything for trying to help a brother out...

Glad you got fiber and hope it performs as it should.

I am still really curious as to what the issue was...

Every time I send my tech out for a TC or a Service down, when he gets back I'm always like, ok, sooooo what was it...

I try and guess based on what the customer told me and what I could see from the Acess point or customer's Subscriber unit...