New Member
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6 Messages
AT&T Fiber connection slowing down every night
So, I've had AT&T Fiber at my house for over 4 years now and it's been the best internet provider I've ever had, up until the past month or so. In the past month I can watch the speeds from my router (Amplifi Alien) to the ISP start dropping (Sub 100 Mbps) around 8 pm and the pings rise (~100ms) during that time too. I only noticed this speed issue because all my streaming services started to drop quality or completely stop for a few seconds to re-buffer. Usually it lasts about an hour to 2 hours (8-10 pm usually) and then slowly starts to ramp back up.
We've had our neighborhood grow quite a bit recently so I'm wondering if a larger number of people has something to do with it, but I've asked anecdotal questions of some neighbors and they've been seeing some of the same issues lately too.
I'm happy to run any tests and provide any data, just hoping to find the right outlet to get this addressed as the AT&T Support numbers don't really provide the right people to talk with for something like this. Thanks!
ATTHelp
Community Support
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225.4K Messages
2 years ago
We're here to help keep your internet up to speed, slackmountain!
Since this is only happening during a specific time of day, we have a few options that could be the cause of what you are experiencing.
We suggest you optimize your internet connection, since the speed you get on devices connected to your network can vary. The number of devices you connect to Wi-Fi, how you use them, their age and type, and Wi-Fi signal strength all can affect speed. In terms of how this can impact your service, we suggest making sure your AT&T Gateway is directly plugged into a wall outlet, and not using any type of power strip or surge protector. These can cause power issues to the AT&T Gateway, which can affect the way it connects to the internet.
We also suggest downloading our Smart Home Manager application so that we can run a speed test on your service. The Smart Home Manager's test specifically checks the speed between your AT&T Gateway and the internet, versus other tests which check the overall connection between the device you use and the internet. We'll need to compare the speed you are getting when your ping is raised to your AT&T Internet plan to see if it falls out of the acceptable speeds you should be receiving.
Please keep in mind that the speed difference could just be due to you experiencing something known as peak times. This is when more people are getting home and using the internet all throughout your neighborhood. The burden of everyone using it at the same time will slow down the overall connection.
Let us know if this helps!
Donovan, AT&T Community Specialist
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slackmountain
New Member
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6 Messages
2 years ago
Peak times seems like the most likely culprit since other neighbors are seeing the drop in speeds as well. I've noticed that I get different speed test results from different services as well. Cloudflare's speedtest never seems to show an issue, ATT's "device test" shows the drop, but then the Wi-Fi Gateway test shows no issue. The built in speed test on my Amplifi Alien router shows the drop as well.
I've installed the Smart Home Manager and I'll periodically run some tests to see what I get.
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slackmountain
New Member
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6 Messages
2 years ago
Any chance that AT&T is throttling at those peak times? I seem to see anecdotal evidence/discussions that pretty much all ISPs do it, but just wondering if AT&T has a history of that at all.
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ATTHelp
Community Support
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225.4K Messages
2 years ago
Hello, slackmountain.
It's true that slow speeds during peak times is common amongst almost all ISPs. In addition to checking your speeds with the Smart Home Manager as Donovan suggested, we also suggest checking what the speeds are like with just your AT&T gateway and no 3rd party equipment.
Let us know if you see a difference or things stay about the same.
Aminah, AT&T Community Specialist
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slackmountain
New Member
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6 Messages
2 years ago
Sure, I can turn the WiFi back on from the gateway temporarily and connect to that SSID to see if I'm seeing the same speed issues during those times. Had a thread going with some neighbors this morning and they all commented on seeing the same thing now happening almost every night over the past couple weeks, so I'm doubting it's my equipment specifically.
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ATTHelp
Community Support
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225.4K Messages
2 years ago
We'll be awaiting the results, slackmountain.
Aminah, AT&T Community Specialist
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JefferMC
ACE - Expert
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33.5K Messages
2 years ago
You share your fiber with a few (32 or 64 depending on what kind of protocol is in use). The fiber's capacity is greater than your individual capacity, but is not sufficient that all 32 or 64 of you can utilize your full capacity at once.
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slackmountain
New Member
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6 Messages
2 years ago
@JefferMC So does that mean that the recent influx of residents into the neighborhood could have surpassed the protocol being used? If so, I'm guessing we'd probably need a local technician to eventually come out and assess to see if that might be remedied?
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my thoughts
Former Employee
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21.5K Messages
2 years ago
More likely overall internet congestion especially during school breaks… does not matter how fast the vehicle can travel during rush hour on the information superhighway.
ATT provides an on-ramp your traffic is handled off to multiple others including possible server limitations at the end point.
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JefferMC
ACE - Expert
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33.5K Messages
2 years ago
It could also be that a router further upstream is at fault. A traceroute to a few different sites (a) when this is not going on and (b) when it is, may help to show where the issue is. If it's at your home, yes, maybe somebody could get moved to a new fiber--but getting this done may be harder than you would think. If it is further up the network, the technician at your home will be able to do nothing.
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