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Help for making MAC computer- Securifi router - Xfinity work

alternety

Regular Contributor
My brother has this setup. He is completely without usable computer knowledge/skills. For months he has been trying to resolve an issue with the system. I keep getting dragged into long useless phone calls. Presumably because of their user interface, Securifi does not seem to have a manual. I am not going to try to work through the menus on the phone with him.

When everything is connected and running, he gets download speeds consistent with Blast. Then after some time the speed decreases sharply. He has involved Apple, Comcast, and Securifi. No resolution has occurred. Apple does not see it as their problem. Securifi is working hard and has tried some updated firmware. Comcast is being Comcast. Various responses. Unkept promises to provide on-site monitoring, call back, etc.

Over many months, he has been told that pretty much every item is bad. He has purchased 2 new modems, 3 routers, and threw away an Ethernet cable because it was declared bad (because it would slow down and speed up - aargh). The setup in the title is current.

I have attached some of his logged results from Speedtest. When looking at them, keep in mind that the Comcast network entry point is being changed manually from time to time to try to improve things. There is a massive difference between some of the Comcast IP addresses. Just my eyeballing it, it does not look like the graph version is showing the upload tests to do anything but track the base download at each site. When download speed decreases, no proportional decrease occurs in upload speeds.

In my last 3 hour call with my brother (it is very difficult for him to provide understandable and consistent answers to my questions; it is slow going) here is what the state of things appears to be.

- One Comcast tech suggested his problem is that he is on a busy business node and that traffic is slowing him down. Plus several iterations of all the BS Comcast online support goes through. No solution offered. I could believe this. It could be that they are running the business ports at higher priority than his consumer connection, or simply filling an insufficient pipe. Time of day of the problem does not seem to be consistent according to my brother.

- Securify has been working on things. They have tried firmware updates and currently have not fixed the system. The last firmware update (or my brother) caused the router to crash and set back to the default manufacturer's firmware. The speed changes continue. When speed decreases, it does not return to full speed until one of the actions below are taken.

The most recent experience (yesterday) was consistently behaving this way.
PC - Modem =Speed OK
PC - Router - Modem =Speed decreases after a while
Same - when slow, reboot router = Speed OK until next decrease
Same again - reboot MAC = Speed OK until next decrease​

I am looking for ideas to pass on to the servicing people involved.

My thoughts:

Testing has been done AFAIK with the wireless devices running. I have no idea if the Securifi guy turned them off during testing. Could one of those devices be causing the problem? Perhaps trying to do something and getting the router confused enough to burn a resource so bad it can't do the proper job on the upstream side.

IPV6 is, I believe, active. Comcast has been known for some real problems with that implementation.

Most of these things are going to cause some shuffling around with address assignments. I believe everything is using DHCP.

The fact that it does not occur without the router certainly makes me think the problem is there. I believe Securifi is still diligently working the issue. They have replaced his router, and tried firmware changes.
 

Attachments

It sounds like the router used isnt good. Also make sure to avoid double NAT when using router. Many consumer routers simply arent reliable and ive never heard of securifi. You may be better off with one of the UTMs reviewed and suggested on this forum for a router with integrated security.

If the issue is with comcast routing there is a way around it but it requires a PPP scanner and proper multiWAN router. If you use PPPOE to connect to your ISP and they have multiple PPP servers than you're in luck in improving your cable speeds otherwise theres nothing you can do about it.
 

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