Insufficient Bandwidth

[DBGalante]

I have 3 Tivo boxes.  They work just like recordable verizon cable boxes meaning you can record on one and then watch it on another.   I have had continued problems with the connection between these boxes.  They read each other and start the transfer but before it is completed the connection fails.  Neither Verizon nor Tivo has had any answers as to way this is happening.  I have just lived with it.  So, this xmas I received a tablet for reading books, watching movies (streaming) and so forth.  As I was watching the first and only movie, it kept stopping and thinking and then would start up again.  A few times it stopped completely and stated, "Insufficient Bandwidth".  Now that I know what the problem is I am looking for an answer on how to solve it.  Verizon told me to wait a day or two when it happens.  Not good problem solving!  Any help would be great! 

[Hubrisnxs]

Hi,  if they are wired ethernet tivo's you def should not be getting that message. 

if you are wireless then it's important to know which router you have, to see how much wireless bandwidth is avail.   

take a look at the sticker, and it will say REV D, E, F, I etc...  

[DBGalante]

The sticker reads REV E  Have had it for a long while but I was told it was the latest model.  My new tablet is only good for reading books, will not play vidoes at all.

Thank you for your time.

[DBGalante]

The Tivo's are wireless as is the tablet and 2 printers, but they are rarely used.

[smith6612]

If possible, see if you can wire one of the TiVos to the ActionTec and then try streaming from your tablet to that specific TiVo to see if that helps. Each Wireless device associated with the access point has to share bandwidth with other devices attached to the same access point if there is activity between one or more devices on your network and the router Wirelessly. Cases where Wi-Fi signal is weaker can degrade performance as well. Also if these are old TiVos with Wireless B adapters, they will degrade your Wi-Fi signal to run at no faster than 7.5Mbps which has to be split up across all of your devices.

Best case scenario, your tablet and the TiVo will be able to talk to each other at about 10Mbps in a single direction, or 5Mbps in both directions (unlikely) since the Rev. E ActionTec is a Wireless G router with a total usable bandwidth of about 20Mbps on Wireless.

Just something to consider. For a base, I would strongly consider running a speed test on the tablet or a laptop in commonly used rooms to find out what sort of service you're getting wirelessly.

There is also the likely chance for the failure messages that you are getting interference or intermittent connectivity from somewhere. We can investigate that too once we get an idea of your current Wireless performance.

[DBGalante]

Hi,

All 3 Tivo adapters are the new make. Two of the Tivo units are premier.  I can't test the speed on the tablet as it is a Google Nexxus 7 and it isn't allowing it.  My desktop computer tested at 30 Download and 27 Upload.  My laptop wouldn't go to the testing website.  Kept redirecting itself from the speedtest address to a "entertainment.verizon.com"  I have no idea why but making me crazy.  I am sure you need this information. 

I am not sure how to wire the tivo box directly to the router, can you explain please.

[smith6612]

Try using http://testmy.net/ on both the Nexus 7 (good choice, by the way!) and the laptop. That site will work fine in anything that has a somewhat modern Web browser. Both of your devices should be more than enough.

Wiring the TiVO directly into the router is basically taking a CAT5e cable (aka, Ethernet cable, something commonly used on Desktop computers and game consoles) and connecting one end into the "Network" jack on the TiVo, and the other end directly into one of the four LAN Ports on the router. It's that simple and the two devices should work together to set up the connection. It isn't practical in many cases to do this but if the router and TiVo are a short distance away and it doesn't include stringing a cable along the floor, then it's something that is nice to try. Otherwise a temporary relocation of the TiVo may work if possible.

[DBGalante]

I ran the test on my laptop and tablet (thank you by the way, love it) twice, just for good measure.

#1 laptop download 11.8 upload 7.6

     Tablet download 3.4  upload 434KBPS  (This can't be good)

#2 laptop 8.7 & 5.7

     Tablet 5.6 & 1.3

Getting a Tivo unit near enough to the router is proving more difficult than I thought.  Working on it.

[smith6612]

Thanks for the results, and you're welcome. I find that site to be handy even if their upload test can be a little iffy at times (but it's rock solid basically).

Have you had any luck in getting a Wired connection to the TiVo?

Now that we have some results from the Wireless for speed, let's try changing a few Wi-Fi settings to see if we can improve performance. Since you have a Rev. E ActionTec, let's do the following:

1: Change Wireless mode to only allow Wireless G devices on the network

2: Disable Auto Channel Selection and lock the Wi-Fi to use a clean channel

3: Enable WPA2 security to reduce software overhead from encryption.

All of this can be done from the Wireless settings in the ActionTec. To begin, log into the router at http://192.168.1.1/ using the username of admin with the password being your router's Serial number. Once logged in, click on Wireless Settings. You will find the option to change the channel in the Basic Wireless Settings. Use a program such as InSSIDer or Vistumbler on your laptop to scan for nearby Wireless networks and what channels they're on. I recommend the use of channels 1, 6 or 11 since these are the traditional non-overlapping channels. Pick the channel that has nothing on it of the three, or the least amount of networks (or weakest signals, closer into the negatives) and set it in the router by pressing Apply, ensuring the router is set to remember the channel selection and does not have auto channel scanning on.

For #1, That is under the Advanced Wireless settings along with the option for WPA2. The setting to only allow G devices is a dropdown box and should be straightforward. For WPA2, click on the Wireless Security navigation link and then select WPA2. From here, you can use the pre-generated key, the same key you use for WEP if you wish to enter it in, or you can generate a new key. This setting should be changed while plugged into the router, but once it is applied you will need to set up all of your Wireless devices to use the new WPA2 encryption scheme and the new password you have set if any.

If you mess anything up, a factory reset of the router will restore it back to the way Verizon had it when they gave the router to you. The button for that is on the back and needs a pencil or paperclip to press. A good 15 second press will do the trick.

[DBGalante]

Trying to log into the router.   When entering the "password" using the serial number it shows multiple enties for each letter/number I hit.  Serial # is CSJE followed by 10 numbers.  Is there a secret to this?

And I can't directly connect Tivo to router.  Just no way to do this with having wire running across the room.