How to diagnose rebuffering issues?

[neilcoburn]

I have a Touch and a Radio. I'm getting unbearable rebuffering - not sure when it started but it's much worse than in the past, when it was an occasional issue. Now it's at least every 5 minutes. Worst when playing FLACs, but also an occasional issue streaming iPlayer live. Both players are showing 100% wireless signal strength and what looks to me like a good network test at 1,000 kbps (i.e Green and a mostly solid upper bar chart). I've just updated to nightly 7.7.3 - 1336728576 @ Wed May 16th. How should I go about diagnosing the issue, or even better solving this? All ideas welcome!

[banned for life]

I have a Touch and a Radio. I'm getting unbearable rebuffering - not sure when it started but it's much worse than in the past, when it was an occasional issue. Now it's at least every 5 minutes. Worst when playing FLACs, but also an occasional issue streaming iPlayer live. Both players are showing 100% wireless signal strength and what looks to me like a good network test at 1,000 kbps (i.e Green and a mostly solid upper bar chart). I've just updated to nightly 7.7.3 - 1336728576 @ Wed May 16th. How should I go about diagnosing the issue, or even better solving this? All ideas welcome!

Try inSSIDer. Installed on a wireless PC, it will tell you what access points are near (and may be interfering) with your SB experience. In general, access points you control are best set to high or low channels since your neighbors will be on defaults like 5 or 6.

I humbly remain

BFL

[Millwood]

another possibility is a failing wireless router/access point. I experienced that a while back - no way to pin it on the router - in fact I had a router and a second as an access point. Replaced the router - not much better. Took the old router and replaced the access point and the issues went away.

I can' offer any advice on how to test except by buying a new router. Sorry.

[Mnyb]

Don't forget the simplistic reboot of the router , it solves a a sursprisngly array of problems , they have software too and can get out of whack ? maybe it was since the last power outake it rebooted

[stevedresden]

Silly I know, but when my SB radio is in the kitchen and I turn the microwave on...rebuffering happens almost every time. Microwave off...is fine

[Mnyb]

Silly I know, but when my SB radio is in the kitchen and I turn the microwave on...rebuffering happens almost every time. Microwave off...is fine

You have a leaky microwave oven , they use roughly the same frequencies so some rf is leaving your micro .
Another source of non wifi interference can be baby monitors.

[mpower9]

I was having similar problems. I also noticed that when I turned my computer on it was having problems connecting with the router. I noticed that the network from the folks above me was new and had a very strong signal. I decided that it was overwhelming my ancient modem/router and went straight out and bought a new fancy modem router. Now my computer connects without problem and rebuffering is rare (not none existant, but rare).

[Mnyb]

I was having similar problems. I also noticed that when I turned my computer on it was having problems connecting with the router. I noticed that the network from the folks above me was new and had a very strong signal. I decided that it was overwhelming my ancient modem/router and went straight out and bought a new fancy modem router. Now my computer connects without problem and rebuffering is rare (not none existant, but rare).

With inSSIDer net stumbler and similar you can determine which channels that are most crowded avoid those then it gets even better, they also overlap badly so a good idea is to use ch 1,6 or 11 for G devices like squeezeboxes .

I've wired most my stuff for the same reasons to many neighbours with wifi .

[GreyBeard]

I recently had a rebuffering problem on all my players where the WiFi was around 90% and inSSider did not show any WiFi interference from neighbour's networks. After an awful lot of time spent eliminating possible causes I finally replaced the ethernet cable between my server and the router. Problem solved. Switching the original cable back in I found I could induce the rebuffering simply by jogging the faulty cable. With the new cable in place I found that file transfer times on my network were about five times faster. That should have been the clue that the problem was not WiFi.

I would suggest connecting a player close to your router directly by cable and see if you still get rebuffering. The outcome of that test shoudl help you home in on the problem. Don't assume that it is Wireless until you do that test.

[bobkoure]

Before driving yourself entirely crazy, run a wire, if you can, and see if the rebuffering goes away completely. I'm hardwired and still get it occasionally (seems to be a server hiccup). So make sure the problem is wireless.
That said, it probably is wireless.
If none of the above, very good, suggestions work for you, you could get a dd-wrt capable router with detachable antenna. Install dd-wrt, put it into wireless-to-ethernet bridge mode and connect your SB to the router with CAT5/6. Still doesn't work? Get an external, directional antenna and point it at your router. (you can get good results ailing your dipole antenna with a folded piece of aluminum foil. If you want sturdy, foldable aluminum foil, have a look at the disposable aluminum cookware at your supermarket; it cuts fine with scissors.)
I've used bridging to setup temporary circuits.
Also, ddwrt can do wireless-to-wireless bridging, but it's a bit fussier.

Just as a BTW general question, what wifi channels do the SB devices support? US spec? Japan/Europe?
If it supports Japan, so channel 14, and your router does, too, then, if you're in Japan (or are willing to be illegal) 14's the one to use. There's a gap between it and the lower freq's.