The apartment building's internet faced issues following the installation of new equipment by residents.
The apartment building's internet faced issues following the installation of new equipment by residents.
In the last couple of months my internet has been unreliable—not always slow but inconsistent and games lagging badly. At first the ISP sent someone who talked to my girlfriend, who isn’t familiar with networking. She mentioned something about new tenants changing their setup, which seems to be causing the issue. Apparently, the problem was fixed when she said they were directly porting into a different network. The setup is complex: five buildings, twelve units each, all connected via fiber at the street level. Each unit has an Ethernet switch plugged into a wall jack. Normally I get about 100Mbps download and similar speeds up. My router is a Linksys 3200ACM. Oddly enough, when I connect it to the wall it gets an IP like XXX.100, but whenever I restart or use release/renew on the router it stays XXX.206. The ISP doesn’t offer support after hours or weekends. The technician made it sound simple, but I’m confused about what was done with the switch. Any suggestions?
Some ISPs allocate IP addresses using the device's MAC address. Your router's MAC is configured with a specific ending, whereas your laptop with a different MAC receives another one. It's difficult to pinpoint the exact problem. I've encountered various internet configurations in complex setups, and each type—such as aDSL, vDSL, Cable, Fiber, LTE, etc.—has its own setup process.
This provided a short-term fix. I copied my laptop’s MAC address onto the router, which gave me a fresh IP address and things stabilized for a while. However, after several hours the connection failed completely. Windows reported an invalid IP configuration. I checked the switch—it’s unmanaged, so I didn’t mind restarting it. After power cycling, the internet came back online. Speed tests showed significant drops, but within minutes it was back to normal. The device model is TL-SG1016. I’m reluctant to restart it again, especially since it might affect neighbors, but it’s the only solution that works so far.
I'll contact the ISP since they’re the best resource. It seems there might be a setup problem or some hardware nearing replacement. Your configuration is quite different from what I’ve seen before.
It seems someone nearby is constantly connecting their modem to the wall switch, leading to a problem. A technician is scheduled today to assess and advise on any necessary repairs.