My sister and I both use wired Ethernet connections: I use my PC for gaming, while she uses her TV for streaming. Whenever my PC is turned on and connected, her TV starts buffering and streaming becomes slow. She says the TV works normally when I'm away and my PC is turned off.
We currently can't access the router because it requires an app login, and we've been unable to create an account with the internet provider. As a temporary workaround, I changed my PC's Ethernet adapter speed from Auto-Negotiation to 100 Mbps, and eventually had to lower it to 10 Mbps to stop affecting the TV. There doesn't seem to be an option between 10 and 100 Mbps. My PC's network usage in Task Manager never appeared to exceed a few percent, and a speed test reached about 933 Mbps when the adapter was set to Auto.
I'd like to use more than 10 Mbps on my PC without making the TV buffer. I've already checked for obvious downloads and enabled metered networking. I also recently disabled IPv6 to see whether that helped. What could be causing this, and what can I try without access to the router settings?
4 Answers
The most useful long-term fix would be router-side bandwidth management, such as QoS or a per-device limit. That can reserve enough capacity for streaming while still allowing your PC to run faster than 10 Mbps. Since the router is rented from the provider and you can’t access its app, contacting the provider to recover the account or asking them to enable QoS may be necessary. IPv6 is unlikely to be the cause here.
The adapter speed setting probably isn’t fixing the underlying problem; it’s just limiting how much traffic your PC can send. The router may be struggling with congestion or bufferbloat when your PC uses bandwidth, even if Task Manager doesn’t show a large percentage. Large game updates, cloud-sync programs, launchers, or background downloads are worth checking, and you can set download and upload limits inside those apps.
I checked my open programs and the connection has been marked as metered, but I’ll check for background launchers and cloud-sync activity more carefully.
Run separate speed tests while the TV is streaming and compare the results with your PC on and off. Also watch both download and upload usage, since a saturated upload can cause buffering even when download usage looks low. If the problem only appears when traffic is active, limiting the PC’s download or upload speed in the router or the specific application should work better than forcing the Ethernet link to 10 Mbps.
Try replacing the Ethernet cable and using a different router port if possible. A damaged cable or a port that is negotiating poorly can cause errors and retransmissions, which may make the whole connection behave badly. Normally, the adapter should stay on Auto-Negotiation and connect at 1 Gbps; forcing it to 10 Mbps is only a workaround, not an ideal permanent setting.
The adapter reaches roughly 933 Mbps on Auto, so I’ll try to get the provider to help recover access to the router settings.