Can introducing a VPN laptop into my home network cause my IPTV box to lag?

by HelwaniFan21

Super weird situation.

So my wife and I got an IPTV box (MAG324) a few weeks ago. We have 1GB download speed on our Wi-Fi. Whether the box was hard-wired or on Wi-Fi, the signal was buttery smooth. No lag whatsoever.

That all changed about a week ago. Almost every channel starts chugging. (Before you ask if it's the stream provider having issues, the person we bought the box from sold identical boxes to two other friends of ours. Their boxes work perfectly as we speak).

So then my wife and I started thinking ... what could've possibly changed in the past week that our IPTV box starts suddenly chugging? The ONLY thing I could think of is that I introduced a laptop from my work into our home network. It connects to a VPN server in Toronto. (I'm in Windsor.)

Last night, in an effort to try and fix our IPTV box, I performed a factory reset of our modem. Changed passwords, all that stuff. I did not reconnect the VPN laptop at this point.

When we tested the IPTV box last night followng the factory reset on our modem. the IPTV performed much better. A few hiccups here and there, but it was pretty smooth for the most part.

This morning, I reconnected the VPN laptop to our home network. I go back to our IPTV box. Sure enough, it's lagging again.

My question is: How is this possible? How is it that introducing a VPN laptop can somehow cause my IPTV box to lag? I've even connected my VPN laptop to a guest network on my Wi-Fi and my IPTV box is HARD-WIRED. Still, my IPTV is lagging.

yourworldisallwrong

There might be some QoS service in your home router or you ISP end that’s is de prioritizing the IPTV traffic.

What is that laptop doing over the VPN? It can’t be just sitting idle. A foreign device on your home network is a cancer, especially if it was set up by some half competent corporate IT that may be trying to continually monitor and manage it. A mis-configuration on the laptop can be causing all sorts of problems, including bending all internet traffic via the VPN so the company’s router and DNS can act as a man in the middle and log/analyze traffic for security threats from the company’s point of view.

If thus is that awful Palo Alto global protect VPN malware that’s so prevalent, I suggest killing the process via task manager when you are disconnected, or run it within a Linux Virtual Machine ( it’s what I do to prevent the stupid thing from constantly logging what the host system is doing)

s0ulslack

Try a vpn at home, sounds like a poor connection from your isp/throttling

Suspect4

Had same problem vpn was throttling and decreasing speeds I ended up stopping the vpn and using the box alone

aandras

Disconnect the laptop when not on corporate hours.

Treborsknad

Could depend on your settings on the VPN.. eg protocol settings for instance. I have a couple of different VPN providers and find there can be a difference between using them on my connection..

hydra78us

Are you on static IP or dynamic IP?. If it is dynamic, try forcing your modem to obtain a new IP address from your ISP. This is usually achieved by turning off (power down) your modem for at least 4-5 hrs. You can do this at night before going to bed.

Also did you configure your VPN on the router itself or are you connecting into VPN from your company issued laptop?.

Allrounder1234

Honest answer I don't think you will get anywhere with this.

I would say try the streams on another box but you be hardcoded to the mag box.

All you can really try is tether it to a phone or do a box swap with your friend. It highly unlikely it's the laptop causing this.

Can also hear the seller saying streams are fine it's your end from here.

Maybe try another provider via m3u to rule that out? Don't PM me for recommendations and let's hope the re seller vultures don't sweep in.