School issued Chromebooks hogging home WiFi signal

[Cernoma]

In trying to research this issue online, I almost feel like I'm imagining things... I'm a pretty tech savvy guy but just can't figure out why I'm having this new issue..

My daughters each received a school issued chrome book (2 chromebooks in total)... They are supposed to complete all school work on them.

Pretty cool... Free chrome books... The issue arises at home. When they use the home WiFi (supported by xfinity issued WiFi rental router)... All other users are, in effect booted from their pre-existing connections... It feels like the new Chromebooks are taking a priority over WiFi connection.

Now... last year, my daughters each used a laptop (not issued by school) for their work... Last year no one lost their existing WiFi connection... The rest of the family is using windows (laptop) or android (phone) products.

In comparison from year to year there is an equal count of devices that would consume a WiFi signal.. Again.. The only difference is that two laptops were flipped to chrome books

When the girls finish their homework, everyone else can get back online...


My question

It feels like the chrome books are set up in a way such that they will have priority over consuming signal... Perhaps even trading taking a bigger chunk...

If this is the case, if I'm not crazy, is there a network setting somewhere where I could affect said priority and said consumption rate... At this point ... These free chromebooks, originally meant to increase productivity for school work, are wreaking havoc on everyday household productivity for rest of household...

Any tips would be greatly appreciated, not to mention my give my sanity a nice check.

Thanks and have a great day.

 

[etaf]

it maybe some form of fixed IP address they have setup
can you post back the IP info from the chrome books - see here
http://www.verizonwireless.com/support/knowledge-base-38507/

do both chrome books connect OK together ?

 

[TerryNet]

With my lack of Chromebook experience I doubt if I can help much. But you really aroused my curiosity.

Do the other devices lose their Wi-Fi connection? Or do they maintain their connection, and access to each other and the router, but cannot access the internet? Or can they still access the internet but only very slowly?

Whichever it is, does an ethernet connection still work satisfactorily?

 

[DaveBurnett]

Is it not Chromebooks that effectively run the OS from the cloud?? If so, it certainly would not surprise me that they grab all the resources.
If you have control of the router, you can usually control the percentage of the resources that each machine is allowed to use, or change their priority.

 

[Cernoma]

it maybe some form of fixed IP address they have setup
can you post back the IP info from the chrome books - see here
http://www.verizonwireless.com/support/knowledge-base-38507/

do both chrome books connect OK together ?

First, thanks for taking a moment to reply... When girls come home from school today, I'll look...

If it is a fixed IP address, is that something that could be changed (assuming that's the culprit)? Next steps?

 

[Cernoma]

it maybe some form of fixed IP address they have setup
can you post back the IP info from the chrome books - see here
http://www.verizonwireless.com/support/knowledge-base-38507/

do both chrome books connect OK together ?

Oh.. Yes... At beginning of school year, it appeared that both girls could connect simultaneously.. That's said, they have recently indicated that they now need to schedule homework time.. One "active" chrome book at a time... Certainly not productive

 

[valis]

Is it not Chromebooks that effectively run the OS from the cloud?? If so, it certainly would not surprise me that they grab all the resources.
If you have control of the router, you can usually control the percentage of the resources that each machine is allowed to use, or change their priority.

Yup. And as the issue started with the introduction of them, betcha point A leads to point B.

 

[etaf]

depends on how the school use the address - its very unusual to used a fixed IP address - but thats the sort of thing that can knock others off - not usually all though

 

[Cernoma]

With my lack of Chromebook experience I doubt if I can help much. But you really aroused my curiosity.

Do the other devices lose their Wi-Fi connection? Or do they maintain their connection, and access to each other and the router, but cannot access the internet? Or can they still access the internet but only very slowly?

Whichever it is, does an ethernet connection still work satisfactorily?

Thank you for your reply... Yes.. It is curious.. I've been thinking for a bit about issue... I usually can fix these types of things myself... But no luck this time..

So... Yes.. Ethernet seems to work while one of the girls is using WiFi... Good there

Regarding connections to other devices... The devices see the router and attempt to connect, without success... The phones resort to mobile data plan... The laptops simply can't connect to internet... Task bar icon indicates no connection

 

[Cernoma]

Is it not Chromebooks that effectively run the OS from the cloud?? If so, it certainly would not surprise me that they grab all the resources.
If you have control of the router, you can usually control the percentage of the resources that each machine is allowed to use, or change their priority.

Thanks for helping to figure this out... I do think that is what chrome book is about .. Cloud stuff, including OS... I do have access to router settings... Hmm... I'll have to explore that more... At first glance I didn't see the ability you speak of (parsing of signals)... I'll definitely look again as it sounds promising... Thanks again

 

[DaveBurnett]

It is usually an option in the wireless users section.
You should find things in there like access control that limit machines by mac address(what I was referring to), ip address (not sensible unless fixed) time (definitely look at this), and target address(ie restricted sites)

 

[Cernoma]

It is usually an option in the wireless users section.
You should find things in there like access control that limit machines by mac address(what I was referring to), ip address (not sensible unless fixed) time (definitely look at this), and target address(ie restricted sites)

Great... I appreciate the information... I'll look and update the forum asap.

Hmmm... On the assumption that the chrome books best operate with the current resource allotment... (And I'm just thinking out loud here) ... Could there also be a hardware solution?... Say a better (or an additional) router... Just grasping at straws.

Thanks again

 

[DaveBurnett]

There's a very good chance that there will be a better router with more options than the one provided by your ISP.
Whether the ISP will allow you to use one though is a different question.
Here in the UK, if you know how to do it you can, but I keep the supplied one on the side so that If there are any problems with the line I can swap it in whilst I complain, sorry ring up about it.