Weird connectivity issue on Airtel broadband - Need help

MarioBros

MarioBros

Forerunner
Hey All,

I am stuck with a weird issue on my Airtel Broadband connection… completely frustrating experience, so here is the issue.

From last one month or so I am facing issues with couple of apps like WhatsApp and Instagram.

- On WhatsApp, viewing images and viewing status stops working/downloading randomly, as soon as I switch to mobile network the same images and status downloads fine.
- On Instagram, Reels/videos stop playing with a buffering rotating circle, happens randomly and not for all the videos, same issue not present on mobile network.

Both the above issues happening on all mobile phones on home wireless network (all phones are iOS), WhatsApp on these same phones work fine on mobile network or outside Wifi network, also WhatsApp images and status work perfectly fine on Windows app or WhatsApp web.

My Network setup

Huawei ONT >> Asus Router on Bridged mode >> Asus 2nd Router on AP mode

Troubleshooting I have done so far.

- Reset Asus routers and did a fresh install (issue remains same)
- New Fiber wiring done from Airtel box on terrace to ONT (issue remains same)
- Disconnected both Asus routers and enabled Wlan on Huawei ONT & tested WhatsApp and Insta (issue remains same).
- Uninstalled and reinstalled WhatsApp and Insta on multiple phones (issue remains same)
- Tried changing DNS to Google & Cloudflare (issue remains same)

This has been a very frustrating experience and completely stuck with the issue, pls suggest how do I troubleshoot this further?

Gif images which shows the issue exactly
ibb.co

Whats-App-GIF-2024-07-16-at-10-51-41 hosted at ImgBB

Image Whats-App-GIF-2024-07-16-at-10-51-41 hosted in ImgBB
ibb.co ibb.co
ibb.co

Whats-App-GIF-2024-07-16-at-10-51-57 hosted at ImgBB

Image Whats-App-GIF-2024-07-16-at-10-51-57 hosted in ImgBB
ibb.co ibb.co
ibb.co

Whats-App-GIF-2024-07-16-at-10-53-04 hosted at ImgBB

Image Whats-App-GIF-2024-07-16-at-10-53-04 hosted in ImgBB
ibb.co ibb.co
 
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oh yes I completely missed to update, I have changed the DNS to Google and also to Cloudflare but the issue remain the same

also one aspect I remember is I had setup a AdGuard server and was using the AdGuard DNS across my network (which I had added in my Asus router)

After couple of months removed the Adguard server moved back to Google DNS

I guess this issue started after this but I’m not completely sure
 
MarioBros said:
Hey All,

I am stuck with a weird issue on my Airtel Broadband connection… completely frustrating experience, so here is the issue.

From last one month or so I am facing issues with couple of apps like WhatsApp and Instagram.

- On WhatsApp, viewing images and viewing status stops working/downloading randomly, as soon as I switch to mobile network the same images and status downloads fine.
- On Instagram, Reels/videos stop playing with a buffering rotating circle, happens randomly and not for all the videos, same issue not present on mobile network.

Both the above issues happening on all mobile phones on home wireless network (all phones are iOS), WhatsApp on these same phones work fine on mobile network or outside Wifi network, also WhatsApp images and status work perfectly fine on Windows app or WhatsApp web.

My Network setup

Huawei ONT >> Asus Router on Bridged mode >> Asus 2nd Router on AP mode

Troubleshooting I have done so far.

- Reset Asus routers and did a fresh install (issue remains same)
- New Fiber wiring done from Airtel box on terrace to ONT (issue remains same)
- Disconnected both Asus routers and enabled Wlan on Huawei ONT & tested WhatsApp and Insta (issue remains same).
- Uninstalled and reinstalled WhatsApp and Insta on multiple phones (issue remains same)
- Tried changing DNS to Google & Cloudflare (issue remains same)

This has been a very frustrating experience and completely stuck with the issue, pls suggest how do I troubleshoot this further?

I will share videos soon, which shows the exact issue
Click to expand...
I have the same issues, but only over WiFi. WhatsApp messages/media and internet-based alerts take forever, I am using the stock Airtel router.

LAN, however, works absolutely fine, with zero issues.
 
MarioBros said:
oh yes I completely missed to update, I have changed the DNS to Google and also to Cloudflare but the issue remain the same

also one aspect I remember is I had setup a AdGuard server and was using the AdGuard DNS across my network (which I had added in my Asus router)

After couple of months removed the Adguard server moved back to Google DNS

I guess this issue started after this but I’m not completely sure
Click to expand...
Try getting the ONT changed from Airtel
 
Faced similar on Tata fiber as well on multiple occasions. Even a basic GM WA msg used to take ages yet never gets to load while on mobile data a 40mb file used to DL like1 gbps bb connection.
Was never ever able to pin point the issue nor the cc and nor the dns worked.
I used to resort to mobile data for WA and FB and rest all Wifi. Weird but had to keep fiddling.
Its stable since 2-3 months now.
 
Curious to know how changing an ONT will solve this? How will ONT's differentiate between Whatsapp traffic and other traffic? :eek:
 
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i also face similar issue especially in twitter and my guess is, its related to adblockers like adguard dns or pi hole. I use adguard dns and sometimes pi hole depends on the network connected. Whenever this problem occur, i connect to VPN or switch to mobile data incase its mobile, then it will immediately sort out.
 
anmolbhard004 said:
your pppoe session runs on huawei ont or asus?
Click to expand...
its IPoE in my Huawei ONT and then Asus router connected via bridged mode (Asus handles the DHCP & DNS)

I have a static IP assigned from Airtel

smnrock said:
i also face similar issue especially in twitter and my guess is, its related to adblockers like adguard dns or pi hole. I use adguard dns and sometimes pi hole depends on the network connected. Whenever this problem occur, i connect to VPN or switch to mobile data incase its mobile, then it will immediately sort out.
Click to expand...
even I am suspecting Adguard... I had setup Adguard as my DNS on the Asus router, after few months stopped adguard and went back to Cloudflare, that is when I remember this issue to have started.

as mentioned in the OP, this is mainly happening on iOS devices which is primary devices in my home network, 8-10 devices are iOS

kuduku said:
Whats the result of https://www.dnscheck.tools/ and https://dnsleaktest.com/
Click to expand...
ibb.co

Screenshot-1 hosted at ImgBB

Image Screenshot-1 hosted in ImgBB
ibb.co ibb.co
ibb.co

Screenshot-2 hosted at ImgBB

Image Screenshot-2 hosted in ImgBB
ibb.co ibb.co
 
I think I have found the root cause for the issue... it was the static IP allotted by airtel which caused this issue.
Airtel had moved to CGNAT and stopped public IPs, because of that port forwarding stopped working for my Homelab servers & VMs due to this I had activated static IP close to a year ago.

now that I have found alternate ways to access my home servers remotely, I decided to deactivate static IP (which airtel charged 300 + GST every month)..
Airtel team deactivated static IP 2 days back and moved my broadband connection back to dynamic which is now CGNAT...

post this, the issues which I had reported seems to be resolved... no more lag or delay in downloads on whatsapp and insta

Note - I will wait for few more days and confirm.
 
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