Lag and dc fest all day? Come on.

[Nathan_Hanefort]

Today I have the same routine - 3 lag spikes and than disconnect, for hours since this morning. Anyone else experiencing this? Yesterday everything was just fine.

 

To solve patch 0% download issues i had to switch to non streaming client and deleted bitraider, could it be related?

 

But seriously, I left Elder Scrolls Online (which have HUGE server lag issues) for Swtor again, because Swtor has a lot slower development, BUT I never had any lag/performance issues here. And yet now both my favorite MMORPGS gives me this...in 2020. Whats happening? Musk is flying to Mars soon, I have 1000 mb internet speed at home and yet.

Edited June 26, 2020 by Nathan_Hanefort

[xordevoreaux]

Two weird things when I have this problem:

 

1. Switching to a VPN does zero to help.

2. Turning off my cell phone's WiFi clears it up (and not once, but has done so on several occasions).

 

My computer's wired to the router, so you'd think whatever negligible WiFi bandwidth my phone is consuming wouldn't interfere, especially with a NetGear Blackhawk router less than a year old, and on a fiber optic connection, but I can't ignore the apparent causality. Cell phone WiFi off, spikes/disconnects gone.

Edited June 26, 2020 by xordevoreaux

[Nathan_Hanefort]

Wow, thats strange. I have TV wireless station in the room close to PC (which is wired as yours), but as I mentioned it never happened to me before - only today. I wonder do they preparing some hotfix on live servers and it somehow affects my gaming experience..

 

This just cant be on my end I hit ability and I see how my ms is rising from 58 to 135. I kill pack of mobs, i get spike to 6000. If I log in and do nothing, ms is steady 58.

[SteveTheCynic]

Two weird things when I have this problem:

 

1. Switching to a VPN does zero to help.

2. Turning off my cell phone's WiFi clears it up (and not once, but has done so on several occasions).

 

My computer's wired to the router, so you'd think whatever negligible WiFi bandwidth my phone is consuming wouldn't interfere, especially with a NetGear Blackhawk router less than a year old, and on a fiber optic connection, but I can't ignore the apparent causality. Cell phone WiFi off, spikes/disconnects gone.

That could be a bad cable that's picking up interference from the WiFi. When the phone (or at least its WiFi) is off, that interference stops because the cable is good enough when the WiFi is completely quiet.

[JediQuaker]

This just cant be on my end I hit ability and I see how my ms is rising from 58 to 135. I kill pack of mobs, i get spike to 6000. If I log in and do nothing, ms is steady 58.

That doesn't mean that the problem is at their end either. There's a whole lot of 'in between' that can cause problems.

[Kaveat]

As Steve mentioned, your described symptoms scream local RF and/or grounding issues.

[xordevoreaux]

That could be a bad cable that's picking up interference from the WiFi. When the phone (or at least its WiFi) is off, that interference stops because the cable is good enough when the WiFi is completely quiet.

 

That is a possibility. My connection to the outside world from the middle of the swamps here in Florida (okay, I exaggerate, there's only one swamp, the other side of our property is occupied by a cemetery) rests with one cable that can't be replaced (easily).

 

I live in an outbuilding behind the farmhouse, and the Internet connection goes from a Frontier interface hooked up to the front of the farmhouse, to the Frontier cable router in the living room in the farm house, and from there to me via a cat6 cable buried beneath a 20-foot stretch of concrete patio, then threaded through a cinderblock building next to mine, then through a hole through two layers of cinderblock bricks, and then down the interior of my wall to an in-line connector, and from the other side of that connector, via another cat6 cable, to my router.

 

The in-line connector is there because years ago I ripped off the little squeezy clip thing on the back of the long cable that circles the earth twice from the farmhouse to my building, and so the connection is loose, so the cable is carefully resting on top of a bookshelf (below the hole in the wall).

 

To your point, the edge of the shielding of the cable is gone and the wires are exposed (just a little bit but a little bit is all it takes).

 

If I knew how (and was brave enough to try) I'd crimp the end of the cat6 from the wall and put a new connector on it and then thread that directly to my router, but I don't trust myself and I sure as heck don't trust the $20/hour rednecks around here to do it.

 

What's odd is that this isn't a problem I've had forever, but I haven't had this phone forever too, so maybe there's an app on there that's constantly wanting attention and hopping on the Internet.

 

Edit: The possible culprit (see how the blue cable is frayed going into the in-line connector).

Edited June 26, 2020 by xordevoreaux

[Kaveat]

I don't trust myself and I sure as heck don't trust the $20/hour rednecks around here to do it.

 

at some point, you are either going to have to learn to do it yourself, or bite the bullet and bring in a professional to resolve the issue(s), because what you have described sounds like a fuster cluck that is at least in serious need of some maintenance, if not redesign and upgrading.

[SteveTheCynic]

I strongly recommend doing what it takes to replace the blue cable. If it's the buried one between the two buildings, then use it to pull a replacement through the duct.

 

Er, you did install it in a duct, right? Rather than just burying the cable?

[xordevoreaux]

I strongly recommend doing what it takes to replace the blue cable. If it's the buried one between the two buildings, then use it to pull a replacement through the duct.

 

Er, you did install it in a duct, right? Rather than just burying the cable?

 

No idea, but I didn't install it to know whether it's in something beneath the concrete or what. Not exactly wanting to go tugging on it to find out. Best easiest solution is just crimp the end off and put a new connector on it.

[Kaveat]

if that cable (the blue one from the farm house to your building) is not a UG rated cable (it will have a sticky gel in it if it is UG rated), or in a conduit, then that would be my first suspect.

 

2nd suspect is the "little squeezy clip thing" that you damaged, which may be part of the grounding, in which case you are going to continue to have intermittent problems until it is repaired or replaced (ie,, if its a grounded CAT cable, a stock connector will not work 100% as it will lack the grounding component)

Edited June 26, 2020 by Kaveat

[Nathan_Hanefort]

Sorry BW, it was on my end. Seems many gamers from my country experience the same problems and provider works on solving the issue.

[TrixxieTriss]

Two weird things when I have this problem:

 

1. Switching to a VPN does zero to help.

2. Turning off my cell phone's WiFi clears it up (and not once, but has done so on several occasions).

 

My computer's wired to the router, so you'd think whatever negligible WiFi bandwidth my phone is consuming wouldn't interfere, especially with a NetGear Blackhawk router less than a year old, and on a fiber optic connection, but I can't ignore the apparent causality. Cell phone WiFi off, spikes/disconnects gone.

 

Something interesting I noticed on the Netgear nighthawk r7000 I have is intermittent lag spikes while gaming. I found that devices using wifi can access even in sleep mode. Even with QOS enabled it made no difference.

So when I was gaming I would go into the router and restrict access to all other devices. But even that wasn’t perfect because I had other devices attached.

 

I have 2 of these routers and used to use them to bridge wifi to the upstairs media centre. But after I had the whole house wired with Cat6e, I didn’t need to do that and just used one as a router and the other as a wired access point. What I ended up doing is running all wireless through the AP one and then turning off network access to it when I was gaming. But even this didn’t fully resolve the issue, even though it got better,

 

I read plenty of industry insider info for months and others were saying the software isn’t optimised properly and to use third party firmware on the router. But even then, it’s still not perfect.

 

Considering my longer distant to the game servers, I feel every little bit of extra lag more than most because it’s already borderline sometimes. So I have gone the extra mile over the years to streamline and eliminate all extra (non game) lag as much as possible.

 

In the end I decided to buy a new Asus router RT-AX88u and all those unexplained internal lag spikes disappeared. I can even have my wifi devices connected directly to the Asus router and have no issues. But for one caveat, I still have one of the nighthawk routers setup as a switch/AP where my media centre is and if I don’t restrict its access while I’m gaming, I get the same lag spikes I had before.

 

So my only conclusion is the netgear r7000 is a piece of junk if you are a PC gamer who needs stable traffic routing. Something that’s also recently come to light is there are serious security issues allowing hackers to take control of a whole bunch of nighthawk branded router models (and other Netgear equipment).

Netgear was told about this in February and has done nothing about it. So the security industry decided to make it publicly known to put pressure on Netgear to fix it.

That was over a month ago and they still haven’t rolled out any security patches. (which is both sad and terrible considering they are a massive company who only specialises in networks)

 

My advice if you can afford it, is buy a new router of a different brand. But do some research first. I hear good things about the new Linksys routers and I can vouch for the Asus router model I’m using. It’s far superior to the Netgear rubbish. And what’s sad about the situation is Asus aren’t a specialist network company like Netgear, but they make a better product that’s supported better. I will never by Netgear again and I’ve been using them for over 20 years.

[Kaveat]

I will never by Netgear again and I’ve been using them for over 20 years.

 

TBH, I have not purchased a Netgear product for over 15 years. Great warranty, on paper, but the functionality and support has been on a down slope since ~2004. Granted, most of the rest of the industry has as well, but some are still better at certain things than others.

 

As for the rest, LSS, the state of things is such that if you have fewer than 8 devices, combined wired or wireless, you can just get a generic economy (cheap) router/switch and usually be fine. You should plan on replacing it ( the router) every other year or so just to keep up with newer technologies & securities, but beyond that just save your money (as compared to 'name brand' products) and do not buy into whatever shiny-itis bell or whistle brand x offers to catch your eye.

 

If you have 8+ devices, emphasis on the wireless side, consider segmenting your network. Router with no inherent WiFi function (or even a software/vm solution that has very low hardware restrictions and no need to worry about upgrading for many years), dedicated switch for all wired connections, and an access point (or two) dedicated for wireless devices.

 

The 8+ route has a higher up front cost, but you'll have a lower overhead as the years go by.

 

 

 

Ubiquity EdgeMax router ( EdgeRouter X SFP if you have fiber service), nearly any enterprise grade HP switch (commonly under $100 on eBay), then back to Ubiquity for a UniFi Access Point, though the prices range with functionality and max load capabilities, most can get the most basic unit (AC Lite) and be fine, though more commonly used is the long range (AC LR) version.

 

In my own case, I use a ERX SFP for my own ISP connections. Been in place for ~6 years now and still working fine. I got a bundle of 3 HP L3 24 port switches some years ago for under $100 (shipped), mainly so I'd have spares if one failed, but 10+ years later and am still on the first one. For WiFI, I had started with a tri-pack of basic UniFI AP's, but as number of devices increased (and available ranges improved), I upgraded about 3 years ago. Now with ~20 devices on at any given point, I have an AC Pro in the house, and an AC LR out in the barn (which also covers the rear half of the property).