Poor gaming experience - but struggling to actually ‘fix’ it

[RachT123]

So I’ve been gaming on WiFi for many years (obviously not ideal, but wasn’t causing too many problems until recently)

Due to my physical disability, I cannot run an Ethernet cable to the desired location (I also have no family/friends who can do DIY) + Powerline is probably unsuitable (age of wiring. different circuits etc) plus I’ve heard it’s not much better (speeds and that - I have a 500mbps connection)

So I started trying to contact electricians/AV people many of whom have failed to respond and those that are responding are giving me ridiculous prices (one was £480+VAT, which is absolutely ridiculous for one cable, probably 2 hours of work). I’ve also tried posting on my local FB groups with no real success. I’ve also heard that the well known websites (CheckaTrade, MyBuilder etc) are rubbish and haven’t had much success with responses from tradespeople from them either.

Route is from the living room at the back of the house to a gaming PC in the upstairs bedroom directly above, so not particularly complex

I’m in SW London if that helps anyone to suggest anybody - but would appreciate some advice in general.

Occasionally I am able to play with an experience that is somewhat acceptable, but most of time it’s unusable due to the variation in latency - switched from VM (which I know is poor for latency) to EE FTTP which has helped slightly, but not very much

Testing on the Xbox Series X that is downstairs and can be connected via Ethernet at any time of day is always fine, so I think it’s 100% the WiFi.

Sorry for the long post but really needed to vent.

[R32]

You could maybe try a range extender that plugs into a wall socket and acts as a go-between your PC and the main WIFI point?

That might actually introduce more latency, so am not convinced it is the perfect solution. But if distance to the main WIFI router is an issue, a range extender would help.

Could you buy a really long patch cable and as a test run it from the main router to your PC (not affixing permanently anywhere, just loose)? It might be worth proving to yourself that the issue IS actually the WIFI before spending $$$ having a cable installed professionally.

[RachT123]

Definitely worth a go- thanks! (where can I get an incredibly long one)

[GiantEnemyCrab]

A long Ethernet cable tacked to skirting board / tucked under edge of carpet sounds like the solution in the short term. They come in millions of colours.

[captain_cynic]

Power line ethernet adapter?

[mmm-five]

What wifi card/dongle is being used? Does it support the latest, stronger wifi standards?

What channel/frequency are you using on the VM router (some are heavily congested, and some work better than others through walls/floors)?

What VM router model is it (newer ones are 'better', but still not brilliant)?

Is the VM router close to other electronic devices (behind TV, next to microwave, etc.) or tucked away in a lead box?

[Fletch79]

Alot of houses have COAX Aerial cables already installed
Is there a Coax Cable already in place close to the router and your gaming setup?

In my house i have aerial cables already in place and have utilised MoCa
I get my full fibre connection over the MoCa mesh network.

Even if its closer to your gaming setup you could then use a wired mesh node close to your gaming rig to much improve your wifi connection

In My House i have
ONT >> Router >> MOCA Master -- MoCa Slave 1 >> Gaming PC
?-- MoCa Slave 2 >> MESH Node

The MoCa network only has one master and can have many Slaves - As i have coax in all my rooms i can just keep adding Slaves in each room if i wanted.

If you want to do more than Point to Point you do need to consider what is required - I use the same cabling for TV Aerial - So i have a filter to split the TV from the MoCa frequencies


ETA - https://www.gocoax.com/ma2500d

Edited by Fletch79 on Wednesday 22 May 10:31

[Badda]

Maybe try a Mesh network? I’ve just got a tp-link one for about £100. Works very well in a fairly large house which WiFi used to struggle in.

[RachT123]

Thanks for your reply (and sorry for the delay, I was stopped from replying by the system)

The PC in question has an ASUS B550 motherboard with WiFi 6 (says the card is a MediaTek MT7921, in case that’s of note, so don’t think that’s the problem.

Switched from VM to EE - but the signal on both routers (VM Hub5 and EE SmartHub Plus -tbh both default routers that I agree would need replacing, but I have no idea about routers) has always been poor, there are no obstructions.

Using my iPhone’s Airport Utility app to test the signal levels upstairs. I’m getting around 70 dBm on Channels 64 and 11.

[mmm-five]

What speeds/ping are you getting if you run speedtest on your iPhone when next to the PC?

Are the wifi aerial cables connected fully and finger tight? Are the aerials on top of the PC or behind?

I've just tested mine (router is in the front-right room of the house, behind 2 computers and 2 monitors):

• computer directly wired to the VM router I get 1050mbps, and 10-13ms ping
• with the iPhone next to the VM router I get -30 to -50dB and lose about 40% of my wired download speeds. Ping is 16-18ms
• with the iPhone in the diagonally opposite rear-left room I get -50 to -70dB and lose about 60% of my wired download speeds. Ping is 18-21ms.

[RachT123]

So in the room the PC is, I’m getting around 400mbps (20% loss) on the Speedtest app. Although the speeds are highly variable (did a test by the router and got 112mbps)

Signal level downstairs is around 30-40dBm

[Lucas Ayde]

RachT123 said:

So I’ve been gaming on WiFi for many years (obviously not ideal, but wasn’t causing too many problems until recently)

Due to my physical disability, I cannot run an Ethernet cable to the desired location (I also have no family/friends who can do DIY) + Powerline is probably unsuitable (age of wiring. different circuits etc) plus I’ve heard it’s not much better (speeds and that - I have a 500mbps connection)

You can semi-abuse Amazon's returns policy and try a pair of Powerline Adapters. If they aren't satisfactory for your location, just send them back.

Speeds will not be the full ones suggested by the packaging (they are the theoretical max for the tech) but may be good enough especially as latency and packet loss is going to be lower than wifi repeaters or mesh .. assuming that they work properly on your mains wiring setup of course.

If you want to stick with Wifi, a mesh network is going to be better than a repeater overall. Better coverage and handling of devices moving around the house and shouldn't be any more latency than a repeater. Also potentially more flexibilty (a lot of mesh points will let you hang stuff off them via ethernet).

[RachT123]

So I did consider getting a powerline but there's not enough plug sockets (my house has a severe lack of them) - I presume this would be a problem with a mesh as well

I had an Ethernet cable ran to the computer today (for a reasonable price - not anywhere near £480!) and the quality of the connection has definitely improved there (now getting a good experience in games and consistently 500mbps)

Would Wireless Access Points be worth considering - other WiFi devices anywhere but the living room are struggling. I've also heard of ASUS's AIMesh where two ASUS routers can act as a mesh (is this worth considering, particularly as I need more than one Ethernet port on the main router?)

Edited by RachT123 on Friday 24th May 21:35

[scjgreen]

RachT123 said:

Thanks for your reply (and sorry for the delay, I was stopped from replying by the system)

The PC in question has an ASUS B550 motherboard with WiFi 6 (says the card is a MediaTek MT7921, in case that’s of note, so don’t think that’s the problem.

Switched from VM to EE - but the signal on both routers (VM Hub5 and EE SmartHub Plus -tbh both default routers that I agree would need replacing, but I have no idea about routers) has always been poor, there are no obstructions.

Using my iPhone’s Airport Utility app to test the signal levels upstairs. I’m getting around 70 dBm on Channels 64 and 11.

The MediaTek Wifi Card could absolutely be the issue. They have a terrible reputation.

What about getting a Networking Company or Electrician in to run an Ethernet Cable for you?

[BlueMR2]

RachT123 said:

So I did consider getting a powerline but there's not enough plug sockets (my house has a severe lack of them) - I presume this would be a problem with a mesh as well

I had an Ethernet cable ran to the computer today (for a reasonable price - not anywhere near £480!) and the quality of the connection has definitely improved there (now getting a good experience in games and consistently 500mbps)

Would Wireless Access Points be worth considering - other WiFi devices anywhere but the living room are struggling. I've also heard of ASUS's AIMesh where two ASUS routers can act as a mesh (is this worth considering, particularly as I need more than one Ethernet port on the main router?)

Edited by RachT123 on Friday 24th May 21:35

Your computer is most likely getting a full speed 1gigabit link to the router.

Wifi is a number of channels at 2.4 or 5ghz. 2.4 travels further but is slower.

All the devices you have on wifi have to exist together, only one can speak at a time. So if you are gaming and someone is watching netflix both on the same wireless network channel they share the bandwidth.

You have things like microwaves and cordless phones for example that can affect the signal.

However, not only are your devices competing for the bandwidth, so is everyone else's.

If you live in a busy area, if you have lots of neighbours using WIFI devices, you have more and more devices to share the bandwidth with.

I just set my phone to scan and it picked up about 10 devices that were from cars driving past my house, all using similar channels, these could easily cause intermittent performance as they go past but be very hard to trace.

As a rule, if it can be wired it will be wired, I use wifi where wiring is not possible, eg phone tablet etc.

[MesoForm]

Badda said:

Maybe try a Mesh network? I’ve just got a tp-link one for about £100. Works very well in a fairly large house which WiFi used to struggle in.

This is the solution we've gone with in our house - a set of three TP-link mesh things allows us to get decent wi-fi signal all over the house.
Before doing that I did get an external wi-fi aerial for my PC so the signal got to it away from the main computer, that helped too and only costs a few £ for one. Something like this
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bingfu-Magnetic-Antenna-W...
if you've got the right connectors on the back of your PC.