Networking Help Needed

[synthesi]

Hello, I purchased a Netgear Nighthawk XR500 several months ago and i just want to ensure that i have it configured optimally. To give you a little background on my current setup i am using a Ubee E31U2V1 modem supplied by Charter/Spectrum. Unfortunately i am located in Hawaii and the ISP's are not the greatest here, but i am forced to work with what i have. I am on a (cable) broadband internet connection with a download speed of 940mbps and an upload speed of 35mbps. The only users of the home network are myself and my fiancée, we are both avid gamers and have our gaming PC's connected via shielded CAT6 cable directly into the router. I do currently have QoS enabled. I have given most of the bandwidth to our gaming pc's equally,with the overall sliders set at 90%. I did read on the forums that it is recommended to be at 70% but didnt think that was necessary in our setup.When we are both gaming there is no other traffic on the network. Should i still utilize the QoS feature on the router? Is there anything else i can do to optimize the network? My ping while gaming is anywhere from 60-100. I am unable to check modem logs since the ISP blocks it, however i did work as a cable technician for a few years and when the service was installed/upgraded i made the tech show me all the readings and everything on the ISP's end seems to be in order so i don't believe there are any issues with them. Unfortunately due to geographic location i know that my ping will definitely be higher than someone located in the states, i am mostly concerned with my connection to Fortnite's West Coast servers. I have tried using VPN service as well, such as Mudfish, but did not notice any improvement with ping. My main goal is to have consistently low ping, preferably 60-70. I have seen it drop as low as 55 on occasion and am wondering why it cant always stay at 50-60.

Thank you for your time and hopefully you are able to provide me with some guidance!

[Netduma Jack]

2 hours ago, synthesi said:

Thank you for your time and hopefully you are able to provide me with some guidance!

Hi, welcome to the forum! Hello from the UK

So it sounds like you've got the right idea about your QoS settings. While you're gaming you could always enable QoS (i.e leave Anti-Bufferbloat on 'When High Priority Traffic Detected') but on those speeds you should be fine for local congestion no matter what.

VPN's won't improve your ping, in fact they're more likely to make things worse since they just add a middle-man in your connection.

What I'd recommend is A: getting to know your line quality / base ping, and B: understanding where the servers in your region are located and optimising for it.

You can achieve A by downloading Pingplotter and running a few tests. I'd recommend using a local news site if there is one, or Twitter.com as your Target URL. (That'll make sense when you're on Pingplotter!) Run a test and drop a screenshot here if you need a hand understanding it.

With B, try the new Ping Assist feature that should be available for your XR500. Set Ping Assist to 60 / 70ms, then set your home location in the ocean and reduce the distance slider way down. That way you can only connect using Ping Assist, which will connect you to anything with a ping below the value you select. I hope this helps

[synthesi]

After playing around with the Geo-Filter a little i realized something. Fortnite uses Amazon servers, there are 2 servers for the West Coast. A server located in Oregon, and a server located in Northern California. 

https://www.cloudping.info/

US-West (California)	75 ms
US-West (Oregon)	89 ms

My latency to the California server is much better and i would love to play on that one but no matter how hard i try i can not get my game to connect to that server.

I have set the Geo-Filter to only include the state of California. I also tried enabling strict mode as well as denying the Oregon server. Neither of those options work, every time i search for a match it puts me on the Oregon server for some reason, even when i have a better connection to the California server. Hopefully i am just doing something wrong, but i don't think that is the case, as i have watched several videos on how to use the Geo-Filter and read the forums a bit as well. Thank you for the prompt response, looking forward to hearing back from you!

 

I will download Pingplotter as well and do some additional digging with that.

🌴

[Netduma Jack]

4 hours ago, synthesi said:

After playing around with the Geo-Filter a little i realized something. Fortnite uses Amazon servers, there are 2 servers for the West Coast. A server located in Oregon, and a server located in Northern California. 

https://www.cloudping.info/

US-West (California)	75 ms
US-West (Oregon)	89 ms

My latency to the California server is much better and i would love to play on that one but no matter how hard i try i can not get my game to connect to that server.

I have set the Geo-Filter to only include the state of California. I also tried enabling strict mode as well as denying the Oregon server. Neither of those options work, every time i search for a match it puts me on the Oregon server for some reason, even when i have a better connection to the California server. Hopefully i am just doing something wrong, but i don't think that is the case, as i have watched several videos on how to use the Geo-Filter and read the forums a bit as well. Thank you for the prompt response, looking forward to hearing back from you!

 

I will download Pingplotter as well and do some additional digging with that.

🌴

So just to clarify, you've set your region to US: West? Are you still able to connect to the California server using your Modem, but not your Netduma?

Might be something we need to test on our end!

[synthesi]

Yes, my region is set to US West. I have also tried (auto) as well in game to see if the results were different but had no luck. I will connect directly to the modem and see if i can get some different results.

[Netduma Admin]

You’re spot on with those two servers on the West Coast. When you usually play, the game will randomly choose between those two (usually 50:50 split in or testing). So if you’re just getting one at the moment it sounds like either Fortnite are deliberately putting you on the other one, or more likely, they’re actively not putting people on the California server at the moment. Perhaps due to server load. 

How long have you been trying/testing this for? Have you ever actually seen the California server?

[synthesi]

I turned on the Geo-Filter today. So far every match has connected to the California servers. My ping is so much better, this is amazing! I will keep this post updated to see if this pattern continues  Maybe it was something i said in the Epic forums but i doubt it  

[Netduma Jack]

On 12/15/2018 at 10:10 PM, synthesi said:

I turned on the Geo-Filter today. So far every match has connected to the California servers. My ping is so much better, this is amazing! I will keep this post updated to see if this pattern continues  Maybe it was something i said in the Epic forums but i doubt it  

Awesome, that's great. Long may it continue