Netduma Fraser

Appreciate the comments, as you can imagine determining the tone of text based responses can be difficult at times so I thank you for your interpretation. We've always said we're a software company at heart, the innovation lies in the software so that's always going to be our primary focus. Based on our track record we've brought out a new router when it made sense to do so, i.e. where the software became more advanced to the point where it would flourish more on better hardware. We don't have any plans to stop so new hardware will come out at some point, we don't indicate when that happens until we're ready to announce it.

Added https://forum.netduma.com/forum/151-netduma-r3-early-access/

It's taken years of R&D, they're not small features, they're substantial so that's why they've taken time. If you feel that taking a long time to release an update is good marketing to encourage people to spend more money then I don't know what to tell you but that's not how we'd do it

Great to hear you found the issue, thanks for reporting back with the solution!

Before loading up the game ensure you zoom out fully on the map, there is likely a server being blocked - most likely in Ireland, if so then add it to your allow list - you may need to do it a few times (as in once the game has been closed/exited the next time you go on) but then when done it should work fine when enabled. If you could then provide us the IDs we can get them globally whitelisted. After this if you're still then getting games outside your radius after following my previous forcing server instructions please provide a screenshot of the Geo-Filter page showing what you see when that happens.

You can't setup to apply different locations/radius sizes etc for different games, this was something we were considering/looking into the feasibility of adding, it may come in the future.

Gotcha, in that case, if you are regularly playing during those times then it may be best to enter your average speeds so if it's 900 off peak, 600 peak, 750 would be best to enter, see if you can gain more consistency that way.

Added

To force servers you need to do the following: Of course move your location/radius to the US but It's essential the Geo-Filter is enabled before the game client (e.g. Steam etc) if on PC or platform (e.g. Xbox, PlayStation) or the game have been launched. If you change Geo-Filter settings when you're on the game then you will need to restart the game for those changes to take effect, otherwise it will use the previous Geo-Filter settings and appear not to be working. For settings ensure Ping Assist and Geo-Latency are disabled in the Geo-Filter menu that can be found by clicking ⋮ in the top right hand corner of the page and go to Settings. Strict Mode should also be enabled, it is enabled by default so if you haven't disabled it you can ignore it. If you have disabled it or want to check it can be found in the same Settings menu as above or in Settings > Troubleshooting > Advanced > Developer Options depending on your firmware version. Fast Search should also be disabled which it is by default so can be ignored if you haven't changed it, otherwise this can be found in the same place. Also keep in mind based on your location if it's going to cause you to have a really high ping playing on NA servers it may prevent you playing on them or cause excessively long search times.

Ah well at least it's flagged something else looking into it! It depends how that PC was configured but even PCs that are completely off, i.e. not in standby can be woken by LAN/WAN packets being transmitted to it, I don't know but in theory that also means the PC could be sending packets while off too if it's actively listening for packets, unlikely but as you say best to remove it just in case. Looking forward to the update!

No worries! Congestion Control should definitely be used to eliminate any existing or potential future issues caused by other devices on your network - all it takes is one singular download on your network to use all your available bandwidth and start causing issues. We usually suggest starting at 70% and fine tuning from there - you could have it set to Always or Auto Enable if you just want it to apply when gaming and then you get full speeds at all other times - this does require Traffic Prioritization which I'll come to. Bandwidth Allocation you can leave at the defaults, you won't really see any benefits from adjusting it with your speeds. For Traffic Prioritization you don't need to prioritize all gaming consoles - if you disable DumaOS Classified Games it will only then apply to the specific devices you add. You may be referring to adding these devices with the Games Console service/rule - this does not mean it applies to all gaming devices in your home, it just means it covers the necessary ports that gaming uses per the device you add it for. This is particularly helpful for a PC for example if say Valorant when specifically added isn't prioritizing (it uses a different method to prioritize which is susceptible to becoming out of date). By selecting your PC with the Games Console service it will prioritize the game and won't ever become out of date like the specific Valorant service will. By selecting this it won't prioritize downloads or streaming, regular web browsing etc so you won't see any issues from a stray download getting prioritized for example. If you so choose you could just add your PC to Traffic Prioritization, you don't need to add all consoles. This should then in theory give you the edge if all gaming devices are being used at the same time. That's fair enough, doesn't sound like you need the Geo-Filter at this stage.

Good information above, also if you haven't already you will need to go through/complete the Setup Wizard before you can get internet even if you don't need to enter those details

Yes you will, we've spent a lot of time and resources on these new features so yes they will be coming

I'm not sure where you've got that information but: We don't have any specific recommendations based on connection type We don't suggest to stay within a certain percentage range Are you referring to lag compensation - the theory that if your connection is too good that the game essentially makes your connection worse/helps worse connection players have a fairer experience? The first two are not correct, there are no one size fits all settings, every connection is different so its best to experiment to find what works best for you. As for lag compensation, I don't know how much I believe the aspect where they make your connection worse but I'm sure they do have measures in place so that people with worse connections can have a better experience than they would otherwise have.

Good to hear you're seeing much better results after switching the setup, thanks for providing an update with your results, I will pass your experience on to the team so they can look into this more.

Added, you can find it here: https://forum.netduma.com/topic/58424-new-r3-firmware-dumaos-40645/

You don't need a VPN for that: Quit the application/game/client completely - including the game client from the System Tray - important! Remove device from the Geo-Filter Give your PC the PlayStation Device Type in the Device Manager Resync from the Geo-Filter Map menu Re-add the device to the Geo-Filter Set up the Geo-Filter how you like Wait 2 minutes Boot up application/game/client To force servers you need to do the following: It's essential the Geo-Filter is enabled before the game client (e.g. Steam etc) if on PC or platform (e.g. Xbox, PlayStation) or the game have been launched. If you change Geo-Filter settings when you're on the game then you will need to restart the game for those changes to take effect, otherwise it will use the previous Geo-Filter settings and appear not to be working. For settings ensure Ping Assist and Geo-Latency are disabled in the Geo-Filter menu that can be found by clicking ⋮ in the top right hand corner of the page and go to Settings. Strict Mode should also be enabled, it is enabled by default so if you haven't disabled it you can ignore it. If you have disabled it or want to check it can be found in the same Settings menu as above or in Settings > Troubleshooting > Advanced > Developer Options depending on your firmware version. Fast Search should also be disabled which it is by default so can be ignored if you haven't changed it, otherwise this can be found in the same place.

If it has the ability to port forward then double NAT can be avoided, even if it doesn't the R3 has UPnP relay to attempt to alleviate that problem in situations like that. You've landed on the CPU being overworked/being the cause which isn't necessarily the case (more would need to be done to determine if it was), each core is dedicated to a specific purpose, them being raised just means they're working in tandem which is what you'd expect. Just like a PC, your CPU/GPU can max out but your game is still smooth. Either way you've expressed a wish to proceed with a different path so we'll continue in emails.

Do this: Quit the application/game/client completely - including the game client from the System Tray - important! Remove device from the Geo-Filter Give the PC the PlayStation Device Type in the Device Manager Resync from the Geo-Filter Map menu Re-add the device to the Geo-Filter Set up the Geo-Filter how you like Wait 2 minutes Boot up application/game/client To force servers you need to do the following: It's essential the Geo-Filter is enabled before the game client (e.g. Steam etc) if on PC or platform (e.g. Xbox, PlayStation) or the game have been launched. If you change Geo-Filter settings when you're on the game then you will need to restart the game for those changes to take effect, otherwise it will use the previous Geo-Filter settings and appear not to be working. For settings ensure Ping Assist and Geo-Latency are disabled in the Geo-Filter menu that can be found by clicking ⋮ in the top right hand corner of the page and go to Settings. Strict Mode should also be enabled, it is enabled by default so if you haven't disabled it you can ignore it. If you have disabled it or want to check it can be found in the same Settings menu as above or in Settings > Troubleshooting > Advanced > Developer Options depending on your firmware version. Fast Search should also be disabled which it is by default so can be ignored if you haven't changed it, otherwise this can be found in the same place.

Is it Sammy-PC the device connected to LAN port 3? Are you able to disconnect this for a day or two to see if the WiFi issue persists? It could be relevant, you can connect it to the ISP modem/router instead during this process, obviously not ideal but I think it's important to eliminate it as a potential cause.

It's not my conclusion that its a hardware issue currently, I mentioned what the next steps would be to see if you experience the same behaviour, sounds like you did the first part to determine that changing the Congestion Control values did not make any real differences so now: "It could be the combination of PPPoE & VLAN, do the test as above see how you get on and if it continues then have your foulan handle PPPoE/VLAN instead of the R3 and see if you get better results that way." This will give us a clear indication of whether your connection method is impacting regular functioning and devs can be notified if that is the case.

No need to create a new topic, I'll close this one and respond to your first topic.

If it's working without the Geo-Filter enabled then it'll 100% be those servers that need to be added, they can appear and disappear very quickly. Either way the team will investigate and resolve it via a cloud update as soon as they can.

Yes ignore its recommendation and fine tune Congestion Control manually to see if you can get better results. Follow this guide https://support.netduma.com/frequently-asked-questions/legacyfaqs/test-your-ping/ while downloading & start with 95% for Congestion Control (set to Always), check results, decrease by 10%, check, decrease by 10% etc, until you get to a value that is pretty good & then try 5% either side of that value to see if it can be improved. Download & Upload on Congestion Control don't have to be the same value & you may have a better experience with differing values. It could be the combination of PPPoE & VLAN, do the test as above see how you get on and if it continues then have your foulan handle PPPoE/VLAN instead of the R3 and see if you get better results that way.

Is the R3 handling PPPoE or your ISP modem/router? For Bufferbloat it's just the Congestion Control percentages you need to change, don't rely on what Ping Optimizer says is the best as it's not always 100% reliable - it's also a direct test from the router itself so unaffected by other devices