High latency spikes when simultaneously gaming online & using streaming video services

[brad01]

Hey everyone,

I hope its okay to post here, after posting on the BT forums and not having any luck resolving this, one of the members suggested posting here. 

Whenever someone uses streaming video services such as Netflix, it causes high latency spikes every few seconds in online games, which makes playing any eSport title impossible.

I have fibre package (Averages 48-49 download, 8-9 upload ). 

Nothing unusual about the setup(no powerline adapters, ethernet switches) the gaming pc is connected directly to router via ethernet cable.

Things I've tried that may help you troubleshoot:

• I set up the Netduma R1 router hoping the QoS feature would help resolve this, but there was little difference. 
• BT support team have done thorough checks on their end but can't find anything wrong.
• BT Engineer came in August 2021 to replace all cabling, sockets, etc.
• BT Engineer came last week to look but didn't find anything wrong on my end.
• Factory reset BT hub.
• Replaced with new hub.
• Replaced ethernet cable

I thought that the problem could be that BT prioritises packets differently on their end and that gaming packets were getting stuck behind others, and this is why QoS on the router didn't make much difference but BT support said they resolved this on a network level already.  

Here's a screenshot in game(Valorant) without and with Netflix streaming standard HD stream running from a different device:

Left I have a nice connection Vs Right the network RTT is fluctuating from 30ms to 100+ every couple of seconds, this IMO is worse than having a static 100ms. 

Here is also ping plotter examples:

Gaming(Valorant):

Gaming(Valorant) + Netflix running standard HD stream on a different device:

Someone mentioned before that it may be bandwidth issue but Netflix recommends a connection speed of 5 Mbps for HD content so I thought my connection should be able to easily handle that + gaming simultaneously but let me know your thoughts.

Any help, advice, suggestions would be amazing.

[Netduma Fraser]

Hello, welcome to the forum!

It is surprising that QoS has not resolved this for you as it is one of the most popular scenarios that it can help with. Could you provide a screenshot of the QoS page please?

[brad01]

Thank you for the response @Netduma Fraser

I just plugged this back in as I was doing some tests earlier with just the hub.

[brad01]

I have the Netduma router connected directly to BT hub via ethernet cable. Wifi is disabled on the bt hub. Gaming pc is connected to Netduma router via ethernet cable. Other devices connect to Netduma router via wifi

[Netduma Fraser]

Thank you for the information, couple of extra questions, is the R1 WAN IP in the BT hub DMZ? Do you have any other devices connected to the BT hub via ethernet?

Do you require PPPoE to be input into the R1?

What games are you playing on PC? 

It looks like you may be using IPv6 so I would say to disable that in LAN/WAN please for the moment.

[brad01]

Hi @Netduma Frasersorry for the late response.

 

It's not in the BT hub DMZ. There is no other devices connected to the BT Router via ethernet. Never needed to input PPPoE into the R1. I'm playing Valorant. Yes, it was enabled in LAN/WAN.

[Netduma Liam]

32 minutes ago, brad01 said:

Hi @Netduma Frasersorry for the late response.

 

It's not in the BT hub DMZ. There is no other devices connected to the BT Router via ethernet. Never needed to input PPPoE into the R1. I'm playing Valorant. Yes, it was enabled in LAN/WAN.

As a test, could you please try adding a rule to Traffic Prioritisation and select your PC as the device. When prompted for a game/service, just select 'Games Console'. 

Test that and check if you're still getting the same problem.

[brad01]

8 minutes ago, Netduma Liam said:

As a test, could you please try adding a rule to Traffic Prioritisation and select your PC as the device. When prompted for a game/service, just select 'Games Console'. 

Test that and check if you're still getting the same problem.

Thank you for the response. I followed your instructions, and it seems to be working as the download/upload packet counter is going up. 

Did two quick tests( with ipv6 disabled and enabled) with only two devices connected to the internet:

• Gaming pc to r1 router via ethernet cable
• Smart tv to r1 router via wifi

Streamed Netflix on smart tv, and load up Valorant but sadly still having these ping fluctuations every few seconds in both cases. I think it may of been a little better 10ms or so in terms of how high it was spiking 2

 

[Netduma Fraser]

Set Congestion Control to Always and reset Bandwidth Allocation and then retest please. 

[brad01]

12 minutes ago, Netduma Fraser said:

Set Congestion Control to Always and reset Bandwidth Allocation and then retest please. 

Done, still having spikes every few seconds.

[Netduma Fraser]

Do the PingPlotter test you did frequently by watching Netflix so it spikes and then experiment with the Congestion Control percentages to see what brings it down the most, once you see that happen you shouldn't then have any issues

[brad01]

1 minute ago, Netduma Fraser said:

Do the PingPlotter test you did frequently by watching Netflix so it spikes and then experiment with the Congestion Control percentages to see what brings it down the most, once you see that happen you shouldn't then have any issues

Okay, I will experiment with this. thank you for your help so far.