Router model : SH32B
Package : 1ghz
Problem : Wifi is causing intermittent lag spikes over 1000ms with request timed out message.
First I should explain I'm computer literate in terms of network engineering and how to fix this kind of issue so I have already gone all around the houses to try and fix it.
I have isolated devices, used compatibility wifi settings, changed WPA between 2/3, ensured I have latest NIC drivers and set them up appropriately. I have ensured all my devices on the network have appropriate power management and network scanning frequency settings including disabling media calls to other devices being disabled. I have also wired into the router directly with a CAT cable. All the time I was doing this I was scanning my wifi and ethernet networks with Wireshark to get comprehensive details about any and all errors or discrepancies. I have tried 3 different AI tools to check the logs and give me potential solutions and none of them have worked except to connect my PC with ethernet where the issue did not occur, proving it's the wifi on the router that is the issue.
A typical lag spike will look like this (or with multiple request time outs and multiple ping lag spikes. Also here is what Claude told me to tell the ISP when I contact them.
If needed I could post my wireshark logs, but they are awful to manually go through. Instead I asked Claude to give me a summary as shown here :
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WIFI LATENCY / PACKET LOSS - EVIDENCE SUMMARY
================================================
Setup: Pinging 192.168.1.152 (test PC) -> 192.168.1.254 (router/gateway),
across five separate Wireshark captures taken on different days, under
idle, moderate, and heavy (70,000+ packet video stream) traffic loads.
A sixth capture repeated the same test over wired Ethernet as a control.
BOTTOM LINE: A full packet-loss event occurs roughly every 38-40 SECONDS,
consistently, regardless of traffic load, active devices, or client-side
WiFi driver settings (roaming aggressiveness, fat channel intolerance,
power save - all already ruled out). The same test over Ethernet shows
ZERO loss and sub-10ms latency throughout, which isolates the problem to
the WiFi radio path rather than the router's general software/CPU or the
internet connection itself.
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LOG 09 - WifiPacketLog_09.txt
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Full packet loss ("no response found!") - 9 events:
Line 173 | Packet 172 | ~18.5s | seq 8112
Line 546 | Packet 545 | ~56.5s | seq 8146
Line 1097 | Packet 1096 | ~97.5s | seq 8183
Line 2185 | Packet 2184 | ~175.9s | seq 8257
Line 2549 | Packet 2548 | ~218.0s | seq 8295
Line 2960 | Packet 2959 | ~255.9s | seq 8329
Line 3273 | Packet 3272 | ~297.4s | seq 8366
Line 3565 | Packet 3564 | ~334.4s | seq 8399
Line 4395 | Packet 4394 | ~412.1s | seq 8472
Latency spikes (reply arrived, but delayed):
Req pkt 3253 -> Reply pkt 3263 | t=297.35s | RTT 1424.7 ms
Req pkt 4062 -> Reply pkt 4089 | t=376.69s | RTT 1213.7 ms
Req pkt 1859 -> Reply pkt 1862 | t=141.15s | RTT 680.7 ms
Req pkt 1857 -> Reply pkt 1858 | t=140.05s | RTT 593.0 ms
Req pkt 2546 -> Reply pkt 2547 | t=217.32s | RTT 378.8 ms
Req pkt 3692 -> Reply pkt 3695 | t=339.32s | RTT 250.6 ms
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LOG 10 - WifiPacketLog_10.txt
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Full packet loss - 12 events:
Line 126 | Packet 125 | ~24.3s | seq 8871
Line 609 | Packet 608 | ~63.3s | seq 8906
Line 1321 | Packet 1320 | ~104.3s | seq 8943
Line 1541 | Packet 1540 | ~143.2s | seq 8978
Line 1813 | Packet 1812 | ~183.3s | seq 9014
Line 2380 | Packet 2379 | ~220.2s | seq 9047
Line 2719 | Packet 2718 | ~258.2s | seq 9081
Line 3011 | Packet 3010 | ~296.2s | seq 9115
Line 3336 | Packet 3335 | ~334.3s | seq 9149
Line 3623 | Packet 3622 | ~372.2s | seq 9183
Line 4163 | Packet 4162 | ~410.2s | seq 9217
Line 4571 | Packet 4570 | ~490.1s | seq 9291
Latency spikes:
Req pkt 4365 -> Reply pkt 4367 | t=451.62s | RTT 2241.3 ms
Req pkt 4363 -> Reply pkt 4364 | t=449.37s | RTT 1144.9 ms
Req pkt 4568 -> Reply pkt 4569 | t=490.14s | RTT 1135.3 ms
Req pkt 1318 -> Reply pkt 1319 | t=104.32s | RTT 1056.3 ms
Req pkt 1808 -> Reply pkt 1809 | t=182.84s | RTT 581.6 ms
Req pkt 1316 -> Reply pkt 1317 | t=102.65s | RTT 394.1 ms
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LOG 11 - WifiPacketLog_11.txt
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Full packet loss - 9 events:
Line 172 | Packet 171 | ~25.6s | seq 11167
Line 413 | Packet 412 | ~62.8s | seq 11200
Line 638 | Packet 637 | ~102.9s | seq 11236
Line 1258 | Packet 1257 | ~140.8s | seq 11270
Line 1559 | Packet 1558 | ~178.8s | seq 11304
Line 62024 | Packet 62023 | ~333.8s | seq 11452
Line 67306 | Packet 67305 | ~372.8s | seq 11487
Line 70511 | Packet 70510 | ~412.8s | seq 11523
Line 78971 | Packet 78970 | ~450.8s | seq 11557
Latency spikes:
Req pkt 36085 -> Reply pkt 36144 | t=297.37s | RTT 1694.1 ms
Req pkt 16386 -> Reply pkt 16430 | t=258.22s | RTT 1660.4 ms
Req pkt 15008 -> Reply pkt 15068 | t=220.18s | RTT 1343.7 ms
Req pkt 158 -> Reply pkt 170 | t= 25.59s | RTT 1144.3 ms
Req pkt 78968 -> Reply pkt 78969 | t=450.75s | RTT 913.5 ms
Req pkt 67300 -> Reply pkt 67304 | t=372.61s | RTT 776.6 ms
Req pkt 70508 -> Reply pkt 70509 | t=412.47s | RTT 630.2 ms
Note: this capture included 71,000+ packets of concurrent heavy video
streaming - the ~38s cycle was unaffected by traffic load.
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LOG 13 - WifiPacketLog_wifi_13.txt
(after Intel driver update + Roaming Aggressiveness set to lowest)
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Full packet loss - 13 events:
Line 5 | Packet 4 | ~1.0s | seq 13071
Line 474 | Packet 473 | ~41.0s | seq 13147
Line 879 | Packet 878 | ~81.0s | seq 13182
Line 1383 | Packet 1382 | ~121.0s | seq 13255
Line 1644 | Packet 1643 | ~161.0s | seq 13288
Line 1854 | Packet 1853 | ~201.0s | seq 13326
Line 2298 | Packet 2297 | ~241.0s | seq 13395
Line 2623 | Packet 2622 | ~281.0s | seq 13430
Line 2891 | Packet 2890 | ~321.0s | seq 13466
Line 3568 | Packet 3567 | ~361.0s | seq 13538
Line 3744 | Packet 3743 | ~401.0s | seq 13574
Line 3991 | Packet 3990 | ~441.0s | seq 13610
Line 5089 | Packet 5088 | ~481.0s | seq 13715
Latency spikes:
Req pkt 5437 -> Reply pkt 5445 | t=755.21s | RTT 4668.5 ms
Req pkt 4537 -> Reply pkt 4547 | t=677.24s | RTT 3707.1 ms
Req pkt 3342 -> Reply pkt 3344 | t=479.23s | RTT 3623.4 ms
Req pkt 4259 -> Reply pkt 4265 | t=638.22s | RTT 3614.6 ms
Req pkt 2102 -> Reply pkt 2107 | t=321.22s | RTT 3227.2 ms
Req pkt 1189 -> Reply pkt 1195 | t=165.22s | RTT 3181.3 ms
Req pkt 1839 -> Reply pkt 1848 | t=279.75s | RTT 1211.7 ms
Req pkt 265 -> Reply pkt 267 | t= 45.22s | RTT 1152.4 ms
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CONTROL TEST - WifiPacketLog_Ethernet_12.txt (wired connection)
----------------------------------------
Duration: 386.7 seconds
Packet loss: 0 events
RTT: min 0.44ms, median 0.93ms, max 9.33ms
No latency spikes above 10ms
This is the key comparison point: identical ping test, identical router,
only the transport changed - and the periodic loss/spikes disappear
entirely.
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INTERVAL PATTERN (all WiFi sessions)
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Full-loss events land almost exactly every 38-40 SECONDS in every
session. Occasional larger gaps are clean multiples of that base
interval (e.g. ~80s, ~117s), meaning the cycle continued but that
particular pass didn't fully drop the packet.
This held constant across idle traffic, moderate traffic, and a
70,000+ packet streaming session, and was UNAFFECTED by:
- Disabling Urban VPN / MetaMask browser extensions
- Disabling DNS-over-HTTPS
- All three Xboxes present, idle, active, or moved to 5GHz
- Latest official Intel WiFi driver
- Roaming Aggressiveness set to lowest
- Fat Channel Intolerant already disabled
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WHAT I'M ASKING MY ISP TO CHECK
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1. The GTK (Group Temporal Key) rekey interval on the router - if set
too short, this is a well-documented cause of periodic brief WiFi
disruptions. Requesting it be lengthened or disabled.
2. Whether the 5GHz radio is operating on a DFS channel (typically
52-144) - DFS monitoring behavior can cause periodic connectivity
blips. Requesting a lock to a non-DFS channel (36/40/44/48).
3. Whether a firmware update is pending for the router.
4. If none of the above resolves it: bridge/modem-only mode so I can
use my own router for WiFi, or a replacement unit.
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If anyone has any further ideas or could suggest anything I would be most appreciative. My next step is to contact support and I dread getting the old auto-replies and "have you turned it off and on again?" gibberish meant for the layman. No offence to layman types.
Regards.
I had to run this a few times to catch the 38second lag spike as it was completing too fast. Mostly it got 2999 back, but when the lag spike occurred it was 51%.
Here is a wireshark I/O graph and Endpoint chart for my last sniffing session.
Here is the results of the BBC ping session.
Hope that helps somewhat. Although I can assure you I've tested everything to the nines.
