Latency Spikes - Ping issue when gaming - EE Broadband

[Jonjon1239]

Really hoping for some help here, I'll give as much detail so as to try and get a robust answer.

I have EE Broadband with a download speed of 70mbps and an upload of 20mbps which is fairly consistent. It's the white smart router.

When playing games, mostly my Xbox Series X in our front room, I'm getting high ping spikes pretty much daily. This could be Rocket League, FIFA, Apex Legends, anything with online multiplayer basically. In the main living room where the router is situated it's mostly good for as far as I can tell, although the PS5 is wired and the Series X in that room is right next to the router. The Series X in the front room has been wired to two separate EE mesh WiFi discs on seperate occasions and on WiFi with the disc right next to it.

I had the box connection in the wall changed over initially so I don't have to use the little black filter that comes with the router anymore. This alleviated things for a short while but the problem came back. I had a new router delivered last Wednesday and again things were okay for a day or two but I'm experiencing the spikes again.

I've forwarded all the ports on the Xbox Series X in question, set it outside the DMZ, assigned a static IP address which all seems to help for a moment and then it's back to square one. Speed test reports a ping of 16ms on the console and on my PC/phone. I don't think it's an issue with the Xbox as when I use a powerline connector there's virtually no lag or spikes but the download speed is throttled when using it.

I have noticed that when setting the Xbox outside of the DMZ, sometimes when I next check it to confirm it looks like another device which I suspect is one of my Sonos speakers has took its place with a different IP address. I have my Sonos speaker plugged into an powerline now however it's been doing it before and after using the powerline. I know the Sonos sets up it's own WiFi so I'm unsure why it would do this?

Any and all help is appreciated, I'm literally at wits end. I just want to enjoy some gaming after a hard day's work! 😅

[Etherian]

I think I might have a solution as this appeared to have worked for me,
we'll see how long it lasts I suppose.

Assuming the Xbox has the same/similar option, I went to my PS5 internet
settings, highlighted my router and instead of selecting it I pressed start
and got additional options.

One of them was 'Wi-Fi Frequency Bands' and this was set to 'automatic' by
default, I've now set this option to 5G and things have started running
smoothly.

Hopefully you can get to the same conclusion as I. 🙏

[miggle]

@Jonjon1239 @Etherian There isn't specifically an option to choose the channel, what I have found is that there are QoS tagging settings in the advanced network properties that can be turned on. So it is worth a shot enabling these just to see if there's any difference for you.

Screenshots below:-

Advanced network settingsQoS settings

It's worth a shot.

[Jonjon1239]

It's started happening on a wired connection now. I've had the router changed already so I'm not sure what it could be? Any ideas given the situation now?

[miggle]

@Jonjon1239 Doesn't really make any sense for me right now, I'm not going to suggest to spend XX on a third party router. Is this with specific games, or in general - all over again.

[Jonjon1239]

I'm in the same boat, it was happening last night on Rocket League wired direct to the router. Nobody else was using anything bandwidth intensive either. I'm starting to think it's either something with the line or the router itself.

[miggle]

I've had no issues with my latency on either my wired or unwired Xbox at all with online gaming. But I do use a 3rd party router. But aside from that, with a wired connection to your router it should eliminate any internal factors that may be causing your lag spikes. One thing you mentioned is that you're not on a full fibre connection which would make a huge difference. Full fibre may not be available in your area yet, but it is worth investigating.

[Jonjon1239]

The Openreach roadmap says currently building, so I'll just try and hold out.

[Jonjon1239]

Spoke to EE today and they are going to send me out a smart hub plus, hopefully that solves the issue and is compatible with my FTTC set up.

If not, my contract is up in January so I'd more than likely take my chances with Sky or Plusnet given FTTP hasn't been rolled out here yet.

Thanks for all the advice so far and I'll keep you updated.

[XRaySpeX]

The EE SH+ does work with FTTC.