Forum Discussion

raptert's avatar
raptert
Joining in
3 months ago

How much does a wifi booster affect my ping

When i play games with the hub 5x my ping sits a 30-20 when i was on BT it was nearing 10-0 ping depending on the game but it was on ethernet for the BT if I was to get a wifi booster and sit it in direct sit on the hub 5x which would be etherneted to my ps5 would I get any faster than 20 or would it stay the same. Before people say to ethernet my ps5 and hub 5x I can't as my ps5 sits in the bedroom and the hub 5x is in the living room and the BT box was under the stairs and we were able to run a ethernet from there to my room so I'm hoping that if I put the wifi booster in direct sight of the hub 5x and plug the other end of the ethernet it might be faster.

  • jpeg1's avatar
    jpeg1
    Alessandro Volta

    Any WiFi link will introduce delay, it cannot be avoided. Whether that delay will be sufficient to affect your gaming you can only find out by trying it.

  • Adduxi's avatar
    Adduxi
    Very Insightful Person

    Wifi repeaters do not boost the Wifi, they just extend the range.  Each hop on an extender will add latency and reduce the WIfi speed.  If you are serious about your PS5, you really need to use a cable, preferably Cat 6, or Cat 5E, anything else is a waste of money for a 1Gb connection.

  • suttonscloud's avatar
    suttonscloud
    On our wavelength

    Hi Raptert, 

    As you are using the Hub5X i am assuming you are a XGSPON customer with Full Fibre.

    The XGSPON network you are using is not quite there yet, there is still parts of the VirginMedia network that still require some attention, you can generally see this by running a traceroute to 8.8.8.8, there you will see each hop as it passes through Virgin's network.

    I am also a XGSPON customer like you, i have quite a techy setup but im wired directly into the router on a Gig2 package. When i run a traceroute command to 8.8.8.8 there are hops in the Virgin Media network that are higher than most other providers. I can see response times of 1ms - 2ms until i hit the core network which then jumps to 5ms - 7ms depending on the route.

    The routing is still a bit 'odd' and as mentioned above Virgin are working on making their network better, the decommissioning of their HFC coax network was the first step, and it should slowly start to get better as they upgrade and improve their network. - So this is expected over the likes of Openreach FTTC/P.

    To answer your question fully, your best bet would be to use WiFi (before everybody screams; hear me out). - I would invest in a reputable good WiFi 6 router, WiFi6 is supported on your PS5 and any third party WiFi 6 router will be better than the WiFi 6 on the default router by a fair margin in signal strength, speed and quality.

    There are other options, such as powerline adapters but they use plug socket ring main circuit to provide a signal from one end to the other, and these aren't normally great for gaming especially for older houses that have a split RCD fuseboard and upstairs and downstairs sockets sometimes tend to be on completely seperate circuits, thus introducing excessive latency.

    To conclude; i would invest in a WiFi 6 router, you can plug this into your Hub5X and use that for your PS5 instead, as you will get a much better quality connection. The Hub5X is a WiFi 6 router, but again a dedicated WiFi 6 router should perform a lot better than the 5X which is also known for having Wifi range issues (Hence why VM offer the free boosters when you sign up if you experience signal issues).

    Hope that info helps.

    • Client62's avatar
      Client62
      Alessandro Volta

      To conclude; i would invest in a WiFi 6 router, you can plug this into your Hub5X and use that for your PS5 instead,

      With the lack of Hub 5x Modem mode, this is quite odd advice to give.

      • suttonscloud's avatar
        suttonscloud
        On our wavelength

        Why does that seem like odd advice to give?

        You’d get a double NAT, which in 99% of cases doesn’t impact gaming experience. - I gamed on a Strict NAT for years. 

        the only odd thing here is that you think everybody who invests in a router runs their old one in Modem Mode, which is bonkers.

        Modem mode works on the 5X you just need to do some research and you can get it working, there has been posts all over the forum about this method for months. - it only becomes pointless when you have a 2gb connection (like me)  and modem mode only works on the 1gb ports. 

        a WiFi 6 router would be absolutely fine, set up in access point mode running off the 5X.

    • IPFreely's avatar
      IPFreely
      Fibre optic

      Routing isn't related to the cable network being decommissioned. What are you seeing high latency to? Would expect some pretty low hops followed by timeouts and some increase after, how high that is depending on where in the country you are.

      • suttonscloud's avatar
        suttonscloud
        On our wavelength

        That’s not what I was saying, sorry must have worded it wrong. The routing on XGSPON does have some issues. There is a certain hop to the core network that can vary, one is as low as 4-5ms, and then there’s another that I’m commonly routed through that is 10ms (almost double).

        seems random when it changes, but if I go across on my BQM you can see the latency decline and stay halved, and then come back up again. 

        Virgin has had congestion and latency issues for a while, RFoG helped reducing the coax distance for possible interference, but wasn’t great. This is reflected in parts of their network like I said. It’s getting better; but there’s still stuff that needs to be worked on. There’s going to be old stuff floating around the network for a while, and with the rollout of more full fibre premises this should theoretically get better as virgins infrastructure improves. 

  • I have the Gig 1 service and Hub 5x but use my own WiFi 6E mesh system with hardwired backhaul. Here's how to do it and avoid NAT problems. 

    Set the mesh router's WAN to DHCP and connect to a LAN port on the Hub 5x. Copy the IP address your router has received. 

    Enter the Hub 5x settings and set the IP address your router has been given as a DMZ.

    Disable the WiFi on the Hub 5x. 

    • legacy1's avatar
      legacy1
      Alessandro Volta

      Thats still no good double NAT which would stop people using NAT loopback if hub 5x don't support or gets removed