Forum Discussion

mben63's avatar
mben63
Joining in
11 months ago

Poor connectivity making online gaming impossible

When my son tries to play Valorant on a Windows laptop, it struggles to connect to the Riot Games servers. Sometimes he gets connected and starts a game, then gets disconnected shortly afterwards. We see the same behaviour on 2 different laptops. We've applied all Windows patches and updates, changed DNS config, rebooted our Hub 3, and tried multiple other suggested fixes. All other broadband access is fine, we get download speeds of 300+Mbps. Only when gaming do we see connection issues.

Riot Games have been helpful, but after trying various things, their conclusion is that it's an ISP routing issue. Their route info is here: https://www.peeringdb.com/net/5918.

Not sure if posting here is the best way to progress this issue? Should I be raising a support case with VM? Is there more diagnostic info that I should provide? Thanks.

    • mben63's avatar
      mben63
      Joining in

      Thanks for the suggestion, but I don't have a standalone router so modem mode no good. Even a wired connection to the hub isn't feasible due to room layout.

  • jpeg1's avatar
    jpeg1
    Alessandro Volta

    You need to establish whether this is a VM network issue or simply WiFi.

    Move the laptop temporarily close to the Hub and connect it by ethernet. You don't need to switch to modem mode.  Does the game play OK that way?

    If this is a Wifi problem then you have a choice of buying a much better WiFi access point, or running an ethernet cable (which is always the best choice for games). 

    • mben63's avatar
      mben63
      Joining in

      Thanks for your reply. Today we tried playing a couple of Valorant games with a wired connection: that worked ok, no disconnects.

      We then tried without the ethernet cable, back on wifi, and that also worked, no disconnects during 20 minutes online play.

      Not convinced the issue has gone away. We'll try a longer session next time and post the results here.

  • jpeg1's avatar
    jpeg1
    Alessandro Volta

    Post a link to the live BQM, and it will help to establish if there is an external problem. But you will have to accept the gaming over WiFi is going to be second best. 

  • jpeg1's avatar
    jpeg1
    Alessandro Volta

    That's a pretty good BQM, better than many. It does confirm that your problem exists inside the house. How did the gaming session go over ethernet? 

    • mben63's avatar
      mben63
      Joining in

      Ethernet session was good, no issues over 2 hours, so that seems to point the finger at wifi. Unfortunately, using a cable isn't a great solution for us due to room layout.

      How likely is it that Hub 3 in modem mode + a standalone router would fix the wifi connectivity issue?

  • jpeg1's avatar
    jpeg1
    Alessandro Volta

    An external WiFi router will always perform better than a VM router of any model.  It can never be the equal of an ethernet connection, but it might just be good enough for the games you play.

    Don't ask me to recommend one though as I don't play games!   

  • Adduxi's avatar
    Adduxi
    Very Insightful Person

    I would suggest, and it pains me to do so, try a set of  ethernet powerline adapters  (PLA's)   These use the house wiring to carry the signal between two electrical sockets. So rather than run a cable all over the house, just plug one near the Hub and the other at your sons device.  A short ethernet cable at each end finishes the connection.

    These are better than Wifi, but not as good as a proper cable connection.  Just make sure the PLA's have a Gigabit connection and they are passthrough, otherwise you loose a socket.

  • jpeg1's avatar
    jpeg1
    Alessandro Volta

    With the proviso of course that both ends are on the same electrical ring.

    If the router is downstairs and the games console is upstairs in a bedroom they could be on separate circuits and the results would likely be disappointing. 

  • Just a quick post to say thanks to everyone who contributed to this thread.

    We went for the least expensive and most-likely-to-work option: a 10m ethernet cable to connect the hub to the PC in the next room. The cable is a trip hazard while a gaming session is in progress, but we'll just have to live with that.