How much does a wifi booster affect my ping

[raptert]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.

[legacy1]

So what roll over and say we can't use are own router with VM if we have to double NAT then thats that and VM will have to understand we really need modem mode and yes it works on 1Gb but we want more don't we I be happy with 900Mb if VM do that if thats the way its going to be should I need it.

But lets put the real reason VM are doing this and why they are so tight on this is  snooped packets being sent out by home routers made to not care about the source IP as it leaves someone infected router as part of a DDoS VM had two options cheap and dirty NAT to which they lock the source IP down or DAI ( Dynamic ARP Inspection) the clean way on the hub to lock the source IP down without NAT

[IPFreely]

With all and any due that's completely wrong. The devices running in bridge mode would be fine doing source address filtering and even if they weren't there's the BNG on the other side of the PON which will be quite aware of which IP addresses it should be receiving traffic on its subscriber facing interfaces from given it's in the same layer 2 segment and is providing IP addresses. 

I'm not sure where you've gotten the idea from that this is why VM don't want modem/bridge mode: it isn't. Nothing to do with DDoS or filtering at all. Everything to do with VM's use of TR-069 and the lack of an IP address on bridge mode PON devices to send TR-069 to. PON devices talk with the OLT over OMCI. VM can't manage their CPE on Nexfibre via OMCI and really like being able to manage their CPE. 

[IPFreely]

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]

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.