BT Infinity (smart hub) gaming issues...

[Emjay86]

Hi guys,

Im having issues with my BT infinity (smart hub) connection when it comes to gaming. I have noticed that when I use the internet it can be sluggish from time to time and using speedtests I have noticed that the speed of my download fluctuates a lot, it constantly moves up and down but averages out at a decent speed, my uploads however are fine, solid 9mb/s.

I am new to the service and can only assume the problems im getting are from them. Basically im trying to play 'For Honor' which uses a sort of peer-to-peer system to work online. I basically get kicked from everything in short and others get kicked from me, im yet to see another person online as a result after sinking hours into the game. Ive forwarded ports, altered firewalls and anti-virus and the game states ive got good connection status but it still doesn;t want to work.

Now that in itself could be just the games issue... However.

I am trying to also play 'Overwatch' which I did at my previous two addresses with no issue, one being virgin and the other being sky. Now all of a sudden when I try and play overwatch I get severe warping issues, as in I can run forward for a few seconds and then ill be warped back and this happens continuously, its unplayable.

Strangely this is a new development and hasn't always happened. I have had BT Infinity for just over a month now so im curious as to what I can to do solve the issue before I start phoning them.

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

 

[KIA]

WiFi?
Wired?
Powerline?

 

[Emjay86]

Ah

WiFi?
Wired?
Powerline?

Ah good question!

I have the hub connected to a BT power line which is then connected to my Pc. I couldn't work out how to get Internet in the attic without drilling holes so i went with that. I chose BT sockets as I figured they would be most compatible.

 

[Orcvader]

Brand will hardly affect it, it's still a bog standard ethernet connection so it won't do anything with compatibility.

Might be a bit of a pain but maybe try move the PC temporarily near the router close enough for a proper wired connection? Would rule out if it's the powerline adapters at fault or not. Some brands like TP Link/Devolo/etc have software to show you the sync speeds between powerline adapters, not sure if BT offers this with theirs?

 

[Emjay86]

Brand will hardly affect it, it's still a bog standard ethernet connection so it won't do anything with compatibility.

Might be a bit of a pain but maybe try move the PC temporarily near the router close enough for a proper wired connection? Would rule out if it's the powerline adapters at fault or not. Some brands like TP Link/Devolo/etc have software to show you the sync speeds between powerline adapters, not sure if BT offers this with theirs?

The transfer speed for the Powerline adapters is 600mb/s. Is this what you are referring to?

 

[Wizzkidy]

The transfer speed for the Power line adapters is 600mb/s. Is this what you are referring to?

Are we doing this again! Move the PC close to the router and test an Ethernet cable, its the quickest way of determining if its the power line adapters. It could well be. If you don't do this you will spend hours diagnosing the issue when it could be as simple as bad power adapters/bad quality wiring

 

[Emjay86]

Are we doing this again! Move the PC close to the router and test an Ethernet cable, its the quickest way of determining if its the power line adapters. It could well be. If you don't do this you will spend hours diagnosing the issue when it could be as simple as bad power adapters/bad quality wiring

Not sure what you mean by again but I'll have to see if I have a large enough cable to run it up the stairwell for the attic. Moving my PC up there in the first place required me to drain the entire water cooling loop and also remove most of the components because for some reason it's incredibly heavy. I believe it's the Corsair 900D case I have.

I'll let you know what I find tomorrow. Thanks for the help so far.

 

[SHipsey]

This is going to be a bit more anecdotal than anything....


I switched from Sky Fiber to BT Infinity last year. On Sky I ran power-line adapaters to my office upstairs which also has my gaming set ups in there and everything was perfect, I was getting around 50mbps against around 56mbs with a an ethernet directly into the router.

With the smart hub it was just horrendous, connection would drop all the time. Started thinking it was just my new line settling down as it tends to do with a new supplier but even after that still horrid. I thought I would move to just Wifi but I couldn't stand that, with my mac/pc+ Xbox in the room then all the other items on WiFi in the house (the boys Xbox, Xbox, apple tv + sky box on WiFi downstairs and the usual phones/ipads ect) I really wanted to hog the bandwidth in my office.

Decided in the end it was the smart hub+ bought a nighthawk router/modem and then with the exact same power-line adapters everything was just as before.

 

[Orcvader]

The transfer speed for the Powerline adapters is 600mb/s. Is this what you are referring to?

No, the 600mb/s is very likely to be the quoted speed that the powerlines should get in very good conditions, which in normal cases, hardly is ever the case, and realistically only syncs at a 10th of that speed.

 

[Emjay86]

I read on the BT forums the other day an old post from someone with a similar issue that was sorted by BT upgrading the smart hub. I too had Sky previously using a Powerline connection that was flawless although it was in my previous house so not the same loop.

I'll try the ether net cable first and go from there. Thanks for all the responses so far, I'm hopeful I can get this sorted soon with all the advice.

 

[pcfarrar]

The BT hubs have never been great for gaming. Better off with a decent 3rd party router.

 

[Emjay86]

I was always wondering what the third party routers were all about considering you get them with your ISP these days. Are they simply the same thing but better as they are third party?

 

[Orcvader]

Depends on which one you buy but yes they generally are better. ISP provided routers are usually using cheaper components to keep costs down and have a simplified UI so it's easier for the average user, but at the cost of less control.

Not had experience with the smart hub but using the Home Hub 3 it was very unreliable and no good for transferring files within the local network. Replaced with an Asus router and wifi range/speed has improved, and mainly, QoS helped a lot with gaming, which means someone can be downloading heavy stuff but it won't affect my latency too much. Also allowed me to change the DNS server from BT's to Google which I found loading up sites to be a little faster.

But I would test your connection to the router first, at the moment it sounds like the powerlines could be struggling to keep up a strong connection, possibly due to being in different electric circuits if they are on different floors.

 

[Emjay86]

So guys,

I managed to find an ethernet cable long enough to go up the attic from my router and it turns out that the powerline sockets are indeed the problem. Overwatch ran smooth as anything directly from the hub whereas from the powerline it was terrible. I ran a speedtest and my download speed on the powerline was lucky if it hit 10mb/s whereas direct link was going up to 40mb/s and higher.

So my next question is, how do I fix this problem? Are there better powerline sockets I can try or should I be attacking the problem a different way?

Thanks so far for the help!

 

[pcfarrar]

Try some TP Link AV2000 homeplugs. I have had good results with those and they are very reliable.

 

[Emjay86]

Try some TP Link AV2000 homeplugs. I have had good results with those and they are very reliable.

I had TP link powerlines in my last house and they worked a treat, I figured they would all be the same but clearly not. Any ideas if theres a way I can get a refund for these then? I bought them from Amazon on 8th february this year.

 

[RoyMi6]

Depends how you like to spend your time and money.

If you want to spending money and time trying something that might ultimately not work, or not be as good as it could be - try other powerline options.

Alternatively, put your time to productive use and run a wire for guaranteed best speed and reliability.

 

[Emjay86]

Depends how you like to spend your time and money.

If you want to spending money and time trying something that might ultimately not work, or not be as good as it could be - try other powerline options.

Alternatively, put your time to productive use and run a wire for guaranteed best speed and reliability.

Im thinking that may well be the best option at this point considoring ive spent £40 on an item that I cant really use anymore and is 4 days out of amazons returns policy... Dammit!

 

[Orcvader]

You can try another set of powerlines (TP Link has worked fine for me as well), but if the same issue crops up then it could be the building you're in is just not friendly with powerlines (again possible due to the attic being on a different circuit).

Honestly though, spend the time to get a proper cable installed. In the long run it will perform a lot better.

 

[Emjay86]

You can try another set of powerlines (TP Link has worked fine for me as well), but if the same issue crops up then it could be the building you're in is just not friendly with powerlines (again possible due to the attic being on a different circuit).

Honestly though, spend the time to get a proper cable installed. In the long run it will perform a lot better.

Cheers, I have ordered a new 20m ethernet cable which I will run through the floor to the router. I live in a bungalow with an attic conversion so no doubt the attic is indeed on a second circuit.

Thanks for all the help guys, much appreciated.