Mesh WiFi a good solution for online gaming?

mrochester · 13 May 2018 at 15:59

Hello

I’m partial to a bit of league of legends, which I play on my laptop via WiFi. I’ve got a TPLink Archer VR900 router.

If my other half is browsing the net or playing videos at the same time, I can find my ping goes up and down like a yo-yo for a while.

Would a mesh WiFi network solve this issue?

Many thanks.

M.

xb8browney · 13 May 2018 at 16:05

It wouldn't make any difference.

mrochester · 13 May 2018 at 16:05

xb8browney said:
It wouldn't make any difference.

Lovely thanks.

Minstadave · 13 May 2018 at 16:21

mrochester said:
Hello

I’m partial to a bit of league of legends, which I play on my laptop via WiFi. I’ve got a TPLink Archer VR900 router.

If my other half is browsing the net or playing videos at the same time, I can find my ping goes up and down like a yo-yo for a while.

Would a mesh WiFi network solve this issue?

Many thanks.

M.

Sounds more likely a bandwidth issue. What’s your connection ?

mrochester · 13 May 2018 at 16:21

Minstadave said:
Sounds more likely a bandwidth issue. What’s your connection ?

76mb Sky fibre.

Minstadave · 13 May 2018 at 16:24

That’s weird should be plenty of bandwidth.

Are you on the latest firmware?

mrochester · 13 May 2018 at 16:25

Minstadave said:
That’s weird should be plenty of bandwidth.

Are you on the latest firmware?

AFAIK but I’d need to double check.

Minstadave · 13 May 2018 at 16:27

mrochester said:
AFAIK but I’d need to double check.

Seems to be quite a few reports of ping issues on early firmware so worth a check.

Caged · 13 May 2018 at 17:59

Does your ping actually matter in a game like that?

mrochester · 13 May 2018 at 18:00

Caged said:
Does your ping actually matter in a game like that?

Yeah, you'd be dead before you know it otherwise.

ecksmen · 13 May 2018 at 18:02

Sounds more like you need QoS type solution. Suggest reading https://www.bufferbloat.net

I use Smart Queus on my Edge Router X-SFP and now, latency is much more controlled despite others use of the connection that I don't worry about it any more.

Minstadave · 13 May 2018 at 18:05

ecksmen said:
Sounds more like you need QoS type solution. Suggest reading https://www.bufferbloat.net

I use Smart Queus on my Edge Router X-SFP and now, latency is much more controlled despite others use of the connection that I don't worry about it any more.

Even the most basic router should be able to cope with two clients gaming/streaming video.

His router supports QoS.

ecksmen · 13 May 2018 at 18:16

Minstadave said:
Even the most basic router should be able to cope with two clients gaming/streaming video.

His router supports QoS.

Basic routers, without QoS will not be OK. If the current router has QoS then it sounds like it needs to be configured....

Minstadave · 13 May 2018 at 18:52

ecksmen said:
Basic routers, without QoS will not be OK. If the current router has QoS then it sounds like it needs to be configured....

I’m going to disagree with you there, a basic router will cope fine with multiple clients if bandwidth isn’t the issue.

If he’s got fibre and all it has is one client gaming and one browsing/gaming/streaming the issue won’t be bandwidth so QoS isn’t going to fix it. It sounds more like a hardware issue.

Avalon · 13 May 2018 at 20:38

Browsing the net and watching video’s shouldn’t impact one another on a 76mbit connection significantly (unless your significant other is attempting to direct stream a 4K remux), a video will eat a few mbit a seccond, a brief spike where it starts to buffer, but nothing that should be noticeable.

Repeat the test with you wired (you say you use a laptop so it can’t be that hard to test with a cable), that will identify if it’s a Wi-fi related issue or connection related.

mrochester · 13 May 2018 at 20:44

Avalon said:
Browsing the net and watching video’s shouldn’t impact one another on a 76mbit connection significantly (unless your significant other is attempting to direct stream a 4K remux), a video will eat a few mbit a seccond, a brief spike where it starts to buffer, but nothing that should be noticeable.

Repeat the test with you wired (you say you use a laptop so it can’t be that hard to test with a cable), that will identify if it’s a Wi-fi related issue or connection related.

Testing with a cable will be tricky because the router is in the hall and the laptop has no Ethernet port!

Avalon · 13 May 2018 at 20:58

mrochester said:
Testing with a cable will be tricky because the router is in the hall and the laptop has no Ethernet port!

Wait, people buy laptops without ethernet ports and don’t bother to buy a USB adapter? Have you no shame?

pcfarrar · 14 May 2018 at 08:17

Minstadave said:
Even the most basic router should be able to cope with two clients gaming/streaming video.
His router supports QoS.

"Smart Queue" QoS is a lot better than the basic stuff that's on TP-Link routers.

Minstadave · 14 May 2018 at 09:27

pcfarrar said:
"Smart Queue" QoS is a lot better than the basic stuff that's on TP-Link routers.

That may be the case but I don’t think QoS is the issue, he’s got plenty of bandwidth.

BigT · 14 May 2018 at 10:53

Often worth checking if your upload bandwidth is saturated (e.g. torrents or malware) as that can throw latency out and cause all manner of issues. I've been caught out by that before with OneDrive using everything uploading a big file to the cloud and everything else internet related going a bit askew.