EXTREME latency. Large family!

[jac0brah]

Hi all

Ok so i've been having internet problems in my area for a long while now, i've called Optus many times and nothing they suggest has worked so they concluded i have a congestion problem in my area. Cable nor optical fibre are available in my area either. I live in sydney, nsw. I don't mind having less than 1mbps or whatever but the PING and latency i experience is HORRIFIC! Absolutely broken.

I have many people in my household using laptops, phones (ALOT), computers, tv services etc. I also cannot really change service providers atm..(contract). I also noticed when i turn my wifi off, good latency and speed returns. Sometimes only 1 phone will be connected to the wifi but it will still lag unless i turn the wifi off. (although optus insists its not a router problem, as its their latest model).

I am an hardcore gamer and i can't live with this latency man.. is there any way i can possibly enjoy good latency and internet? Should i replace my router/modem with a heavy duty one? Please help, i need a solution


Thanks 😛

I use: Sagemcom ADSL WiFi Modem F@st 3864OP (provided by optus) and their 115$ unlimited data+phonecall plan @ 1mbps or something

 

[joex444]

You've already done the diagnostic that I'd suggest here - try it with WiFi off or a direct connection to the modem. This clearly means that the problem is (a) on your end, not theirs and (b) real, not imagined.

I think you've done the groundwork to justify trying other hardware, be it a router, a wireless access point (WAP), or a router configured as a WAP. If you still need their hardware to behave as a modem then you should look into whether it's possible to configure it such that it doesn't act like a router. This way if you buy a router, the new router is the only router and you don't have a router behind a router. Usually this mode would be called "bridge mode" or something similar - the point is that you'd disable wireless on the hardware they gave you, and only one Ethernet port can be used.

 

[smorizio]

may want to look into sat internet and 4g hotspot internet for speed. larnd line internet is switching over to cellur internet. may want to see if there a local company that put a unit on your home.

 

[Solandri]

I also noticed when i turn my wifi off, good latency and speed returns. Sometimes only 1 phone will be connected to the wifi but it will still lag unless i turn the wifi off. (although optus insists its not a router problem, as its their latest model).

Then the problem is not with your ISP. It's with your network or your equipment.

Turn the wifi on but temporarily put a password on it, so nobody can connect to it. If the latency returns, then it's definitely a problem with the router.

If the latency is still gone, connect to the wifi with one device you know is clean. If you have an android phone or tablet, put it into safe mode. That will disable all but the default Google apps, so you know the phone will not be hitting your network hard.
http://www.howtogeek.com/130327/how-to-boot-your-android-phone-or-tablet-into-safe-mode/

If the latency is still gone, then all that's happening is your Internet speed is so slow that anyone using it extensively will eat up all your bandwidth. Many phones are configured not to do things like backup new photos until they're connected to the Internet via wifi. So they connect to your network, and suddenly start uploading tens or hundreds of MB of photos, which will choke your slow connection.

I use: Sagemcom ADSL WiFi Modem F@st 3864OP (provided by optus) and their 115$ unlimited data+phonecall plan @ 1mbps or something

Wow. And I thought Verizon was ripping me off charging $50/mo for a 1.5 Mbps DSL connection....

If your download speed is 1 Mbps, what's your upload speed? The symptoms you describe can happen when your upload bandwidth is being saturated. TCP/IP requires your computer to constantly send acknowledge packets when you're downloading stuff. Basically the server sends your computer data, then asks "did you get that?" Your computer has to respond "yeah I got that" before the server will send the next chunk of data. If your upload bandwidth is saturated, the "yeah I got that" message can be delayed, causing the server to delay sending the next chunk of data, leading to huge latencies.

From what I can tell from a Google search, that particular modem runs proprietary firmware made by Optus. So I can't find a manual or anything. Search for something in the modem's settings called QoS. If it's there, enable it and look for an upload bandwidth limit, and set it to about 80%-90% of the upload speed you're paying for (start with 80%, you can try moving it higher if this works). That usually takes care of the upload bandwidth saturation problem I described, and you can move on to prioritizing gaming ports.

If the modem doesn't have QoS, then you'll probably want to buy a router which has it. Plug the new router's WAN port into one of the Sagemcom's LAN ports. Plug nothing else into the Sagemcom. Assign the new router's WAN port a static IP address on the Sagemcom's LAN IP address range. Disable the Sagemcom's wifi, and set it's DMZ to point to your new router's WAN IP address. From this point on, you can just ignore the Sagemcom and pretend the new router is your main router.

All that said, your prospects over a 1 Mbps connection are not good. Even with QoS, it's going to bog down with more than 2-3 devices connected to it.

 

[jac0brah]

You've already done the diagnostic that I'd suggest here - try it with WiFi off or a direct connection to the modem. This clearly means that the problem is (a) on your end, not theirs and (b) real, not imagined.

I think you've done the groundwork to justify trying other hardware, be it a router, a wireless access point (WAP), or a router configured as a WAP. If you still need their hardware to behave as a modem then you should look into whether it's possible to configure it such that it doesn't act like a router. This way if you buy a router, the new router is the only router and you don't have a router behind a router. Usually this mode would be called "bridge mode" or something similar - the point is that you'd disable wireless on the hardware they gave you, and only one Ethernet port can be used.

Hey!, Im not too experienced with this field so can you suggest a decently priced router to do this job? Also in simple terms, how to seclude the given hardware to function only as a modem? Also what do you mean by one ethernet cable because we use multiple.. cheers

 

[jac0brah]

I also noticed when i turn my wifi off, good latency and speed returns. Sometimes only 1 phone will be connected to the wifi but it will still lag unless i turn the wifi off. (although optus insists its not a router problem, as its their latest model).

Then the problem is not with your ISP. It's with your network or your equipment.

Turn the wifi on but temporarily put a password on it, so nobody can connect to it. If the latency returns, then it's definitely a problem with the router.

If the latency is still gone, connect to the wifi with one device you know is clean. If you have an android phone or tablet, put it into safe mode. That will disable all but the default Google apps, so you know the phone will not be hitting your network hard.
http://www.howtogeek.com/130327/how-to-boot-your-android-phone-or-tablet-into-safe-mode/

If the latency is still gone, then all that's happening is your Internet speed is so slow that anyone using it extensively will eat up all your bandwidth. Many phones are configured not to do things like backup new photos until they're connected to the Internet via wifi. So they connect to your network, and suddenly start uploading tens or hundreds of MB of photos, which will choke your slow connection.

I use: Sagemcom ADSL WiFi Modem F@st 3864OP (provided by optus) and their 115$ unlimited data+phonecall plan @ 1mbps or something

Wow. And I thought Verizon was ripping me off charging $50/mo for a 1.5 Mbps DSL connection....

If your download speed is 1 Mbps, what's your upload speed? The symptoms you describe can happen when your upload bandwidth is being saturated. TCP/IP requires your computer to constantly send acknowledge packets when you're downloading stuff. Basically the server sends your computer data, then asks "did you get that?" Your computer has to respond "yeah I got that" before the server will send the next chunk of data. If your upload bandwidth is saturated, the "yeah I got that" message can be delayed, causing the server to delay sending the next chunk of data, leading to huge latencies.

From what I can tell from a Google search, that particular modem runs proprietary firmware made by Optus. So I can't find a manual or anything. Search for something in the modem's settings called QoS. If it's there, enable it and look for an upload bandwidth limit, and set it to about 80%-90% of the upload speed you're paying for (start with 80%, you can try moving it higher if this works). That usually takes care of the upload bandwidth saturation problem I described, and you can move on to prioritizing gaming ports.

If the modem doesn't have QoS, then you'll probably want to buy a router which has it. Plug the new router's WAN port into one of the Sagemcom's LAN ports. Plug nothing else into the Sagemcom. Assign the new router's WAN port a static IP address on the Sagemcom's LAN IP address range. Disable the Sagemcom's wifi, and set it's DMZ to point to your new router's WAN IP address. From this point on, you can just ignore the Sagemcom and pretend the new router is your main router.

All that said, your prospects over a 1 Mbps connection are not good. Even with QoS, it's going to bog down with more than 2-3 devices connected to it.

http://imgur.com/dSCDZF4 This is the settings it gives me, i don't think there is what your talking about..or is there? Excuse my lack of knowledge :L If it is low bandwith being eaten up, is there a way i can reduce the devices from using so much? like put a limit through the routers settings?

 

[Solandri]

http://imgur.com/dSCDZF4 This is the settings it gives me, i don't think there is what your talking about..or is there? Excuse my lack of knowledge :L If it is low bandwith being eaten up, is there a way i can reduce the devices from using so much? like put a limit through the routers settings?

That is what QoS does (quality of service). On a router with extensive QoS settings, you can limit or prioritize bandwidth based on device MAC address, device IP address, router's port, network port, data type, Internet source/destination, time of day.

If your router has it, it would be under the basic or advanced settings, not wireless settings. Usually it's under QoS or bandwidth management. or maybe access controls.

 

[jac0brah]

My router doesn't have a qos setting but i will most likely buy one with one and make do. Thanks Solandri and everyone, much appreciated.