[SOLVED] Terrible connection for gaming but speedtest results are decent, ISP is completely useless in helping as well.

[user1821]

So I am having troubles playing any game whatsoever due to my connection. When I do a speed test I get decent numbers but whenever I play any game on my PC I have nonstop lag and its completely unplayable (random spikes of 200+ ping for long periods of time) and it happens for every single game I try. I tried calling my ISP but I have called them 8 times in the past week and they just repeat the same troubleshooting process over and over and over. The support person will say "I will have to send you to one of our senior technical support members" then I will get a callback and it's the same process all over. I live in a college apartment and they don't allow us access to the routers as well (router is installed into the ceiling for whatever reason). Is there ANYTHING I can do to make games playable? I really can't think of anything else I can do.

Message #network-help

 

[bill001g]

What you describe is exactly why it is recommended to not play online games on wifi. Wifi is subject to interference this causes random packet delays which is one of the worst things you can do for a game. It causes almost no issues for almost all other types of traffic.

Speedtest is a file download/upload small spikes in the latency have almost no effect on the test. A game actually doesn't care about bandwidth, most use under 500kbps up and down. What it wants is extremely consistent latency which wifi can not provide.

I doubt you are going to get this fixed if the problem is wifi and too many device both inside and outside you house interfering.

To test can you somehow get a cable plugged into the router in the ceiling. Can you tell if the device is actually a router or if it is only a AP. Mostly what you are hoping is the problem is a network issue and not caused by the wifi which you can't fix. Connecting to the wire coming into the apartment somehow will allow you test and eliminate the wifi from the path.

 

[user1821]

What you describe is exactly why it is recommended to not play online games on wifi. Wifi is subject to interference this causes random packet delays which is one of the worst things you can do for a game. It causes almost no issues for almost all other types of traffic.

Speedtest is a file download/upload small spikes in the latency have almost no effect on the test. A game actually doesn't care about bandwidth, most use under 500kbps up and down. What it wants is extremely consistent latency which wifi can not provide.

I doubt you are going to get this fixed if the problem is wifi and too many device both inside and outside you house interfering.

To test can you somehow get a cable plugged into the router in the ceiling. Can you tell if the device is actually a router or if it is only a AP. Mostly what you are hoping is the problem is a network issue and not caused by the wifi which you can't fix. Connecting to the wire coming into the apartment somehow will allow you test and eliminate the wifi from the path.

I guess I am just SOL then because the router is completely inaccessible unless I cut a hole in the ceiling. I don't know why they did this but they randomly came in and did "internet upgrades" but I think all they did was put the router into the ceiling so we can't access it anymore.

 

[bill001g]

Most places do not care about real gamers. These are people who think people who play candy crush is gaming.

This is why you always want your own internet connection not some garbage free one that comes with the rent. I have a relative that was looking for a place to rent and the availability of good internet was one of the highest thing on his list.

 

[gggplaya]

Ceiling mount is most likely an access point, not a router. Likely they also put a bandwidth limit on all the clients as well. This way, they pay for 1 large plan and bandwidth limit everyone in all the apartments.

Can you tell us the brand of the access point in your ceiling? We could probably tell you how to take it off. Usually there's a tab behind the router that you remove. Once removed, you could probably try an ethernet coupler/extension on your computer to see if you can get internet from it. It really depends on if they secured the lan or not.

This could give them a notification that their access point is offline and could violate the terms of your lease. But you could talk to the apartment's IT people and ask them to do this for you. Remove the access point and give you just a single ethernet connection instead, tape it to the ceiling while you're there(it will be ugly). Good landlords will be accomodating. You'll just have to use your cellular internet for your phone instead of wifi.