Question WiFi connectivity Issues ?

[dragonfly22588]

I recently set up my desktop that has a wifi card at a new home location on the 2nd floor of a house that has AT&T fiber using an AT&T provided modem/router (BGW 320-500) which was recently upgraded from an older modem. I am running Windows 11 Home. Since I set it up, I’ve noticed that when I play games I get pretty frequent lag spikes which will freeze the game from seconds to sometimes under a minute where I will need to relog in. Less frequently during web browsing and watching videos I’ll get the same issue. However, when the connection is not experiencing a problem, everything is very fast and great. There aren’t that many devices connected to it. At most maybe 5-6 devices. When I speed test, I get good speeds like 214 Mbps download and 260 Mbps upload.

I didn’t have this problem in my previous home partly because I hard wired the CAT 6 cable directly to my computer. The wifi router now is on the first floor and when looking at my taskbar I do see 4 of the 5 waves for signal strength. I did test out my desktop by bringing it to another location and using wifi playing the same game (World Of Warships) and I did not have any problems.

Could the issue be a weaker signal and would it be improved by a wifi extender? Something like this one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08RHD97QY/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&th=1

Is there anything else I could try to see what the cause of the issues are? If I am looking at the right type of device, can anyone recommend a good model or brand?

 

[Ralston18]

You changed from wired to wireless.

On the desktop did you disable the wired network adapter?

Also noted that you tested out the desktop by moving it and had no problems.

What sort of move: around the current 2nd floor, down to the 1st lower floor, etc.l?

Distance from router?

Do any of those other 5 or 6 devices have problems?

 

[bill001g]

You first problem is you are trying to play online games on wifi. The fundamental design of how wifi handles data errors is in direct conflict the need of online games for extremely consistent latency. Online games generally do not care about bandwidth. They mostly use well under 1mbps but the time between the packets is critical.

I would choose a repeater/extender as your very last option when nothing else works. If you have coax cables in both rooms you can look at using MoCA technology. If not maybe powerline networks devices. It might be slower than wifi but powerline networks are much more stable because they are not subject to interfering signals from outside your house. I guess you could switch back to wifi to download the game faster and then switch back to powerline to play it.

Since you already get strong signal a repeater/extender may not do much. Your PC is likely in a location that it is getting a strong interfering signal from outside your house. Maybe change the radio channels but that recommendation does not work as well as it did years ago. Almost every radio channel is massively over utilized by you and all your neighbors.

In any case if you finally do decide to buy a extender placement is key. It does not go in the remote room with your pc. It must be places where it can get a strong signal from your router and then transmit a second signal to your room. In a big open room it would be 1/2 way. When wall/floors/ceilings are blocking signal there is no easy answer it is purely a trial and error and in some cases there is no optimum position. Also because your router signal level is so high already in the remote room the main signal from the router will interfere with the repeater signal. All you can do is try it but I would not get my hopes up. Your issue is the key reason you see the recommendation to never play games on wifi.

 

[dragonfly22588]

You changed from wired to wireless.

On the desktop did you disable the wired network adapter?

Also noted that you tested out the desktop by moving it and had no problems.

What sort of move: around the current 2nd floor, down to the 1st lower floor, etc.l?

Distance from router?

Do any of those other 5 or 6 devices have problems?

I had not previously disabled my wired network adapter but I'll try that. I moved it back to another home and tried wifi and there were no issues. My desktop is currently on the 2nd floor so maybe about 30 ft through wall to router. All of the other devices appear to work fine. Mostly phones or laptops but watching videos seems like it sometimes takes extra time buffering but it's not bad.

 

[chillhouse1]

try to open Network troubleshooter, through setting, then network and internet