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Forum Discussion
Latency
My orbi setup has high latency making online gaming almost impossible. How do I lower latency? My computer shows my latency averaging 158ms.
27 Replies
What's the ping latency between client/Satellite/Orbi/ISP?
- How would I find all of that?
What Firmware is currently loaded?
What is the Mfr and model# of the ISP modem the NG router is connected too?Are you wireless or wired when gaming?
What is the size of your home? Sq Ft?
What is the distance between the router and satellite(s)? 30 feet is recommended in between RBR and RBS to begin with depending upon building materials when wirelessly connected. https://kb.netgear.com/000036466/How-far-should-I-place-my-Orbi-satellite-from-my-Orbi-routerWhat channels are you using? Auto? Try setting manual channel 1, 6 or 11 on 2.4Ghz and any unused channel on 5Ghz.
Any Wifi Neighbors near by? If so, how many?Try enabling Beamforming and MIMO(MIMO may or maynot be needed) and WMM. Under Advanced Tab/Advanced Settings/Wireless Settings
Try disabling the following and see:
Armor, Circle, Daisy Chain, Fast Roaming, IPv6 and Set 20/40Mhz Coexistence to 40Mhz only. Save settings and reboot the router and satellite(s).
James_Wheelz wrote:
My orbi setup has high latency making online gaming almost impossible. How do I lower latency? My computer shows my latency averaging 158ms.- Firmware is V2.5.0.38. I use the Panoramic Gateway from Cox Communications. I have it in Bridge mode so that I don't get double nat. My house is 7000 square feet and I properly spread the routers apart. I have to play on wifi it's not my choice. Beamforming, Mu Mimo and WMM are enabled. I only have 2 neighbors next to my house. One is 20 feet away. Other is 60 feet away. And one in front is across the street.
James_Wheelz wrote:
I have to play on wifi it's not my choice.Since this issue is a serious frustration, you might consider temporarily relocating the computer to where it can be plugged directly into the modem. (i.e. unplug the Orbi and plug in the computer). This takes the Orbi completely out of the picture. If the on-line game reports serious latency issues when the computer is plugged directly into the modem, then the Orbi is not the cause.
As you may have read, people have reported issues with firmware 2.5.0.38 that is installed on your Orbi, both in terms of features and performance. Many users have reported manually "going back" to firmware 2.3.5.30 or manually installing 2.5.1.8. A manual isnstall is probably less time and effort than hauling a computer across the house and back.
2.3.5.30 is available here: https://kb.netgear.com/000061080/RBR50-RBS50-Firmware-Version-2-3-5-30
2.5.1.8 is available here: https://kb.netgear.com/000061530/RBR50-RBS50-Firmware-Version-2-5-1-8
- Fast roaming and Circle are off. Why would I turn off daisy chain since I have the router and 2 satellites? Also why would I disable Armor?
Disabling some of these features is a troubleshooting step to see if anything changes for you. Armor and security features can slow down or cause latency.
You may want to update FW to v2.5.1.8 aswell.
- What is Ipv6 and what does it do? Do you have it on?
What tools are available to you to investigate latency? The "latency issue" came up on the forum last March, and I performed some experiments that concluded (in my case) that latency was partly a function of the WiFi firmware on devices. I also had an arsenal of tools available to me:
- Windows 7 Desktop for the test machine
- Windows 7 Desktop as a test subject
- Windows 10 Lenovo Laptop as a test subject
- (old) Acer Laptop running Linux Mint as a test subject
- Raspberry Pi 3B+ as a test subject
I installed hrping, which generates ICMP requests (ping) with high precision. https://www.cfos.de/en-us/download/start-download.htm?file=/hrping-v507.zip
I used hrping from the command line to send 5,000 ping requests to each of the test subjects, over an ethernet connection to the Orbi and when they were WiFi connected to the Orbi. What I found was that (in general) WiFi takes longer than ethernet as I expected. And, that the Linux Mint ethernet and WiFi drivers on that old Acer laptop are not great:
I also did some ping tests with the Pi connected to my Orbi satellite, both wired and WiFi, and with the satellite connected to the Orbi with WiFi backhaul and ethernet backhaul. (This is where that 50ft ethernet cord came in.)
So, my conclusion last March was that MY Orbi did not exhibit excessive latency for three test computers, but did for one test computer.
A lot has changed since March. There is new Orbi firmware (2.3.5.30 and now 2.5.1.8) and there have been software updates to all of my test computers. Even have a Raspberry Pi 4B that I did not have before.
Sorry to ramble on. My point is, "What tools are available to you to confirm that the Orbi is the source of the latency issue?" Are there other devices in the house that will respond to ping (desktops, laptops, other?) Do you have a computer that can generate and record pings?
- I have 2 laptops and a desktop. How would I generate and record ping? Well tomorrow morning I'm going to plug my big gaming laptop into the modem since it's the only portable thing I have that has ethernet.
If I were doing this, I would start with this:
- Download hrping to the gaming laptop and extract (unzip) the files into someplace where you can open a command prompt.
hrping is a "DOS program" run from a command prompt (C:).
For example, I have a folder on the C: drive so I can open a Command Window and do a "cd c:\folder". - Unplug the modem and connect the laptop directly to the modem.
- Verify that the laptop "works" on the internet. It should get the same IP address as the public IP address that the Orbi system had.
Test by opening a web browser. Should work like normal.
Do a Speed Test (i.e. http://speedtest.net or http://fast.com) All is good, correct? - Open a command prompt as an administrator, change to the directory where the hrping program is and type in:
hrping -n 10 8.8.8.8
This will ping the Google DNS server 10 times. The speed that it reports is the best you will ever get.
(You could ping 100 times and see if there is any substantial change.) - At this point, if there is substantial latency, you are SCREWED.
Now that the raw internet speed and latency are established, unplug the laptop and plug the Orbi back in.
You can do the same test, from the gaming laptop when it is connected to the Orbi (ethernet, WiFi, or both).
Try to ping Google, the desktop, the X-Box, whatever else you have that will respond to ping.
I would do at least 500 pings (maybe 100 for Google). (The 5,000 pings I did in my test took so long I would go have a shower or eat breakfast while they finished.)If anything that goes through the Orbi, to anywhere shows high latency this is not good. In my case, only the one old laptop was slow.
This may not be the sort of thing you want to spend time on or enjoy.
- Download hrping to the gaming laptop and extract (unzip) the files into someplace where you can open a command prompt.
