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Solved
Frequent ping spikes on wifi
Hello, I'm getting a lot of spikes when trying to ping my router, on wifi. Without an usb adapter, I'm getting about 5 replies in a row with over 100ms very often, before it goes down to < 1 again... Even when I'm sitting right besides the router! Only way I can get a steady connection is to hook up my USB WNDA3100 and using it's 5GHz network while I'm placing the computer right besides it. Whenever I take it back to the place I need the steady connection (5 meters away) I'm getting +100 ms spikes very often.
Things I've tried: switching 300/145 Mb/s modes, using other channels (only 1-2 other networks detected, but they shouldn't be a problem), tested QoS and WMM, seeing if other devices takes up too much of the network, but I'm completely unable to see any correlation. I am very close to just buying a new router, as the only logical explanation seems to be that I'm using a very bad router... And even with an Netgear USB adapter? I'm honestly very disappointed...
To be honest these networking problems have been going on for some years, I've just recently learnt enough about networking to understand how to locate the problem. ISP is providing me with a 60Mb/s network, and tells me the signal is good, with no problems. I've even had them replace the modem they've provided me with.
Maybe worth mentioning is that in the router config I'm uable to disable Airtime Fairness... It stays on even after I've unchecked it and pressed apply.
SOLUTION: After buying a new router, I was still having frequent ping spikes! With more investigation, I figured out my Intel AC-7260 Wifi card is actually the problem here... Yes the new router dramatically improved my signal, escpecially on the 2.4Ghz band, but the spikes were the same! The reason I find this so strange is that I was having spikes on another device I also tested (but that one apparently also had a flawed card haha), and since my USB Adapter didnt improve it...
So with some windows wifi settings that I found online I've managed to keep the spikes to only one at the time, instead of clusters of 3-6 packages of high delay. Sorry for the trouble, people who tried to help me!
15 Replies
Run speed test and watch if there is speed fluctuation. Also on wireless, signal strength should be good and steady with no or minimum inteference sppecially on crowded 2.4GHz band.
Crowded 2.4GHz band? Well, ONE other device being close to the router is enough to make the 2.4GHz wifi completely useless... 50% connection lost, 50% 2Mb/s speed... I've told my family members to use the 5GHz band now, which is pretty okay if you're fine with medium connection and some ping spikes, while I stay on 2.4GHz alone. I still have to use the WIFI USB Adapter, and only be logged onto "Wifi 2" with 2.4GHz, and I'm actually able to keep the ping spikes pretty low...
I know how stupid it can be with random people on the internet complaining about a product where they probably just messed something up, but I'm pretty sure I've tried everything that a normal customer is supposed to try, and it seems to me like the router is just bad. Unless the airtime fairness that for some reason is impossible to disable (probably bad programming) just gives all the bandwidth to the closest device...
Mostly gamers talk about ping spikes, being not a gamer, ping spike does mean much to me. I'd rather concern with steady average throughput than a ping time measured in milliseconds. Also keep in mind communication is 2 way affiar. Transmitting and receiving. TX side can be culprit or RX side could be. Also if you don't how about download and use wireless surveying/analyzing utility such as inSSIDer or Acrylic? You live way out in the acerage or somewhere even 2.4GHz band is quiet? Think adjacent channel interference.
SOLUTION: After buying a new router, I was still having frequent ping spikes! With more investigation, I figured out my Intel AC-7260 Wifi card is actually the problem here... Yes the new router dramatically improved my signal, escpecially on the 2.4Ghz band, but the spikes were the same! The reason I find this so strange is that I was having spikes on another device I also tested (but that one apparently also had a flawed card haha), and since my USB Adapter didnt improve it...
So with some windows wifi settings that I found online I've managed to keep the spikes to only one at the time, instead of clusters of 3-6 packages of high delay. Sorry for the trouble, people who tried to help me!
