Ping spikes and packet loss on WiFi

[Christiaan11]

Hi,
I’m having trouble with my orbi router with online gaming over WiFi. For the rest it works extremely well with high speed (400 down 40 up) and very low pings (10ms), all on WiFi. However with online gaming I got ping spikes and packet loss which makes it impossible to game online over WiFi.

Over Ethernet it works great so it’s not my ISP that is the issue.

How can I solve the spikes? There is not QoS option available in the routers interface. I have tried switching the satellite off but the problem remains.

Hope somebody can help!

Thanks
Christiaan

[FURRYe38]

What FW version are you using?

What is the Mfr and model # of the ISP modem? 

What channels are you using?

What wireless devices are you using for gaming?

Are you connected to the routers wifi or satellite wifi?

[Christiaan11]

What FW version are you using? 2.1.3.4

What is the Mfr and model # of the ISP modem? Technicolor TC7210.Z

What channels are you using? 2.4 on automatic (now on 13) and 5ghz on 36

Not sure if this is normal, but WiFi scanner is picking up 4 WiFi signals with the same SSID but with slightly different MAC address (last number is different). 

What wireless devices are you using for gaming? Surface pro 4 (i5, 8gb), Acer Travelmate 256

Are you connected to the routers wifi or satellite wifi? Not sure how I can see to which one I'm connected. I tried it both close to the router and close to the satellite. Also switched off the satellite and tested again. Same issues.  

[FURRYe38]

Your ISP modem seems to be a wifi router:

https://us.hardware.info/product/286562/technicolor-tc7210-z/specifications

Is wifi completely disabled on this unit or in full transparent bridge mode?

After updating to v2.1.3.4, did you factory reset the router and Satellite then set up from scratch? This needs to be done. This version is still considered beta and needs to be reset and set up from scratch to ensure good installation and operation.

Try setting manual channel 13 on 2.4Ghz.

Try disabling these features, Beamforming, MIMO, Daisy Chain and Fast Roaming. MIMO isn't needed if you don't have much or any MIMO supporting devices. Daisy chain is only needed for two or more satellites. Test with and with out Beamforming and Fast Roaming enabled.

[Christiaan11]

Thanks! I will do all of that tomorrow and let you know if it worked! 

Btw, the firmware version was pushed in the interface of the router. Are you sure it's still beta?

[FURRYe38]

Its still in flux. Of course anything is possible. Was a few that received this via auto update.

They added more models and beta availability to the beta test thread so there still coming out with FW.

 https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/Orbi-MR-2-1-Update-3-23-18/m-p/1533584/highlight/true#M26234

Besure to reset and set up from scratch. Its still needed for a bit longer. At some point the resets wont be needed from what I'm told.

[webminster]

There have been many people here that have measured bad ping RTT and packet loss on the Orbis, even when connected to the router, and pinging a LAN address (never mind WAN).   I experience it as well, with ping times swinging wildly from say 3-4 ms to well over 150-200 ms for a few packets.

I've seen better and worse performance across several firmware revs, but no version of 2.x that behaves well.  Also regardless of the standard comments, disable all the options, change the channels.

[Christiaan11]

Hi,

I have set the Orbi and satellite to factory settings. The settings you suggested were already turned off. I also wired the ISP router again since to be sure. 

I see improvements while gaming online (see pingplotter printscreen) but not enough to make it good enough to play over wifi. I think I will give up and accept the fact that I need to game with ethernet only!

Thanks for your help! 

[FURRYe38]

Ethernet will always have better and best performances over any wifi. Ethernet is perferred for gaming.