Recently started getting random lags.

[WinterAzur]

I have been random lag spikes and brief periods of high latency at random in the past 2 months while playing Apex. During the moments where I lag, it typically also disrupts my Discord calls. Typically I average 11ms during gameplay, but can randomly shoot up to 100-150 ms. I am on WiFi, using a NETGEAR Nighthawk A700 WiFi Adapter. I'm a decent space away from my modem. This lag problem has only begun roughly 2 months ago. I've had my PC for almost a year now. Are there any ways I could fix this and/or locate the source of this lag? They have been lots of talks of DoSing on Apex, and I did not have any problems with my connection during a anime binge with a friend where I screen shared.

Specs:
OS - Windows 10 64 bit.
CPU - AMD Ryzen 5 2600
GPU - Geforce GTX 1050 Ti
SSD - Seagate Barracuda 120 SSD 250GB 
HHD - Seagate BarraCuda 2TB Internal Hard Drive HDD
Motherboard - MSI ProSeries AMD A320 1st, 2nd, 3rd Gen Ryzen Compliant AM4 DDR4 HDMI DVI M.2 USB 3 Micro-ATX Motherboard (A320M-A PRO MAX)
BIOS Version - 2.4
Router/Modem - Xfinity Gateway, xFi Gateway Generation 3

[SorryBella]

6 minutes ago, WinterAzur said:

I am on WiFi, using a NETGEAR Nighthawk A700 WiFi Adapter.

Any reason why you dont wanna go wired?

 

If its because ya hate cable managing it, guess we gotta work with what we have. Have ya try to:
Switch Channel on the router?
Update both the router and wifi adapter?

Make sure there's no new wifi access point being installed in your vicinity?

[WinterAzur]

43 minutes ago, SorryClaire said:

Any reason why you dont wanna go wired?

 

If its because ya hate cable managing it, guess we gotta work with what we have. Have ya try to:
Switch Channel on the router?
Update both the router and wifi adapter?

Make sure there's no new wifi access point being installed in your vicinity?

I live in an older house, so there are not ethernet ports in my room. I wish I could go wired, but it's not something I can do at this moment.

1. I have an Xfinity Gateway (will edit the original post to include this information)
2. By update do you mean drivers? My Nighthawk connection software is up to date, I have no idea how to update my router.
3. I don't think there are any being installed, but I'm unsure how I can check this.

Thank you for replying!

[SorryBella]

6 minutes ago, WinterAzur said:

1. I have an Xfinity Gateway

xfinity says the default address to open the admin panel is 10.0.0.1, and i believe you should be able to find the password and user for it on the stickers of the router. From there you can go to wireless settings and try to find a way to set channels. Read #3 answer on how to see which channel is empty and not taken by other wifi in your area.

6 minutes ago, WinterAzur said:

2. By update do you mean drivers?

That, and also the router's firmware.

6 minutes ago, WinterAzur said:

3. I don't think there are any being installed, but I'm unsure how I can check this.

You can use a wifi analyzer, something like wireshark on PC or WiFi Analyzer on Android.

[WinterAzur]

10 minutes ago, SorryClaire said:

xfinity says the default address to open the admin panel is 10.0.0.1, and i believe you should be able to find the password and user for it on the stickers of the router. From there you can go to wireless settings and try to find a way to set channels. Read #3 answer on how to see which channel is empty and not taken by other wifi in your area.

That, and also the router's firmware.

You can use a wifi analyzer, something like wireshark on PC or WiFi Analyzer on Android.

1. I changed from auto to channel 1, we'll see how that works.
2. Drivers are up to date, I couldn't find anything on updating my firmware. What I did find was rented gateways (which I believe my family is doing) should come with automatic updates to the firmware.
3. I downloaded WiFi Analyzer. I took at the "Access Points section and see 7 (HiddenSSID) access points which are colored red, and see 5 other networks, including my network, that are colored orange, I assume these ones are my neighbor's WiFis. I'm unsure if any of these are being installed as you said.

With the change I made, I'm going to try and play Apex. Typically every 1-3 games I'll be hit with a lag spike, but sometimes I can go multiple games lag free.

[SorryBella]

21 minutes ago, WinterAzur said:

I assume these ones are my neighbor's WiFis.

Yep. Try to find an empty gap, note the channel in the middle thats empty, and put that as your channel in your router.

[WinterAzur]

47 minutes ago, SorryClaire said:

Yep. Try to find an empty gap, note the channel in the middle thats empty, and put that as your channel in your router.

 

After monitoring with the app, often times my WiFi is the only one on any channel, but I'm still getting lag spikes. Changing the channel from auto to 1, to 5, nothing seems to have fixed the lag spikes.

[SorryBella]

48 minutes ago, WinterAzur said:

 

After monitoring with the app, often times my WiFi is the only one on any channel, but I'm still getting lag spikes. Changing the channel from auto to 1, to 5, nothing seems to have fixed the lag spikes.

So the outside world isnt the issue (tell that to the conspiracy theorist)

 

Whats the other online stuff besides apex and discord do you use? Is there any other people in the network?

[WinterAzur]

On 4/26/2021 at 9:56 PM, SorryClaire said:

So the outside world isnt the issue (tell that to the conspiracy theorist)

 

Whats the other online stuff besides apex and discord do you use? Is there any other people in the network?

Sorry for the late response.

Other than Apex and Discord, I occasionally browse the internet, listen to Spotify, or watch Crunchyroll.
I also get these lag spikes, but not as often or as noticable.

I am not the only one on the network, I have my family watching Netflix in the living room most of the time.
That said, these lag spikes still occur when I am the only one online playing Apex at 1 AM.