Ping (seemingly) randomly shooting up for a few minutes

[WackyPlaysPS]

Hello.

I dont know whether this is the correct forum for this question, but I couldnt find any other suitable spots to post this so here we go...

I recently built my first PC and now Im using it with WIFI (onboard wifi chip & antenna) and that hasnt been a problem for almost a full month. In the past few days however, my Wifi decided to act up a lot and I cant seem to find a solution or even someone sharing the same issue anywhere:
When playing apex legends with a friend, my WIFI looks, feels and works absolutely normally until at one point my ping shoots to unreasonable extremes (2000+) and becomes super unstable. It then usually fluctuates between normal, somewhat fluid gameplay and this awfull mess of freezeframes and extreme ping. The games internal analytics tell me I get this super high ping and a high packet loss, but the FPS stay above 40 (unchanged) so it isnt my PC hardware most likely. For testing sake I stopped the game entirely when it happened last time and almost immediately after started downloading the new valorant update. I got about 10 to 100kbps of download speed there. Until at some point, it jumped to my regular 7 or 8Mbps.+

 

When this happens, the router interface shows a completely clogged Wireless-Channel. I will provide a picture that nicely captures the problem. I think it might also be relevant to include that according to my routers interface, all the data being pulled through the Channel is incoming Data. And when I was seeing the download speed normalize, there was a huge wave of outgoing data I have never seen before. It is also important to mention, that this always happens around the same time (10-12pm). Might be a little sooner or later, but thats usually the time around which I play, so thats when I notice it. Maybe it also happens throughout the day and I just dont notice tho.

 

Does anyone maybe have any information about the nature of this issue, the cause of the problem or even a potential solution? I have considered going wired instead of wireless (which I wanted to avoid so far cause I would have to run the cable and that will look ugly in the end). I have also considered testing this with another router, but I do not have access to one.

If neccessary, I can always include more information. But due to my minimal knowledge about networking, I do not even know what else to mention here and what to look for while troubleshooting.

 

 

Some information about my hardwawre:

Using the Fritz!Box 7360 and an EasyBox as a repeater (the repeater is connected to the main router with LAN)

2 devices connected by LAN and 3 to 5 phones plus my PC connected Wirelessly

60mbs download, 12mbs upload

Router firmware is up to date (updated shortly before the issues started, could that be the problem?)

Telekom as my service provider

 

 

 

Sorry for the bad image quality. The pictures below show the Channel usage chart, one picture shows what it looks like when the connection shoots up for the first time, two of them how it fluctuates and the last one (with a big green portion in the graph) is when the issues stopped (yesterday, didnt test it since). 

 

 

 

As mentioned above, I expect this to not be enough or the right information, so feel free to ask for anything that might help identify the issue.

Thank you in advance. Any Information is dearly welcomed

[HQuan]

You using PCIe or M2 WIFI receiver?

[WackyPlaysPS]

2 hours ago, HQuan said:

You using PCIe or M2 WIFI receiver?

Its on board wifi (mobo: MSI B550M PRO-VDH WIFI). It has little antennas that screw into the IO shield... 

 

Or do u mean something different? 

[HQuan]

On-board WIFI? I think you should try to buy a PCIe WIFI to plug in your PCIe slot to test them out.

Something like this dude: https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/513LG9rlRSL._AC_SX679_.jpg

[Falcon1986]

27 minutes ago, HQuan said:

On-board WIFI? I think you should try to buy a PCIe WIFI to plug in your PCIe slot to test them out.

Something like this dude: https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/513LG9rlRSL._AC_SX679_.jpg

Unlikely to solve the problem. Both use the PCIe interface (although the built-in is likely using a different connector) and both use I/O antennae.

 

@WackyPlaysPS- What you're describing is actually typical for WiFi, more so when you're in a congested wireless environment and/or one that isn't optimized at the wireless AP/router itself.

 

Are you on the 2.4GHz or 5GHz when you're seeing this latency?

 

Do the following:

1. Run a channel analysis (2.4GHz and 5GHz) using WiFiman and post the graphical output.
2. Post a screenshot of your WiFi settings (obviously, hide any passwords) so we can see what can be optimized.

Based on what is observed, there might be a few settings that can be tuned.

[WackyPlaysPS]

15 hours ago, Falcon1986 said:

Unlikely to solve the problem. Both use the PCIe interface (although the built-in is likely using a different connector) and both use I/O antennae.

 

@WackyPlaysPS- What you're describing is actually typical for WiFi, more so when you're in a congested wireless environment and/or one that isn't optimized at the wireless AP/router itself.

 

Are you on the 2.4GHz or 5GHz when you're seeing this latency?

 

Do the following:

1. Run a channel analysis (2.4GHz and 5GHz) using WiFiman and post the graphical output.
2. Post a screenshot of your WiFi settings (obviously, hide any passwords) so we can see what can be optimized.

Based on what is observed, there might be a few settings that can be tuned.

Hello again.

I am running on 2.4Ghz I think

 

here is my graphical output using inSSIDer:

Vladimir Routing being my router (obviously)

 

I also ran Wifiman and got about 50mbps down- and 12 mbps upload yesterday in the night and just now I got the following

 

I am confused as to why my download speed took such a massive hit since yesterday but I dont want to throw more problems into this discussion without having solved the initial one yet.

 

Talking about the initial problem:

Last night I was playing with my friend again and didnt have any problems with my connection. Everything seems to be running just fine. Of course that might just have been a coincidence, so I will keep monitoring, but its a good sign that there were no issues there yesterday.

The only thing I changed before playing yesterday was the wifi channel (inSSIDer said another channel would be less crowded, although my router interface told me that channel is the most crowded... weird) and my DNS-Server from 1.1.1.1 back to googles public DNS 8.8.8.8 (alternative DNS of course matching the main one)

 

 

Man, I dont get Networking at all... And I would consider myself a fairly knowledgeable person with almost all other electronics. Networking and Wifi etc. is still this giant mystery, just like printers... but less annoying

[Falcon1986]

2 hours ago, WackyPlaysPS said:

I also ran Wifiman and got about 50mbps down- and 12 mbps upload yesterday in the night and just now I got the following

The point of WiFiman (app) was for channel analysis, not necessarily speed testing. But since you used inSSIDer instead, that should work.

 

2 hours ago, WackyPlaysPS said:

I am running on 2.4Ghz I think

Don't. Use 5GHz if your device is close enough to detect a signal.

 

2.4GHz is subject to a lot of interference from other 2.4GHz networks and appliances that use that frequency.

 

On your graph, you can see that it's detecting another broadcast on channel 1. Now if that neighbour isn't actively using WiFi at the same time as you, there is unlikely to be any degradation in your 2.4GHz signal performance, but as soon as they start using it, you both suffer.

 

At least on 5GHz you can use channels 36-48 without interference, or even the upper channels.

 

So either force your wireless client to prefer 5GHz or give your 5GHz antenna broadcast a separate unique SSID that distinguishes it as the 5GHz one and force your client to use that instead.

 

3 hours ago, WackyPlaysPS said:

and my DNS-Server from 1.1.1.1 back to googles public DNS 8.8.8.8 (alternative DNS of course matching the main one)

Coincidence. Unlikely to be contributory.

[WackyPlaysPS]

11 hours ago, Falcon1986 said:

Don't. Use 5GHz if your device is close enough to detect a signal.

 

Appearantly my Router isnt even Capable to process or detect 5Ghz signals. I cant find any settings about 5Ghz and I looked up how to do the things you told me but google says my Router just doesnt support it...

 

But I have tried playing again today and again, no issues. So whatever the problem might have been, it seems to be eradicated by now. Either that or it has something to do with my neighbours using bandwidth around that time and they just didnt do it lately. Or maybe the WIFI issues were something completely different.

 

Anyways, I think I will go with the settings you helped me change so far and use all the knowledge I gained from this thread for now and then alter, once my finances allow it, I will buy a new router and look for a better Wireless contract.

11 hours ago, Falcon1986 said:

Coincidence. Unlikely to be contributory.

Ah, ok. Yeah, as far as I understood, the DNS server is merely responsible for web browsing and therefore shouldnt affect gaming performance very much.

 

 

Thank you for helping me and fighting through my awful grammar and inexperienced questioning. I appreciate that a lot.

 

If you or anyone for that matter has valid suggestions for potential router upgrades or additional information, feel free to hmu, otherwise thanks a lot and have a nice time