switch vs router

[Flawizz]

hi, i have a question regarding switches and routers

i am currently running a 10meter (33ft) cable from my modem to my switch. i have connected 2 computers to the network switch

what would be the difference if i swapped the switch with a router? (outside of extra features like wifi etc)

 

when i'm playing gta with my brother for example, we usually do online races and it gets quiet laggy, we always have issues connecting to the same lobby on games like cod zombies etc

but playing solo is completely fine, could the switch be the issue and could a router fix this?

 

 

[Donut417]

2 hours ago, Flawizz said:

modem to my switch

If you have multiple computers connected then its not a modem, its a gateway (modem/router). Standard modems only allow one machine to be connected at a time. This is because your ISP historically would only provide ONE IP address per account, unless you paid for additional. Keep in mind now days we have exhausted all our IPv4 addresses, so buying additional might not be available. 

 

2 hours ago, Flawizz said:

could a router fix this?

Connecting two routers together will lead to double NAT and thats generally not good for gaming. What kind of internet do you have? 

[Flawizz]

2 hours ago, Donut417 said:

If you have multiple computers connected then its not a modem, its a gateway (modem/router). Standard modems only allow one machine to be connected at a time. This is because your ISP historically would only provide ONE IP address per account, unless you paid for additional. Keep in mind now days we have exhausted all our IPv4 addresses, so buying additional might not be available. 

 

Connecting two routers together will lead to double NAT and thats generally not good for gaming. What kind of internet do you have? 

the modem is a CH8568LG and this is the backside

i have a 1000mbps subscription

 

i have a 10meter CAT7 cable going from the CH8568LG router to a TP-Link TL-SG105 switch which then has 2 cables going each to a computer

 

i have no knowledge of routers switches and computers so im thinking the switch might not be able to process and/or send data as good as a router which causes these connectivity issues when using both computers on same game/lobby

[Donut417]

6 minutes ago, Flawizz said:

he modem

Thats a Docsis gateway. It has a router built in. Adding another router is just going to cause issues. 

 

8 minutes ago, Flawizz said:

TP-Link TL-SG105 

The Switch should be fine. Its a Gigabit Switch after all. What Id do is test other games. It could very well be an issue with the GTA server is your area, OR could be an issue with the peering between your ISP and the GTA server. Keep in mind that the internet is a collection of networks, at a certain port these networks will connect to each other. If these connections become congested it will cause issues. 

[Flawizz]

3 minutes ago, Donut417 said:

Thats a Docsis gateway. It has a router built in. Adding another router is just going to cause issues. 

 

The Switch should be fine. Its a Gigabit Switch after all. What Id do is test other games. It could very well be an issue with the GTA server is your area, OR could be an issue with the peering between your ISP and the GTA server. Keep in mind that the internet is a collection of networks, at a certain port these networks will connect to each other. If these connections become congested it will cause issues. 

when playing cod zombies, we cant connect to the same lobby for example, i have a short clip of the lag in gta races

i do have a tplink router though, but thats only used by phones for wifi, no problems there

[Donut417]

34 minutes ago, Flawizz said:

when playing cod zombies, we cant connect to the same lobby for example, i have a short clip of the lag in gta races

Again your assuming the lag is caused by equipment in your home. Once that traffic leaves you home you have no clue the route it has to take to get to a GTA server. Your also assuming your ISP is directly connected in to the data center that hosts that server. Which probably is not the case. Peering points can become clogged leading to performance issues. OR the servers are physically far away and that causes performance issues as well. 

 

Further more a switch doesn't process data, it just moves it around. The router is the one doing the processing, as it handles NAT, the Firewall, the DHCP server and so on. In your case your modem and router is built in to the same box. Generally this combo units are meh, but you are using a wired connection, which generally should work.

 

If you still think its the switch then why not remove it and connect directly to your gateway? If the problem persists you learn something, if the problem goes away you learn the switch went bad, which can happen. 

 

38 minutes ago, Flawizz said:

i do have a tplink router though, but thats only used by phones for wifi, no problems there

Some devices are not as effected, but gaming on double NAT is a experience you're not going to want. Two layers of NAT and two firewalls will cause issues. 

 

As far as the COD thing, it sounds maybe like a NAT/Firewall thing. You might check to see if UnPn is enabled in your gateway, but this also can be a security risk, because it will automatically open ports in the firewall as needed, which means if you get a Virus on a machine, it also can do those things. That being said, you can port forward manually, the issue is each port can only be opened for ONE device at a time. So no opening up ports for both machines at the same time. Not all games require this. For example I have played ARK on a dedicated server, in this case only the server would need ports forward. For that case GTA doesnt require port forwarding. Im thinking you have an issue out side of your home. 

 

Some times you can run a Trace Route and see where the issue starts, but thats not always the case because switches and routers across the internet dont always respond. Also you need to find the IP address of the server your connecting to.