ASUS RT-AC68U Xbox Live Latency Issues (Wired Connection)

[jboss10]

Hi Guys,

I'm really hoping someone can give me some help figuring out what's going on with my Xbox Live latency issues, specifically playing COD MW, at the moment. This latency just started happening ~3 weeks ago or so. Never have had any issues playing Xbox Live on my network, not sure what gives. I have tried countless things thus far and can't seem to pinpoint the issue. Typically, my wife and I are on our phones + streaming Netflix on a TV whenever I'm online playing. But, I feel like our network is more than capable to be doing all of this.

Xbox One (old model)
Wired Connection right into the RT-AC68U router
D/L Speeds on Network: ~200+Mbps
U/L Speeds on Network: ~12 Mbps
NAT Type: OPEN
UPnP: Enabled
Pings from PC to Router: <1ms (consistently using -t)

I have tried Q0S (Adaptive with Fresh's scripts, no dice). I also have Merlin's FW on the router as well. I recently took my Xbox to my brother's house to make sure it was not the Network card/drivers on the Xbox but when playing on his network it seemed to be just fine (30-50ms of latency). For me, it seems that it's around (50-70ms) and then it will just spike up to 300-500+ms at random times. Walking in straight lines will cause studder stepping etc.

I also plugged directly into my Netgear CM500V cable modem and it appeared like it was OK. I did not get a chance to really exercise it with it plugged in. I'm going to try and play for a good 30+mins with it just plugged into the modem so I can potentially point my finger at the router.

Luckily, I'm still under warranty on the router and am in the middle of trying to have ASUS send out a replacement for me. Could the router have degradation like this? Not sure. I also just ran across a post from ~2015 where some people were saying to throttle the U/L speed to ~.5-.7Mbps to ensure my network flys under the radar for hosting and ~20Mbps for D/L. Not sure if this is going to help anymore either. It's just odd where I'd have to put in all of these different settings when things have been working just fine for years here.

You guys have any suggestions? Any data I can upload to perhaps pinpoint the issue? I have also unplugged my main PC from the network just in case I have some rogue network process taking over? No torrents or any of that here. Like I said, this just started happening within the last month or so. Nothing has changed on our side as far as I'm aware.

Much appreciated!

 

[adampk17]

ISP having covid-19 quarantine congestion? I know mine is.

 

[jboss10]

ISP having covid-19 quarantine congestion? I know mine is.

You know, it has crossed my mind countless times. But, my brother who only lives ~40mins from me has Comcast as well. He has had no issues. But, I'm sure relative distance doesn't matter much on the back-end.

 

[ColinTaylor]

Everything you've said and done so far points to an issue outside of your home network.

Carry on testing directly connected to your modem to confirm that.

 

[Grisu]

You could try John's Merlin-fork only for testing that the router is ok, you have to use firmware restauration tool to upload.

@ColinTaylor: As he said it seems to be ok plugged in directly to router makes me wonder it is an issue outside.

 

[adampk17]

You know, it has crossed my mind countless times. But, my brother who only lives ~40mins from me has Comcast as well. He has had no issues. But, I'm sure relative distance doesn't matter much on the back-end.

I’m on Comcast and I have issues including periodic latency jumps and lower than usual throughput. I believe that with cable internet that congestion issues could be down to the town or even neighborhood, depending on how they built it out. As you know cable shares bandwidth.

 

[jboss10]

I’m on Comcast and I have issues including periodic latency jumps and lower than usual throughput. I believe that with cable internet that congestion issues could be down to the town or even neighborhood, depending on how they built it out. As you know cable shares bandwidth.

This is very true.

@Grisu: Is this the correct location for John's FW?:
https://www.snbforums.com/threads/fork-asuswrt-merlin-374-43-lts-releases-v42e7.18914/

Thanks so much for this quick feedback guys.

 

[KevTech]

What do the modem event logs show?

What are the modem signal levels?

 

[RMerlin]

You know, it has crossed my mind countless times. But, my brother who only lives ~40mins from me has Comcast as well. He has had no issues. But, I'm sure relative distance doesn't matter much on the back-end.

40 minutes away means he's on a different node than you.

 

[Grisu]

yes, use E version (not L).

 

[jboss10]

What do the modem event logs show?

What are the modem signal levels?

I went through the Xfinity chat and he ran a 'test'. He said he is seeing issues on his end. I asked, "what kind of issues". He replies, "issues can be inside or outside of network". Not too helpful. And, because of COVID, no techs are coming out. Completely understandable.

@KevTech: I'm looking @ the event logs now, there are quite a few of these
- SYNC Timing Synchronization failure - Failed to acquire QAM/QPSK symbol tim
- No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC

I'm not sure if these logs are stored in NVM but these are the only 'Critical(3)' that are showing. No timestamps either on them.

I attached my Cable Modem stats.

 

[jboss10]

Everything you've said and done so far points to an issue outside of your home network.

Carry on testing directly connected to your modem to confirm that.

I tried direct connection into modem and played on XBL for ~30mins. Issues are present here as well, without having the router in the mix. Something points to outside the network I would think.

 

[KevTech]

Signal levels look OK.

I don't think it is anything on your end.

You can look at the status map which will show if there are any issues in your area or if techs are working in your area.

Login to your Comcast account then go to this link.

https://www.xfinity.com/support/status

 

[jboss10]

Signal levels look OK.

I don't think it is anything on your end.

You can look at the status map which will show if there are any issues in your area or if techs are working in your area.

Login to your Comcast account then go to this link.

https://www.xfinity.com/support/status

I do appreciate the help @KevTech. All looks good on the map, and nothing to report from my status page.

 

[adampk17]

I do appreciate the help @KevTech. All looks good on the map, and nothing to report from my status page.

I doubt very much that intermittent moderate latency spikes (maybe not moderate for gamers) and small “brownouts” will ever show up on the outage pages of ISPs.

 

[jboss10]

I doubt very much that intermittent moderate latency spikes (maybe not moderate for gamers) and small “brownouts” will ever show up on the outage pages of ISPs.

Especially if this has been ongoing on my side for > 1 month.

 

[Makaveli]

This sounds like a node issue due to Covid traffic most likely.

 

[el pescador]

CoD warzone is hit n miss for me too. I've noticed im being put on distant servers 90 odd ping. Presume the Spanish ones are full.

 

[el pescador]

One tip you could do is find out how CoD locates the servers you play on.
On Fifa for instance they have 15 testing servers which determines which locations you can play in.
If you block the testing servers you wont get put on them.
Skynet is handy for this.

I don't know myself if CoD works this way...