Experiencing unplaceable packet loss.

[Jason_Zhao]

 I am having issues that are easily noticeable playing video games or watching streams. The case for packet loss from our network connection is felt through all the devices that I've tested on using a wireless 2.4G or 5G channel. When it happens, the loss is felt across all hops as far as what PingPlotter is telling me. I've checked for any local settings that may be influencing it but found none. Speedtests have given me irregular averages from as low as 15Mbps to 60Mbps down speeds, there's no consistency. 

There's usually about 6 devices connected to the network and there's very low strain on the bandwith. We don't use any P2P or download heavily short of watching video streaming services but the data doesn't seem representative of such long timeouts. 

I'm using two popular gaming IP's as tests, the League of Legends and Steam west coast servers. Here is a chart of them respectively during midday. You can see the 5G portion on the left and the 2.4G on the right from my main machine. Laptops placed next to the router have better latency but are still just as jittery.

And here is a chart from the hours of the evening when it is much worse. 

This is not something I can solve alone. I live in the East Vancouver area and this is about as much as I can do on my end.

[Nighthawk · Accepted solution]

There are many things that can impact wireless. Environmental factors can have big impacts, same if you have a large number of other wireless networks nearby. The latter would have greater impact in peak hours due to increased traffic on neighboring wireless networks.

Can you test using a computer connected by ethernet to one of the LAN ports on the Telus modem/router/gateway you have there?

[Jason_Zhao]

None of the laptops we use have ethernet ports, I'll see if I can find an adapter somewhere but sadly as much as I'd like to use one it wasn't convenient for us to lay down lines.

Best I could do was try and turn off every other device except one laptop and run a test with it placed right next to the router. The results aren't a lot better. There aren't packet loss effects, but there are still the occasional latency spikes where it will jump from 60ms to 200ms or so. 

Are there any settings on the router that might be contributing to this?

[Nighthawk]

No settings on the router that would impact packet loss. I'm assuming you have the T3200 router from Telus. You can change a few options on the wireless channels being used. Under advanced settings you could try turning off "WMM Power Save" or changing the channel to "Auto Detect". Doesn't hurt to hit the re-scan button either. Sometimes channels can get congested from nearby routers and switching to a clearer channel can help.

[Jason_Zhao]

For some reason, I haven't been able to connect to the router for the past day via its IP address. I've confirmed the default gateway hasn't changed from 192.168.1.254. It just times out every time. I didn't change any settings. This is from any device.

EDIT: nevermind I can connect again

[JTL]

What laptop do you use that doesn't have an Etherrnet port? Macbook Air/Pro? Grab one of those Thunderbolt adapters, if even just for troubleshooting.

[Nighthawk]

There are actually quite a few laptops without ethernet now. Many of the really thin ones as well as ultrabooks. The number of PC models without ethernet far exceeds the Apple few offerings.

[brantoneb]

Out of curiosity, do you have the T3200M modem gateway?

We noticed about 2-3 weeks ago the same issues: horrible log and packet loss.

The modem would also restart itself quite frequently ... I've heard it's issue with the firmware, but going over a month without an update is proving taxing.