PureFibre - Worse Latency than DSL?

[Kenny_yyc]

Hello everyone,

Prior to my PureFibre install I had DSL service going to T3200M modem/router. The latency on that setup was fantastic (I play music online and latency is critical). Since switching over to PureFibre I swear my latency has gotten worse. This is with the same computer as before plugged into a port on the NH20A (so it's hard-wired, not on Wifi). I should have done some tests on Speednet before the cutover to have some qualitative numbers.

Does anyone know what the relative packet handling performance is between the NH20A and the T3200M? I can't find a thing about the NH20A performance on the web, and the admin console on the NH20A is pretty lame from a technical perspective.

Thanks,

KM

[xray]

Latency is irrelevant for streaming music. You will not notice the time delay between the server and your device. If your music is glitching it's interruptions or errors not latency. 

[Kenny_yyc]

Hi XRay, sorry, I should have been clearer in my original post. I should have said that I play music in a band in real time with others and for that low latency is super critical.

[xray]

Got it, makes sense now because the timing requirements are similar to gaming. Is the system peer-to-peer or is there a central server everyone connects to?

The latency depends on the routing, which would be different between fibre and copper. Other than using a VPN I'm not sure if there is anything you can change to improve it.

[Kenny_yyc]

The system has both peer-to-peer and central server connection options, but works best in peer-to-peer mode.

I have a spare router kicking around. I'm going to try using it in place of the NH20A and see if there's any difference in performance. I'll post what I find on here. 

My fibre line connects to a Nokia ONT which then connects to the NH20A via the 10G RJ45 port. Would you happen to know if I'm going to have to register the MAC address of my router with Telus if I connect it to the Nokia 10G port instead of the NH20A?

[xray]

Latency is measure of how long it takes to get from point A to point B. The actual devices at point A and B have no impact. It's the routing that determines it. The ONT is connected to a different network than the copper so that's what makes the routing different. Changing the router that's not between points A and B will have a zero to very small impact to latency since you are connected by Ethernet.

[Kenny_yyc]

Concur that routing is a big determinant of latency. It would be a shame if on the back end Telus' DSL network had 'better' routing than their fibre infrastructure. I'm going to try a new router anyway, see what happens.

[Kenny_yyc · Accepted solution]

Just for closure on this, I just replaced the NH20A with a TPLink ER605. It is by no means a high end router (costs $80). Before swapping out the NH20A, I ran Speedtest.net. Results were 7 msec ping, 139M download with 14 (msec?) latency, 170M upload with 34 latency. Swapped over to the ER605 and reran the test with no other changes. Results were 3msec ping, 177M upload with 11 ms latency and 180 upload with 40 ms latency. My conclusion is that I now have better performance than with the NH20A. One downside though: my router now longer appears on my Telus Connect app... I can live with that.

I'm not saying this kind of change would work for everyone, just sharing what happened with my particular setup.