Recent online gaming ping spikes when streaming Netflix

[joo1]

Thanks for the update mate - that's alot of info. 

Yeah I feel you're in a very similar position to me but apparently I'm not involved with the same faulty circuit you are and so they need to do a second investigation.

My rep has sent me some emails telling me to hold back on what I put on here but why shouldn't I update everyone?

We're all suffering from the same problem and someone from BT needs to come up with a fix because its not viable. I can't even play a few games of fifa in 2019 without netflix throttling speeds :D:D

They are going to get back to me during next week too - hopefully this time with some answers.

I'm glad you've tested the QoS with your own router - it was something I was looking into. But it's not on us to go out and buy new routers anyways, its BTs fault.

The only thing I don't understand is - for so many years I never had any problems with BT.  Very weird.

[joo1]

A few other things I came across but have no idea if it would help;

iptv4/6 - Anyone know much about this? Could it help?

BufferBloat - Same applies here, could it help in anyway?

[GazzaLFC]

Bad bufferbloat is a massive issue, anything else than an A from the below site will be causing you some ping spikes during game play:

https://www.dslreports.com/speedtest?r=916

I found the only way to get better bufferbloat on the BT connection was by spending money (£££) on a new router that uses the fq_codel queue discipline.

I found bandwidth limitation QoS (you limit upload and download bandwidth for devices) wasn't very good.

Gaz

[GazzaLFC]

I would also like to add that the latest BT fix they implemented for me has worked wonders.

I have been running for 3 days now without a reboot and the pings have been fine.

 I can now game without ping spikes and the GF and kids can watch Netflix at the same time.

I do use QoS which does make the connection even better but even with QoS off the line is in much more of a better state.

Below is a before and after ping graph to a gaming server without QoS enabled: (QoS gives me even better pings)

Before BT Fix :

After BT Fix:

Don't give up hope,  I was  looking at alternatives until I received a PM from the mods, I did not think they would fix the issue but they have.

Thanks Gaz

[emptywhy]

Looks promising, hoping this fix reaches me eventually.

[h3x1e]

It's not a buffer bloat issue and never will be a buffer bloat issue unless your connection is 100% maxed out. Buffer bloat ONLY happens when you use your full bandwidth, which isn't happening when streaming / watching Netflix.

Stream - 1MB/s of a possible 3.8MB/s - won't cause buffer bloat.

Netflix - Bandwidth Maxed out for a few seconds at the start of a video (when Netflix buffers the needed data to play the first 10 mins or so of the video) after this you're looking at about 600-700KB/s.

But yeah it's kinda proved not to be a buffer bloat issue when then I max out my connection since no type of QoS / Load balancing helps fix it.

[emptywhy]

I received a phonecall from BT following my most recent engineer visit who tested the line and found no faults to be told that they will be closing my fault because they can't do anything for me i made them aware of this community forum and a multitude of people having the identical problem to me, that i've been with BT for 4 years and never had this issue until now with no changes on my side and that a test fix seems to be solving the issue for some people here.

I'm getting credited one free month and my contract will be ended thereafter, i'd much rather actually have my internet fixed and returned to how it has been for the vast majority of my time with BT.

Really frustrating.

[Matt-S]

Hi @emptywhy,

Welcome back to the Community. 

Sorry to hear that you have been told nothing can be done to fix your issue and the fault closed down.

If you would like we can take a look into this for you and make sure everything that can be done has been done?

I've sent you a Private Message with details on how you can get in contact with the mod team.

Thanks

Matt

[cowo8]

Can you help me in any way? I had an engineer who didn't understand my issue and said the connection is fine.. I'm moving house soon and considering dropping BT for another company due to this specific issue... ping spikes in games for no reason.

[dubstepzombie]

@cowo8 

From reading this thread the conclusion I'd draw is that there's no simple one fix for all and any fix is a long painful process, so if you've got the opportunity to leave BT then I'd do that. Of course on the assumption you have this specific problem and there's no fault between your PC/XBOX/PS etc and the road side cabinet which obviously will include your LAN/router.

Others on this thread have switched ISP and solved this issue, that's the quickest, easiest and least painful fix, or at least should be, I know switching ISPs can bring some level of pain, especially if you're using a third party router like I am.

I've been researching other ISPs, at the moment my No.1 pick would be 'Ghost Gamer Broadband' (google it), with joint 2nd of Sky or idNet. Obviously Sky is very much a TV provider over broadband, so I would be a bit nervous about switching to Sky but I don't see any evidence of users complaining about ping problems.

Research the broadband cooling off period and whatever ISP you switch to you need to quickly assess it and the latency / ping situation then cancel / switch again to another ISP what would hopefully give you what you want.

That's what I intend doing in January next year when my contract ends.