Gaming ping spikes all of a sudden when Netflix is being used.

[GazzaLFC]

Keith, it seems to be pretty much every streaming service, not just Netflix. Plus, my friends dont seem to have this problem on different ISPs. I will do more google searching though, thanks.

[barryniceone]

Hi Keith,

I'm afraid you seem to be a bit misguided. This hasn't been an issue for any of us, since a couple of months ago. Coincidentally it mostly happened at the same time too!

Strangely, iPlayer, Mixer and YouTube work absolutely fine however the issues are with Twitch and Netflix and ITV player.

Im currently in conversation with a senior BT tech who has taken my video and is investigating it. They have placed a probe on my router to look at incoming and outgoing traffic to see where it is spiking. I sent him a video of constant ping through the Google server which showed spikes whenever Netflix is played and they have recognised it as a problem.

Will update once I know a bit more.

[Kopy]

Mine is affected by YouTube and most other streaming services. I’ve also got in contact with an engineer and he rang me earlier today to let me know my issue has been passed on to a specialist. I’ll also try and keep everyone updated on this forum.

[meercha]

Thank you all, please keep us updated on whatever they respond to these, you're the closest I've seen get so far.

[Syner9y]

Barry,

Any update on this? I also suffer from this problem (for the last 3 weeks) - BT refuse to acknowledge it is a problem.

Regards

[meercha]

They simply don't care about it when I contact any of the customer services teams too!!

I'll be moving away from my flat soon and damn me if I ever touch BT again. **bleep** poor customer service and literally no problem resolution or comunication whatsoever even though it's a known fault

[GazzaLFC]

I have had a some improvement in gaming but the issue is still present.

The improvement has come at a large cost. (For me anyway)

I purchased an AsusRT AC86U router and separate Vigor 130 Modem (£180 + £80), installed custom firmware plus a custom a QoS plugin.

I can now see all my traffic from all my devices and limit them per bandwidth or per application/classification (IP/Port rules).

Even with better QoS I still get ping spikes but not as bad as before. My traffic is minimal when the ping spikes happen.

BT fail to grasp the fact that I have not needed new hardware and custom QoS rules for years, I play the same games and the same devices are streaming from the same site from the same router (Homehub5)

People stating, you need to purchase this… you need QoS… you need to limit this… Why?  And why all of a sudden?

BT should know why so many people are spiking in games all of a sudden, I say 'sudden', I believe November/December this started for certain people but it seems to be happening to more people as the months go by, as if there is some kind of rollout.

Should we have to pay large amounts of money to improve our gaming experience by purchasing new hardware and setting up QoS rules? No, not everyone has the money and the experience to do that (QoS out the box is not good enough, it needs to be configured which can take ages)

If we have to pay lots of money, maybe it would be easier to purchase a better ISP.

Thanks Gazza

[meercha]

seeing as the issue is being rolled out could it possibly be a HH5 software update that f***ed all this up?

[GazzaLFC]

It's not the home hub, I have tried 3 different routers and they all have showed the same symptoms out the box.

[Flacc]

Hi,

Similar to GazzaLFC I have had some success with using QOS (at a cost of new hardware), but not in the conventional application of enabling it across the entire network. In my instance the offending streaming devices causing the issue are connected via wireless, and having bought and flashed a new router with OpenWRT I have been able to set upload and download shaping specifically to the wireless, while leaving the wired LAN mostly unrestricted. I optimally have 70 down / 20 up and have set the wireless as 10/5, and this seems to be able to stream in good quality while keeping my ping on the wired LAN completely jitter free.

Unfortunately I think most of the stock firmware QOS options are both behind current state of the art, and don't give you the level of customisation needed to address the issue. I am not sure where the issue lies, however it seems streaming services can work fine without causing jitter when restricted, but seem to be overly greedy when given free reign over the bandwidth.