Ping Rate Help

JMC1984

We live in a village in Somerset and get between 30-40mbps (ultra fast not available). Recently swapped to OneStream broadband, had multiple issues getting speed sorted. They say line is sorted now but my son plays Xbox. The ping rate now is worst it’s ever been and he can’t even play an online game. OneStream say speed is fine but we’ve never had it before where my son can’t play an online game? 

He can’t play via Ethernet as router is downstairs and he games upstairs. 

Is there anything we can do?

DullGreyGuy

JMC1984 said:

We live in a village in Somerset and get between 30-40mbps (ultra fast not available). Recently swapped to OneStream broadband, had multiple issues getting speed sorted. They say line is sorted now but my son plays Xbox. The ping rate now is worst it’s ever been and he can’t even play an online game. OneStream say speed is fine but we’ve never had it before where my son can’t play an online game? 

He can’t play via Ethernet as router is downstairs and he games upstairs. 

Is there anything we can do?

Games use very little bandwidth, contrary to popular belief, they're not actually transmitting/receiving the graphics on scene but coordinates and codes which are relatively tiny and most will play at full speed on a 3mbps connection. 

OneStream uses OpenReach hardware, you dont mention who your last provider was but there's a reasonable chance it's the same network outside of your home. 

Are you using the router provided by the ISP or your own?

In the first instance, temporarily bring his gaming kit downstairs and connect it by ethernet, then at least you can work out if it's the wifi or the internet connection that is causing the problem. 

Lorian

Ping www.bbc.co.uk from your pc, what's the latency?

400ixl

Eliminate your wifi connection first by temporarily plugging the Xbox into the router. Yes, it means moving it and an screen to test it, but rules out it being a wireless product.

Pinging 1.1.1.1 or 8.8.8.8 would be better than www.bbc.co.uk as you are going to one of the core DNS servers but not needing to do a DNS lookup.

If that proves to not be the issue then you will need to investigate the router and broadband connection. Unfortunately you have chosen to go with one of the bottom dwelling ISP's with OneStream, chasing the cheapest price most likely. They have a very poor reputation for service, and for resolution unfortunately, so it may be a bit of a battle.

From a device plugged into the router directly use a site such as https://speed.cloudflare.com/ and see what it is giving for latency and jitter.

You could also see if running a decent VPN on the device changes the latency to see if OneStream are traffic shaping their network.

It could also be the number of hops across the network you are having to take with OneStream so doing a trace route to the gaming website would be useful.