I reckon I'll leave it here. I'll look at my options and decide which one is best for me in the long run. Thanks for all the help, even if the issue was not resolved. I appreciate it.
I've got a few options available.
1) Ethernet connection directly from the Router ($20) 2) TP-Link "Powerline" devices for Router and this PC ($90 and over) 3) Use one of those Dual Band range extenders. Assuming I read it right, they add 5Ghz capability to a Router.. sort of? I'll do some further research and get my head around them ($60 USD for Belkin Range Extender)
Just download the manual of any range extender you plan to get and check that it does still have an accesspoint mode on it. Friend told me that he got a cheap netgear which had removed it from firmware compared to the previous version of the same device. I guess they were loosing too many sales of the much more expensive accesspoints.
I've got ADSL Technicolor jobs and Mikrotik gear. So I soposidly have the best and the worst.
I can't say I have any issue with the Technicolor routers.
I find their default bandwidth management setup much better than the default setup on a lot of other routers, most of which have none by default.
VoIP works far better through my Technicolors setup and from Telnet I can see the way it prioritises RTP and VoIP UDP packets straight out of the box. I've always liked them for this reason.
My neighbours are on the same channel and I operate high powered Mikrotik gear on adjacent channels, but I still connect to the Technicolor's locally and I have no issue with them (I run more than one).
I have a 2.4GHz cordless phone too.
There could be analogue A/V transmitters at the neighbours for their Sky or what not. These kill Wi-Fi really well because they don't care about anything else. That's where changing channel and perhaps switching off the real fast and fancy settings like 'n' might help and changign channels.
Some LPFM radio stations also use 2.4GHz analogue for linking too so if you're in the middle bad luck. Bluetooth is a killer of Wi-Fi too, it jsut broadcasts over whatever is also transmitting.
'g' doesn't use as much bandwidth (not prone to as much interference) and still uses OFDM like n which is why I use 'g' on my gear. The other reason I use 'g' only, is so I'm not wasiting transmitter power by having it spread over a wider bandwdith like 'n'.
For the really important stuff like gaming or Igloo, it's wired, I wouldn't dream of Wi-Fi'ing it and expecting it to always perform well.
Also see if you can get a Huawei router.. just say you upgraded to win 8.1 and they will send one out.. they are pretty good. But if your wifi is saturated then there isn't much that can be done. Apart from installing a faraday cage in your house and live without mobile coverage :)
kiwirock: I've got ADSL Technicolor jobs and Mikrotik gear. So I soposidly have the best and the worst.
I can't say I have any issue with the Technicolor routers.
I find their default bandwidth management setup much better than the default setup on a lot of other routers, most of which have none by default.
VoIP works far better through my Technicolors setup and from Telnet I can see the way it prioritises RTP and VoIP UDP packets straight out of the box. I've always liked them for this reason.
My neighbours are on the same channel and I operate high powered Mikrotik gear on adjacent channels, but I still connect to the Technicolor's locally and I have no issue with them (I run more than one).
I have a 2.4GHz cordless phone too.
There could be analogue A/V transmitters at the neighbours for their Sky or what not. These kill Wi-Fi really well because they don't care about anything else. That's where changing channel and perhaps switching off the real fast and fancy settings like 'n' might help and changign channels.
Some LPFM radio stations also use 2.4GHz analogue for linking too so if you're in the middle bad luck. Bluetooth is a killer of Wi-Fi too, it jsut broadcasts over whatever is also transmitting.
'g' doesn't use as much bandwidth (not prone to as much interference) and still uses OFDM like n which is why I use 'g' on my gear. The other reason I use 'g' only, is so I'm not wasiting transmitter power by having it spread over a wider bandwdith like 'n'.
For the really important stuff like gaming or Igloo, it's wired, I wouldn't dream of Wi-Fi'ing it and expecting it to always perform well.
The problem is that the latency spikes don't just happen while I'm gaming, but also while I'm doing nothing at all. Its a little pathetic, given this never happened before.
This may or may not be applicable to you but this was an annoying issue that took me days or filtering through the Internet to find the answer.
Any software that manages or interfaces with your wifi card may be interfering with it. That list includes inSSIDer.
Basically what's happening is that the wifi card is being told to scan again and again, and during the issue of those commands the card has to delay transmission of data causing the latency spikes you see.
Now this may not be what's happening as you should be seeing a sawtooth like graph during speed tests.
In conclusion, check the software you have running on your computer, close everything, stop all those extra services such as Steam and Origin, then do all the tests again.
I noticed it when I was using inSSIDer. My connection kept dropping out. I've since removed that from my computer. I don't have Steam or Origin open all the time, so I doubt it could be those, though the possibility is there. I'll keep Steam/Origin off tomorrow, and turn it on later in the day to see if there is any difference.
The only other weird software I have on my computer is NVIDIA PhysX. I'm using an ATI/AMD Radeon R9 270x. I've looked around and apparently a few games require it, but I honestly don't trust it. Regardless, if it is software, it'd have to be software I installed sometime after the upgrade, as my internet was fine for 2-3 days prior to the latency spikes happening.
I'm fairly sure the ethernet connection is solid, and possibly the easiest means to fixing my problem, albeit needing a really long cable (15m). If it turns out that doesn't work.. well.. I'll cross that bridge when or if I get to it.
I'll post ping results sometime tomorrow with and without Steam and Origin running in the background.
SimplyNooby: I noticed it when I was using inSSIDer. My connection kept dropping out. I've since removed that from my computer. I don't have Steam or Origin open all the time, so I doubt it could be those, though the possibility is there. I'll keep Steam/Origin off tomorrow, and turn it on later in the day to see if there is any difference.
The only other weird software I have on my computer is NVIDIA PhysX. I'm using an ATI/AMD Radeon R9 270x. I've looked around and apparently a few games require it, but I honestly don't trust it. Regardless, if it is software, it'd have to be software I installed sometime after the upgrade, as my internet was fine for 2-3 days prior to the latency spikes happening.
I'm fairly sure the ethernet connection is solid, and possibly the easiest means to fixing my problem, albeit needing a really long cable (15m). If it turns out that doesn't work.. well.. I'll cross that bridge when or if I get to it.
I'll post ping results sometime tomorrow with and without Steam and Origin running in the background.
This is also a long shot and probably not the cause, but check that your PSU is supplying enough power to the wireless card. Also check all your drivers.
It's not exactly a wireless card. Its an external USB thing, which is connecting to a USB 2.0 Hub. When I had my headset plugged into the Hub, I'd get a loud buzzing noise every so often. I moved it to the Motherboard slots and surprise surprise, the buzzing doesn't happen anymore. I'm going to try the same thing with the External USB Adapter. See if the hub is failing. It's late, and I'm tired. I'm going to work on this tomorrow and post the results. I'm surprised I didn't think of this earlier.
Just plugged the External USB Adapter directly into my PC. Over 237 pings, this is the result:
Ping statistics for 192.168.1.254: Packets: Sent = 237, Received = 236, Lost = 1 (0% loss), Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds: Minimum = 1ms, Maximum = 10ms, Average = 2ms
I *think* the hub is failing. I find it hard to believe that its spiking up to 10ms. I'm going to wait until everyone in the house starts using the internet (Facebook/YouTube users) and test the pings again.
(Regarding "Sent = 237, Received = 236", I think I starting the ping (-t) too early)
EDIT: It didn't change anything. Below are more pings which indicate that its still something else.
Reply from 192.168.1.254: bytes=32 time=757ms TTL=64 Reply from 192.168.1.254: bytes=32 time=44ms TTL=64
...and about 10 pings later...
Reply from 192.168.1.254: bytes=32 time=114ms TTL=64
Good news. I went out and bought an ethernet cable and the pings are not spiking anymore. Pings are between <1ms and 1ms. This thread can be locked now, thanks for all the help.
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