God awful latency with Slingshot

Forums › Vocus (including Slingshot, Orcon, Flip, Stuff Fibre and CallPlus) › God awful latency with Slingshot

Loaf

88 posts

Master Geek

#272360 21-Jun-2020 23:23

Hey,

My flatmate signed a 1 year contract with a $20 pw Slingshot internet plan. I don't know what happened exactly, but he said the router was acting like crap and they replaced it and he ended up adding a wireless range extender upstairs even though we live in a tiny townhouse.

It is okay but at night the latency turns to crap. It seems to spike up and down around 9pm and then go to crap from 10 pm onwards.

Online games are usually about 54ms - 110ms depending on server. The spikes I've been getting have been 250 - 350ms, and it just doesn't let up. It jumps around like this for hours and it absolutely sucks.

I don't know what to do because he has implied that we're locked into a contract and I know slingshot is going to give me the runaround and blame our computers or what we're doing.

I just wondered if anyone has any theories about what is happening, or any advice, in case there is something I can do to improve it? Never had this problem before but I've never gone with slingshot because imo it has a reputation for this crap.

Thanks in advance.

lNomNoml

1539 posts

Uber Geek

#2509397 22-Jun-2020 00:07

Have you done any testing at all? Test connecting a laptop or computer directly to the router using a network cable and then test the speed, then test just using the WiFi.

It's most likely the extender or interference from other WiFi signals, cheap and best way to test would be to buy a network cable and plug straight into the router and see if you still have issues.

Just measure the distance needed, here's a 15M one for example: https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/ITPCAQ115/Dynamix-PL-C5E-15-15m-Cat5e-Beige-UTP-Patch-Lead-T

Loaf

88 posts

Master Geek

#2509400 22-Jun-2020 01:21

Hmm could be. I would love to use a cable but I think I'd have to run it up the staircase lol!

I have some interesting details: I was just in a game and my ping ended up at about 180 but was really stuttering like there was packet loss (although I haven't tested to confirm this). I rejoined and it went back to normal, but it slowly creeps up by about 10ms every several minutes. Might that suggest something?

toejam316

983 posts

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#2509404 22-Jun-2020 01:49

Yes...

It suggests you should test using a cable directly into the router, bypassing the wifi and massive amounts of potential interference it brings with it.

Anything I say is the ramblings of an ill informed, opinionated so-and-so, and not representative of any of my past, present or future employers, and is also probably best disregarded.

hio77

'That VDSL Cat'
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Spark

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#2509405 22-Jun-2020 02:16

certainly sounds like 2.4ghz congestion.

#include <std_disclaimer>

Any comments made are personal opinion and do not reflect directly on the position my current or past employers may have.

Linux

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#2509406 22-Jun-2020 05:39

Gamers that complain about latency and then mention they are gaming over Wi-Fi

Lias

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#2509411 22-Jun-2020 07:23

Run a cable.

Information wants to be free. The Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it.

sbiddle

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#2509424 22-Jun-2020 08:03

Based on the information you've provided there is nothing to suggest Slingshot have any problems, and the issue most likely lies with your internal network and use of a WiFi extender.

You need to perform Ethernet tests when you're seeing issues, and if they're fine you know Slingshot is not at fault. WiFi extenders will impact performance in most installs, which is one of the reasons why I don't think they should be sold unless people know why they're ultimately such a poor solution.

HellraiserNZ

66 posts

Master Geek

#2509649 22-Jun-2020 12:09

Yea I just signed in with slingshot as well and it seems like its and issue on your end. The netcomm modem provided by them has terriblerange on 5ghz and 2.4 ghz.

I also live in a townhouse with two stories and I game upstairs in one corner and the router is on the other side on the ground floor. I bought a Dlink DIR882 router off trademe (good deal for $130) and also upgraded my PC wireless card to an Asus PCE-AC88 (any other wifi 6 PCIE cards will do as well).

First I tried to connect directly to the ONT and it all worked fine but speeds were a bit off - ~200-240 mbps down and the usual 400-500 up. So I went back to the slingshot one and the speeds were as expected at 900-1000 down and 500 up (This is all wired so far).

I then flashed my DIR882 with DD-WRT and set it up for a wireless bridge and wired connected it to the slingshot modem. I had a longish ethernet cable so I moved the DIR882 in the centre of the downstairs area for better coverage. I could've chosen the same SSIDs as the slingshot modem to easily switch between the devices with whoever had the better signal but I'm a greedy f***and decided that I wanted that channel and metwork all to myself and set a different SSID for the DD-WRT bridge. Now I have 500-600 down and 500 up from my room and rock solid stable pings while playing Warzone which had dogs****servers and my BIL in the other room is connected directly to the slingshot modem wirelessly.

Hope that kinda made sense!

RunningMan

6009 posts

Uber Geek

#2509763 22-Jun-2020 15:06

Loaf: [snip] he ended up adding a wireless range extender upstairs

This is probably the single worst thing you could do if you want consistent and low latency.

DjShadow

3255 posts

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#2509865 22-Jun-2020 16:10

Loaf:

Hey,

My flatmate signed a 1 year contract with a $20 pw Slingshot internet plan. I don't know what happened exactly, but he said the router was acting like crap and they replaced it and he ended up adding a wireless range extender upstairs even though we live in a tiny townhouse.

It is okay but at night the latency turns to crap. It seems to spike up and down around 9pm and then go to crap from 10 pm onwards.

Online games are usually about 54ms - 110ms depending on server. The spikes I've been getting have been 250 - 350ms, and it just doesn't let up. It jumps around like this for hours and it absolutely sucks.

I don't know what to do because he has implied that we're locked into a contract and I know slingshot is going to give me the runaround and blame our computers or what we're doing.

I just wondered if anyone has any theories about what is happening, or any advice, in case there is something I can do to improve it? Never had this problem before but I've never gone with slingshot because imo it has a reputation for this crap.

Thanks in advance.

Can you provide any IP addresses of some of the Game servers you use?

Loaf

88 posts

Master Geek

#2509954 22-Jun-2020 19:18

Hey, have read all the posts but I'll reply generally because the same theme is coming up: the extender.

Take this with a grain of salt because I'm relaying a story: apparently my flatmate didn't know what to do about the wifi issues, so someone from Slingshot came over and helped with the wifi extender. They set it up in such a way that we only had the 2.4ghz network going to work with the extender, but I could only see the extended network on my laptop.

I reconfigured it so now we have the 5ghz network back and the 2.4ghz one being extended. I can receive the 5ghz one fine in my bedroom which is further from the wifi router. My flatmate is closer to the router but his Macbook won't pick up anything but the extended network for some reason, but whatever, he can use that and I'll just use the 5ghz one. Already getting better latency and speeds, obviously.

Linux: Gamers that complain about latency and then mention they are gaming over Wi-Fi

I'm a casual, anything below 100ms is good with me. Dropping out and rubber banding, not so much.