Is My Modem Bottle Necking My Internet Speed?

chewieeez on 10/05/2023 - 08:59
Last edited 10/05/2023 - 10:41 by 1 other user

Hi All,

Currently on Superloop 50/20 (looking to change as my 6 months discount has finished), and I have a few questions.

I find that when i am gaming, the ping/latency is high when only one other device is streaming, could my modem be bottlenecking the speed? I had the same issues when I was previously with iinet. Currently connected via wifi but the modem is not far from my computer and have a TP Link Archer VR1600, which I think may be outdated.

Questions:

1) What is the best value NBN modem?
2) What is the best NBN plan going around at the moment?

Any help is appreciated,

Cheers.

Internet Broadband Modem Router nbn Wireless Router

Comments

  • teacherer on 10/05/2023 - 09:12
    +6

    For 50/20 probably not, game through ethernet and report back

  • Hybroid on 10/05/2023 - 09:14

    Ping/latency is not directly related to bandwidth speed.

    Do you have the same issues when hardwired via ethernet?

    There are many factors to consider including your ISP's peering and where the servers are located. For example playing on US servers will always have more latency than Oceania ones. Also, are they hosted servers or p2p ones so reliant on others connections? etc…

  • chewieeez on 10/05/2023 - 09:19

    Thanks for the comments fellas. Playing on Oceanic servers. It is not practicle for me to use an ethernet cord with my current set up. I find that wifi on my phone can be just as slow at times.. Any other alternative solutions?

    • Hybroid on 10/05/2023 - 09:23
      +1

      Suggest you get a long enough ethernet cable and do some testing. This will help eliminate whether the issue is with your router.

      If the latency issues are fixed when hardwired then worth considering a router upgrade and/or maybe computer wireless card issue.

      If the latency issues remain the same when hardwired then it may be a waste of time/money upgrading router as the issue lies elsewhere (servers/ISP etc.)

      • chewieeez on 10/05/2023 - 09:33

        Yeah fantastic advice. thank you so much mate. I will get a long ethernet cable and give it a sus.

        Any advice on best nbn plans going around atm?

        • Hybroid on 10/05/2023 - 09:35
          +2

          Aussie Broadband always my recommendation. Not cheapest by any means but you get what you pay for. Rock solid.

        • follow on 13/05/2023 - 10:20

          Exetel is only $53/month.
          Great performance.
          I switch between them and Superloop every 6 months

  • Lord Fart Bucket on 10/05/2023 - 10:26
    +2

    As others have said, cabled connections will work better. In a previous rental i lived in i use ethernet over power. While not perfect, it does work.

  • deme on 10/05/2023 - 10:28

    I find that when i am gaming, the ping/latency is high when only one other device is streaming,

    Yeah seems you are suffering from buffer bloat
    Go run https://speed.cloudflare.com/ and wait for the network quality score to appear, then look at the loaded latency scores.

  • kaleidoscope on 10/05/2023 - 10:35
    +4

    Try hardwired connection. I never play games that require low latency over on wifi. Even my ps5 in living room is hardwired.

  • Davo1111 on 10/05/2023 - 11:30

    Not the oldest modem.

    switch to hard wired and report back.

    Also "streaming" will usually auto change the quality to saturate the bandwidth.

  • Ozbar Gain on 10/05/2023 - 11:35

    If you find that using LAN improves your latency but you don't want to lay permanent cables, get one of these ethernet over power adapters

    • BewareOfThe Dog on 10/05/2023 - 13:05

      I found a Mesh system to be better. AX5400?

  • Chaddy on 10/05/2023 - 21:27

    If these are overseas servers it will depend on who your ISP is and the transit and peering and transit providers they have agreements with.
    Not all ISPs are the same.
    Some like Superloop have their own network with POPs overseas points of presence make a huge difference as you can get better transit deals.
    NBNCo can also affect this at a local level as well as not all POIs have great amounts of capacity and sometimes hardware issues that the provider has can affect performance at the POI level.

  • chewieeez on 11/05/2023 - 08:03

    thanks for all the comments.

    last night after work i checked my speed, it was a measly 5mbs, same speed on my phone (tested both by wifi). spoke to superloop, did a connection reset and it went up to 20mbs and then down to 10mbs. this morning its at 14mbs.

    superloop said they did some stuff on their end and a connection reset, but its no where near my 50mbs plan..

    • teacherer on 11/05/2023 - 12:03

      Could get these instead of a long ethernet cable, if a power point is closer.
      I use them for gaming and have no issues

      https://www.officeworks.com.au/shop/officeworks/p/tp-link-av…

    • follow on 13/05/2023 - 10:22

      fttn?
      you may be eligible for an upgrade

    • borgainerz on 19/05/2023 - 13:19

      jiiz, you should go to the lower plan 25/10 if you copper can't do 50/20.

      I was in the same situation as you. I have the 50/20 from Superloop, and had a TP-LInk AC1200 (VR300). I got 50/20 speed but whenever I enabled Speedboost I never reached 100/40, I had merely 53/25.

      I bought a used TP-Link Archer VR1600 and can now reach speed of 67/27 when I enable Speedboost. (Those are the max speed my copper line allows, so I have no value of paying a bigger plan.

      For info, my ping usually sits around 8 and 17.

  • Irishness on 23/05/2023 - 09:28

    firstly OP testing on wifi is not a reliable indication of the actual speed coming into your modem/router for so many reasons. As many others have said can you test with a wired connection to the modem (doesn't have to be your setup) also:-
    -what technology are you on FTTP/HFC/FTTN etc?
    -which wifi are you connecting to 2.4ghz or 5ghz?

    Once you know if you are getting the 50/20 you should be getting then it's finding the issue, superloop is usually reliable
    You will need to check to see if there are others using the same wifi channels (neighbours etc) and try to find the least congested
    The VR1600v should be capable, it's not the best out there sure but on a 50/20 plan you'd be better upgrading the plan than the modem/router, if you want a good cheap alternative then look for a Telstra Smart Modem Gen 2 or Gen 3 on gumtree or marketplace (these can be had for $20ish)
    If you want recommendations on an alternative ISP then Exetel (is superloop owned) or Aussiebroadband

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