Solved! Packet Loss and Poor Connection, Is A Dual Router Setup My Solution?

[austino311]

Hello All!

A little backstory to provide context. I live in a four-story row home that has plaster walls. My mother works from home and has our main router setup in her office on the fourth floor. I currently live on the third floor and am using a tethered wifi connection via Orbi's to use the internet. The internet is pretty poor for streaming and gaming online which I do both of those things daily.

While playing CS:GO I frequently encounter packet loss of over 25% while playing, this will tend to spike up and down as I play. While downloading any files or games I am getting under 500Kb/s. My ping doesn't seem to spike any higher than 50-60 while playing.

Is there anything I can do with my current setup to ensure smoother online gameplay? I should mention that I am hardwired to the satellite Orbi that is in my room and that the main router has all of the ethernet ports occupied. Additionally, when streaming movies or shows from the TV/Comcast box, the shows are not streaming in 1080p and suffer significantly from stutters and lag.

The current setup is as follows;

Coax Cable from outside going to the modem (Netgear Cabel Modem CM700) to the main Orbi router, I then pair the Orbi in my room to the main Orbi, then run ethernet to my PC.

Our internet provider is Comcast and we are on the "blast tier" internet service. When testing their "Speed test" it quickly jumps to over 150 Mbps, and then will stop, drop to 70 and then jump around a few more times and then continue to drop lower and lower. I assume this is because of the packet loss and dropped connection between the two routers. After running the test a few more times it fails to rise over 50 Mbps, and will jump up and down between 10 and 40 with significant breaks in between.

As the second alternative, would it be possible or more lucrative for me to set up another permanent router in my room so I don't have to use a tethered wifi signal from our main router? i.e. split the current coax cable and set up my own modem and router.

I'm strongly considering setting up my own router and modem to eliminate these issues, I just want to see if there is something I can do before I invest the time and the money. I would also like to improve my parents streaming experience as well.

Please let me know what you guys think!

Thanks!!

 

[hang-the-9]

The best solution is to use Ethernet cable and run a cable to the lower floors from the main router, terminating in either a switch or a jack.

Second best may be using powerline networking, quality of that depends on the quality of electric wiring in the house and that all jacks used are on the same circuit.

Third is to get a better WiFi network card, maybe with a directional antenna.

You won't be able to just split the signal with your own modem unless you order your own service from the ISP as well, but if you can do that, you should be able to use Ethernet since it would be the same wire run.