RT-N66U with strange lag spikes

[Chiba]

Quite recently I started to notice issues with the latency in online games. I first assumed it was my provider but it turns out that my RT-N66U seems to be the culprit.
When doing a ping I usually get the normal times of 1ms but there will one of the four that sits at between 1500 and 2000ms in almost every single try.
I notice this issue also during normal surfing as websites will sometimes load instantly (as I'm used to) and sometimes take a long time to load. Even connecting to the router's interface presents the same delays at times, sometimes making it unable to load at all.

I'm not really a network pro but I tried to see whether any other networks are interfering with the help of inSSIDer. It shows the signal at around -65dBm with 0 Co-Channels and 0 Overlapping. I guess that's good? There is also only one network close enough to interfere but that has been here for years now and never presented an issue.

I've also been trying to give it more airflow but so far no change. I've updated to firmware 3.0.0.4.380_8120 months ago and never had issues until now.

Could this be a sign of the router dying? It has been sitting in the same place since it was bought 6 years ago and this is the first time I'm experiencing any kind of issues with it.

While we are at it, which Asus router would be a good replacement for the RT-N66U? I'd rather spend a bit more and have a reliable router.

 

[Klueless]

Hmm ...

• What are you pinging to? (Wasn't clear if you were pinging to something local or to something on the Internet.)
  • Are you pinging from a wireless device? Do you get the same results if you ping from Ethernet? (I wasn't sure if "connecting to the router's interface" meant you were using Ethernet or if you were logging into the router?)
  • Have you tried connecting directly to the ISP's modem? (Is it a modem or a combination modem/router?)
    • Speaking of modem what is it? Have you had it for a long time or is it a relatively new replacement. I ask because some have known problems, e.g., like a few of these Arris models are exhibiting similar symptoms (which I'm also experiencing, although, not bad enough to do anything about ... yet.)

I sometimes use a tool called Ping Plotter. It's an automatic tracert/ping tool that runs for hours and graphs the results. It can sometimes show exactly where the problem is (e.g., it's pointed me to problems with my wireless range extender and it's pointed me to problems with my ISP's Internet routers).

Edit: D-uh, disregard what I said! 1 ms response times. Of course you're pinging to something local (probably your router) and if you're seeing the same phenomena with Ethernet then it's probably not wireless. Is your router interface showing anything (e.g., high CPU, high temperature)?

I replaced my N66U with an AC1900P (on sale) but if I had the money I would have gone with the AC86U (AC2900).

 

[Chiba]

Thank you for your quick reply and sorry for not being clear enough. I spent the past hours on an odyssey. It actually seems that it was my PC's fault, because neither other computers nor the adapter I use seemed to have the issue (thanks for that tip btw, I was totally fixated on the idea that it must be the router).
So basically what I did was to restore Windows to an older version (I thought it might have been this week's Windows Update). Unfortunately this failed, rendering my PC unbootable.
So I ended up doing a fresh install of Windows on one of my other HDDs and so far I get a constant 1ms on almost every Ping to the router (sometimes it's between 4 and 6) and also the latency in games is back to what I'm used to.
I will now slowly put everything back as it was before and monitor the situation as soon as something changes I hopefully will have found the culprit.

 

[Klueless]

It actually seems that it was my PC's fault

Awsome, glad you found it!

So basically what I did was to restore Windows to an older version (I thought it might have been this week's Windows Update). Unfortunately this failed, rendering my PC unbootable.

Arg, what a nightmare!

I was totally fixated on the idea that it must be the router

Happens all the time. "If all you have is a hammer everything looks like a nail."

 

[Chiba]

I have just made a very interesting observation. I wanted to install my network printer and while Windows was searching for it the latency issue happened again. All of a sudden I got latencies of several hundred ms to several thousand when pinging the router and some packages were even lost. This ultimately leads to a total inability to use the Internet and all requests will time out, but Windows still shows that it's connected to the router.
Now I can do two things: a) I unplug the adapter and plug it back in. This will connect me to the router within seconds and I'm back to 1ms pings, or b) I wait it out and it will go back to normal by itself within a few minutes.

It seems that Windows itself is doing something when working in the Intranet that slows down the connection to the router completely. While this PC has that issue other devices can still use the router normally with normal ping times. So as long as I don't try to do some internal stuff on the PC the connection seems to be fine.

What could be the reason for this? It happens with other adapters and on different USB ports so it seems as if it's a software issue caused by Windows. This is an almost fresh Windows 10 installation with just the most necessary stuff added (graphics drivers, sound drivers, mouse, keyboard).