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WRT1200ac weird issue with games

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truoc

Regular Contributor
Hello everyone. I posted this on the official dd-wrt forums and on the openwrt forums awhile back and unfortunately haven't been able to pinpoint what the issue is so I'm here as a last ditch effort to see if anyone here has any ideas on how to fix my issue. I have a weird issue that seems to only crop up with games and gaming with my WRT1200ac V1. My speedtest speeds seem to be fine, but when I get into a game (in this case Rocket League) my ping is really bad. For example with a TP-Link Archer C7 router my ping is around 70ms on west coast servers and 30-50ms on east coast servers, but if I use my WRT1200AC with dd-wrt or openwrt instead my ping is >110ms on west coast servers and >70ms on east coast servers which makes the game unplayable due to latency and lag spikes. Any ideas on what I should check to resolve this? The only thing I change in the dd-wrt/openwrt settings is I set my DNS to Google DNS, but I do this for all routers I use so I doubt that has anything to do with it. Everything else is left default. I really want to use the WRT1200ac with dd-wrt or openwrt instead of a stock firmware because of the great specs of the router, but if I can't figure this out then I'll have to go back to stock firmware or use a different router altogether. Thanks!

*For clarification I have tried the latest dd-wrt firmware as well as the latest openwrt firmware and I still experience this issue with each*
 
Your not using WiFi right?


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Thanks for the reply! Actually yes, this is on WiFi (5GHz to be exact, haven't tried 2.4GHz band). However, I use the same settings on the Archer C7 that I use on the WRT1200ac. Auto channel, WPA2, etc. The only difference being on the WRT1200ac with dd-wrt/openwrt firmware I set the channel width to VHT80 whereas setting the channel width on the Archer C7 isn't an option. I have not tried other channel widths on the WRT1200ac. I use a TP-LINK Archer T4U USB adapter on my desktop for wireless capabilities. Hope this helps!
 
Thanks for the reply! Actually yes, this is on WiFi (5GHz to be exact, haven't tried 2.4GHz band). However, I use the same settings on the Archer C7 that I use on the WRT1200ac. Auto channel, WPA2, etc. The only difference being on the WRT1200ac with dd-wrt/openwrt firmware I set the channel width to VHT80 whereas setting the channel width on the Archer C7 isn't an option. I have not tried other channel widths on the WRT1200ac. I use a TP-LINK Archer T4U USB adapter on my desktop for wireless capabilities. Hope this helps!

WiFi on third party firmware can be hit or miss. That’s why I was asking. I’ve never had WiFi working pristine with any router running firmware other than stock based. Not saying that’s the issue here. But try the games over a wired connection with the WRT1200ac and see if the problem is still there.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
WiFi on third party firmware can be hit or miss. That’s why I was asking. I’ve never had WiFi working pristine with any router running firmware other than stock based. Not saying that’s the issue here. But try the games over a wired connection with the WRT1200ac and see if the problem is still there.


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I just tested it via Ethernet and no issues whatsoever. Ping to East coast server was a solid 32ms and West coast server was 68-72ms. It's unfortunate that it's the third party firmware + WiFi combo that has the issues as I can't keep a long Ethernet cable connected to my desktop throughout the house. It's also unfortunate that third party firmware is the issue considering the WRT series was designed to be used with third party firmware such as OpenWRT. Any other ideas before I just give up altogether and go back to either my Archer C7, Ubiquiti, or stock firmware on the WRT1200ac? Thanks again.
 
Thanks for the reply! Actually yes, this is on WiFi (5GHz to be exact, haven't tried 2.4GHz band). However, I use the same settings on the Archer C7 that I use on the WRT1200ac. Auto channel, WPA2, etc. The only difference being on the WRT1200ac with dd-wrt/openwrt firmware I set the channel width to VHT80 whereas setting the channel width on the Archer C7 isn't an option. I have not tried other channel widths on the WRT1200ac. I use a TP-LINK Archer T4U USB adapter on my desktop for wireless capabilities. Hope this helps!

there's some odd things with the FOSS Marvell WiFi drivers when dealing with the *WRT builds - long story there with mwlwifi and closed/open source - Linksys factory seems to be better for WiFi, but lacking in other areas (which is why many go to *WRT in the first place)

caiman probably doesn't get the same level of love and attention that cobra/shelby/mamba received, and rango is where the attention is these days... kaloz and kong forks are likely the best bets in the *WRT for for the Linksys WRT's based on Marvell

The challenge with caiman - WRT1200ac - it wasn't a big seller compared to it's siblings - and it was fairly expensive consider the market sector it was in.
 
there's some odd things with the FOSS Marvell WiFi drivers when dealing with the *WRT builds - long story there with mwlwifi and closed/open source - Linksys factory seems to be better for WiFi, but lacking in other areas (which is why many go to *WRT in the first place)

caiman probably doesn't get the same level of love and attention that cobra/shelby/mamba received, and rango is where the attention is these days... kaloz and kong forks are likely the best bets in the *WRT for for the Linksys WRT's based on Marvell

The challenge with caiman - WRT1200ac - it wasn't a big seller compared to it's siblings - and it was fairly expensive consider the market sector it was in.

Thanks for the reply! I definitely agree that it was expensive compared to other products in that sector. I have tried the kong build and the same issue crops up. I guess if I want to use this router I will just go back to stock firmware and call it a day. Based on that, do you feel this router is worthy to use over say the Archer C7 or even an Airport Extreme in a moderate network setup with 95% of devices (10+) using WiFi? I don't really need anything that fancy; I mostly chose to try dd-wrt/openwrt because it is open source and generally more secure and often times just works better than stock firmware. Thanks again.
 
The hardware is pretty good - I've got a fair amount of respect on what they've done. It's well designed, and very robust.

If you can live with the Linksys factory firmware and it's idiosyncrasies and limitations - it's good enough I would think. The factory FW has the best WiFi chipset drivers, as those are available under NDA to Linksys directly and are not the same as the GPL drivers that *WRT has access to.

DDWRT and OpenWRT - solves some of the oddness with Linksys SmartWIFI, but those releases do introduce new challenges as you've observed with WiFi
 
or even an Airport Extreme in a moderate network setup with 95% of devices (10+) using WiFi?

FWIW - I still use AP Extremes as Access Points on my local network - for routing they're a bit limited, but they're excellent AP's for 802.11ac Wave 1, and they're cheap these days on eBay/craigslist/apple refurb store.
 
The hardware is pretty good - I've got a fair amount of respect on what they've done. It's well designed, and very robust.

If you can live with the Linksys factory firmware and it's idiosyncrasies and limitations - it's good enough I would think. The factory FW has the best WiFi chipset drivers, as those are available under NDA to Linksys directly and are not the same as the GPL drivers that *WRT has access to.

DDWRT and OpenWRT - solves some of the oddness with Linksys SmartWIFI, but those releases do introduce new challenges as you've observed with WiFi

FWIW - I still use AP Extremes as Access Points on my local network - for routing they're a bit limited, but they're excellent AP's for 802.11ac Wave 1, and they're cheap these days on eBay/craigslist/apple refurb store.

Nice! Yeah the hardware specifications on the WRT series routers is what keeps me considering them even though I don't really have any issues using an Archer C7 or the Airport Extreme. The only other thing I find nice with the stock firmware on the WRT1200ac is the network map which is easy to use. I only have 2 wired devices on my network and 1 is a NAS so maybe I will just use the Airport Extreme since you still consider them to be excellent. Thanks again for the replies. I greatly appreciate it.
 
I will just use the Airport Extreme since you still consider them to be excellent

I use AP Extremes these days as WiFi AP's, not as routers - I'm a pfSense guy for the home LAN as it's stable and generally works.

Here's what pfSense on a decent box will do for latency... WRT1900ac vs. pfSense SG-2440 - did a short term on the WRT for a test... the lower latency is the pfSense box... and more importantly for gaming, the stability of the latency - the WRT has a much higher min/max, which can mean being successful as a headshot - target or shooter...

Seems like a lot, as the chart scale suggests, but it's not that much - less than an eye blink... but it is a measurable difference.

Screen Shot 2017-11-18 at 1.24.04 AM.png
 
Very interesting results. I've heard of pfSense, but never really looked into it much. Definitely is a noticeable difference there though!

I use AP Extremes these days as WiFi AP's, not as routers

Ah I understand.

So in that case, in your opinion, which would be the better one to go with if I were to use it for both routing and wireless? WRT, APE, or C7?
 
So in that case, in your opinion, which would be the better one to go with if I were to use it for both routing and wireless? WRT, APE, or C7?

Test and see... all have strengths and weaknesses...

AP is solid code, and good HW, but limited in functionality - its like a smartphone without a headphone jack (and yes, Apple did that as well)
 
That's a nice way of saying that Linky's SmartWiFI is a boil on Satan's butt :D

hahaha

Test and see... all have strengths and weaknesses...

AP is solid code, and good HW, but limited in functionality - its like a smartphone without a headphone jack (and yes, Apple did that as well)

Smartphone without a headphone jack. Good analogy, but I use a Galaxy S7 :p
I will give them a test run. Thanks for info!
 

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