lots of lag issues with DGL-4300

[Chapbass]

So, I received a Belkin N1 wireless router in a contest a while back, and have been using it for a few months. My current setup, however (4 wired comps, used alot, 1 wireless, used little), definitely doesnt need the wireless N. It could use Gigabit ethernet, however, so i started looking into a new router

I decided to grab a DGL 4300 for about 100 bucks to see what all the hype was about. Since then, however, it seems like gaming performance is going out the window in certain times.

As far as internet connection: Mediacom Cable 5mb cable in Iowa. sure, its had some problems, but im not positive its the providers that are causing the connection to go nuts.

Two of my roommates play WoW very frequently, and use vent at the same time, while myself and another roommate play day of defeat source, also using vent. it seems that when were all playing, ever since i switched out routers, vent will spike to 10000-15000, and wow starts chain DCing both of them. day of defeat seems to be almost unaffected, still averaging pings of sub 100.



I tried setting up the gamefuel option to move those programs to the top, just in case something was interfereing, but it doesnt seem like it helped.


Does anyone have any ideas for things i could try? I mean i suppose that it could be the internet just going nuts and it just started happening right when i replaced the modem...but...im not convinced that its just coincidence.

Maybe ill just return the 4300 and grab a linksys router with 3rd party firmware... I was planning on selling the N1 (i have a wireless notebook card too), and using a cheaper router just to save some money...


any opinions?

 

[yuppiejr]

Hmmm, is there an option in the QoS page of the 4300 to define your max upload/download speeds? Configuring QoS to prioritize everything "high" isn't going to help your situation and may actually make it worse since when you exceed available up/downstream bandwith the QoS service will start delaying or dropping traffic try to sort out the mess. This may be why your previous non-QoS capable router gave you better performance since it wasn't doing any sort of traffic shaping which may have been ideal if you've got a slow or unpredictable internet connection.

Some questions:

You mentioned having a 5 meg Mediacom Cablemodem connection - but elaborate on "sure it's had some problems." What is your advertised upstream speed?

Are you hosting the Ventrillio service locally or using an internet based server? Does game performance improve if you skip using Vent?

Run a broadband speed test from www.auditmypc.com or www.dslreports.com (the java based tests are more accurate) and share your actual downstream/upstream stats.

Run a VOIP test from www.testyouvoip.com (Boston is a good server) - then post your MOS (1-5 score) and copy of the details results page.

As for quick and dirty solutions... I'd set QoS rules to make game traffic high priority, ventrillio medium and your bulk web/pop3/IM/p2p traffic at low. If that doesn't help, try disabling QoS entirely and see what the impact is. Also, make sure your MTU setting is configured properly - www.dslreports.com has some good tools for verifying this setting as well.