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[junlee]

I am having issues in games that use peer-to-peer connections. At first I thought that it was just distance lag, so I tested this by logging into some games across two of my PCs and putting each one into a game room together. There was a 1 second+ delay for actions taken on each computer to register to the other computer. This has been an issue that has plagued me since I got the router over a year ago.

Current settings I am using:
-SPI Firewall disabled
-NAT UDP/TCP set to Endpoint Independent
-Norton Anti Virus Smart Firewall Disabled (still created a traffic rule allowing all traffic from these games)
-Allowed traffic from these games through windows firewall (even though it says controlled by Norton settings)

Is there anything else I can disable or change the settings for in order to possibly prevent incoming/outgoing connections to get blocked?

I have Comcast cable, and my modem does not have a built in router.

Can anyone help shed some light on this issue?

Thanks

[LookIntoMyEyees]

This might not have anything to do with it but my quick advice would be to try turning of Dynamic fragmentation by navigating to Advance > GameFuel and disable it. Restart the router etc. Let me know how things work out. Also what firmware are you on? How are the computer connected? Does this affect all p2p games?

--
Chris

[junlee]

This might not have anything to do with it but my quick advice would be to try turning of Dynamic fragmentation by navigating to Advance > GameFuel and disable it. Restart the router etc. Let me know how things work out. Also what firmware are you on? How are the computer connected? Does this affect all p2p games?

--
Chris

Well I actually had GameFuel disabled altogether, however I tried enabling it and turned off Dynamic Fragmentation, but no luck.

I am on Firmware 1.14,  2008/10/16

I never upgraded from this when I bought the router because the newest firmware at the time was irreversible and everyone said it caused a ton of issues.

Both of the PCs used in these tests are connected via ethernet cables to the router (one is using cat6, one cat5). This has been happening with all p2p games. Even with friends that live close by, I will get terrible connections to them, however they will have no trouble connecting to other people (the same people I get high latency to).

[FurryNutz]

What HW version is your router?
What FW version is currently loaded?

I would look into getting a external network switch to put between the router and PCs. This will remove the router from processing PC traffic thats it does't need to be processing and keep peer to peer traffic going only between the PC when needed.

What ISP Service do you have? Cable or DSL?
What ISP Modem do you have? Stand Alone or built in router?
What ISP Modem make and model do you have?

Ensure DNS IP addresses are being filled in under Setup/Internet/Manual?
Turn off QoS options.
Turn off Advanced DNS Services if you have this option Setup/Internet/Manual.
Turn on DNS Relay under Setup/Networking.
Setup DHCP reserved IP addresses for all devices on the router.
Ensure devices are set to auto obtain an IP address.
Set Firewall settings to Endpoint Independent for TCP and UDP.

Always keep the FW thats loaded on less you are experiencing connection issues after you have troubleshot the problems. v1.14 is a good version and works well, you can update to v1.15 as well. If you upgrade to v1.2x, you can go back to older versions of 1.1x.

Well I actually had GameFuel disabled altogether, however I tried enabling it and turned off Dynamic Fragmentation, but no luck.

I am on Firmware 1.14,  2008/10/16

I never upgraded from this when I bought the router because the newest firmware at the time was irreversible and everyone said it caused a ton of issues.

Both of the PCs used in these tests are connected via ethernet cables to the router (one is using cat6, one cat5). This has been happening with all p2p games. Even with friends that live close by, I will get terrible connections to them, however they will have no trouble connecting to other people (the same people I get high latency to).

[junlee]

What HW version is your router?
What FW version is currently loaded?

HW is A2, FW is 1.14

I would look into getting a external network switch to put between the router and PCs. This will remove the router from processing PC traffic thats it does't need to be processing and keep peer to peer traffic going only between the PC when needed.

I do have an 8 port Rosewill switch that I bought a while ago but haven't used yet. I figured that the more devices between the modem and the PC, the more lag there would be. I will try that out.

What ISP Service do you have? Cable or DSL?
What ISP Modem do you have? Stand Alone or built in router?
What ISP Modem make and model do you have?

I have Comcast Cable. My modem is stand alone. The model is an ARRIS TM502G/CT

Ensure DNS IP addresses are being filled in under Setup/Internet/Manual?
Turn off QoS options.
Turn off Advanced DNS Services if you have this option Setup/Internet/Manual.
Turn on DNS Relay under Setup/Networking.
Setup DHCP reserved IP addresses for all devices on the router.
Ensure devices are set to auto obtain an IP address.
Set Firewall settings to Endpoint Independent for TCP and UDP.

Well on my settings menu, it is a little different.

Here is my main menu:


Under "Manual Configure" I get this:


I also don't see any QoS options other than Game Fuel, which has been disabled since I first hooked up the router.

Under "Network Settings" I have this:


These are my firewall settings:



I just added reserved DHCP for my devices, and I will try using the switch now. After some more testing, I will post how it went. In the meantime though, if any of my settings seem to be screwed up, please let me know.

Thanks

Edit: Tried out the switch and reserved DHCP but it didn't seem to change anything.

[FurryNutz]

Ensure DNS IP addresses are being filled in under Basic/Internet/Manual. You can find these addresses under Status/Device Info/Wan Section on the router. Copy and paste them in.

I would connect up the switch and the PCs to the switch and see how your gaming does.

FYI, Some Arris modems don't work well with external routers. Does this modem provide you with phone services as well?

Sorry for mentioning QoS, thats on the DIR series of routers. You'll use Gamefuel in place of QoS if you need to use this. Turn it off in mean time.

[junlee]

Ensure DNS IP addresses are being filled in under Basic/Internet/Manual. You can find these addresses under Status/Device Info/Wan Section on the router. Copy and paste them in.

I would connect up the switch and the PCs to the switch and see how your gaming does.

FYI, Some Arris modems don't work well with external routers. Does this modem provide you with phone services as well?

Sorry for mentioning QoS, thats on the DIR series of routers. You'll use Gamefuel in place of QoS if you need to use this. Turn it off in mean time.

Well I tried filling in the DNS addresses and hooking up the PCs to the switch and the switch to the router, which didn't help so..

I tried hooking up one PC directly to my modem and had a friend help me test the delay in game, but sadly it was still there (identical delay when in game with him as I had when I was in game on both of my PCs, and he lives halfway across the country) so I guess the issue is my modem. The modem also provides phone service for my house though so I am stuck with it. Although, about a year ago I lived in a different house and I had a Comcast modem which only provided internet service (was much smaller) but still had connection issues in p2p games (different games than the one I am playing now, though) so maybe it is something on Comcast's end. Even though speed test reports high speeds (30mbps down, 10mbps up), I guess the issue is Comcast.

Thanks for the help though, I'm sure these new router settings should at least provide better performance for other applications.

[FurryNutz]

Well at least your seeing the same results when direct to the ISP Modem. Unfortunately these Arris Modems that have phone service seem to not work well with external routers and I guess from what you say, not good for gaming. I have a buddy in MN that had the internet and phone service thru an Arris modem. We spend hours tring to configure the 4500 to work well. He eventually gave up the phone service and got rid of the Arris modem and bought a Motorola SB6120 modem. Understand that not everyone has this option if you need the phone service. I believe its the way that the Arris modems are set up and designed. They have there own routers built in and they can't be turned off like some DSL modems for bridging. I wish there was a good work around for these modems. Just seems they are specific for what they are.

Might see if the modem has a DMZ that you might be able to use, put the 4500's IP address in there. Not sure if they have one or not.

Eventually you'll need to figure out your needs and make adjustments to get gaming working better. Keep us posted on how it goes.

[junlee]

I have a buddy in MN that had the internet and phone service thru an Arris modem. We spend hours tring to configure the 4500 to work well. He eventually gave up the phone service and got rid of the Arris modem and bought a Motorola SB6120 modem.


Might see if the modem has a DMZ that you might be able to use, put the 4500's IP address in there. Not sure if they have one or not.

I checked the modem setup page, it appears the Comcast has everything locked in it. I can only view settings, not modify anything.

I am considering buying the Motorola SB6120...all of the reviews say it is a huge upgrade over stock Comcast modems...however the issue is with my phone lines. I am wondering if I can just buy the Motorola modem and plug my PCs into it, but still keep the ARRIS around for phone lines.

Edit: Ok I just talked to Comcast live support and they said I could buy a new modem to feed the internet through, and they would just disable the internet capabilities of my Arris but still feed phone service through it without charging me for a second line... Buying the Motorola now

[Hard Harry]

Wait, what is the orginal problem? You said issues with P2P? But then your testing consisted of testing LAN to LAN? A Lan to LAN test would say nothing about a problem with the modem which is LAN to WAN.

What were the orginal symtoms with the P2P? Slow throughput? What kind of phone modem do your have? A TM602g?. If so, that shouldn't have any NAT or router like function. Comcast does sometimes throttle, but their exact network management scheme is unknown to me since the lawsuits. Any Comcast experts?

PRO Tip: If someone has a Static IP on a Broadband ISP, and on a Cisco CMTS, many times the ARP cache has to be cleared to allow the new router to acquire the static IP. A work around is to use mac cloning to either make the new router have the same mac address as the old one. Or if the IP isn't ARPed to the Mac of the router, but the new router is just ARPed to the DHCP address first acquired on connection, you can just use Mac cloning to change the last digit of the Mac.

[junlee]

Wait, what is the orginal problem? You said issues with P2P? But then your testing consisted of testing LAN to LAN? A Lan to LAN test would say nothing about a problem with the modem which is LAN to WAN.

What were the orginal symtoms with the P2P? Slow throughput? What kind of phone modem do your have? A TM602g?. If so, that shouldn't have any NAT or router like function. Comcast does sometimes throttle, but their exact network management scheme is unknown to me since the lawsuits. Any Comcast experts?

I have the ARRIS TM502G. Well my main issues are with p2p games (since those are what I mainly play), however I still tend to get worse than average pings with server based games as well. As far as the LAN to LAN test goes, it really isn't LAN to LAN because each PC still has to connect to the game server which establishes the connection between the two computers, or at least that is how I see it. I generally get bad connections with everyone though, even while directly connected to the modem. When I play against people that live a few hours away, it is like playing against someone that lives across the world. About once a week my modem also disconnects and resets itself over and over again for about 5 minutes, which is annoying too. I've had this modem for probably 3 years now and it has given me a lot of trouble, so I am hoping the new one fixes some issues.

I got the Motorola off of Amazon with 2day prime shipping so I will post the results when it comes

[Hard Harry]

Your modem resets over and over again atleast once a week? If so, they should be able to see that in the logs. What did Comcast say about this? I am surprised they didn't offer to replace the modem, given that it's Comcast equipment.

Overall, I don't think its just one problem. But if you already ordered the modem, then I guess we will see what problems stay, and which ones go away.

[junlee]

Yeah, it resets a lot. The one I had before this (same model) did it too but way more often. They are pretty poor, and all of the Comcast buildings in my area only offer this Arris for internet + phone, or a Scientific-Atlanta modem for just internet (which I've had before in the past and had issues with too).

For some reason I never really thought that I could buy my own modem and use it with Comcast, or else I would have done it a long time ago.

Oh also, the Arris is on Docsis2.0, and the new Motorola I got is a Docsis3.0 so that should be a nice boost as well (Comcast's website claims my plan goes up to 8mb/s down on 2.0, and 16mb/s down on 3.0).

[Hard Harry]

If all the modems in the area are having the same issues, I don't blame the modems, I blame the area. Specially if you had problems with the internet only modem. I would ask your ISP to look at your signal levels.  You want to know:

Rx (also known as downstream power levels)
Tx (also known as upstream power levels)
DS SNR (down stream signal to noise ratio)
US SNR (upstream signal to noise ratio)
How many resets a week, and how many T3 per week.

Sounds like their is noise or ingress in your area. That wouldn't cause one PC on your network to have more latency, but like I said, I think your having more then 1 problem. JMHO. Good luck.

Also, if phone support doesn't seem to be giving you reasonable answers, try here.

[junlee]

Well I can see the levels on my current modem.


Downstream
    Freq/Power:   603.000 MHz   3 dBmV   
    Signal to Noise Ratio:    38 dB   
    Modulation:   QAM256   
Upstream
    Freq/Power:   30.650 MHz   51 dBmV   
    Channel Type:   DOCSIS 2.0 (ATDMA)   
    Symbol Rate:   5120 kSym/sec   
    Modulation:   QAM64   


The upstream seems quite high. Since I was reading about how the Motorola modem I bought is picky about levels, I decided to see what my current modem is at. I talked to Comcast live support about it, however I got matched with a CS person who was clueless. She thought I was saying my bandwidth is too high whenever I asked her about my upstream power levels. After explaining to her over and over what I wanted to know, she said "Ok, your levels seem high. I will disconnect your modem and reprovision it." Well after she kept resetting it for 10 mins straight, the levels are exactly where they were before she started.