Disconnects and Random Spikes

I was wondering if anyone knows why my PC, which is connected using a netgear A6210 wifi adapter, has constant connectivity issues and lag spikes that result in stuttering and rubber banding, while my girlfriend’s laptop has no issues with the wifi whatsoever. I’ve tried lots of fixes, including a fresh windows install, all to no avail.

try running WinMTR first while you play the game. then we can see what is going on with your connection.

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| WinMTR statistics |

Host - % Sent Recv Best Avrg Wrst Last
10.20.0.1 - 1 1444 1443 0 2 250 0
mta-107-12-64-1.ec.rr.com - 1 1444 1443 4 16 85 10
174.111.73.158 - 1 1440 1439 5 24 1841 14
cpe-024-025-054-002.ec.res.rr.com - 1 1440 1439 7 24 1842 13
gig5-0-0.chrlncsa-rtr2.carolina.rr.com - 0 1444 1444 20 37 1833 23
bu-ether14.atlngamq46w-bcr00.tbone.rr.com - 1 1440 1439 23 41 1837 32
66.109.5.125 - 0 1444 1444 20 48 1838 64
66.109.9.107 - 0 1444 1444 23 38 1835 31
ae1-br01-eqat2.as57976.net - 0 1444 1444 44 63 1838 75
et-0-0-4-br02-eqch2.as57976.net - 1 1433 1432 45 77 4840 49
be2-pe02-eqch2.as57976.net - 0 1444 1444 44 60 1843 54
chi-eqch2-ia-bons-04.as57976.net - 0 1444 1444 43 61 1846 75
24.105.62.129 - 0 1444 1444 43 61 1847 54
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WinMTR v0.92 GPL V2 by Appnor MSP - Fully Managed Hosting & Cloud Provider

Hey, Jaded! Thank you for the WinMTR test! With this not affecting the other laptop (assuming its on the same network), and a fresh windows install was done, it does point to a hardware concern. The USB Wifi adapter is the primary concern here.

The first hop is the local network, which shows some packet loss and the latency is quite high. Is the connection any better using a different adapter or wired if possible?

If I could go wired I would, although I’m considering running a 50 ft ethernet at this point. I don’t have another adapter, but I might look into it. The thing is, this adapter worked fine at my last place, but maybe it somehow got damaged during the move.

Jaded,

That’s one possible issue - though there are some other possible explanations. Each place you go to will have a different configuration - the further away the router is, the less stable your connection. The more walls/floors/etc you have to pass through, the more likely you’ll have issues as well.

I’d see if you can temporarily get closer to the router/wire in. If that works, you know it’s wifi stability and may want to invest in the long cable. I totally get that routing long cables can be a pain, speaking as someone who has 200 feet of cable routed to multiple rooms to make sure that all the rooms have internet access by ethernet, but judging from the test, we’re pretty confident this is your fix.

If it doesn’t work, I’d run another winMTR while connected via ethernet and get back to us with it. We’ll use that to look for more options.