Stadia Unplayable on Plusnet

[#1]

I've been a Plusnet customer for about 3 years now and am happy to say I've never had any issues with lost connection or slow speeds, but I've recently got Stadia for myself and the kids to play on and I'm lucky if I get more than 2 minutes without my Chromecast telling me it has lost internet connection.

I know it't not a fault with Chromecast itself because it only ever loses connection when using Stadia and it's not a faulty router that drops internet connection for everyone because we can have a child playing an online game on their phone when the issue with Stadia appears.

I have tried everything I can think of. I've reduced resolution from 4K down to 720p (although I don't see why I should have to if my internet speed says it can run fine at 4K). I've put Chromecast on 5Hz and all other devices on 2.4Hz (including the Stadia controllers) but none of it makes a difference.

Any advice on how to resolve this? We've spent money on games to play over Christmas and so far we've been unable to play them due to the connection drop-outs.

[#2]

Hello @caleyjag and welcome to the forum.

By your own admission everything has been working as expected these past 3 years. You now introduce this device and all of a sudden your connection is at fault, can it be that simple?

If I were a gambling man I'd point it squarely at the Stadia device but other may know different.

[#3]

@caleyjag 

I know nothing about Stadia but from a quick Google search undestand that it is an online games thingy. You have not mentioned how this is connected to your hub and if it will play to another device rather than the added complication of Chromecast.

[#4]

Chromecast plays everything else without issues including streaming Netflix and YouTube videos in 4K. It's not an issue with Chromecast itself.

[#5]

It's connected wirelessly. The same device works fine and does not lose connection if I use it at a friend's house (they are on Sky broadband)

[#6]

@caleyjag 

O.K. So you don't want to listem and you believe that it's all Plusnet's fauly.

I will leave you with your beliefs.

[#7]

What a daft comment to make. And very unhelpful.

And yes, I do believe it's an issue with plusnet, most likely the router unable to cope with Stadia. Stadia streams in realtime (no buffering as its a game)

[#8]

I’ve done a little Googling and there seems to be similar reports from other people though not all using a Plusnet router. Try temporarily turning the router firewall off through http://192.168.1.254 and/or port forward to open specific ports which the Stadia uses, there’s instructions Here.

Let us know how it goes.

[#9]

@caleyjag - what Chromecast are you using?

If a Chromecast Ultra, then it has the capability to wire the device back to the router, rather than use the Wi-Fi (although it may require a reset/reconfigure of the Chromecast once wired). It would be worth trying things in this configuration if possible to rule out a Wi-Fi issue. To be honest, where gaming is concerned, I'd always recommend a wired connection over wireless regardless.

Whilst it doesn't help resolve your problem, I have two Chromecast Ultras on my network (one wired, one wireless) and both can be used with Stadia without issue. I'm using a Hub Two at the moment, but the situation has been the same in the past with a Hub One in situ.

Another thing you could try if you have a laptop or siminlar, is to wire that to the router and see what the Stadia performance is like via a web browser. If it's genuinely an issue with Stadia and the Plusnet network then you would expect that to fail too.

I really wouldn't recommend disabling the firewall on the router.