96% packet loss when using Nvidia Geforce Now

[#1]

I have Full Fibre 500 plusnet service that is connected by ethernet cable to the router (Plusnet Hub Two). On running speedtest.net I get 332mbps download speed and 4.93 mbps upload which seems a little slower than the 500/75 advertised upload in particular seems low. On the weveform.com test I get a service rating of F pointing to bad bufferbloat. Using the Nvidia Geforce Now network test they say i get 96% packet loss which renders their game cloud streaming service unusable with my fibre package. I should easily be able to run this service from my package with the advertised speeds. Can someone please help me diagnose the issues here? All I have read so far suggests I need to purchase a better router but surely the one supplied by Plusnet should be able to handle this type of gaming service? The internet otherwise runs ok and I tried to ping -t 8.8.8.8 and zero packets are ever lost so it seems just the Nvidia cloud service that plusnet is throttling somehow. Please see attachments. What should I try next? I have asked on the Nvidis forums too but is more than likely a plusnet service issue.

[#2]

There is something wrong here.;

Best guess, the test was conducted over WiFi and there is a WiFi issue from testing device -> router.

High packet loss on that path would also help to explain why the upload is so slow.

Try a cable and all will be well.

[#3]

This is using ip6 ethernet cable direct to router. Any further suggestions?

[#4]

New cable then (or a good replugging).

Do you have another device that can do a wired speed test?

It's worth phoning up Plusnet as (on the basis of the wired packet loss) they should send a new router.

Beyond local cabling (ONT - router and router to device) then most "single user" full fibre faults turn out to be light level related.

By the way, I assume you mean Cat 6 cable as Plusnet doesn't (generally) support IPv6 (yet), I would also suspect the Plusnet Hub's performance with IPv6. 

The download speed also suggests a fault (although not as much as the upload).

On my Plusnet (nominally 145 Mb/s service) I just got 150.7 Mb/s download and 28.9 upload using the Speedtest app.

You should be seening perhaps 510Mb/s down and a bit over  75Mb/s up.

The other thing to explore (and I hesitate to suggest this) is the network card driver. I know this is opening up a world of pain but if you get such poor cabled speeds I would think about deleting the network card driver and letting it re-install. 

[#5]

Was the speedtest done with no other devices connected (cable or wifi) and with just a pc or similar device cabled and it wasn't actively uploading or downloading? If the bandwidth is being used then you'll be measuring what remains.

Is the cable connection direct to the router when testing because if it's going via other devices like powerline that will also impact the speed shown?

Is the cable fully inserted? (I had a cable here where the clip broke off and it showed terrible speeds because it wasn't in the socket properly) Check ONT, router and the PC.

check the WAN link speed is 1000/1000 on one of the router stats pages because this should show if the cable from router to ONT is ok or not.

Can you try with another device that doesn't have Geforce Now installed?

Finally looking online it seems that people can have great connections but the Geforce Now service gives them terrible speeds, so in part it may also be an issue with that service at the moment on top of your slower measured speeds.

[#6]

As a further test is it worth plugging the cat 6 ethernet from pc direct to the ont fibre box and bypassing the router? If packet loss continues surely this means the router is to blame. The bufferbloat test also comes out very bad as well the nvidia one. I think the router is confusing the gaming connection with all the other devices that use the WiFi network at sane time. I read somewhere that this type router doest have sqm or qos so drops packets with traffic management with gaming links especially. Might need a new type of router not the same type replaced? 

[#7]

Yes test done with several WiFi devices connected to router also. 

[#8]

Cables seem connected OK. Wire router to pc is long cat 6 10m.

[#9]

Geforce now service wont even connect at all due to very high packet loss from the isp. 

[#10]

Time to pick up the phone and report a very low upstream speed service fault ?

Perhaps do start by focusing on the 5mbps on the upstream that is so far out of the expected range it needs attention.

I am always very nervous about discussions of packet loss as these are so regularly mentioned by in game stats and utilities and are usually nothing of the sort, more often a grossly overloaded game platform dropping frames.

But in this case the lousy game stats look to be caused by tied the lack of upstream through put
and that is a lot easier for the support desk to understand and address.

[#11]

@83dons 

A couple of other thoughts.

Without knowing the actual endpoint(s) that the game connects to (and for obvious reasons I don't think that information will be easily found) it's a bit difficult to test the route end to end.

While the Waveform test is fine for revealing packet loss, even when everything is working well, the Plusnet router won't do well on bufferbloat tests.

Having said that, you have a fault. It might be the router, it might be the ONT, it might be a physical thing in the network or it might be your computer or cables.

" I read somewhere that this type router doest have sqm or qos so drops packets with traffic management with gaming links especially"

Yes, the Plusnet router isn't optimised for gaming. Even when the current fault is fixed, if you want to be able to set "Quality of Service" you need a router that supports that. Various manufacturers make products for that market. The Plusnet (or any ISP) router is for more general applications.

[#12]

So is it worth me plugging ethernet into the ont directly and doing a speed test and maybe waveform test to see if it connects ok and proves it's the router causing the issue? 

[#13]

@83dons

Yes do the ONT speed test, if you still see a low upstream speed,
that confirms a service issue / fault in your street & not a Hub/Router issue.

[#14]

Slight update. Changed 10m ethernet cable and now getting better download 510mbps and upload 30mbps speeds. However the waveform test still shows bloated on upload especially and still 96% packet loss on geforce now test. I tried wifi and weirdly no packet loss at all but lower download 170mbps and upload speeds 20mbps. Any idea why it would work over wifi but not over ethernet despite that being much faster? I am away to try the ethernet direct to ont tests next. But I think I need to set up my network connection manually will follow google.

[#15]

Cant do the ONT test as the password and login weren't accepted and called plusnet who said that test cant be done direct. They have suggested sending a new router as didnt have any other answers. we did ont and router factory resets. I still have no idea if the plusnet two router works with this nvidia service or not or if I need to buy a new better router sometime. I will test the new router then call them back I guess unless anyone can think of anything to try. Have also tried two ethernet cables now and the second gave better speeds. Since the router resets everything is now even slower aargh!