Remote play on Xbox and PS5 choppy and laggy

[AlarmingMallard]

Hello everyone and thanks in advance for any help!

I am lucky enough to have an XBox Series X and a PS5 and a good iPad so was excited to play remotely with it. However apart from initially after getting the consoles my connection has been poor to the point they are unplayable.

I have 500mbps download and 60mbps upload on the Ultrafast 1 package. The Sky BB Hub is in the same room as my Sky Q 2TB box and both games consoles.

Either one works perfectly fine on the TV but trying to play on an iPad or through a browser on a good laptop and they perform so badly. After checking on multipl devices (both consoles and the device I try to play through) the only thing I can think of is that it is wifi related.

I tried powercycling the Hub to switch onto a different channel but no joy there either. I also popped an ethernet connection into the games consoles to test but the wifi still seemed to be choppy.

Any ideas from some clever people as to what I can try next?

Thanks,

AM

[Chrisee]

@AlarmingMallard Every network jump adds latency especially where wifi is concened and you have multiple jumps from issuing a command, the console receiving and executing that command and sending back the video. Even worse if the game itself is running on a remote server. Although each jump is probably a few ms these add up and can ruin game play assuming everthing works as it should 

All the gamers I know do not use wifi at all as the risk of packet loss from interference is too high and only use ethernet which eliminates that risk. You are multiplying that risk because you have these extra steps. There is also any delay the router introduces if it is busy,  Sky hubs lack anyway to prioritise gaming traffic you need a better specified unit with QOS that can do that.

Like many things that something is possible does not mean it is going to be usable especially for games requiring quick reaction times.

[mae-3]

@AlarmingMallard 

I have an Xbox Series X here connected by ethernet and 250/50Mbps connection over G.fast, it works perfectly and I recommend you ditch the wireless method using ethernet for gaming. But I do play games over wireless myself using an Asus XT8 wireless router and Windows laptop but the router is close range and on 802.11ax standard and that works well also. 😀

[AlarmingMallard]

Hey, Mae and Chrisee,

Thanks for your replies!

I should have said that the XB is actually connected via ethernet to the hub. Still, though, the streamed connection from that and the PS5 via wifi to my iPad or laptops are laggy and choppy. It was that fact that made me suspect it was something wifi related.

Not entirely sure what QOS etc are but more than happy to do any suggested tweaks or settings changes to make the best out of what I have!

Thanks again! @mae-3 @Chrisee 

[Chrisee]

@AlarmingMallard QOS is Quality of Service which means the router can prioritise traffic that is time critical like gaming where there are other users of data. Routers which offer that are normally over £200 up to £400. You get a lot of other features for thst money like far better wifi. The Freebie routers given away by ISPs are built to a price and are very basic in comparison.

I am not a keen gamer so can't recommend one but Netgear, Asus and TP-Link each have models TP-Link. However trying to remotely game is always going to be more prone to issues than playing on the console direct especially if that is hard wired and should be limited to casual games where higher latency is not critical.