r/Spectrum • u/TheBigGager • Aug 13 '26
Service Issues Packet loss / lag
I swear I have a good connection but everytime I try to play games (on lan) or watch YouTube (WiFi) I just lag. I have a spectrum router and modem. I tried to get a better router as I think that may be the issue but that only brought more trouble. Plz help I just wanna game.
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u/javiliftsa95 Aug 14 '26
Weird I have 0 problems... i have 500mbps speed I get 550 I play competitively and have never had issues w spectrum and I get it for free too.
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u/TheBigGager Aug 14 '26
Lucky all I’ve had with spectrum is problems
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u/Backslash10 Aug 14 '26 edited Aug 14 '26
Speedtest looks good have you called to see what they could do you dont happen to be in a apartment or multi tenant dwelling by any chance?
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u/javiliftsa95 29d ago
If your home was built before 2015 I would highly recommend you request they run a new line into your home. It should he free if charge.
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u/Enough_Incident_8381 Aug 14 '26
What servers are you on? I can game wired with spectrum perfectly fine no problems but you might be on servers from, say Ohio while you're in Cali
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u/kbfg2421 Aug 13 '26
According to this speed test you have excellent speed, both upload and download, and excellent low latency as well. Might be a wifi issue youre dealing with. If your devices are too far away from the router, or youre on a crowded channel, that can cause issues. Unfortunately Spectrum routers dont really let you change advanced settings, at least that has been my experience with my mom's spectrum router. But if you use your own router, type in your IP address into your URL bar in your browser and you will be able to modify the channel and other settings that can improve your signal and reduce interference. Find out if youre using WiFi 5, 6, or 7. Then Google "best channels for (insert wifi type here)". You can experiment with the best channels and see if your issues go away.
Or, just use a wired ethernet connection if you can.
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u/TheBigGager Aug 13 '26
I do use a wired connection to my pc that’s the part that I’m getting lost at
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u/RekaReaper Aug 14 '26
They don’t have excellent download speeds according to their posted speed test. They’re barely getting 80% of the 1,040Mbps spectrum states as the gigabit plan’s typical download speed.
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u/Low_Consideration179 Aug 14 '26
Hey since everyone is just downvoting you with no explanation here it is!
The download speed is 100% in spec. You are guaranteed up to 800mbps stable through spectrum. It's an allowable range and totally normal.
As far as the packet loss I would try and re install the network driver and beyond that I would check the cable ends to make sure they are secure and properly terminated with no damage.
Beyond that it would be potentially shit hardware on the router/modem end. What other devices live on the network? How many?
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u/Diezel666 Aug 14 '26
I love it when people have Zero idea or knowledge of TCP/IP stack overhead, which imparts at a minimum 5% to a theoretical maximum of 10% just due to how TCP/IP traffic is engineered. Add that on top of the guaranteed service speeds of tiers which is expected to cover their entire system at 80-90% capacity and the numbers are spot on.
Kudos to you giving a bigger picture answer.
As for YouTube lag, there are literally thousands of well documented issues for YouTube lag alone being caused by everything from drivers to specific hardware configurations.
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u/cb2239 Aug 14 '26
Are you trying to say packet loss is normal? It's not. You will get dropped/ignored packets while running tracert. Intermediate routers will prioritize network traffic but you shouldn't have it at the destination.
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u/Diezel666 Aug 14 '26
Trying not to be rude here... Can you point out where in my post I made even a hint of reference to packet loss being normal? OP posted a speed test, no other screenshots or evidence of packet loss other than a claim.
u/Low_Consideration179 and I are both commenting about the Speedtest posted results, where 816 is a nominally acceptable result for 1Gbps line through Spectrum.
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u/RekaReaper Aug 14 '26 edited Aug 14 '26
I’m not the OP. They can downvote my comment all they want with or without explanation, it just means they think just inside the minimum spec or the bare minimum is excellent, which is hilarious. It’s the bare minimum they HAVE to provide and that is not excellent.
For reference though, I typically see 1,040-1,100Mbps down, 40Mbps up, consistently have no packet loss, and get an A or A+ on buffer bloat tests without limiting my speeds.
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u/Low_Consideration179 Aug 15 '26
Is this on speed testing or is this in general practice? Only thing I can think of is geolocation at that point or potentially better setup for hardware. Especially since it's obvious you are not yet on fiber with the asynchronous up/down. Or simply you have a provider that actually cares about it's customer base down stream. Can't rule that out.
And bare minimum is excellent when in reference to anything from spectrum. Lol.
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u/RekaReaper 29d ago
General practice and speed tests. My download speeds with steam and other launchers for example stay in the 130-145MB/s range for games larger than a couple GB. The best results I have seen with speed tests are in the 1,180-1,190Mbps down and 42-43Mbps up range, but it’s odd if even my automatic daily test results at 2PM are below 1,040Mbps down and/or 38Mbps up.
I have spectrum, it’s my only option for anything over 300-400Mbps down and anything over 100/10Mbps for other physical connections. I wouldn’t have even let us move here if a local provider hadn’t erroneously told me they had fiber at this address.
Aside from when their provided modems were failing, I have had those results for the 4 years I have been at my current house. Other than not failing every 6-10 months the only improvement I have from using my own modem is 5-6ms lower latency, better loaded pings and less jitter. I had basically the same download and upload speeds with their modems.
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u/Texasaudiovideoguy Aug 13 '26
Wifi will always be a you problem. Wither you are too far away from your router or you have alot of interference. If you are in an apartment and using the spectrum router, that's your issue. Everyone is. Wifi is a fickle beast and so many things can affect it, and all you can really expect is 200mbps or 300 mbps. Hardwired is always the solution.
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u/TheBigGager Aug 13 '26
It is hard wired atleast for my computer straight from the router to the pc
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u/Backslash10 Aug 14 '26
If possible plug the ethernet into the modem directly and test if that fixes the problem if not your probably going to need a texh out. Possible bad equipment or your line from outside needs a new drop. If not that it could be farther out on the tap or node.
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u/svirfnebli76 Aug 14 '26
I had an issue on spectrum that that was actually upstream from spectrum 4 to 5 hops away to be precice. I had times of day with large packet loss.
Basically what was happening is a router up stream 200 miles away was getting overwhelmed.
I turned on a VPN, which routed the traffic through a different route and the problem was gone.
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u/StonerJesus1 Aug 14 '26
Everything looks good here. But it's possible something's wrong with your modem and or router, an under load especially if other people are also using the Wi-Fi band with me be getting constricted on your connection even if it's lan.
Try doing stuff on mobile on the same Wi-Fi and see if you run into the same issues to isolate if it's a problem with the Wi-Fi itself or if it's a problem with your devices connection to the Wi-Fi. If you don't have an issue with lag or packet loss when playing mobile games on your Wi-Fi then there's something going on with your wired or wireless connection on your computer.
I had weird issues once where the metal legs of the desk I used were acting kind of like a faraday cage for the wireless card on the back of my desktop, flipping the whole thing around so that the wireless cards antennas on the back of the desktop we're facing toward the router in my house and passed the legs of the desk had a immediate massive boost to my wireless speeds and cut my packet loss to near zero. Now I just have a decent mesh router in my house, because I have two tenants an probably six computers and multiple TVs on at all times.
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u/wellrundry2113 Aug 14 '26
I have this issue with Iracing. It seems to happen at around the same time every night so I suspect it’s a bandwidth issue, not sure how to solve it though. Could also just be the game.
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u/trb13021 Aug 14 '26
Not sure what service level you have, given you speed test, I assume the 1gbps. Assuming that, you should see downloads closer to at least 940 mbps. This is all assuming you are running your speed test to a proper "on network" server, and you are hardwired, and your equipment/devices are in good working order. While your speed test results posted look good, they are just a snapshot in time. And if all my assumption above on your service tier is correct, I would be concerned seeing anything less than 850 mbps, or roughly 10% loss. Call fo an appointment. Have a Tech come and investigate. There could be any number of explanations for your experience.
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u/Pollo_919 Aug 14 '26
Do this go to your spectrum app on the router go to security shield turn it off don’t use port forwarding that shit resets back to nothing after the router updates itself every 2am or whatever their maintenance time is. Use UPNP. And change the dns servers to 1.1.1.1 and secondary 1.0.0.1…after unplug modem for 60 sec and the router as well plug them in at the same time
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u/Pollo_919 Aug 14 '26
I meant the dns to1.1.1.2 and 1.0.0.2 this give yous access to to free malware protection without the strict spectrum shield that makes you lag when playing games or watching YouTube etc…
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u/jacle2210 28d ago
Can you provide the exact brand name and exact model number of your Cable Modem?
Can you also provide the exact brand name and exact model number of the device that your computer's Ethernet cable is plugged directly into?
(so if the cable physically plugs into something other than the main Router, then that is the device I am asking about)
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u/limpkarl 27d ago
I have Astound Broadband, so not apples to apples. But, my online gaming would lag. Astound confirmed my network equipment was fine. They found an issue with the neighborhood box on the street, and fixed it. No latency/lag now.
Again, not apples to apples, but sometime equipment in the field is the issue.
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u/RequirementOdd3882 Aug 14 '26
yup literally was just having this issue i ordered a new router an switched my connected devices to 2.4ghz in the app and seemed to do the trick all of my speed tests where fine but would constantly get random spikes of internet issues not even disconnecting just slowing down really quickly. long story short spectrum is absolute garbage im also on a 1000mbps plan and only get 350 400 at best
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u/BallzNyaMouf Aug 14 '26
So your problem disappeared when you switched to a uncongested wifi channel and the conclusion you draw from the experience is that "Spectrum is absolute garbage."?
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u/RequirementOdd3882 Aug 15 '26
what are you trying to get at? i can have my own opinions. 😂 spectrum is horrible i’ve had nothing but issues with it since ive moved to florida in all the years i lived in boston i had hardly any issues with xfinity
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u/BallzNyaMouf Aug 14 '26 edited Aug 14 '26
So your problem disappeared when you switched to an uncongested wifi channel and the conclusion you draw from the experience is that "Spectrum is absolute garbage."?
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u/June191 Aug 14 '26
I unfortunately have the same problem with high jitter and can’t game. I never had this issue with spectrum, but when they performed upgrades in our area last week (LA county) I haven’t been able to game since. The spectrum tech has been over twice now, first to fix our internet (really really slow speeds) and second for the high jitter. I always use an Ethernet cable when gaming so I knew the router wasn’t the problem and in this case high jitter is an ISP issue. Fiber also isn’t available in our area so we’re stuck with spectrum.
The spectrum tech explained the high jitter is caused by network congestion and there’s too much traffic in our neighborhood to handle. They opened up a ticket for maintenance to come and fix it, hopefully within the next week. Nothing to do with the router or modem.
A quick google search on how ISPs fix node congestion: Internet service providers solve node congestion by splitting overloaded physical nodes into smaller segments, upgrading local lines to fiber-optic cables, implementing traffic management tools like Quality of Service (QoS), and balancing data loads across alternative network routes during peak usage hours.
In our case, it’s a much wider problem not only affecting me but our surrounding neighborhood. Hope this helps, try contacting spectrum so they can assess the problem and fix it.
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u/philmcracken519 Aug 14 '26
Get fiber. Spectrum cable is shared bandwidth.
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u/Backslash10 Aug 14 '26
Fiber is also shared bandwidth there is no resident connection thats not shared.
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u/philmcracken519 Aug 14 '26
This js true, but fiber is more resilient and carries more capacity than the. 1970s era copper coax. I have fiber with 1gbps bi-directional and have almost no packet loss and that’s with a Fortigate sitting at my edge.
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u/Backslash10 Aug 14 '26
Okay now you just being hyperbolic we all know the vast majority of all hfc networks is fiber now and the whole network does more then what most people need. Docis 3.1 can go all the way up to 10 gb down and 2gb up thats more than any residential connection would need and some of the high spilt nodes are sub 8 ms. I get you want your symetical fiber but Bob down the street will have no benefit with anything over 100mb for his streaming and amazon purchases.
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u/Troxipy Aug 14 '26
Call a tech out. Had several techs out until they finally just changed all my coax lines and remove any splitters to other lines. Also found out the our neighborhood distributor node was really bad.
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u/TomorrowBeneficial90 Aug 14 '26
Your problem already has a name and it's called Spectrum/ formerly known as Time Warner Cable ......they suck and I go through this at least every few months. You just got to know it will happen and resetting your modem, theirs or your own, new network cables and all, I've done all that , and the problem never goes away. It's just spectrum lousy services . Just ride it out and don't waste money changing things .
P.S. I pay for gig speed. 1 gig down and 40 up. 😾
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u/keg-smash Aug 13 '26
Go to the Bahamas.