lag spike and d/c when in dungeon or trial boss fights

ErinGoBrag520

I've had this issue for awhile now, but it is so weirdly inconsistent. It happens either a lot, like the content is essentially unplayable or not at all and I'm fine. Nothing seems different that I can find. It usually helps that I restart the computer before I do something like a trial, but I don't know if that is just a coincidence or not. Last Friday the trial I was in was essentially unplayable, I'd d/c so many times (I did restart the computer and this time it did not help, still lag and d/c). So the same thing started to happen when I was running a dungeon last night, just big lag spike and d/c. I restarted my computer and ran the dungeon twice and had not a single problem, lowish 100s latency and good FPS. I just want to figure out how to predict or troubleshoot this because anytime I'm doing something with a group I hate to torture them with my bad performance. I've done a lot of dungeons and trials and most of the time fine, but the random terrible performance is anxiety provoking! Let me know what info I can provide to help anyone help me! TIA!

MilkJugg24

@ErinGoBrag520

I have similar issues when doing group content as well sometimes. I don't think restarting your computer would have any correlation to the frequency of the issue. When you say "d/c", do you mean getting kicked back to the login screen, other characters stop moving and but you're still able to move without attacking, or does the entire game freeze and force a crash or restart?

Typically I just press Escape and log-off, then re-log back into the character. I'm usually back where I left off in the group and everything. This might not be an ideal solution once next week's content launches though. Do you have full-control over your modem and router for your network. Can you describe your network setup to get a better idea of where deficiencies might lie?

ErinGoBrag520

Typically I hit a few game stutters where things freeze for a second and then everything moves fast to catch up to where it is, then I can move without attacking and it takes a minute or so but then I disconnect back to the log in screen. I know people will say this is where my problem is, but I play with my phone's mobile hot spot. I've been doing this for years and most of the time get good latency and even can do Cyrodiil several times a week, usually no problems. So I don't *think* it is that. The reason I wondered about the computer is that I'm wondering if something runs somewhere in the background? Or some kind of data leak? is there something can monitor what is going on internally other than task master because I can't really tab to that in the moment, I guess I will try though.

MilkJugg24

@ErinGoBrag520

There are a lot of things that can go wrong using a mobile hotspot for gaming. This is why every game developer recommends a broadband internet connection, because broadband and cellular internet work very differently.

If I had to guess, the disconnects are happening sporadically because of the way the cellular tower manages active devices. There is only a certain number of devices a cell phone tower can handle at a given time, and there are many systems in which minimize the network capacity to keep cellular services running smoothly. While this keeps latency low, the integrity or overall consistency of the connection is hindered.

Mid-day when a lot of people are roaming around, devices constantly connect and disconnect from the cell phone towers. This is the main reason why those systems are in place. Since you're using the same tower in your home, it's likely that you're around long enough to be "moved" to another network, causing that integrity or consistency issue I mentioned earlier. Likewise, I would bet strongly that this issue is much less frequent late at night, where significantly less traffic is being managed.

Other than purchasing a broadband internet solution, where you're able to manage your own modem and router, I don't think anyone can fix your problem. If you need assistance finding a provider, you can use this website to help find places in your area: https://www.highspeedinternet.com/

Realistically speaking, you really don't need more than 10Mbps download, 1Mbps upload to play games. It might be a bit slow for game downloads or high-quality streaming, but for maintaining a consistent connection, it's more than plenty for playing games. As for a data cap, I would suggest at least 250GB to start, and watch using your ISP's website to see how much you use weekly, to get a better gauge on how much you actually need.

Sorry that I'm not really able to offer much aside from solutions that cost money.

ErinGoBrag520

I would like to explore other ideas, I've been playing this way for a significant amount of time (over 3 years). If there were actually internet options in my rural area I would have jumped on them so that seems a bit patronizing to just give me a link... I know lots of people that play this way, traveling for business, or on the road (truck drivers who use the hotspot from cell providers) I've done it myself with my laptop. This really seems like something that has happened more recently and seems to something to do with something that may run on my computer because the issue doesn't seem connected to peak times people would use a cell tower. Anyway, I have a tracker installed that pings when internet is disrupted because that was my first thought.

ErinGoBrag520

I'd also add, during these events I'm able to continue to hear and speak on discord.