I think this has the potential to get worse as these "game streaming" services continue to grow. Now not only do you have the outbound control data that needs to be low latency, but you have a big video stream coming back in.
We have one student this year (so far, that we've noticed at least) that is using the Shadow game streaming service by Blade. This student is on wifi, not on the wired network even though that is available to them. The Shadow game streaming service results in a constant 63Mbps inbound stream of data. It almost looks like this student doesn't go to class as the stream only stops at night time (between 1am-8am). In the last 7 days, this one student has streamed inbound over 3TB from the Shadow game service. I could be off here, but at 63Mbps 3TB is about 4.5 days of streaming. And remember, this is on wifi. I kinda feel sorry for their roommates/neighbors that may be on that same access point. -Christopher On Wed, 2019-09-04 at 15:45 -0500, Coehoorn, Joel wrote: Agree that it's best to let gamers use wired ports. Nothing, and I mean **nothing** is harder on your shared wifi link than low-latency game traffic. The actual throughput for this traffic tends to be very small, especially compared to streaming... it's typically only updated position/vector and action data, rather than full-video content. The problem, however, is in the sheer number and frequence of packets, as every little twitch needs a new update, and the fact this traffic is bi-directional. Where streaming traffic tends to all source from the AP, where the AP can naturally avoid colliding with itself, much more of the gaming traffic originates at the client, and therefore much more likely to cause collisions in the shared half-duplex air space used by wifi. Getting that traffic OFF the wifi and back onto wired links can do amazing things for the general quality of life for everyone in that environment. [https://docs.google.com/a/york.edu/uc?id=0B6EvlGH2mMjUVWozX2lScmplOFU] Joel Coehoorn Director of Information Technology 402.363.5603 jcoeho...@york.edu<mailto:jcoeho...@york.edu> Please contact helpd...@york.edu<mailto:helpd...@york.edu> for technical assistance. The mission of York College is to transform lives through Christ-centered education and to equip students for lifelong service to God, family, and society On Wed, Sep 4, 2019 at 3:12 PM Angelo Santabarbara <asantabarb...@siena.edu<mailto:asantabarb...@siena.edu>> wrote: Wireless contention is the real problem. We recommend all gamers connect their systems to wired ports. Not only does it make their experience better, but it also lessens the wireless load (On our campus XBox and PS4 fall into the top 4 traffic sources). If you already have a wired infrastructure than the edge switches are not all that expensive. Alternatively install access points like the Ruckus H510 in each housing unit which include 4 hard wired ports. Angelo D. Santabarbara Director of Networks & Systems Siena College asantabarb...@siena.edu<mailto:asantabarb...@siena.edu> ********** Replies to EDUCAUSE Community Group emails are sent to the entire community list. If you want to reply only to the person who sent the message, copy and paste their email address and forward the email reply. Additional participation and subscription information can be found at https://www.educause.edu/community ********** Replies to EDUCAUSE Community Group emails are sent to the entire community list. If you want to reply only to the person who sent the message, copy and paste their email address and forward the email reply. Additional participation and subscription information can be found at https://www.educause.edu/community ********** Replies to EDUCAUSE Community Group emails are sent to the entire community list. If you want to reply only to the person who sent the message, copy and paste their email address and forward the email reply. Additional participation and subscription information can be found at https://www.educause.edu/community
