AX10/AX1500 VR game streaming stuttering
Hi there, I am a representative of the Virtual Desktop community (community of around 20k on Discord with up to 5000 active users a day) and I need to bring an issue to TP Links attention.
We are often asked which routers our users should get and up until now for those on a budget we have recommended TP Link and the best model we have been advising for Oculus Quest 2 compatibility is the Archer AX10 or AX1500 since the specs match the Quest 2's networking hardware perfectly.
Quite a few users with this TP Link router have been complaining about terrible visual stuttering which is making their VR experience unplayable.
In trying to troubleshoot I purchased one of the routers myself and received a Hardware Version 1.0 router, which I have to say for me is performing brilliantly so far.
It has now become apparent that those suffering issues all have the v1.2 revision of the hardware.
We support our users so have of course advised latest firmware updates and correct WiFi settings but for these people (including a fellow admin who purchased an AX1500 yesterday in the US) the issues persist and all of them will likely be returning the hardware if it cannot be fixed.
Because my v1.0 on is working fine I need to come here and find out what is going on and if something can be fixed asap with a firmware update?
I want to continue to recommend TP Link routers to our members (ever increasing due to Quest 2 popularity) but will have to hold back until this issue is resolved.
We have a few people I can ask to assist with testing if required so please can a representative of TP Link contact me if necessary to get the ball rolling.
Thanks, Liam (oursoul)
https://www.vrdesktop.net/
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Just bought the AX50 router. The AX mode is terrible right now. Stutters all the time on Virtual Desktop. I can play with the AC mode with almost no stuttering, but I could also do that with my old router. The main reason I bought this router was to use the speed of the AX connection on VR.
This is quite frustrating. I tried many different settings on both the router and the app, nothing changed. Is there a fix in the works or something? Else I might just have to return the router.
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@Kaduwall this issue is more than 2 months old, and the only update made things worse.
I moved my TPLINK to another location since I could not return it. I've since used a Xiaomi AX router with 0 issues, even with multiple devices connected. If you can return yours, I think that might be the more prudent option. Buying an AX router only to use the lesser AC option just to make things run at an acceptable performance is really not an option.
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@Kaduwall return it, the fix isn't coming.
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Hello @Carl,
As I'm sure you might have guessed, many of us are waiting on any sort of update. It's been about a month since we last heard from you, and if you read these messages more and more are continuing to express a feeling that TP-Link as a company has abandoned this issue, and us along with it.
Please update as soon as possible.
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@Gmadu1993 I reached out to their support and they gave me some tips like changing the MTU size to 1305, changing the 2.4ghz and 5ghz channels to specific ones instead of auto, changing the channel width and setting the encryption to TKIP
I set the 2.4ghz channel to 1 and width to 20 mhz, mode without the ax
And the 5ghz channel to 128 (DFS) and 160mhz width, mode with the ax
There's an improvement for me but the network spikes and stutter still happen.
They also suggested changing the dns to 8.8.8.8 (Google's) but that didn't change much I think.
I'm still playing with the settings inside Virtual Desktop to see what gets me the best performance. Also asking the support to see if they have any more ideas.
I hate when things don't work well out of the box and need a lot of tweaking though. Still think this is either a firmware or hardware issue.
I've considered the Xiaomi Mi Router AX1800 but I read that it doesn't have 160mhz width. And only some very expensive Asus routers are available in my country :(
There's also the Huawei Ax3, I've heard good things about it. Anyone got any experience with it?
*EDIT: did some more testing, disabling the AX mode is by far still the best solution. And not using the AX mode makes this router useless to me.
*EDIT2: tried with an old archer C60 router that I had here, and even though it doesn't have a gigabit port (max 100mb) the connection was MUCH more stable and it didn't have any stutter (90 fps, 30mb bittrate on VD)
After some more research I think I'll just give up on the Wifi-6 AX tech for now and maybe just grab a Tenda AC10 Router which seems to be very recommended for Virtual Desktop. Way cheaper and more reliable from what ppl said.
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@Kaduwall I tried jumping through all the hoops, which I did not do with the Xiaomi 3600. Granted the controls are better on the TPLINK and I've been a long-time user on a personal and professional basis, but this AX series is clearly a miss.
My experience between using the AC on the AX50 and the AX on the AX3600 was that latency was much, much lower across the board (typically 20-21 vs 23-24 -- this adds up as it is only network latency and you need to account for game+encoding latency as well as reported by the performance overlay of VD).
Best of all, the AX3600 worked without any hardcore optimization -- I've since used it casually with other AC/AX devices connected to 5ghz, whereas I tried using just the Quest 2 exclusively on the AX50, to no avail.
Given the lack of updates, I am more likely to believe that the fault lies beyond just software optimization. I'm still hopeful that things will get better though, as I still have my AX50.
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@gren77 Yes it will be unfortunate news to hear if it is indeed a hardware fault. Judging by the AWOL tech support on this forum, it's not encouraging for those of us who still have these routers.
Thanks for commenting, I'm pretty sure this thread is getting pretty close to their most active and commented forum thread.
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@Gmadu1993 Luckily for then, I cannot return it anymore.... :( Very sad about lack of support. Given the history of AX10 working previously, I think it might be resolved by firmware. Nonetheless, AX50 never worked right. Tech response time are lame to say the least on this matter. As it seems they are trying to blame Oculus for their faulty product.
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I was hoping to hear if there's any more updates coming. I bought the router before Christmas, and set it up afterwards, and like others in here have attempted to use ax but it is just a massively stuttery mess in virtual desktop. I am really hoping to hear more from the developers, as the talk of newer firmware just making it worse sounds awful.
I can see this thread is still somewhat active, so I'm hoping to hear more from carl and see if there's any work going on to remedy this, because currently I can't use the product as the wifi 6 signal is simply too jumpy.
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