My internet keeps disconnecting briefly while I'm playing Valorant.

[hukki40]

Hello, I recently got a new ISP provider, and ever since I've been with them, I can't play Valorant anymore. I keep disconnecting every few minutes or seconds, and this happens not only in Valorant but also in Discord or on my phone, etc. However, this only occurs when I've started Valorant, not with other applications.

However, when I play with a VPN, it works perfectly fine. As soon as I start Valorant and then close the game right away, these problems persist across the entire internet for about 2 hours, during which even the VPN doesn't work anymore.

I've tried quite a few things, and it must be the ISP provider because a friend of mine, who also got the same provider on my street, is experiencing the same problems. The strange thing is that these issues only occur with Valorant.

Does anyone know of a possible solution for this?

 

[FreedomEclipse]

Does anyone know of a possible solution for this?

Change ISP.

 

[ir_cow]

Change ISP.

Funny. Most people only have 1 choice. Next best thing to do is buy your own Modem and Router.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

Funny. Most people only have 1 choice. Next best thing to do is buy your own Modem and Router.

Well the OP did open with "I recently got a new ISP". The post also reads that everything is perfectly fine till they open valorant which reminds me of when AT&T or Comcast would only throttle and slow traffic to companies and company servers they had disputes or disagreements with.

 

[Solaris17]

However, when I play with a VPN, it works perfectly fine.

This is probably a routing issue. You should see if you can get the IP or route to valorants servers. Then run an MTR you will need the MTR to give to your ISP or they are going to tell you to get bent.

 

[ir_cow]

I use to have drops all the time. About 12 years ago I got my own modem. No more drops because it had extra channels to connect to. QAM is a crazy technology. But these companies give you the cheapest modem and router possible.

My buddy use to work for ------ and he would just give customers other people's "broken" units. Refurbished just meant it went back in the work truck if it "passed" the checks.

After my problems, he told me the only solution is to buy your own. Did a bunch of research. More than I should and I can tell you yea... It can make a big difference. Assuming the Coax line isn't messed up somewhere down the road.

 

[hukki40]

Change ISP.

I live in a small village where there are only two providers. With my old provider, the maximum speed I could get was a 60k connection, but now I have 300k, and I need that.

This is probably a routing issue. You should see if you can get the IP or route to valorants servers. Then run an MTR you will need the MTR to give to your ISP or they are going to tell you to get bent.

I'll see what I can do.

I use to have drops all the time. About 12 years ago I got my own modem. No more drops because it had extra channels to connect to. QAM is a crazy technology. But these companies give you the cheapest modem and router possible.

My buddy use to work for ------ and he would just give customers other people's "broken" units. Refurbished just meant it went back in the work truck if it "passed" the checks.

After my problems, he told me the only solution is to buy your own. Did a bunch of research. More than I should and I can tell you yea... It can make a big difference. Assuming the Coax line isn't messed up somewhere down the road.

The thing is, my neighbor has the exact same problem with the ISP.


Doesn't anyone else know a possible solution? When you ask the ISP's customer service, you only get stupid answers, but no real solutions...

 

[ir_cow]

The thing is, my neighbor has the exact same problem with the ISP.

@Solaris17 is right then.

 

[_JP_]

I live in a small village where there are only two providers. With my old provider, the maximum speed I could get was a 60k connection, but now I have 300k, and I need that.

Hate to give Musk net worth, but you need a connection, so what about Starlink? Can you check if you have coverage?
(I'm recommending this assuming you can consider the up-front cost, are comfortable with setting-up your own network and don't need the ISP for additional services like telephone, TV/IPTV and mobile data, AND you are not in a country in which Starlink isn't banned)

It's what "saved" a lot of people here outside the sities that go after the "we have fiber everywhere" ads from the ISPs only to find out that it's not the case and it sucks. Despite the cost of the dish, no 2-year contract bind and way better connection overall beats the ISPs here. TV is fine through TDT (DVB-T2) and most people don't use a landline anymore.

 

[Lost_Troll]

live in a small village where there are only two providers. With my old provider, the maximum speed I could get was a 60k connection, but now I have 300k, and I need that.

There might be two providers that you know of in your area, but there might be one or two WISP's (Wireless Service Provider) you might not know about. Where do you live?

My best guess is your provider is throttling you or they have bad connection some ware in their system. You will need to do what Solaris said and run a trace route or use MTR to see where the issue is.

 

[remixedcat]

Valorant anti cheat has ring 0 access which could mean the anti cheat dev is doing something or a bug in it...

 

[wheresmycar]

Contact your ISP.

I had a similar issue some years ago with DL/UP speeds being capped after some usage... at times either SUPER-SLOW or losing connection for short periods of time. This was sorted with some lengthy phone calls and eventually escalating the issue to their in-house tech specialist team who I'm assuming adjusted traffic management polices related to our account. Although when inquired they denied pre-assigned limitations.

For your specific issue, similar type ISP bandwidth throttling is possible with disconnects or data/packet transmission fails. Call them and explain your issue in detail and see what they come up with. As Solaris pointed out routing issues are a strong possibility. The ISP can adjust routing paths if limitations apply or reconfigure equipment which ties into their network.

 

[DaemonForce]

Are you married to some garbage modem like the XB3? That'll do it.
Can't suggest more than talking it over with your ISP and getting a new modem but there's no guarantee of improvement either.
Small villages tend to suffer these problems just because they're small villages. From what I remember it never really gets resolved.

 

[RJARRRPCGP]

Does the XB3 usually fail? Usually, getting disconnected and/or it being extremely slow, is a hardware failure. The first suspect is at the ISP-end and/or the wiring. Possibly bad coax cabling.
Unless it's a DoS attack on a route, which is possible. This can result in packet loss just for some parts of the internet.

 

[DaemonForce]

I have a notepad open with a list of Internet outages after I got into a habit of it.
Whenever I have to drop everything and reboot the modem:
Outages.txt
Scroll to the very bottom of file
F5
TAB
Reboot modem by reaching DEEP into my desk pressing an interference fit nub that I installed into the recessed RESET button for easy access...
Wait for connection to come back online anywhere from 5-35min if "normal"
F5
Save

I've already done this three times this week and all I've been doing is watching streams and downloading game updates off Steam and Epic.
I tried throttling my downloads in both apps because I noticed if I update a little too hard, I get these disconnects a lot more often. Seems to help.

 

[eidairaman1]

Well the OP did open with "I recently got a new ISP". The post also reads that everything is perfectly fine till they open valorant which reminds me of when AT&T or Comcast would only throttle and slow traffic to companies and company servers they had disputes or disagreements with.

They still pull that bs

 

[RJARRRPCGP]

If SpeedTest fails it, then escalate it with the ISP tech support! Don't let them give you fake-tech-support-scammer-like responses!

I tried throttling my downloads in both apps because I noticed if I update a little too hard, I get these disconnects a lot more often. Seems to help.

Sounds like modem is unstable! Or bad wiring! Unless it's a buggy driver. If it's cable, you possibly have bad coax! If it's cable or DSL, it can be bad copper or bad insulation.
It's possible for the router to have bad caps!

this only occurs when I've started Valorant, not with other applications.

Can you try Halo?

 

[hukki40]

There might be two providers that you know of in your area, but there might be one or two WISP's (Wireless Service Provider) you might not know about. Where do you live?

My best guess is your provider is throttling you or they have bad connection some ware in their system. You will need to do what Solaris said and run a trace route or use MTR to see where the issue is.

I don't think they are throttling my internet; otherwise, it wouldn't only be an issue with Valorant or when using a VPN connection. I mean, I can watch Twitch, etc., without feeling the disconnects, for example, after having Valorant open. I only feel these disconnects on Discord or when playing other online games.

Valorant anti cheat has ring 0 access which could mean the anti cheat dev is doing something or a bug in it...

Yeah, maybe it's a bug. I should contact Valorant support.

Contact your ISP.

I had a similar issue some years ago with DL/UP speeds being capped after some usage... at times either SUPER-SLOW or losing connection for short periods of time. This was sorted with some lengthy phone calls and eventually escalating the issue to their in-house tech specialist team who I'm assuming adjusted traffic management polices related to our account. Although when inquired they denied pre-assigned limitations.

For your specific issue, similar type ISP bandwidth throttling is possible with disconnects or data/packet transmission fails. Call them and explain your issue in detail and see what they come up with. As Solaris pointed out routing issues are a strong possibility. The ISP can adjust routing paths if limitations apply or reconfigure equipment which ties into their network.

It's not really packet loss but more like a complete loss of the internet, which only lasts about 1 millisecond. For example, I only feel it on Discord, where I suddenly can't hear anyone, but when I reconnect immediately, everything is fine again for a few minutes/seconds.

I have a notepad open with a list of Internet outages after I got into a habit of it.
Whenever I have to drop everything and reboot the modem:
Outages.txt
Scroll to the very bottom of file
F5
TAB
Reboot modem by reaching DEEP into my desk pressing an interference fit nub that I installed into the recessed RESET button for easy access...
Wait for connection to come back online anywhere from 5-35min if "normal"
F5
Save

I've already done this three times this week and all I've been doing is watching streams and downloading game updates off Steam and Epic.
I tried throttling my downloads in both apps because I noticed if I update a little too hard, I get these disconnects a lot more often. Seems to help.

Interesting, haha

If SpeedTest fails it, then escalate it with the ISP tech support! Don't let them give you fake-tech-support-scammer-like responses!


Sounds like modem is unstable! Or bad wiring! Unless it's a buggy driver. If it's cable, you possibly have bad coax! If it's cable or DSL, it can be bad copper or bad insulation.
It's possible for the router to have bad caps!


Can you try Halo?

No speed test has failed; everything seems perfect. But as soon as I start Valorant, I experience these disconnects, which may only last a millisecond, but then I get kicked out of the game and Discord and have to reconnect every few minutes/seconds. And yeah, I'll try Halo in the meantime.


In the end, I'll contact the ISP again and explain that this only happens with Valorant. Everything actually works perfectly, except that no one in my area can play Valorant without the internet not working properly.

 

[DaemonForce]

Are you only getting these disconnects when running Valorant from one computer?
It might make sense to check that out.

 

[RJARRRPCGP]

No speed test has failed; everything seems perfect.

It's considered a fail, if the bandwidth is much lower than usual or the ping is much higher than usual.

 

[OneMoar]

saying it disconnects is pretty unhelpful

are you losing your ip address or is it dropping dns? have you checked the modem logs what isp did you switch to ...

your description is vague but it sounds vaguely like a router issue

 

[Uns1gn3d_C0d3]

I use to have drops all the time. About 12 years ago I got my own modem. No more drops because it had extra channels to connect to. QAM is a crazy technology. But these companies give you the cheapest modem and router possible.

My buddy use to work for ------ and he would just give customers other people's "broken" units. Refurbished just meant it went back in the work truck if it "passed" the checks.

After my problems, he told me the only solution is to buy your own. Did a bunch of research. More than I should and I can tell you yea... It can make a big difference. Assuming the Coax line isn't messed up somewhere down the road.

In my limited experience, I've found the one size fits all router solution from my ISP to be junk.

Both units I've used would kick devices off mid-use, then refuse the reconnect attempt, forcing a reboot.

I wound up buying a used Asus router from Ebay for $30 and it's been rock solid.

The ISP provided modem on the other hand, works great.