Should I call my ISP? (Sudden Bitrate drops, regardless of settings)

TonyPizza

New Member
Log File: https://obsproject.com/logs/0btkRmdAkXf8xT0D

I recently moved back in June 2021 and run off Xfinity now as they're the only available ISP in my area. That being said, with both Streamlabs and OBS Studio I am encountering an issue that most of you have seen before probably. TL,DR: Regardless of settings, my stream will experience sudden bitrate drops or dropped frames.

In the log file, I did some experimenting including turning on Dynamic Bitrate, TCP Pacing, and toggling stream delay. I also tried lowering my output from 1080p/60fps to 720/60fps (At one point in the log you can see I forgot to change the bitrate, oops). If Dynamic Bitrate and the like are turned off, I will see the sudden bitrate drops as well as dropped frames, but not so much with those settings are. Regardless, my bitrate will spontaneously drop to as low as 200kbps. This is regardless of what game I'm playing or software I'm using, or even if I have no other programs running.

My ethernet is wired into my Netgear Nighthawk AC1900 router.


EDIT: I forgot to include the packet test I did.
PacketsTest.PNG


I started streaming again back in October, but this issue has always been back on my mind. I can only assume there is something with my own settings I'm not seeing, as I'm open with suggestions. I apologize for my lack of further knowledge, but appreciate you reading.
 

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Lawrence_SoCal

Active Member
First and most likely cause is either
1. something on your home LAN
2. something from router/mode, thru ISP Public Peer routing

For #1 - do some real-time monitoring to see what else is using upload bandwidth, if any
Also, with EVERTHING else powered off (not just in use), using a known clean device, do an upload test (not a speedtest, that is highly optimistic and ignores streaming's steady state higher bitrate rqmts). For example, upload a 10GB + file and monitor? what is sustained upload throughput?

And as you're streaming to Twitch,
it's a good idea to use R1ch's TwitchTest tool to check your connection to the servers; you want a Quality score of 100, preferably. https://r1ch.net/projects/twitchtest
 
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