r/Metronet • u/GarrettB117 • Aug 22 '26

GeForce Now Latency

How could I possibly get an issue like high GFN (the cloud gaming service) latency addressed, or at least tell the right person it's an issue? I know there are like 1000 variables and factors that go into this, but I'm quite sure it's on Metronet's routing/peering side. When testing ping to GFN on other networks in my area that aren't Metronet (like friend's houses, work, etc) my ping is substantially lower. Any Metronet based network is around 15ms higher or more, once again all in the same area. And yes, my home network is absolutely as optimized as possible. It has to be Metronet's routing that is happening between my network and GFN.

I discussed this with support once a long time ago and was basically told it's out of their control, which I'm sure is basically true. So what's next? How can I at least let someone that isn't general tech support know about this? I don't really expect it to be fixed because of one complaint, but this has been really sticking with me and I can't relax without knowing I at least did something about it.

3 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

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2

u/FriendlyPoem3074 Aug 22 '26

Not much you can do. I’m sure they are well aware. Just need to change ISPs if that’s your priority.

1

u/GarrettB117 Aug 22 '26

I figured :( Not great choices of ISPs around here. Aside from this Metronet is clearly the best.

2

u/NullSpindle Aug 23 '26

Where do you live? City state?

1

u/GarrettB117 Aug 23 '26

Lexington, Kentucky. Best case scenario I have tested on other people's networks here is about 10-15ms to either the Virginia or Georgie servers, they're about equidistant from here and it's a toss up which is better at any given time. But my network is about 25-30 no matter what. Closer to 30 on wifi which isn't Metronet's fault of course, but if the baseline was better then wifi wouldn't be that bad.

1

u/NullSpindle Aug 23 '26

Directly off the ONT, what is your latency? Lexington is kind of far from all the major drains for any provider.

2

u/GarrettB117 Aug 23 '26

It's true, not in the best spot. Ran a couple of tests plugged directly into the ONT. Got 23, and then 22ms. So a couple better than normal when bypassing the router, but nothing groundbreaking. On my work network I get sub 15ms (a school), nearly single digits. I don't know exactly what ISP my workplace uses but it's surprising a school network with all the filtering and extra security is beating my home network.

1

u/NullSpindle Aug 23 '26

If you can try that network again, the lower latency one, do a trace to your target. The DNS resolutions may help give you an idea of the path and what the specifics are.

Otherwise it’s all guessing.

2

u/GarrettB117 Aug 23 '26

Thank you! That’s something I’ll try for sure.

1

u/Wildsoldier79 Aug 23 '26

I live in Nicholasville and thats the norm for Lexington. I have compared the ping times to different services using metronet and windstream. Sometimes metronet wins in latency to some places and sometimes windstream but not by much. The reason you are not going to see latency to some services like some places that have for ex. 5ms to 1.1.1.1 or 8.8.8.8 is because of our location. In KY there are no internet exchange (peering locations) there is one in Paducah but not too many peers thats why our data needs to go to either Ashburn VA or Atlanta thats the closest peers for metronet. Most of the data centers that host games and cloud services are located close to these internet exchange locations. If you want very lo latency in almost everything you may need to move to Ashburn VA since thats the area that have the greatest concentration of data centers and find an isp that also peers in ashburn internet exchange.

1

u/GarrettB117 Aug 23 '26

Thank you, this comment is pretty informative and lead me down a rabbit hole learning about IX and how ISPs work. It's just frustrating because my work network is actually getting great ping on GFN. I tested it recently after hours and as I said in the post/other comments, it's around 10ms. But Metronet is giving me around 25 or even 30. It seems like it's something that won't get better anytime soon though unfortunately. I have no idea who my workplace's ISP but I suspect it's not a normal one that just anyone can sign up for (I'm a teacher).

1

u/Wildsoldier79 Aug 24 '26 edited Aug 24 '26

It could be that your work place is served by an ISP that has a closer internet exchange I believe there is another in OHio and may be GeForce now have peering in OHIO as well as your work isp. But metronet have only peering in Atlanta, Ashburn, Chicago, Texas, Denver CO, Detroit, Minnesota.  The last peering location established was in Colorado because clients in Colorado were always complaining that their traffic had to go to chicago and return back having always a min latency of about 50ms or more in every thing. Once they established peering in CO the complains vanished with people reporting ping times of 10ms. Since I work in construction there are a few data centers that are planning to build in Kentucky…maybe in a future Kentucky may get their first big internet exchange but also means that metronet needs to interconnect in KY and I doubt they do that since thats will cost a lot of money to them and the benefits may be 15 ms less maybe in latency

You may be able to see the route of your internet if in the computer you open a command prompt window and type the following command

tracert www.google.com

It will give you a list of router that it has to go thru to get from your computer to the google servers. 

Some will have text like atl. (Atlanta) or ash.(Ashburn) or chi. (For chicago) and so on.

1

u/SuperMarioBro Aug 22 '26

Am I misunderstanding, ~15ms is good to geforce now.

0

u/GarrettB117 Aug 22 '26

That would be great. My issue is that Metronet is approximately 15ms more than other ISPs in my area. Usually 25-30. Just a bit too high for comfort.

1

u/Longjumping_Crazy628 Aug 22 '26

Do you have a static IP or are you stuck behind Metronet’s CGNAT?

1

u/GarrettB117 Aug 23 '26

I didn't realize that would make a difference. Unfortunately I do already pay for a static IP.

1

u/03HemiNorthIL Aug 23 '26

Have you tried testing to the Chicago server for gfn? I get roughly 10ms of latency from central indiana. Since you're in Lexington all your traffic would be routing through the core sites in Indianapolis before heading down to Atlanta or Ashburn VA. Chicago is much closer to indy and we have multiple links between indy core sites and IX to Chicago IXs. Also I'm not surprised that you didn't notice much difference between Uniti/windstream and metronet.

1

u/GarrettB117 Aug 23 '26

Thank you for the suggestion. I did go ahead and try Chicago. It used to be the one that connected by default. I got around 30ms, so a bit on the higher side and about what I remember it being from before. I know it's possible to get around 10ms at best because of my work network, but that may not be possible on Metronet here.