The lights are affecting your internet connection.
The lights are affecting your internet connection.
My parents own a pretty big thrift store in a pretty small town. I live in the back of the store. My ping is usually (average) about 50 in Fortnite, but there's one major problem. When the fluorescent lights are on, my ping goes from 30-40-50 to 600+ and often above a thousand even. even late at night, if even a single light gets turned on in my house (which only has fluorescent lights) my ping hits unplayable and there's no chance of me winning a game (There is only one internet service in town, Windstream, and there is a new contract for four times speed the company could buy but they don't want to spend the money on it btw). I've lost so many matches from my parents simply turning a light on so they can get a cup of water out of the break room it's not even funny. I'm hooked up via Ethernet on a 3 foot cat 5e cable through a wall straight to the router. I'm also supposed to get an upgrade on my speed from 20mb per second to 100mb per second on the 3rd, but that obviously won't fix my problem, but it will definitely help. I've done my research and discovered that the fluorescent lights cause RFI interference with the internet, even though I'm hooked via Ethernet. My security system and credit card register are both on Ethernet as well. Apparently if I upgraded to cat7 with shielding this could be solved, but some people say I'd have to buy cables for everything in my house for it to completely work... and some people even say if I buy the cables but don't put protection on the internet port itself I'll wind up worse than ever because the RFI will back up on the port and then flood my internet... Anyone an expert on this that could help me out?
The main concern seems to be shielded cables. Start by shielding the cable from your computer to router and modem only. Also check if the coax internet has shielding—some coax lines are quad shielded, others not. If it's far enough from lights, it probably doesn't matter. Consider switching to LED fluorescent lights, as some support ballasts if you're using tubes. You might also encourage your parents to begin with small areas near networking equipment.
You don't need to purchase Cat7 cable. You can opt for Cat5e, Cat6, or Cat6a, focusing on cables labeled FTP, STP, or SFTP. These are typically Ethernet wires with insulating foil or mesh around the twisted pairs. Here’s a filtered list you can use: https://www.digikey.com/short/pc04jj The most affordable options in this range are fully insulated and connect directly to your PC’s grounded metal socket when plugged in.
I aim to determine which part is affected—your home network or the ISP side. Have you experimented with a different cable from your end? If the router has Wi-Fi capabilities, does that influence the issue? Is the high ping only noticeable when switching lights on, or does it persist continuously while they remain on? For this case, a new starter could be useful, though it's just a guess. You might also consider swapping magnetic ballasts for electronic ones.
Also check if the delay occurs within or beyond the network. When the lights are on, try pinging your gateway (typically 192.168.1.1) and look up DNS servers 8.8.8.8. If the high latency appears only when exiting the network, it suggests the link from the modem to the router (if separate) and to the outside world. If the issue is widespread, it might be internal as well.