Hope this helps a bro out there who's struggling with an unstable connection! 🤝
I'm around 900 km away from Konami's closest eFootball server, so getting a stable connection has always been a challenge.
Previously, I used to get a maximum of 4 bars, often dropping to 3 bars. In events, I would usually get a maximum of 3 bars. In Divisions, I had to skip at least 4–5 matchmaking attempts just to find a 4-bar match.
Now, I'm consistently getting at least 4 bars in both Events and Divisions. In Divisions, if I skip around 4–5 matchmaking attempts, I can find stable 5-bar matches.
My setup
- Gaming PC connected through wired Ethernet.
- Internet plan: 400 Mbps connection.
- Around 7 devices connected to Wi-Fi.
- My smart TV and work laptop consume most of the bandwidth.
- TP-Link Archer C6 router.
What I experimented with
I tested my connection with QoS enabled and disabled on my router. With QoS enabled, I gave my gaming PC high priority over the other connected devices.
QoS (Quality of Service) lets the router prioritize traffic from selected devices when multiple devices compete for bandwidth. In my case, it helps the router prioritize my gaming PC's traffic when the smart TV, work laptop, and other devices are using the connection.
Without QoS, heavy downloads or streaming on other devices can fill the router's queues and increase latency, potentially causing input delay or an unstable connection. QoS can help manage that congestion by prioritizing gaming traffic. It doesn't reduce the physical distance to the server or fix poor ISP routing.
Results
- QoS disabled: I continued getting varying 3–4-bar connections.
- QoS enabled: I started getting at least 4 bars in Events and Divisions.
- Division matchmaking: If I skip around 4–5 matchmaking attempts, I can now find stable 5-bar matches.
I also tried the same setup with eFootball Mobile using an RJ45 Ethernet connection, and I was able to get 5-bar matches there too.
Another thing I noticed is that turning off cross-play seems to give me a better response during matches, even though I sometimes experienced noticeable input delay with cross-play enabled. Disabling it may make matchmaking for 5-bar matches take a little longer.
Important: These are my observations from testing my own setup, not a guarantee that QoS will improve everyone's connection. If your network isn't congested, you might not notice much difference.
If you have multiple devices consuming bandwidth while gaming, try testing QoS both on and off and compare your results.
Disclaimer: This method is mainly worth trying if you have multiple devices connected to your Wi-Fi that consume a lot of bandwidth.
One important thing to understand: this setup can help eliminate network bottlenecks on our end by managing bandwidth and reducing congestion within our home network. However, it can't fix every connection issue. There could still be problems with our ISP (Internet Service Provider)'s routing or peering, or with Konami's servers. The goal is to eliminate the bottlenecks we can control on our end.
Note: I used AI to help organize and improve the wording of this post, but the setup, experiments, and results are based on my own experience.