For a long time I have encountered severe audio stuttering in VATSIM, to the point where ATIS messages are unintelligible and I can’t understand most ATC.
After testing everything on my end, I discovered that using tethered internet from my 4G mobile completely solved the issue. Therefore, the problem is with my ISP.
Using the WinMTR software, I found that the ‘fsd.connect.vatsim.net’ Automatic server address directed me to the USA-W server (I live in Australia), and some server/switch in LA and San Jose were giving me high rates of packet loss.
Testing the same address with my 4G mobile internet didn’t give me much packet loss at all, and slightly shorter ping times.
Further, testing the Amsterdam and German servers using my home internet was clear – zero packet loss, albeit high ping times as Europe is very far from Australia
I am faced with two solutions – either change my ISP or for there to be a workaround in vPilot to allow me to select the server, rather than the default Automatic.
As a follow-up, I thought I could get around the problem by installing v3.4.8, the last version before we had no say in the server selection, but I couldn’t even connect.
Ross, please allow users to select the server. I have raised this issue with my ISP and maybe they will fix it, or maybe they wont. But this is the internet, not everyone on earth has a perfect connection with every VATSIM server. So many users can have a better experience on VATSIM by allowing server choice.
Maybe as a temporary workaround you can try edit the windows hosts file ( c:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc\hosts) and add an entry for the fsd server hostname with the IP that does works for you? Worth trying…
THank you very much for introducing me to this solution Oren. It has allowed me to bypass the automatic server allocation. As you said, temporary until I change my ISP.
