Free Step Dodge

Not really, no. Several things may be happening 1) Lobby leader restrictions 2)Router ports - I guess sometimes that helps 3) Team Ninja needs to work the network code glitches out 4) If you're using a single-band router it will significantly limit you like that -- not saying you have one.
Are there any other issues though? Are you able to do ranked okay?

Time factor maybe? Sometimes I see 8, sometimes I see 11, sometimes 13.

Ranked is okay and I think I set up my ports correctly