[SOLVED] Constant packet loss and ping spikes during the day

[ozzyp9]

Hello I am extremely frustrated and just looking to get some insight. I have been having trouble with my internet connection to my apartment for weeks. Basically starting at about 10 AM to about 10 PM I get constant ping spikes and packet loss which makes games unplayable (to clarify this is on a WIRED connection and occurs on every device in my household). I've contacted my ISP (Cox Communications) multiple times and they have come out to look at my connection outside but they just blame my equipment. However we have tried a new coax cable, and a brand new modem/router as well but the issue still seems to occur. It seems like a problem on my ISP's end but I cant be sure.



Here is a screenshot of pingplotter running for a few minutes : http://prntscr.com/uqw2n6

As you can see the packet loss always seems to occur on the 2nd hop which from my research indicates usually a problem on my ISP's end?

The fact that it starts around 10 AM and stops around 10 PM or so every night makes it seem like its due to some kind of traffic issues or overuse of bandwidth in my apartment complex possibly. Any ideas or anything else I can test for further troubleshooting?

 

[bill001g]

Most times traffic related issues you see large increases in the ping time because data is being buffered and when it exceeds the buffer traffic is dropped. In your case the latency is fine but you get packet loss. This is more likely data packets that are corrupted and are discarded.

Hop 2 is the connection to the ISP. Check the modem and see if there are any log entries. Many modems have a display of correctable and uncorrectable errors. These counters are not reset often so you always see some but you want to see if you can actually see the numbers change.

Maybe a neighbor traffic is somehow interfering, not real likely since cable modem must be given permission to transmit by the cable system.

What you want to do is run constant ping to the IP of your router and the IP of the ISP router in hop 2. This is simpler for the tech at the ISP to understand than pingplotter.

You have already replaced everything so you would think the ISP would be more receptive. This is one of those have the tech put one of his test modems in place and connect a pc direclty. If the lost is fairly constant it should show up on his test. Since it is his pc and his modem hard to blame your equipment.

 

[ozzyp9]

Most times traffic related issues you see large increases in the ping time because data is being buffered and when it exceeds the buffer traffic is dropped. In your case the latency is fine but you get packet loss. This is more likely data packets that are corrupted and are discarded.

Hop 2 is the connection to the ISP. Check the modem and see if there are any log entries. Many modems have a display of correctable and uncorrectable errors. These counters are not reset often so you always see some but you want to see if you can actually see the numbers change.

Maybe a neighbor traffic is somehow interfering, not real likely since cable modem must be given permission to transmit by the cable system.

What you want to do is run constant ping to the IP of your router and the IP of the ISP router in hop 2. This is simpler for the tech at the ISP to understand than pingplotter.

You have already replaced everything so you would think the ISP would be more receptive. This is one of those have the tech put one of his test modems in place and connect a pc direclty. If the lost is fairly constant it should show up on his test. Since it is his pc and his modem hard to blame your equipment.

I appreciate the response and the advice. I was looking at my router logs and cant really understand anything, I googled a few of the messages and basically most were deemed harmless or normal.

I want to have a tech come out but they charge $70 if they find that its my equipment that is the problem so I just want to rule everything out. But seeing as that my ping to my router directly is perfect and the packet loss always starts at hop 2 makes me believe that its definitely something on the ISP's end. I have also gotten notices the last couple days about my ISP doing maintenance and there have been a couple outages so I think it is definitely related. Getting a constant 20-30% packet loss when I just ping hop 2 so I will definitely have to show a tech.

 

[bill001g]

Your last example is why a very good understanding of how pingplotter works is important. This is likley false data due to testing. Your first one is what a actual issue looks like. You see problems that start in particular hop and then continue all the way to the and also affect the end node.

In this last one you get no loss to the end (and most important node). If for example hop 3 really lost 100% of the traffic you would not even see the last hops.