Good Internet // Random Ping Spikes

[chomppc]

Hello!

Ever since Thursday, my ping would random spike from 20-40 to 100-300. I do not know what caused this and I am really frustrated.

I use wired connection going from my PC to my Google Wifi router

I have read so many forums and watched many YouTube videos and nothing has worked.

Please help, thank you

 

[anotherdrew]

Ping spikes happen because somewhere between you and what you are pinging packets are being buffered before being processed. Normally this is because more packets are arriving to the router than it can processes and so your packet has to wait it's turn. This could be happening on your Google router (multiple people using the connection at the same time, bad software configuration, failing hardware, etc), you ISP's routers (more users than it can handle, failing hardware, etc), or even out on the internet. So, the first thing is to find out where it is happening.

1. Run tracert to google.com (open a command prompt, and enter "tracert google.com").
2. The tracert will ping each router on the path between you and google. Some won't respond, that's normal. Make note of the the first and 2nd hops.
3. Open 3 command prompts and run "ping -n 100 x.x.x.x" to the first hop (your router), 2nd hop (your ISP), and google. (the x.x is the IP address of the router we are interested in)

When a ping spike occurs, you should see ping times go up on the ping to google. Does it also happen the pings to your ISP and/or your router?

IF you see the increased ping times on the ping to your router, then the problem is inside your network.
IF pings to your router are good, but pings to your ISP show increased ping time, then there is something going with your ISP router.
Lastly, if only the pings to google show the ping spike then it's an internet issue and it's unlikely you can do anything (call Bill Gates?)

What if none of the pings show a slow down? Run them again ... how random are these ping spikes? Maybe it's an issue with the server you are connecting to. If you know the IP of the server you were having an issue with, add another windows with a ping to that.

Let us know what you find out.

 

[AccountPlease]

Ping spikes happen because somewhere between you and what you are pinging packets are being buffered before being processed. Normally this is because more packets are arriving to the router than it can processes and so your packet has to wait it's turn. This could be happening on your Google router (multiple people using the connection at the same time, bad software configuration, failing hardware, etc), you ISP's routers (more users than it can handle, failing hardware, etc), or even out on the internet. So, the first thing is to find out where it is happening.

1. Run tracert to google.com (open a command prompt, and enter "tracert google.com").
2. The tracert will ping each router on the path between you and google. Some won't respond, that's normal. Make note of the the first and 2nd hops.
3. Open 3 command prompts and run "ping -n 100 x.x.x.x" to the first hop (your router), 2nd hop (your ISP), and google. (the x.x is the IP address of the router we are interested in)

When a ping spike occurs, you should see ping times go up on the ping to google. Does it also happen the pings to your ISP and/or your router?

IF you see the increased ping times on the ping to your router, then the problem is inside your network.
IF pings to your router are good, but pings to your ISP show increased ping time, then there is something going with your ISP router.
Lastly, if only the pings to google show the ping spike then it's an internet issue and it's unlikely you can do anything (call Bill Gates?)

What if none of the pings show a slow down? Run them again ... how random are these ping spikes? Maybe it's an issue with the server you are connecting to. If you know the IP of the server you were having an issue with, add another windows with a ping to that.

Let us know what you find out.

Hey, I've run into the same annoying problem and decided to follow your steps. After completing the tracert of google, my router and ISP, I ran the 3 cmds.

CMD 1 ran the 100 pings to my router, all of which looked like this the entire 100 pings, no spikes, no response went over 2ms, but even that was rare, it was mostly 1ms.

CMD 2 ran the 100 pings to my ISP, things got a little rocky here and there so I screenshot the full 100 pings, hopefully that tells you something.

Finally, CMD 3 ran the 100 pings to Google and it resembled roughly the actually ms wait time for google to load in browser, here is a portion of the response from my pings.

The issue seemed to be the second one, the pings to my ISP. Should I call them?

 

[USAFRet]

1. 1ms to your router is as expected.

2. 10-20ms to your ISP is as expected

3. 18ms to google is excellent.

The "300-400" you were seeing is an artifact of whatever other server you were trying to connect to.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with your connection, and nothing the ISP can "fix".

 

[AccountPlease]

1. 1ms to your router is as expected.

2. 10-20ms to your ISP is as expected

3. 18ms to google is excellent.

The "300-400" you were seeing is an artifact of whatever other server you were trying to connect to.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with your connection, and nothing the ISP can "fix".

You sure? I believe every so often the screenshots display the response time going up, some times it hit as high as 90ms? Is that normal too?

 

[USAFRet]

You sure? I believe every so often the screenshots display the response time going up, some times it hit as high as 90ms? Is that normal too?

A single response that is higher than the others is not an issue. It just means, at that particular moment, the traffic took a different route to and from.

 

[AccountPlease]

A single response that is higher than the others is not an issue. It just means, at that particular moment, the traffic took a different route to and from.

Then, is there anything I can do? I can play Destiny 2 just fine, youtube videos, facebook, netflix, all work fine. But, discord and Smite lag uncontrollably whether used separately or together.

It's not constant, it goes up and down and all around, never a rhyme or reason to it. Smite has a function that if you press the f8 key it brings up your connection info, i.e fps, ping, and the ms response time. My normal ping for smite is usually 30-70, depending on the game server from game to game. I usually don't pay attention to the ms delay, but recently suffering through the lag while trying to play with friends I learned that while my ping goes down before jumping back up, the ms delay would still be as high as 20-100, and it would jump around constantly without any reason. I closed everything and it didn't help at all. I even reset my network adapter and went through the trouble of troubleshooting my network through the win 10 settings and still got nothing.

Is it just something I have to abide by? Literally nothing I can do at all?

 

[USAFRet]

A single response that is higher than the others is not an issue. It just means, at that particular moment, the traffic took a different route to and from.

Then, is there anything I can do? I can play Destiny 2 just fine, youtube videos, facebook, netflix, all work fine. But, discord and Smite lag uncontrollably whether used separately or together.

Done any deep AV and malware scans recently?
Look at this somewhat similar thread:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-3820291/speedtests-100-supposed-lagging-lot.html

 

[AccountPlease]

I do not have anything stronger than windows defender to run, unless you know of any that will get the job done for free. Short on cash in the winter.

And, no, I haven't run any scans in awhile, but have been meaning to since like, ever, will get on that rn.

 

[USAFRet]

I do not have anything stronger than windows defender to run, unless you know of any that will get the job done for free. Short on cash in the winter.

And, no, I haven't run any scans in awhile, but have been meaning to since like, ever, will get on that rn.

Defender and Malwarebytes.
No need to pay anything.

 

[AccountPlease]

Ran win defender, avast and malwarebytes, all came up clear and clean, no threats.

 

[AccountPlease]

Is there any programs or anything I can run while I play that would help pinpoint the problem?

 

[USAFRet]

Is there any programs or anything I can run while I play that would help pinpoint the problem?

I'm not convinced you have a problem.
From your screencaps of ping -100, that all looks very good. No significant issues.

 

[AccountPlease]

Is there any programs or anything I can run while I play that would help pinpoint the problem?

I'm not convinced you have a problem.
From your screencaps of ping -100, that all looks very good. No significant issues.

Could it be a problem with the game servers then? But im the only one having the problem. Could it be my ethernet wire or something? I dunno man, been at my wits end trying to find the problem.

 

[USAFRet]

Is there any programs or anything I can run while I play that would help pinpoint the problem?

I'm not convinced you have a problem.
From your screencaps of ping -100, that all looks very good. No significant issues.

Could it be a problem with the game servers then? But im the only one having the problem. Could it be my ethernet wire or something? I dunno man, been at my wits end trying to find the problem.

The ping to your router was a consistent <1ms. It's not the ethernet cable.

"the problem"....which is?
The only thing you can influence is the 'ping' to your router. Which is fine.
The only thing your ISP can influence is the 'ping' between your router and them. Which is fine.
After that....the internet takes over.

 

[AccountPlease]

Is it just some random fling? Something just outside of our control? Hopefully it'll go away on it's own as it arrived.

 

[AccountPlease]

Think im just going to completely reinstall windows tonight and start fresh, maybe that does anything

 

[USAFRet]

Think im just going to completely reinstall windows tonight and start fresh, maybe that does anything

That is like trying to fix a traffic light 5 miles away by repaving your driveway.

 

[AccountPlease]

Well I dunno what else to do

 

[USAFRet]

Well I dunno what else to do

You've still not enumerated the "problem".
From you: "Hey, I've run into the same annoying problem and decided to follow your steps."

From your ping results, I saw no "problem".

 

[AccountPlease]

That's the problem, random ping spikes in game with no apparent reason. Been trying to figure out why, nothing works, no one seems to know what it is, I'm at a complete loss.

 

[USAFRet]

That's the problem, random ping spikes in game with no apparent reason. Been trying to figure out why, nothing works, no one seems to know what it is, I'm at a complete loss.

Here's another tool to maybe visualize a problem, or lack of problem.
I just found this, and it seems OK.
https://www.pingplotter.com/products/free.html