High internet speed but packet loss and high latency

[SimoneP]

Since yesterday I have problems with my internet. I'm on wireless and I can't use ethernet because I'm not allowed to take a cable through the whole house. I never had any trouble with wifi because I still had speeds around 140 Mbps download and 14 Mbps upload so that's fast enough. Since yesterday websites are loading really slowly, I first though it had something to do with the DNS but I also had it in games and I got time-outs when I tried to ping to 8.8.8.8. A ping test said that I had about 20% packet loss.

Today it was a bit better, I didn't notice a lot of packet loss anymore but still high latency. Speedtest said that my ping was 16 ms but when I tried to ping to my router and to google I did get a high latency a lot. I also monitored it with PingPlotter for a while and sometimes the latency is fine but after a minute it gets bad again.

What can I do about this? Only my desktop is experiencing this, I don't have this problem on my laptop which is also connected via Wifi. I already tried a different wifi adapter but the problem still persists. I updated all my drivers, I checked for malware. I reset my router multiple times, I changed wifi channels multiple times and tried both the 5 GHz and the 2,4 GHz band, I deleted my cookies etc.

I also haven't changed anything in the router in the past days or installed anything that could possible be the cause of this.

This is my ping to the router:
http://pastebin.com/NA68MpR7

This is my ping to google.com:
http://pastebin.com/GZxK7xV1


Here is a picture of my PingPlotter:
http://imgur.com/a/WwRxR

 

[Ralston18]

Maybe some interference with respect to the desktop's location; has anything been moved or changed. Is the laptop okay when it is in the desktop's location?

Is your router connected to another router -- Pingplotter second hop = 192.168.178.1

A quick google seems to indicate that that is a German router.

As I read it all your router is an Asus (192.168.1.1) but I do not understand the second router.....

I found this:

http://www.internode.on.net/support/guides/wireless_guides/avm_fritzbox_routers/

Perhaps it was reset or possibly some update applied. Anyway are you able to eliminate that router as a possible culprit?

 

[SimoneP]

Nothing has been changed and my laptop works in the desktop's location. And yes the router is connected to a modem from the ISP (technicolor). The second hop goes to the modem from the ISP. I don't have a fritzbox router or anything so I don't know where that comes from.
I don't see how my router can be the problem if all the other devices don't have any problems (multiple laptops and smartphones).

 

[Ralston18]

What make and model is the modem?

Can you run and post the results of "ipconfig /all" from your desktop.

Since the desktop is the only device with the problem then the configuration is suspect.

 

[SimoneP]

Router: Asus RT-AC68u
Modem: Technicolor TC7210.Z

Ipconfig:
http://pastebin.com/8m1WtQpk

Network adapters:
http://imgur.com/a/E0HYB

My internet worked fine for about 1 or 2 hours and now I have the same issues again without even changing anything.

 

[Ralston18]

Desktop -------- wireless ---------> Router (Asus RT-AC68u) ----------ethernet cable -------> Modem (Technicolor TC7210.Z) ------------>ISP Connection

Router IP = 192.168.1.1

Modem IP 192.168.0.1 (default per the manual) reference.

https://www.upc.ch/dam/www-upc-cablecom-ch/Support/manuals/generic/int/tc7200.u_user_manual_eng_v17.pdf

Your wireless network adapter is getting its DHCP IP address from the router as would be expected per ipconfig.

Can you use your browser to see if the modem's IP is indeed 192.168.178.1? Is the modem secured with non-default admin and password?

What I am trying to do is ensure that the IP addresses and the paths are all as they should be. My confusion is that I would expect an ISP IP address at the second hop - not one of the private IPs.

And what makes the intermittent problem unique to the desktop - have you matched the advanced wireless adapter settings to the router?

 

[SimoneP]

That connection seems about right yea.

Modem IP is 192.168.178.1 I think the ISP set it that way, but yes it leads to the modem page. And it doesn't have the default password, I changed that when I got the modem.

Modem page:
http://imgur.com/a/9SYnW

Router page:
http://imgur.com/a/dJfqK

I guess the private address is the second hop because I have a router connected to a modem, so the first hop is to the router, then to the modem (which I got from the ISP) and then to the ISP? Not sure if that's right.

My wireless adapter settings should be right, I have automatic IP addressing checked. So I guess that my router then gives me an IP address through DHCP. Or do I need to check something else? It's just strange that this happens when I haven't changed anything at all, and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

Adapter settings:
http://imgur.com/a/6WBMe

I also tried PingPlotter on my laptop, you can see that the latency differs but no packet loss. The wifi adapter in my laptop isn't as good as the one for my desktop:
http://imgur.com/a/DNFav

Pingplotter on my desktop around the same time:
http://imgur.com/a/svmRd

 

[fowang]

The problem is your router, the modem im guessing you are using a VDSL connection? (192.168.178.1) check your cabling between the devices and check you are running the most upto date firmware on this asus router.

If you are dropping packets to 192.168.1.1 you have problems and you will have issues after that sort that 1st then work from there!

 

[SimoneP]

My ISP uses cable. I'm running the most up to date firmware, I checked that. The cabling is fine, I mean wouldn't I have issues on other computers too if the problem was with the cabling?

 

[Ralston18]

Yes your router (and only your router) should be providing an IP address to your computer via DHCP. Your ipconfig shows that provided IP address to be 192.168.1.220 (subnet 255.255.255.0).

Does your ISP provide IPv6? If not, consider unchecking that from the wireless adapter settings... Just as a matter of elimination.

I just ran pingplotter on my setup. (Router ----ethernet-----> Arris Modem ------>coax to ISP.)

The second hop is my ISP. Not a private ISP address, not the modem's IP. Not sure if you should be seeing that 192.168.178.1 address - just seems odd to me.

Did I find/identify the correct manual for your Technicolor Modem? I am looking at the configuration options within the manual (sort of a backup plan....). Not to change things per se but ensure I understand the details of your network's configuration.

 

[SimoneP]

The ISP provides IPv6 but they haven't set it up for all the customers yet as far as I know. I have IPv6 disabled in my router so it shouldn't matter if it is enabled in my adapter settings right? I will disable it anyway.

It seems strange that I see that IP from the modem but I have no idea what I can do about that.

So I just found an old ethernet cable and tried it out to see if I still have packet loss with the ethernet cable. I haven't tested it that long but for now I don't have any packet loss. My internet speed is much lower though (50 Mbps) but I guess that's because it's a really old ethernet cable. So I if I were to go over to ethernet I would have to buy a new cat5e/6 cable I guess. I still prefer wifi because now I have a cable through different rooms and I can't even close the door.

Ethernet pingplotter:
http://imgur.com/a/azzgT

This is the manual the ISP gives for the modem https://www.ziggo.nl/pdf/new/geavanceerde-handleiding-technicolor-tc7210.pdf The few first pages are in Dutch but after that it's in English.

Could my NIC have anything to do with these problems? My NIC drivers are up to date though.

 

[Ralston18]

That is helpful: Indicates that the problem may be wireless related. A new ethernet cable will probably help if the current/old cable is Cat 3.

But hopefully you will be able to stay with wireless.

Thank you for the modem manual link.

Log into the modem and per Section 4.2.4, page 17 run the diagnostics.

The Event logs via Section 4.2.5 may provide a pattern of Events that correspond with the packet loss and high latency.

And Section 4.3 provides information about the Gateway settings within the modem. Log into the modem and peruse the settings.

Overall there is quite a bit of configuration capability within your modem. Any "misconfiguration" could cause routing confusion especially if some conflict was created.

For example: Is there a reason for the modem's IP to be established 192.168.178.1. They did that per the modem page image you posted. However they did not reserve that IP via the modem's MAC. Therefore if your router issues that IP address (and I think it could since your desktop is getting 192.168.1.220) there would be an IP address conflict. And problems.

Did mean to concur with fowang's suggestion regarding checking the cables. Also what ethernet ports are you using to connect the modem and router?

Do not prefer to ask so many questions - always much easier to troubleshoot right on site.... However, not much choice in this case.

Want to avoid undoing some setting that could take the entire network down. So pretty much still "exploring" at this point.

 

[SimoneP]

Diagnostics didn't show much, it's just a basic ping.

Diagnostics page:
http://imgur.com/a/FTxUM

Event log:
http://imgur.com/a/60JBk and http://imgur.com/a/NcWGN

LAN page:
http://imgur.com/a/TKZNw

I have changed the IP address from 192.168.178.1 tot 192.168.0.1, I still have packet loss though.
But what I did see is that I have DHCP enabled on the modem but also on the router, wouldn't that give out DHCP twice and doesn't that create conflicts?

DHCP router:
http://imgur.com/a/mtl4J

I also saw that the time wasn't right on the time page in the modem. The modem time is one hour behind, I don't know if that can cause any conflicts and how to change it and if I should enable SNTP.

Time page:
http://imgur.com/a/sxUWc

About the ethernet ports, the modem uses eth1 to connect to the router where it connects to the internet port ( don't know how to call it)

Router ports:
http://imgur.com/a/nLGoZ

The blue cable is the cable from the modem to the router

 

[Ralston18]

Note: Just got knocked off line for some reason. Will start over in hope that this is all not a duplicate post.....

Nice format in your response.

Diagnostics page: Modem just pinged itself. Try pinging your desktop or some other devices.

Event log: Note the warnings with respect to DHCP. Not sure about the full meaning at this particular moment. However, the warnings to be noted.

LAN page: Good. The 192.168.0.1 IP should be outside of of the IP addresses (range) assigned by your router. Personally I restrict the available DHCP IP address range to just cover my devices and a couple of extra IPs for visiting devices. Plus I set my NAS and printer to static IPs that are both outside that dynamic address range and reserved for those those devices.

DHCP page: Yes. The modem's "Enable the DHCP Server" should be "No". Only one device (your router) on your network should be assigning IP addresses. Two devices assigning IP addresses can wreak havoc.

Time page: Leave as is for now. May just need a time zone adjustment.

Router ports: The blue ethernet cable from the modem is going into the WAN port of the router as it should. However on the modem end, the port in use should be configured to be a pass though port. (Check the modem's manual.)

Summary: Change the "Enable the DHCP Server" to "No". Do not do anything else for now and see how things progress. Find where to turn off wireless on the modem all together. You will want all devices to be going through the router. But again - do only one thing at a time. Test for awhile. Watch the logs.

 

[SimoneP]

I have disabled DHCP on the modem now, let's see if it changes anything.

I saw something about pass through in the manual, section 4.3.7 but I don't have that option on my router page. So I don't know if there is any other way to do that.

So basically the modem should be in AP mode because it's just an acces point? I don't see that anywhere (or is it the setting 'AP isolate' which is disabled), my router has an option for AP mode but I don't see it in the modem settings. There is a bridged mode in the modem settings though.

 

[fowang]

How many devices are being connected to this connection? Seems that your router 192.168.1.1 may not be able to handle all the traffic? changing dhcp scopes wont improve anything.

Checked connected devices make sure no one else is using the connection ie downloading a large amount of files like torrents.

Also check the wireless channel and move it to a different channel, as you have mentioned other devices are not having the same issue!

The issue then rests wit your laptop. Check it for virus infections and malware there are tutorials on tomshardware that will show you what to do. If this doesn't work has your machine been updated recently? Try a roll back to before all this happened.

 

[Ralston18]

The objective is to ensure that only the router is issuing IP addresses and that the modem is properly configured to provide the required connectivity between your network and the internet. Basically the interface between your Public IP (not to be posted or given out) and your private network for which certain IP ranges are reserved. Can be one physical device (modem/router) or two physical devices. The first being a modem and the second being a router. However, you can have a modem/router and a router pairing provided the router functions are disabled on the modem/router. Putting the modem/router into bridge mode can do that.

There are many factors involved and you are doing a good job working through things and hopefully getting a better sense of what all is involved.

With the modem's DHCP disabled that reduces the possibilitiies of an IP conflict. There are still other things to be looked at (e.g., wireless mode on the desktop and router - they may not be playing well together. And if there are other problems within the network then the combination of things may mask any given problem.

Not sure about the modem's "AP mode" per se. To be honest, I am sometimes not sure about what manufacturer's or ISPs are doing with respect to hardware/firmware. They have their own agendas (often "marketing" related) and the documentation tends to gloss over anything that you may really need to know and understand. Will stop at that so as to avoid some "rant".

My suggestion is to see what happens and keep monitoring has you have been doing. Look for patterns when packet losses increase or latency goes high. Be aware of who and what is on your network at any given time and what they are doing. Keep posting accordingly.

 

[SimoneP]

So yesterday evening no one had internet anymore, I hadn't changed anything in the modem/router all day, so I didn't know where it came from. But no devices had internet (I could connect to the router but I had no actual internet). So I called the ISP and after trying out the basic stuff the ISP changed something in the modem and then it suddenly worked again. So I looked in the modem and it seems like they just reset it (I wasn't able to connect to the modem when the internet didn't work, I could only connect to the router), so now the ip 192.168.178.1 is back and the DHCP server is enabled on the modem again. I'm not sure what to do now, I don't know if me changing the IP and disabling the DHCP server had anything to do with it because I did that two days ago and it worked until yesterday evening. My packet loss seems even worse now, and I only have 50 Mbps over wireless instead of the 140 Mbps a few days ago.

Pingplotter:
http://imgur.com/a/CDBzR

 

[Ralston18]

If things worked okay for a couple of days after you changed the modem's IP and disabled its' DHCP then you did nothing wrong there.

My thought is that the ISP had some problem somewhere which is why all internet service was lost. They restarted/reset the modem without really addressing the problem in detail. Hence you are back to the proverbial "square one".

What I would do is change the modem once more. See if things work okay and perhaps (hopefully) for more than a couple of days. When you reconfigure the modem look for any logs and see if anything was recorded. (May be turned off or perhaps even deleted with the modem reset.)

Look at your router logs as well.

Also noted that you asked about your NIC. But again if things worked okay then the NIC is probably okay. You could however, try a wireless USB adapter for a few days just to be sure.

 

[SimoneP]

Hmm yea I'm a bit wary because I changed the IP and disabled the DHCP on wednesday evening and the internet stopped working on thursday evening. That's still a day between it and it probably doesn't have anything to do with it but I want to be cautious.

 

[SimoneP]

So it has been a few days, and I had contact with my ISP. Today they put my modem in bridge mode so all the functionality was turned off and it only serves as a bridge now in the hope that that would help. So far it hasn't helped, I still have packet loss and a high latency and I have no idea what to do now. I can't change anything in the modem anymore because all of the functionalities are turned off and I guess that the problem can't be with the modem now?

I monitored with Pingplotter again and you can see that the weird second hop is gone now but yes still a bad connection:
http://imgur.com/a/M48x3

 

[Ralston18]

10.228.52.1 - Another private IP address

Not really sure about this now. I did some research and found this link:

http://networkengineering.stackexchange.com/questions/33876/traceroute-ip-address-mismatch

In all honesty I am not sure if that explanation covers your situation. However, so far that explanation seems to address the overall situation you are in. Take a look and perhaps that will provide you with some additional insight that could help.

I will be doing the same. And, as always, perhaps someone else be able to put it all together to get things straight again.

 

[SimoneP]

You know I think it might just be the network card in my motherboard that's acting up. I mean only this dekstop has the problem. I've looked at the link you posted but I don't really understand it, I don't know if I'm having that same problem and what I can even do about it.

 

[Ralston18]

Cannot rule out the network card in your motherboard.

Plus (full disclosure) my previous post overlooks that only your desktop is affected. If the laptop is okay then the "CGN" idea may not be at all applicable.

You can disable the network card in your motherboard and try either a USB adapter or some PCI-x card to see if that makes a difference.

Do you know anyone who could loan you the hardware? If so, borrow it and install. Eliminate the motherboard network card.

 

[SimoneP]

So you mean like an USB wifi adapter? Because in that case it has nothing to do with the motherboard. I thought that the usb wifi adapter also used the network card in the motherboard. I tried two different Wifi adapters (Netgear A6210 and Linksys AE3000) but I have the exact same problems with both of them.