High latency but low ping

[joey657]

i can find low pings servers on my games like 40 to 80 but when i play it starts to lag like crazy lag spikes i belive i know its not my computer because i dont have any programs running neither is the other computer that my sister uses. i have no malwares
pc specs
i7 2600k 3:40 ghz 3:40 ghz
nvidia geforce gtx 550 ti
8 gb ram

 

[M0j0jojo]

I heard sometimes its other players that cause lagg spikes too sometimes, if they have high pings.

 

[joey657]

i dont think thats the solution. but thanks anyway

 

[M0j0jojo]

Lagg when you are playing online usually have nothing to do with your computer specs its more of a network problem

 

[joey657]

how do i fix it then is it because there is ice on the internet antena on top of my house? i live in canada VERY cold

 

[M0j0jojo]

Wait you dont have cable internet?

 

[joey657]

i dont know really there is a internet cable that comes from the wall like a plug but its a cable for the internet

 

[joey657]

bump?

 

[M0j0jojo]

Did it just start happening recently, i also live in Canada btw

 

[joey657]

yea about 3 weeks

 

[bill001g]

You have to be a little careful about the ping times inside a game. These actually measure more than the network itself which is good and bad. Sometime it can be things video drivers and such that cause this but if this is the issue I will defer to those that know more than I do about how game software works.

To check the network you want to use a command window and ping the game server continuously while you play. When you detect a problem tab to the command window and see if you see errors. If you see consistent times and no loss then it is unlikely a true network issue and I would be suspect of something more closely related to the game.

What you may see is the pings that work have good times but you get data loss. This causes a lag in the game but the ingame ping like the real ping command gets good latency. In any case the next step is to run a traceroute command. You then want to run 3 command windows with ping running. One to the end server, one to the first hop in the trace...this will be your router in your house. And the third to the second hop this is the connection between your house and the ISP. If you see problems in the first hop then their could be a issue with the router or some form of interference. If you see it in the second hop then I would contact your ISP and have them check the quality of your connection. They may be able to fix it. If you do not see errors in the first 2 hops but you still get errors to the end system then life gets very hard. This means there is a problem in the internet connection between your ISP and the server. You can try pings to hops further in the trace but other than telling your ISP what you find there is little you can do.

 

[MartinWilson]

Bill has covered this very well.

One more thing to consider, is that when you ping it uses the "ICMP" protocol. Games will use UDP, and maybe some TCP. ICMP type traffic may have traffic priority (Quality of Service) by your ISP, but the TCP/UDP ports (what your computer uses to talk to the games servers) may not have Quality of Service priority.

In a nutshell, your pings (ICMP) may show low latency when communicating with the games servers, even under congestion conditions, but your Games TCP/UDP ports may have high latency when communicating with said Games servers.

It's complicated, and hard top explain, but I hope you get the jist of what I'm trying to say! Confirming this is the case, and implementing a workaround isn't so easy. If your router supports QoS, then I recommend you set it up for gaming. However, QoS all the way through to the Games servers is only something your ISP can assist with, and likely not be able to help - unless there is a package available from your ISP suited for games players? I would call your ISP in any case, explaining your dilemma.


I would definitely investigate what Bill mentioned, as well as Google info on the games servers (which may be having issues) and consider that your opponents may be having the issues highlighted in this thread, and not you...

 

[joey657]

how do i do that ? whats the ping command?