Question High latency spikes, done everything on my side

[Bobthebuilder420]

Hello everyone,

Since a year or so my latency has started to become increasinly worse. Since a few weeks the latency started to peak to 999+ in games such as COD Warzone, Other games in which I used to have ~11 ping now spike to above 200.

What I've done so far:

• Switched back to Ethernet (did not fix it)
• contacted ISP and received a new modem, cables and splitter (if those are the correct terms)
• ran Pingplotter + pinged different hops: hop 2 (our modem), hop 3 and the last hop (see attachments). Ping to our own modem is 1-2ms. The other two hops get timeouts and high pings.
• ISP sent over a mechanic. He did some measuring, found no issues. I showed him the pingplotter + command prompt screenshots. Said it was devices in our network.
• Removed all devices except my pc from network, tested ping, still high ping
• Created a guest network and added our central heating + Ring Doorbell to this network (advice of mechanic)
• Disabled firewall and tested ping, still high ping
• Directly connected a laptop to the modem (hop 2) using ethernet cable. Started pingplotter + cmd pings to hop 2, 3 and last hop. Only high ping on the 3rd and last hop.

I followed this post by Bill001g: https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/ping-spikes-packetloss-issue.3539187/

Does this mean that the problem is with the ISP and not within my own network? I've literally showed them everything I could. Provided them pingplotter and cmd screenshots, all the information inside my modem, and they still can't seem to tell me whats up.
I feel like i'm going crazy, eventhough the issue seems to be bright as daylight if I read the post by Bill001g.

My isp wants to send over the mechanic again to do testing, but I feel like they will provide the same results: nothing.

Here are some screenshots:

https://imgur.com/Fw6HHpl

View: https://i.imgur.com/Fw6HHpl

https://imgur.com/94y3rPh

View: https://i.imgur.com/94y3rPh

https://imgur.com/LP0BtMv

View: https://i.imgur.com/LP0BtMv

https://imgur.com/XG8oE9R

View: https://i.imgur.com/XG8oE9R

https://imgur.com/26ds8GS

View: https://i.imgur.com/26ds8GS

https://imgur.com/TUj0qPh

View: https://i.imgur.com/TUj0qPh


Thanks in advance!

 

[Lutfij]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

If you've eliminated everything in your network bubble except the ISP and the PC, then the last things to do is make sure your motherboard(PC)'s BIOS is up to date, that you're on version 20H2 for Windows 10, if you're on Windows 10 i.e, that you've uninstalled your NIC drivers and reinstalled them in an elevated command, i.e, Right click installer>Run as Administrator.

Once you've done all that and you yet get high pings, then perhaps the ISP is to blame or that the game server's you're trying to connect to are experiencing some high traffic.

 

[bill001g]

What is strange is that the 192.168.2.1 ip address does not show up on your trace and you have 10.255.98.1 in the trace 2 times.

Hard to say what this means.

In any case the loss is someplace close to your house. You see loss in the very first hop of the trace. Normally this would be your router but you also have no loss to the 192.168.2.1.

The problem is going to be in whatever that 10.255.98.1 ip address is.

The latency is also extremely high for the first few hops. This is what a over utilized internet connection looks like. It is also what a wifi connection looks like.

 

[Bobthebuilder420]

Hello bill001g,

Could it be that the two 10.255.98.1 are our private ip adresses? I am wired-connected to an accesspoint, which is then wired-connected to our modem. The accesspoint has the ip 192.168.2.253 and the modem has the ip 192.168.2.1.

I did ping the first hop (192.168.2.253) yesterday, but it was also at 1-2ms, just like hop 2.
I am on a wired connection.

 

[bill001g]

What happens if you use a actual tracert command instead.

Key here is to find out what 10.255.98.1 is.

 

[Bobthebuilder420]

Here a tracert to ziggo.net

Could the 10.255.98.1 be the modem's internal adress?

https://imgur.com/OPjlLal

View: https://imgur.com/OPjlLal

 

[bill001g]

Well that ones says everything is fine

Not sure why pingplotter shows that. One of the reasons I tend to not use tools like this.

I would leave a constant ping run to 192.168.2.1 and 10.255.98.1 instead.

You should see similar results as the pingplot but it makes it harder for the ISP to blame the tool.

This will show that there is no issues with your equipment but there is a problem with the connection between your house and the ISP. It depends what kind of connection it is. Many things like cable modems may give you error messages.

Be very sure you are not exceeding your internet bandwidth. You want to run these test with only the test pc connected and no other programs running on the pc. If for example you have a small DSL connection you can easily overload it and see similar results.

 

[Bobthebuilder420]

Yeah that's why I get so annoyed with this problem, it isn't constantly high. Some days its fine, other days its messed up.

The problem occurs even when only one computer is running, and we have 250mbps down and 50 mbps up speed.

I cannot ping to 10.255.98.1. It only gives * * * as results.

Also found the answer to what the 10.255.98.1 is:
Its the IP address of the "cable modem termination system" aka CMTS. Which is supposed to be a router of the ISP for customers in a certain region. (source: https://superuser.com/questions/777...p-address-right-after-my-router-even-though-i)

https://imgur.com/DtZYVRy

View: https://imgur.com/DtZYVRy

 

[bill001g]

I would look a the values in the cable modem. The exact numbers you are going to have to look up because it varies a bit based on the type of docsis.

In many cases the problem is the upstream levels but check all the numbers. Most modems also have a log of some kind. You might see something there. You will always see some small number but you are looking for either large spikes of messages or maybe some of the more serious ones like SYNC failures.

Now this could be interference from a neighbor. If a neighbor for example incorrectly installs a MoCA device it can bleed out of their house and cause problems for the ISP.

The subscriber node not responding to ping commands is a pain. The ISP will attempt to blame other stuff because you can't actually prove there is a problem on the cable connection. I guess the best you can do is show them hop 1 and hop 3 and show them there is no loss.

This mostly a matter of getting a ISP tech who can do more than follow their script. A AI bot is sometime smarter. It has to be something with the ISP network since the modem has been replace which is the very last thing in your house that could cause this.

 

[Bobthebuilder420]

I've already forwarded this issue to the ISP forums. They did ask me to upload some of the Modem information.. such as up/downstream values/levels, errors, etc. One expert on the ISP forum said that he could see some noise and that he recommended the "aop" (main connector or whatever term it is) to be replaced.

The forum moderator (ISP employee) wants to send another mechanic to come and do a new check. The last time they did that, the mechanic couldn't find any problems, and said that all the down and upstream values were ok. He also dismissed the "pre RS errors" and "post RS errors" as "normal", while the forum expert says those "pre RS errors" numbers indicate noise.
I've forwarded my recent findings to them, hoping they'll finally take it.

Just as you said, it feels like the ISP is doing everything to put the blame on us. I've already done everything I could within my own network.

I will wait for the answer on their forum.

Thank you big time for now, bill001g. Will post an update later.

 

[Bobthebuilder420]

So one small update.

I went to my neighbours to check their ping. Directly connected my laptop to their modem, did the same ping test as I did on my computer. I let my own computer run the ping test at the same time as the laptop at my neighbor's place and saw that the ping spikes at the same time.. at the same hops.

 

[microtank]

Man... just skimming through this... what connection type are you even on? And are you using wireless or straight Ethernet to the modem/router? A PC will use 250 mbps with or with your knowledge and this is a big problem if you have left everything on default or believe you took the steps to minimize bandwidth of certain programs. I’ve been gaming on 511 KBps which is equal to about 4 mbps. A Nintendo switch maxes out at around 40 mbps download speeds even if you have 1000 mbps direct Ethernet line to the modem/router.. like that in itself is a testament of what is needed for gaming and is actually ideal to even download digital content.. for Christ sake I used my cell phones hotspot to play heroes of the Storm for 8 months straight and I can tell you right now it was pure stable, but luckly my iPhone on AT&T manages bandwidth automatically on the device, so I was only unhappy finding out I exceeded my data limit once for about 2 gigs for 30 bucks price tag which I was not happy about. A classic game designed for dial up used only 3 gigs of data for 10 hours a day everyday.. but if the modem/router lets all guns blazing for any app that’s probably your issue and I still have no idea how your set up is, cause if you’re on wireless that’s a different can of worms, and if you’re hard wired to the gateway modem then ya I’m convinced the PC is using all bandwidth. A cellphone using wifi can use a entire 1000 mbps if it’s on

 

[Bobthebuilder420]

My final update!

After months and months of pointing at their CMTS as being the faulty hop that causes the high ping spikes.. They finally gave in and admitted that the CMTS is hop 2 (10.255.98.1). After them admitting this, a network expert of the isp scheduled a maintainance on the CMTS to update load balancing. Once this update was completed, my ping issue dissapeared!

I haven't had any problems since this update took place on the 25th of May.

Thanks a lot bill001g for verifying that hop 2 was indeed the cause.

 

[bill001g]

Thanks for the update. The large part of the problem is level 1 techs ISP use are only trained to deal with simple problems and that works....It is surprising the number of people who do not know you should power cycle equipment. When it gets more complex and the customer actually knows more than the level 1 tech it gets frustrating to get things fixed. It is purely a matter of getting someone to talk to that is more than a script reading AI drone.

 

[Old Molases]

Hello everyone,

Since a year or so my latency has started to become increasinly worse. Since a few weeks the latency started to peak to 999+ in games such as COD Warzone, Other games in which I used to have ~11 ping now spike to above 200.

What I've done so far:

• Switched back to Ethernet (did not fix it)
• contacted ISP and received a new modem, cables and splitter (if those are the correct terms)
• ran Pingplotter + pinged different hops: hop 2 (our modem), hop 3 and the last hop (see attachments). Ping to our own modem is 1-2ms. The other two hops get timeouts and high pings.
• ISP sent over a mechanic. He did some measuring, found no issues. I showed him the pingplotter + command prompt screenshots. Said it was devices in our network.
• Removed all devices except my pc from network, tested ping, still high ping
• Created a guest network and added our central heating + Ring Doorbell to this network (advice of mechanic)
• Disabled firewall and tested ping, still high ping
• Directly connected a laptop to the modem (hop 2) using ethernet cable. Started pingplotter + cmd pings to hop 2, 3 and last hop. Only high ping on the 3rd and last hop.

I followed this post by Bill001g: https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/ping-spikes-packetloss-issue.3539187/

Does this mean that the problem is with the ISP and not within my own network? I've literally showed them everything I could. Provided them pingplotter and cmd screenshots, all the information inside my modem, and they still can't seem to tell me whats up.
I feel like i'm going crazy, eventhough the issue seems to be bright as daylight if I read the post by Bill001g.

My isp wants to send over the mechanic again to do testing, but I feel like they will provide the same results: nothing.

Here are some screenshots:

https://imgur.com/Fw6HHpl

View: https://i.imgur.com/Fw6HHpl

https://imgur.com/94y3rPh

View: https://i.imgur.com/94y3rPh

https://imgur.com/LP0BtMv

View: https://i.imgur.com/LP0BtMv

https://imgur.com/XG8oE9R

View: https://i.imgur.com/XG8oE9R

https://imgur.com/26ds8GS

View: https://i.imgur.com/26ds8GS

https://imgur.com/TUj0qPh

View: https://i.imgur.com/TUj0qPh


Thanks in advance!

Did you try using a VPN? Like Ivacy, Express or Nord?

 

[rcfant89]

I'd run a continuous ping to your gateway and a second one to your target server, e.g. "ping 192.168.1.1 -t" (or the IP of your router). Then the same thing to your target server's IP. If you see sub 1 MS pings the whole time to your gateway, but huge jumps in ping to your target server, yeah it's out of your control. If you see spikes on your LAN, it's something on your end.