[SOLVED] High ping on fast connection

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Network Information:
Download: 480mbps
Upload: 23 mbps
Ping: 16
Service: Spectrum
Modem: Netgear Nighthawk C7000

PC Information:
Processor: Intel i9-9900K
Ethernet: Intel 1219-V

So basically, I have my PC directly connected to my modem - bypassing the router altogether. My speeds are good, but once my internet is loaded, it begins to lag or even drop completely.

To simulate a load, I ran a command prompt "ping -t www.google.com" and ran an internet speed test beside it. [https://ibb.co/FYtcwZY]

The ping starts off normal, but once there is load introduced, it goes way up over 500, sometimes displaying the error "Request Timed Out."

Would you say this behavior is "normal" or would you say this is an issue? I DO understand that the ping inevitably will go up when under load, just like any other computing component. What I'd like to know ping spikes I'm seeing is normal or not?

At 480 mbps, I'm nowhere near the theoretical limit of any of the hardware on my local network, most of which is rated at or above 1Gbps. I could limit the bandwidth of my network to be under the limit (ie 450 mbps/20 mbps), but the spikes start occurring as early as 30 MB/s (240 mbps).
 
Note the speed you pay your ISP for is the only thing that matters. I will assume you have gigabit internet if not then it changes the answer somewhat.

You are correct the ping times will not increase because of only a small load. Data is only delayed if it is held in a buffer. When you have enough bandwidth it will be sent immediately and not buffered. You would only see this if you were running your connection at 100%. Speedtest will attempt to push your connection to 100% so it is not really a valid test. A better test would be to use something like steam to download a game. Use its bandwidth limit and set it to say 60% of your internet bandwidth.

Now you could be taking errors and as load increases you get more errors. This tends to cause packet loss and not delays.

What I notice from your post is you are using IPv6. This causes all kinds of strange problems for people. I would disable it in your PC nic settings and see if it runs any different.

You should be able to run a very high utilization average values of say 90% with no change in the latency. You would need to contact your ISP if you do. Many ISP will unfortunately point to the "up to" fine print when they are stating the speed you can get. This is getting less common since ISP networks and connections are so fast.
 
Note the speed you pay your ISP for is the only thing that matters. I will assume you have gigabit internet if not then it changes the answer somewhat.

You are correct the ping times will not increase because of only a small load. Data is only delayed if it is held in a buffer. When you have enough bandwidth it will be sent immediately and not buffered. You would only see this if you were running your connection at 100%. Speedtest will attempt to push your connection to 100% so it is not really a valid test. A better test would be to use something like steam to download a game. Use its bandwidth limit and set it to say 60% of your internet bandwidth.

Now you could be taking errors and as load increases you get more errors. This tends to cause packet loss and not delays.

What I notice from your post is you are using IPv6. This causes all kinds of strange problems for people. I would disable it in your PC nic settings and see if it runs any different.

You should be able to run a very high utilization average values of say 90% with no change in the latency. You would need to contact your ISP if you do. Many ISP will unfortunately point to the "up to" fine print when they are stating the speed you can get. This is getting less common since ISP networks and connections are so fast.
My bandwidth limit is 480mps/23mbps. The latency spikes start to occur once it reaches around 30 MB/s download. I tested this via steam actually.

On another note when I used a different site (highspeedinternet.com) it ran up to 480 mbps but I didn't see any latency spikes. I turned off ipv6 and didn't see any changes when using Steam or Speedtest however.
 
That is going to be a pain I suspect.

I would still call the ISP and show them the results and have them see if they have any suggestions.

My best guess is your ISP has some kind of bottleneck between them and other ISP. In some ways it would be better if it had issues on all servers because that would mean it was completely inside their network. With it being only some sites it means it is likely not all their connections to other ISP are affected and even worse they likely have multiple connections to ISP in different cities. It could be just 1 connection on one router so it is not affecting enough customers for them to suspect it.

So a few things you might try to see if you can narrow it down. You are in effect doing the work the ISP should but you are going to have trouble getting to a tech with enough experience to understand.

Is this time of day related, ie if you do the test very early in the morning does it work better. This would point to other people traffic causing the issue.

So to see if maybe you get lucky instead of ping google ping your ISP first router. You generally find this as hop 2 in a tracert. Problems here represent the connection to your house. This is the simplist to get fixed but generally the ISP is only good at fixing packet loss. A latency spike is not something the level1 tech guys have tools to test, especially when it is load related.

Maybe try a VPN but this tends to not be a good option when you have a very fast connection. The VPN service can be a bottleneck. Mostly this would be to see if you could bypass a bad connection between ISP.

Your results are very strange it is almost as though the ISP has some form of QoS limiting traffic above a certain rate to a lower priority. I know cell phone networks do stupid stuff like this but I have not seen it in cable networks.

In any case you are going to have to narrow it down to try to help the ISP find it. They will quickly say it is your PC. Note you can try to eliminate this by testing with multiple machines. You have already prevented their next blame the router trick.
 
Build an X86 router(do you have an older desktop laying around) and use OPENWRT or DDWRT on it. Use the CAKE algorithm. This will help manage bandwidth in a fair manner to all your programs/clients. It will throttle bandwidth hogs and carve out bandwidth for games.
 
The question would be should he accept less bandwidth than he pays for. He has been testing with a single pc wihtout a router and using steam to artificially generating traffic at certain rates. When he goes beyond a certain point he starts to see latency even though it is below what he pays for. Although he could use a router to hide this problem but all he is basically doing is capping his internet below the rate causes the problem. If he pays for 450 he should easily be able to say 400 and still not see a increase in the ping latency and he sees it start at 230.
 
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Here's the product page for your modem: https://www.netgear.com/home/wifi/modem-routers/c7000/

In the description it says: With a two-in-one DOCSIS 3.0 cable modem and WiFi router, you get the fast internet speeds you pay for while enjoying reliable WiFi on all your connected devices Certified with Xfinity with speeds up to 600Mbps, Spectrum service of 400Mbps, and with Cox service speeds of 150Mbps. (This product does not support home phone services from cable providers).
 
Here's the product page for your modem: https://www.netgear.com/home/wifi/modem-routers/c7000/

In the description it says: With a two-in-one DOCSIS 3.0 cable modem and WiFi router, you get the fast internet speeds you pay for while enjoying reliable WiFi on all your connected devices Certified with Xfinity with speeds up to 600Mbps, Spectrum service of 400Mbps, and with Cox service speeds of 150Mbps. (This product does not support home phone services from cable providers).
This doesn't matter as it was marketing fluff written at the time that the product was being developed. Cable companies change their supported modems and speeds all the time. I think OP is not having a modem issue but a service issue. But I need tests run to help diagnose that.
 
Okay, we're getting somewhere--that's A LOT of late packets. Sounds like your modem is having to do a lot of corrections. Pull up the modem stats page and check out the number of uncorrectables. They should be nearly none 10 minutes after a cold boot of the modem if everything is okay.
 
Okay, we're getting somewhere--that's A LOT of late packets. Sounds like your modem is having to do a lot of corrections. Pull up the modem stats page and check out the number of uncorrectables. They should be nearly none 10 minutes after a cold boot of the modem if everything is okay.
Ok I checked everything on my network when I had time and it looks like I should probably contact spectrum and have them check the lines. I'm gonna consider this solved, and do some troubleshooting with Spectrum. Thanks for all of your help!
 
Thank you for the update! What was the problem and how did it get fixed?
My modem was 10 years old. To be honest I didn't even think about the modem being an issue, I lose track of time and didn't think it was that old of a model.

My bufferbloat is under control, my ping only reaches ~50ms under full network load and I got a new modem and router with a GIG internet upgrade to boot. I appreciate the learning experience, now that I know about those sites I know how to efficiently test internet now, especially for stability. Thank you.
 
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