Internet connection has constantly bad ping but normal download and upload, not even ISP could fix?

[Carshalljd]

Hello I've been having an issue for about a year but recently this past week it's gotten really bad. The title sums it up pretty well - ping is consistently in the high 100s/low 200s (with occasional spikes to high numbers like 700) and download and upload are 28.37 Mbps and 5.28 Mbps respectively, according to Ookla speed test. From what I know, this is a pretty normal upload and download, but the ping should be around 10.

I've done ping tests from pinging google, checking through games, apps like discord/skype, and Ookla speed test. All are slightly different but all terrible. There are however a few times where speed test shows 10ish ping but typing "ping google.com" into cmd shows and average of 250ish at the same time as eachother.

This goes for multiple computers (desktop PC, mac laptop, phones, etc) on my network and even over an Ethernet connection. It used to be that this would only happen a few times a day but this past week it has been consistently like that all day, with occasional breaks that have low ping. When loading a video or streaming you don't really notice it, but all games or other ping reliant things are completely unusable.

Here is what I've done that didn't work:
-Hard resetting router and modem (used to temporarily fix it but it doesn't any more)
-Googled a bunch of similar issues and none of the solutions worked
-Called ISP, they had me name my dual bands different names in case of interference
-ISP told me to call modem company (Motorola). They said our modem should be fine and he had me access the local IP site and everything looked good on there
-Use different WiFi chips, computers, Ethernet connections, etc.
-ISP came out to house, installed new lines and a filter or something

I just have no idea where to go from here because I've completely exhausted my knowledge on this stuff and apparently the ISP's too (shocker), so if you can push me in the right direction I'd highly appreciate it!

My Network Specs:
Modem: Motorola ARRIS SURFboard SB6141
Router: Apple Airport Extreme
ISP: Xfinity

 

[BuddhaSkoota]

Here is what I've done that didn't work:
-Hard resetting router and modem (used to temporarily fix it but it doesn't any more)
-Googled a bunch of similar issues and none of the solutions worked
-Called ISP, they had me name my dual bands different names in case of interference
-ISP told me to call modem company (Motorola). They said our modem should be fine and he had me access the local IP site and everything looked good on there
-Use different WiFi chips, computers, Ethernet connections, etc.
-ISP came out to house, installed new lines and a filter or something

To eliminate issues on your home network, you should plug a PC directly into the modem (essentially disconnect all other devices including the Apple router) and then run a ping test. Make sure to not have any applications running, including browser windows.

If ping response is faster, then there is a device in your network causing the issue. It could be video streaming, torrenting, malware or anything using continuous bandwidth.

If ping response remains slow, the issue is on the ISP side. If your modem is on a congested node with many high bandwidth users, then there is likely not much that can be done.

 

[Carshalljd]

To eliminate issues on your home network, you should plug a PC directly into the modem (essentially disconnect all other devices including the Apple router) and then run a ping test. Make sure to not have any applications running, including browser windows.

If ping response is faster, then there is a device in your network causing the issue. It could be video streaming, torrenting, malware or anything using continuous bandwidth.

If ping response remains slow, the issue is on the ISP side. If your modem is on a congested node with many high bandwidth users, then there is likely not much that can be done.

Thanks for the reply!

When connected directly to my modem the ping test shows good results, so I suppose as you said it must be something local, but how do I find out what it is?

I also accidentally stumbled upon something that might raise a flag for you - while running the ping test i tried opening chrome and going to the Ookla speed test. The ping remained normal, but as soon as the test started testing my download speed, the ping shot up to 500s, and as the test switched from download to upload, it shot back down to 10s, then back to 500s once upload started. The second the test ended it was back to normal.

Shouldn't something as simple as an upload/download test not effect my ping so much, especially when there's only 1 device on the network and the only thing it's doing is that?

If that all sounds normal then I still need help identifying the device/action that's causing the lag.

 

[BuddhaSkoota]

When connected directly to my modem the ping test shows good results, so I suppose as you said it must be something local, but how do I find out what it is?

I also accidentally stumbled upon something that might raise a flag for you - while running the ping test i tried opening chrome and going to the Ookla speed test. The ping remained normal, but as soon as the test started testing my download speed, the ping shot up to 500s, and as the test switched from download to upload, it shot back down to 10s, then back to 500s once upload started. The second the test ended it was back to normal.

Shouldn't something as simple as an upload/download test not effect my ping so much, especially when there's only 1 device on the network and the only thing it's doing is that?

If that all sounds normal then I still need help identifying the device/action that's causing the lag.

The ping spike during the speed test is normal. Ping response will be higher any time data is being tranferred, which is typical when using any type of speed testing website.

There are a several ways to determine which device on your network may be causing problems. Some routers have a way to monitor usage statistics for each connected device. You would only need to monitor this to see which device is most active.

You could also disconnect one device at a time to determine when the issue occurs. An idea to help isolate is to temporarily disable wifi to determine if the problem is with a wired or wireless device.

If the problem is on a Windows machine, you can use task manager to monitor network activity on that particular PC and find the problem application.