net slows randomly and without cause so far as i can tell

[steven1234]

as a preface i should apologize for any mistakes or information i excluded that turns out to be pertinent, im not completely new to the internet problems that i have with this isp so im fairly aware of what does and doesnt have an impact on this particular situation. this being said i dont know how to trouble shoot more technical things or how to properly use the "netsat" or "tracert" commands in this capacity. last thing, im also completely new to forums like this and kind of on my last legs as far as fixing this issue so any help would be much appreciated.

a bit of background and the issue im asking for help with:
so im well aware that my ISP sucks, the support is terrible which is why im coming here in the first place. ive been blatantly lied to about a few things and i wouldnt say that if i hadnt gotten confirmation. when i call im jerked around and often put on hold for extended periods before ending up talking to a sales rep trying to sell me better service, which by the way, i cant use due to the bandwidth limitations of my area. sadly frontier is the only option besides satellite here and honestly its the lesser of two evils. i know this is a bit long-winded but the sticky said to be thorough so im trying my best.

ive had a plethora of problems with my isp, from completely cutting out service to having massively incorrect or outdated records of the service i should be receiving. its not uncommon for them to mess around with the internet here, and one night they actually turned service off for 500 people in this area and forgot to put the switch back before leaving work (not even kidding i was told that almost verbatim). whenever i call i normally get an inept tech support assistant who has no idea how to deal with the problems i am reporting. because of this and the fact that im not lazy i have put a ton of effort into fixing these issues myself and have figured out how to tell between the different types of issues. the common ones are:
-high bandwidth usage in the area on weekends (especially night) causing my net to slow down.
-work being done on the lines
-a problem with the line that is not being worked on
-an issue with something on my network (the one i CAN control and troubleshoot)
-problem with the servers that i am connecting to

now im going to go through each of these issues and explain how i know it is not to do with my isp (i think). so onto number 1, although there is more net usage on weekends and such, that has not affected me for a couple of years (since they upgraded the lines in our area). furthermore this problem started at around 11:00 pm, and was completely non-existent until then, i doubt that everyone would decide to get on at that exact time. the second issue i listed is implausible because as i said, these are local connections within a 30 mile area and as the problem started at around 11:00 pm nobody was out working (these guys will literally leave us all without internet instead of working overtime, they have done it before). the 3rd option i explored was that it could be a problem with the line, but i dont understand how that would be time sensitive or sporadic, especially considering it happens every night and its not during times that are traditionally high traffic (11:00pm to 2:00am). lastly i know it is not a server i connect to at fault (gaming) because i pinged google a few times and when i should have gotten "50" (not my real ping), i got "150".

because of these things ive decided it probably has something to do with my network and have gone to to most extreme lengths i am able in an effort to fix it myself. ill quickly list what i have already tried to make things more convenient.
-restarting modem/router
-turning off/restarting all devices on the network
-testing the internet on my phone while all other devices are off (i figured it would be the best controlled test)
-running the netstat command in the cmd to determine what programs were using badwidth and closing the ones that were possible culprits

ok, i put all this stuff beforehand because i didnt want whoever was reading this to form opinions about the exact issue and how to fix it before seeing what i had already done. that being said this is whats troubling me:
im an avid gamer and due to medical reasons i have a ton of time on my hands. because of the fact that ping (ms, latency, whatever you want to call it) is a constant part of my online experience im always aware of its value and how it fluctuates. i know what my ping should be when im playing a given game on a given server down to + or - 5. on the game i was playing (league of legends) i should have had 50 ping (not the actual ping i have, just using it for sake of this post) but was instead getting 150 (100 more than my actual ping). in most ping related issues the number is ever changing. for instance, 50 200 150 125 225 and so on, as im sure you are aware. in this case the ping stayed perfectly steady at "150". my internet speed is around 4.5-5 megabits per second depending on things im not exactly sure of, but suffice it to say that my speed is within that range at the moment and the problem persists. all im asking is that somebody explain the basics of troubleshooting or direct me to a tutorial online somewhere that could help me fix this, ive looked and am uncertain as to what exactly could help me. im not requesting a free handout or that you fix the issue for me because its not like you are getting paid and im more than willing to do the legwork, i just need to know where to walk.

thanks in advance. the specs i listed below are fairly unimportant (i think) so i wasnt too specific with them because i didnt want to waste anyone's time with all of the info. if any more things are needed ill be happy to check and provide them. sorry if i messed this up, writing with proper grammar is something i havnt had to do in a long time. also please look over any letters that are jumbled, i think i found them all but again due to medical reasons sometimes i mess words up.



netgear 7550 (modem and router)
built this pc myself so no make and model, as this problem has started occuring recently and without any trigger that i can tell im not going to list all the parts im using, however i will give the basic specs: 16g of ram, nvidia 580, 3.4ghz processor, 950watt power supply.

- windows 7 home premium
- Frontier DSL is the isp
- 2 laptops, 2 phones, 1ipad, 2 desktops (all off when i test my connection)
- no error messages
- 4 pc's and laptops are attached to the modem/router
- no network attached storage
- modem/router are combined into the one unit i believe, and an ethernet cable connects them to my motherboard

 

[bill001g]

Generally latency is a measure of distance and you can't really fix it. Many times traffic does not take the most direct path between you and the server. You can likely figure out where it goes but you can not change it so it does not pay to spend a lot of time.

First ping time a game tells you is not the same as what you get from a ping command. A game is using its own measurement method which is many times affected by both the client and server code. It is better in some ways but at times it may blame a network issue for something else. Changing the video resolution should not have any affect on network delays but ingame ping is affected by this in some games.

So first step it to run a tracert to the server...it does not matter a lot because after the first couple of hops in the trace you are well into the ISP networks and you can do nothing about it if there is a problem.

What you now want to do is open a couple of CMD windows and run continuous ping commands to the first ip and the second IP. The first one is your router, the second should be the ISP first router. You can do more but you really don't know what these devices are but it might be interesting.

So when you see poor numbers in the game you want to compare the times in these windows. The first one should always be very low mostly a couple ms at the most. If you see high numbers here either your router has a issue or there is some software related issue on your PC. It would be beneficial to have a completely different devices pinging the router. If a second device that is not running the game also show a issue then it has to be a router problem.

If you see issues only in the second hop that generally represents a issue with the cabling. It can be in your house or any place in the path. Normally you see packet loss and not just high latency when there is a cabling issue. There is a tiny chance it could be the modem part of the router but it is not common. Really at this point you have to have the ISP come out and check it. They have equipment that can test the quality of the line

If the problem past the first 2 hops it gets hard. If the hops are still within your ISP network they may have a issue with a piece of equipment or they may have just over sold the bandwidth they have to a certain area. At some point you are going to cross over to different ISP, they may not have purchased a large enough connection to some ISP. This is what the netflix claiming verizon was slowing them down that made the news was.

Most ISP will only help you when the problem is between your house and the ISP. You would need to get past the phone support droids to even get a tech that would understand what a traceroute is.

 

[aldan]

why not post your real ping as well as other info and as specifically as you can,what your problem is.as well post your isps advertised speeds for your plan.sorry man,but by the time i finished reading your post i had a headache.lol.