[SOLVED] Ping spikes and lag spikes in game and ISP is claiming its not their problem

[mrruniverse]

Hello so recently since the 16th or 17th of February I started to have these weird ping spikes when I play fortnite. I have gotten them every day so far. These usually happen from 2pm-10pm , I never really remember having them outside these times. They also happen at least once an hour and last 10-30 seconds , sometimes even 3 times an hour (I know its a weird issue). My ping basically goes up to 400 and i can barely move in game, I get a red bar on discord and my friends cant hear me. But for some reason I can still hear my friends and can still browse the internet like normal. I called my ISP many times and they claim Its not on their side and they are sending a clear connection out without any failed packets or ping spikes. I also tried a brand new ethernet cable and I got the same type of lag. My internet setup is an ethernet cable which goes from my modem to my Netgear switch, everything is connected to the switch including a Wireless access point. I dont think the problem could be the switch though because as I said the problem doesnt happen at night. Im trying to find a way to troubleshoot what the problem could be. Could it actually be my ethernet cable? Could it be the switch? Could it be my computer? What could be the problem? I would extremely appreciate any help and any advice on what I should do to find out whats the problem as I play fortnite currently on a high level and I take the game very seriously and I cannot be having this type of lag when im playing in tournaments. Thank you!

 

[Frag Maniac]

You can verify whether the ISP is the problem by using the free version of Ping Plotter. Just type in the best case scenario URL you can find in your area, and it will show a graph of the ping route between you and the terminal you're connected to at your ISP. If the route has lots of zig zags in it and is high (80 or more), that's worst case scenario. Best case scenario is usually one bend in the route and 10ms or less ping. Anything up to 30-40ms ping can be acceptable, but beyond 50ms things start getting noticeable, especially on far away servers.

Think outside the box when selecting best case local URLs. Sites like Google are common, but high traffic and usually not best case. For me, my best case sites were the local library and a local news station. Ping Plotter btw is used by a lot of forums that offer tech support for connectivity problems. It's trusted and accurate.

https://www.pingplotter.com/download

As far as what could be causing the problem, have you tried going completely wired to see if the "wireless access point" is the problem? Wired connections are always faster and more consistent and reliable.

 

[mrruniverse]

You can verify whether the ISP is the problem by using the free version of Ping Plotter. Just type in the best case scenario URL you can find in your area, and it will show a graph of the ping route between you and the terminal you're connected to at your ISP. If the route has lots of zig zags in it and is high (80 or more), that's worst case scenario. Best case scenario is usually one bend in the route and 10ms or less ping. Anything up to 30-40ms ping can be acceptable, but beyond 50ms things start getting noticeable, especially on far away servers.

Think outside the box when selecting best case local URLs. Sites like Google are common, but high traffic and usually not best case. For me, by best case sites were the local library and a local news station. Ping Plotter btw is used by a lot of forums that offer tech support for connectivity problems. It's trusted and accurate.

https://www.pingplotter.com/download

As far as what could be causing the problem, have you tried going completely wired to see if the "wireless access point" is the problem? Wired connections are always faster and more consistent and reliable.

Yeah , I connected my computer directly to the modem with a new ethernet cable and I still got the same type of lag

 

[Frag Maniac]

Yeah , I connected my computer directly to the modem with a new ethernet cable and I still got the same type of lag

Did you check your ISP terminal to PC route with Ping Plotter as I suggested?

 

[ubercake]

I had this problem at the house I moved into 5 years ago for 3.5 years. It sucked. Of course, Comcast was quick to blame my equipment even though it was all on their "approved" list. This was the same equipment I had been using at my old house with zero issues.

I ended up replacing all of my own hardware two times over trying to fix the issue. About two years in, I buckled and had them send me their equipment and still had the issue.

I had a technician out to the house every six months to check everything out. Their only requirement is you can bring up the Xfinity site then they've done their job. They weren't really concerned with things such as high ping times or dropped packets. As long as they could go somewhere on the internet successfully, their job was done.

Further, while using their equipment and continuing to have issues, I started calling for technicians to come out every month for a few months. I had their equipment so they couldn't blame me for much, though they tried to blame the age of the coax in my house at one point.

The only thing that solved my problem was a knowledgeable Comcast tech finally made it to my house and rewired everything from their junction box outside to my house. He spent six hours at my house rewiring outside and testing. Suddenly everything worked great and has ever since. He was even able to remove the repeater/booster one of the technicians installed along the way because he said I no longer needed it. The problem was all to do with the lines outside.

At that point, I gladly brought the Comcast equipment back to one of the service centers and have been using my own (again) without issue.

 

[Frag Maniac]

I had this problem at the house I moved into 5 years ago for 3.5 years. It sucked. Of course, Comcast was quick to blame my equipment even though it was all on their "approved" list. This was the same equipment I had been using at my old house with zero issues.

I ended up replacing all of my own hardware two times over trying to fix the issue. About two years in, I buckled and had them send me their equipment and still had the issue.

I had a technician out to the house every six months to check everything out. Their only requirement is you can bring up the Xfinity site then they've done their job. They weren't really concerned with things such as high ping times or dropped packets. As long as they could go somewhere on the internet successfully, their job was done.

Further, while using their equipment and continuing to have issues, I started calling for technicians to come out every month for a few months. I had their equipment so they couldn't blame me for much, though they tried to blame the age of the coax in my house at one point.

The only thing that solved my problem was a knowledgeable Comcast tech finally made it to my house and rewired everything from their junction box outside to my house. He spent six hours at my house rewiring outside and testing. Suddenly everything worked great and has ever since. He was even able to remove the repeater/booster one of the technicians installed along the way because he said I no longer needed it. The problem was all to do with the lines outside.

At that point, I gladly brought the Comcast equipment back to one of the service centers and have been using my own (again) without issue.

Good GOD, now you have me worried that the place I'm moving to, which has same service, is going to suck for internet! I spent some time on the phone with them and they say their ISP prices and speeds are getting better, but the common problem I hear about with anything Comcast is service.

 

[ubercake]

Good GOD, now you have me worried that the place I'm moving to, which has same service, is going to suck for internet! I spent some time on the phone with them and they say their ISP prices and speeds are getting better, but the common problem I hear about with anything Comcast is service.

The moral of my story is when I started becoming the really squeaky wheel, I got the oil. I just had to spend a lot of time I didn't want to on the phone with Comcast and at home waiting for their techs. If I had taken my equipment out of the equation years earlier and badgered their support team years earlier, I may have gotten them to fix the issue sooner?

Who knows? In your case, maybe the place you're moving to has good lines to the house?

 

[mrruniverse]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1236064918367068162

View: https://twitter.com/syrnesto/status/1236064918367068162
I really wish its not tc

Did you check your ISP terminal to PC route with Ping Plotter as I suggested?

can you explain how it would work? how would ping plotter know its a problem with my pc or my isp

 

[Frag Maniac]

can you explain how it would work? how would ping plotter know its a problem with my pc or my isp

Ping Plotter is a tool that, like I said, shows a graph of your actual ping route between your PC and the ISP terminal you're connected to. The closer it is to being a straight line, the better, but rarely are they. It also measures the actual ping in real time.

The more important thing to know is why to use it. You use it to determine your best case scenario ping. If the test result is far better than what you experience while gaming, it's likely the servers you're playing on. Although other factors can affect performance, like Discord if you use it.