Random Ping Spikes and Upload speed loss.

[lukejenkins.dallas]

I'm running into some issues while playing video games. My internet is 1GB down and 50mb up and I'm using a PC connected through ethernet. The issue is that when I'm streaming and gaming, or frankly even offline, I see ping spikes in game that causes massive frame drop. I've had my provider come out three times now and each time, they give me a new modem. Previously they had a modem/router combo and this time they installed it separately. I still can be in game and all of a sudden see my normal ping of 30ms jump all the way up to 350+ for a minute or two at a time. This makes it unplayable and the stream losses frames for that time period. I don't know what to do at this point, but am interested in doing some testing to figure out what could be causing it.

Connection - This is a new home less than a year from being built. I have a port in my office, the living room, and an upstairs office. The router + Modem is in the living room. That is plugged into the wall behind is via Eth and it goes to our bedroom. I have a 1gb Linksys switch that has all the connections. Could this be a line issue, ISP issue, or what? I have seen this same issue for months at this point and I am considering trying another provide but I want to make sure that they are the issue before I go somewhere else. My speeds on speedtest.net range from 300-700 mbs down and 42 up. I shouldn't have issues streaming/gaming but I do.

Let me know your thoughts!

 

[bill001g]

I would try another machine and leave a constant ping run to 8.8.8.8.

When you see problem in the game see if the other machine also reports delays.

In general you will see packet loss and not delays when you have a network problem. The only way to get delays is something is holding the data in a buffer. This is a common problem if you were downloading large files while a game was running. In your case is is unlikely because data is only buffered when you have exceed the bandwidth which is almost impossible on a connection as fast as yours. Even if it would happen it would be extremely short lived.

If your other machine does not see the problems then I would suspect the game but it can be the network drivers but that is not common. You could also try to run a ping on the machine itself in the back ground both to 8.8.8.8 and to your router IP address. If you see problems to the router IP address it more than likely means the pc has some issue especially since they have replaced the router.

 

[lukejenkins.dallas]

I would try another machine and leave a constant ping run to 8.8.8.8.

When you see problem in the game see if the other machine also reports delays.

In general you will see packet loss and not delays when you have a network problem. The only way to get delays is something is holding the data in a buffer. This is a common problem if you were downloading large files while a game was running. In your case is is unlikely because data is only buffered when you have exceed the bandwidth which is almost impossible on a connection as fast as yours. Even if it would happen it would be extremely short lived.

If your other machine does not see the problems then I would suspect the game but it can be the network drivers but that is not common. You could also try to run a ping on the machine itself in the back ground both to 8.8.8.8 and to your router IP address. If you see problems to the router IP address it more than likely means the pc has some issue especially since they have replaced the router.

Well I have a new X470 mobo, tried an eth PCIe card, and replaced the old B350 and no change. I've changed cables out, no change. Modems have no change apparently. You mentioned packet loss and I can confirm I don't see any packet loss in Fortnite. That actually has the developer options to see what's going on. Do you have a recommendation on how to run the constant ping? What is something that would keep the data buffering?

I appreciate the help! I'll make sure to leave this laptop open and pinging while I stream. Does it matter if this is on wifi or should I throw an eth cable to it?

 

[bill001g]

You are always best to test on ethernet. You could run it on wifi but it depends how stable it is in general. Wifi is known to get random ping spikes. If you had not said you where running on eternet I would have blamed the wifi because the problems you have are exactly what interference on wifi looks like. Wifi unlike any other network type re transmits damaged data which causes delays all other network types just drop damaged data.

A constant ping is just adding the option -t to the ping command.