[SOLVED] Randomly Started having ping spiking

[Ziffyr]

I randomly about a month and a half ago started having really bad issues with ping when doing much of anything. I do speedtests and most of the time i am getting 80-90 Down and 12 up (I pay for 100 down and 15 up), then I will test again and it will be down to 7 down and 2 up. The internet dropped twice on the day that everything went downhill and from then on if no one else is even here I get bad ping issues. I have done all I could, had the ISP bring a new modem, replaced my router, replaced the ethernet cables, added an adapter to my computer for ethernet. Had the tech come out and check the lines at the pole and coming into the house all tested well as well as testing inside of the house. Changed the splitter and coax going into the modem on top of all of that.

Here are my specs below:

Router : Nighthawk AX4200 (RAX43)
Modem (Provided by ISP): Arris Model sb6190

Computer:
OS - Windows 11 Home
CPU - Intel i7-8700k 3.70GHz 6Core
MOBO - ROG STRIX Z370-E GAMING
GPU - NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2080TI
POWER SUPPLY - CORSAIR HX 850

I no longer know what to do, the help line with my ISP only has me power cycle them and it works for about an hour then it goes right back down the toilet. Attached I have put in a pingplotter that I was able to do and hope that can point in the right direction, the second hop has a really large variance in the ping that it returns.

Thank you for your time!

https://imgur.com/lWh5ZSD

 

[bill001g]

It isn't just hop2 but every hop past there. This is very important since many people post output from this tool where it shows spikes at only 1 hop.

This is what a "bad" test is suppose to look like.

Not sure what to suggest though. The second hop is the connection between your house and the ISP. It is strange that the ISP can not see/fix this. Then again they mostly worry about packet loss and not latency.

Latency/ping spike is caused by data being held in a buffer in some equipment. This is almost always due to a overload condition but it could be a configuration thing where the ISP equipment things you are exceeding your bandwidth when you aren't.

Not sure if your router shows utilization. It is unlikely you are exceeding a 100mbps down but it is pretty easy to exceed 15mbps up. If you were running some game server or maybe backing up data it can easily exceed that.
What you might want to try is to turn off the wifi radios on your router and then connect only 1 pc via ethernet and see if you see spikes. It should be very obvious if that pc is sending data if you were to check the network tab in the resource monitor.

Now it could also be some overload in the ISP network segment going to your house. You share the bandwidth all your neighbors but unlike years ago the total network bandwidth is huge. I guess you could have a couple teens living near your doing torrents but even then it is hard to exceed cable segment bandwidth.

Since this happened after a outage I bet something lost power and when it came back up it started to have issues.

What you want to do is do a simple ping test to the IP in hop 2. That should be something the tech from the ISP can also do and it clearly will show there is a issue. Many of the field techs have no idea how to read charts like pingplotter.

 

[gggplaya]

Take that Arris SB6190, throw it in a dumpster, pour gasoline on it, and throw a match in!!!! It's using the Intel Puma chipset, which is total trash and known to have problems!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Exactly the problem your having with latency spikes.

Here's a link with a list of modems using this chipset, with an explanation of the issue: https://approvedmodemlist.com/intel-puma-6-modem-list-chipset-defects/

Your ISP bought a ton of them at some point, so they're unwilling to throw them out.

I would buy your own modem, I prefer Motorola. My MB8600 has been rock solid.

 

[Ziffyr]

It isn't just hop2 but every hop past there. This is very important since many people post output from this tool where it shows spikes at only 1 hop.

This is what a "bad" test is suppose to look like.

Not sure what to suggest though. The second hop is the connection between your house and the ISP. It is strange that the ISP can not see/fix this. Then again they mostly worry about packet loss and not latency.

Latency/ping spike is caused by data being held in a buffer in some equipment. This is almost always due to a overload condition but it could be a configuration thing where the ISP equipment things you are exceeding your bandwidth when you aren't.

Not sure if your router shows utilization. It is unlikely you are exceeding a 100mbps down but it is pretty easy to exceed 15mbps up. If you were running some game server or maybe backing up data it can easily exceed that.
What you might want to try is to turn off the wifi radios on your router and then connect only 1 pc via ethernet and see if you see spikes. It should be very obvious if that pc is sending data if you were to check the network tab in the resource monitor.

Now it could also be some overload in the ISP network segment going to your house. You share the bandwidth all your neighbors but unlike years ago the total network bandwidth is huge. I guess you could have a couple teens living near your doing torrents but even then it is hard to exceed cable segment bandwidth.

Since this happened after a outage I bet something lost power and when it came back up it started to have issues.

What you want to do is do a simple ping test to the IP in hop 2. That should be something the tech from the ISP can also do and it clearly will show there is a issue. Many of the field techs have no idea how to read charts like pingplotter.

I was able to have a tech come finally, he took a couple splitters and some other things out that were there for the cable that we had before. He tested it with out anything on it and it seemed fine, i showed him the ping to the 2nd hop IP and he honestly didnt know either. He said he would try to have someone above him do something on their end. At this point i think it is either the modem or something on their end needs reset.

 

[gggplaya]

I was able to have a tech come finally, he took a couple splitters and some other things out that were there for the cable that we had before. He tested it with out anything on it and it seemed fine, i showed him the ping to the 2nd hop IP and he honestly didnt know either. He said he would try to have someone above him do something on their end. At this point i think it is either the modem or something on their end needs reset.

You didn't read my post? That modem has the Intel Puma SOC, it is literally known to have this exact issue of random ping spikes. Get a modem that doesn't use the Intel Puma. That's your only solution.

 

[Ziffyr]

You didn't read my post? That modem has the Intel Puma SOC, it is literally known to have this exact issue of random ping spikes. Get a modem that doesn't use the Intel Puma. That's your only solution.

I did just trying to expend all options i guess before I have to spend the money. It was fine before the outage but it has come to getting a new modem. I will be looking at getting the one you suggested.

 

[gggplaya]

I did just trying to expend all options i guess before I have to spend the money. It was fine before the outage but it has come to getting a new modem. I will be looking at getting the one you suggested.

Keep in mind that the one I have has a gigabit ethernet port, so that'll be the max limit of my modem. Motorola makes one with a 2.5gbe port MB8611 I believe. These are Docsis 3.1 modems, Motorola does make cheaper Docsis 3.0 modems as well, depending on the speed level you buy from your ISP.

 

[Ziffyr]

Keep in mind that the one I have has a gigabit ethernet port, so that'll be the max limit of my modem. Motorola makes one with a 2.5gbe port MB8611 I believe. These are Docsis 3.1 modems, Motorola does make cheaper Docsis 3.0 modems as well, depending on the speed level you buy from your ISP.

Keep in mind that the one I have has a gigabit ethernet port, so that'll be the max limit of my modem. Motorola makes one with a 2.5gbe port MB8611 I believe. These are Docsis 3.1 modems, Motorola does make cheaper Docsis 3.0 modems as well, depending on the speed level you buy from your ISP.

I buy the max which is 100 down and 15 up, what would you suggest?

 

[gggplaya]

I would get the Motorola MB7420 for $59 on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01A1E6BA2

Just make sure your ISP supports this modem.

Don't buy the older Motorola modems made by Arris. Those had worse power handling and ran hotter.

If this modem isn't on the approved list, perhaps you can get one from your ISP. Find a modem on the list that doesn't have the Intel Puma chipset.

 

[Ziffyr]

I would get the Motorola MB7420 for $59 on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01A1E6BA2

Just make sure your ISP supports this modem.

Don't buy the older Motorola modems made by Arris. Those had worse power handling and ran hotter.

If this modem isn't on the approved list, perhaps you can get one from your ISP. Find a modem on the list that doesn't have the Intel Puma chipset.

I was able to finally change out their Arris modem for the MB7420 that you suggested. I did a clean power cycle and have tested for a few days now and I am still having the ping spikes that were apart of my original issue. I'm not sure where to go from here on this problem as the techs they send arent helpful and the hotline they have for you to call just tells you to power cycle and if that doesnt work they send a tech. So its a really boring cycle of telephone at this point. Not sure if anyone has any other suggestions but I will try anything.

 

[gggplaya]

I would remove the router temporarily, and try with just your PC connected to the modem. If the problem still exists, then there's nothing you can do on your end. It's the ISP having issues on their end. Assuming they checked all the connections to the house.

 

[bill001g]

Your biggest problem is no contract for home internet will even mention the latency. All they will talk about is "up to" some speed. Not sure what they have to say when your tests have very low values at times. Did they ever test the speed with their equipment plugged into the cable. Their test meter can many time directly test speed since it can act as a modem.

If you were to get packet loss the ISP would likely understand and be able to fix it. Packet loss tends to be caused by some defective wire or equipment someplace in the path.

High latency though means some device is holding the data in a memory generally because the interface it wants to send it on is busy. Also if the connection is actually overloaded then the speedtest could be low also because there is not enough bandwidth to give you the maximum.
The problem is if the ISP has oversold the cable segment used by you and your neighbors they will never admit it, it would be very costly to fix. This is very uncommon with modern systems.

The most common overload condition would be if you had something in your house overloading the bandwidth you buy. In many case it is upload bandwidth that is exceeded. When you test be sure only 1 machine is connected, turn off the wifi radios just to be sure. Then check the network tab of the resource manager to be sure your machine is not doing any network traffic other than when you are running the speedtest.