[SOLVED] Unable to solve packet loss/ping spikes

[nickg103]

Hey guys, I've been experiencing ping spikes and packet loss for about 2 years now and I'm at a loss for what to do. I have had countless tech visits and they always say we fixed the issue, I tell them no you didn't, they say my levels look good and their reading looks fine, then they try to sell me a new router, then they leave. I don't know what else to do at this point and I'm really looking for answers.

So far I have tried:

• Multiple new routers and modems
• Replacing every single cable from the one that runs into my house to my PCs
• Tested with no other devices online
• Tested with multiple devices
• Have had filters/amplifiers taken on and off in every single configuration possible

Here is what my most recent PingPlotter results look like:

https://imgur.com/a/UB2hQhO

View: https://imgur.com/a/UB2hQhO


If anyone has any suggestions at all, no matter how obscure please let me know since my next step is going to be walking down my street digging up the entire internet infrastructure of my neighborhood until they have to replace the whole thing.

 

[nickg103]

Also if anyone can provide me with an image of a working connection using ping plotter I'd appreciate it. I have a tech coming out tomorrow and I want to be able to show them an ideal state Vs the garbage that I am getting.

 

[chaoyang]

If you are talking about a normal home broadband, then you should try getting a VPN for your personal devices and turn it on whenever you connect to the internet.

 

[nickg103]

If you are talking about a normal home broadband, then you should try getting a VPN for your personal devices and turn it on whenever you connect to the internet.

I've tried a VPN in the past and just now and it unfortunately does not fix the issue

 

[bill001g]

The pingplot you provided show massive issues inside your house. This almost looks like a wifi connection but since it is only loss and no increase in the latency it is can't be wifi.

This is one of those maybe try another tool or use the actual ping command to try to find this. It could be false data because of the testing.

You have to be more systematic in your testing. The current test show you either have issue with your pc, the cable to the router or the router itself. This is very rare especially if you have replaced the cable. This makes me more suspect of the tool and some issue it has with your machine.

 

[nickg103]

The pingplot you provided show massive issues inside your house. This almost looks like a wifi connection but since it is only loss and no increase in the latency it is can't be wifi.

This is one of those maybe try another tool or use the actual ping command to try to find this. It could be false data because of the testing.

You have to be more systematic in your testing. The current test show you either have issue with your pc, the cable to the router or the router itself. This is very rare especially if you have replaced the cable. This makes me more suspect of the tool and some issue it has with your machine.

The results are identical through the ping command and every other tool I have used. It does look like bad wifi but this is a wired connection and it even looks like same while plugged directly into the modem, bypassing the router. I also have tried multiple new modem and router combinations so I’m not sure if it is a hardware issue. What steps could I take to diagnose it as such?

 

[bill001g]

I would first boot a linux USB image. This will eliminate windows and drivers as being the cause.

If it still does it I would suspect a defective ethernet port.

Note if you have a 2.5g port in your machine there have been all kinds of people having issues lately.

 

[nickg103]

I would first boot a linux USB image. This will eliminate windows and drivers as being the cause.

If it still does it I would suspect a defective ethernet port.

Note if you have a 2.5g port in your machine there have been all kinds of people having issues lately.

I just ran a ping test to google through the command prompt on my laptop with an ethernet, the original test was done with my desktop on an ethernet. If this doesn't point to a clear solution I will attempt to get linux on a USB and run another test.

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[nickg103]

I just ran a ping test to google through the command prompt on my laptop with an ethernet, the original test was done with my desktop on an ethernet. If this doesn't point to a clear solution I will attempt to get linux on a USB and run another test.

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In addition to this, these results appear on every laptop that I have in my house on wifi and ethernet simultaneously.

 

[bill001g]

There is no packet loss in this ping trace and one small spike to 100ms. You will not even detect that in a game it is so small. In general you will see much larger values and they run in burst of 2 or 3 in a row.

A ISP will not be able to do anything unless the problem is much worse and they generally can only fix packet loss. You need to find a way to get a test that shows a problem they might be able to do something about. If this is only showing up in games they will correctly blame the game until you have a more simple networking tool like ping that also shows the problem. Games tend to lie and blame network delays on delays in either their software or sometime their server.

 

[nickg103]

There is no packet loss in this ping trace and one small spike to 100ms. You will not even detect that in a game it is so small. In general you will see much larger values and they run in burst of 2 or 3 in a row.

A ISP will not be able to do anything unless the problem is much worse and they generally can only fix packet loss. You need to find a way to get a test that shows a problem they might be able to do something about. If this is only showing up in games they will correctly blame the game until you have a more simple networking tool like ping that also shows the problem. Games tend to lie and blame network delays on delays in either their software or sometime their server.

It is 100% noticeable in games and it makes them unplayable, look at this clip of what one of these spikes looks like in game. At 6 seconds in you can see my rubberband which doesn't allow me to move and then I get hit in the head and die. This is just a small example of something that happens about once a minute, and with any competitive game it only takes 1 of these situations to lose a game, especially at higher ranks (which I was before this problem came about).

Link to very noticeable effects of the ping spikes in game:

View: https://youtu.be/ar1fHmHz3qg


I don't think they can "correctly blame the game" because it wouldn't be happening with every single game I play if it was their servers, especially because they're all different types with different companies and the issue is still there.

And just for an update, I had a tech visit this morning and he said that it's my modem/router and I'll need to upgrade. Which is the usual BS that they always tell me, even though my router and modem are around 9 months old. Anyways, I plan on just getting some top of the line modem/router combo and hoping it has some faster error correction or something else that can get rid of these spikes. If not I don't know what else to do but move.

 

[chaoyang]

I know previously the others had recommended booting in safe mode to eliminate driver issues. But have you tried upgrading the driver or switching a new network card?

 

[bill001g]

I don't watch videos because they really mean nothing. Does a big message popup and say "LAG DUE TO PING SPIKE". I can show you many games you get massive lag spikes because of video settings or they are loading a lot of textures to the video memory. Many games actually claim there is a network delay when they are busy processing video. So while they are running some long video process and the ping response is sitting there but the game will claim it was received when it had the time to check rather than when it was actually received.

Not all games have this issue but you must verify anything the game says.

You have to actually find the problem not just assume it is a network lag spike. If you let ping run in the background it will show true problems at the same time as the game.

There is no magic error correction. In fact it is the error correction that actually causes the latency spikes in wifi. Games would rather lose a packet than have random latency caused by error correction. I guess it could be your router but that would not be very likely

 

[nickg103]

I know previously the others had recommended booting in safe mode to eliminate driver issues. But have you tried upgrading the driver or switching a new network card?

I've updated my motherboard drivers to the newest version, I haven't tried a dedicated network card but as bill said the router probably isn't the issue so I guess this is my next investment.