HORRIBLE ping spikes

[Jääger]

My ping has been acting weird for like 3 months already, as in the evenings some weird ping spikes happen (from 50ms to 300ms etc) I didn't care about that much because I played my games in day and got used to it. Now every game is unplayable at any given time. Ping goes past 100 atleast every 10 seconds. Sometimes 500, sometimes 1000+, if not then i experience extreme rubber band lag.

 

I updated my router firmware, tried switching PC (same problem on any device), reset router and modem but no help. IDK what to do (

My internet is shared between neighbours, but i doubt this is the source. I use ethernet cable. Any suggestions?

 

 

[doctorraichu]

Is anyone else using your internet?

[doctorraichu]

Is anyone else using your internet?

Never Mind.

[MaximusX]

 

My ping has been acting weird for like 3 months already, as in the evenings some weird ping spikes happen (from 50ms to 300ms etc) I didn't care about that much because I played my games in day and got used to it. Now every game is unplayable at any given time. Ping goes past 100 atleast every 10 seconds. Sometimes 500, sometimes 1000+, if not then i experience extreme rubber band lag.

 

I updated my router firmware, tried switching PC (same problem on any device), reset router and modem but no help. IDK what to do (

My internet is shared between neighbours, but i doubt this is the source. I use ethernet cable. Any suggestions?

 

When I first read this I thought this was going to be windows 10 auto updates.

[Atmos]

Connect to your router via ethernet for starters if you're not already.

 

Take a look at your router's control panel to see what is on your network, and make sure there's no sneaky beakys stealing your internet, or clogging it up.

 

If you're using a basic router that came with your isp's plan, try upgrading the router,

 

If all else fails, contact your ISP.

[DotBowder]

When I first read this I thought this was going to be windows 10 auto updates.

 

If the issues just started in the past day or two, it's definitely the first place to start looking.

 

Presuming everyone else who uses the internet is ok with it, you could (depending on your internet connection) connect your computer directly into your modem and see if you still have high latency. If you still have the latency spikes, then the issue is either with the computer we're testing with, or with the ISP. If there are no longer any latency spikes, then you know the issue is being caused by one of the other devices hooked up to the internet.

 

Also, do you know what type of internet you have? DSL over the phone lines, Cable over the Coax Cable connection, WiMax Point to Point Wireless, Fiber? Particularly with DSL, absolute minimum latency will typically start in the 20-60ms range.

[Jääger]

When I first read this I thought this was going to be windows 10 auto updates.

Windows 8.1 and the problem occurs with other devices (android)

 

Connect to your router via ethernet for starters if you're not already.

 

Take a look at your router's control panel to see what is on your network, and make sure there's no sneaky beakys stealing your internet, or clogging it up.

 

If you're using a basic router that came with your isp's plan, try upgrading the router,

 

If all else fails, contact your ISP.

My PC is connected to router with ethernet cable.

Don't think theres anyone stealing my internet..  I live away from city.

I'm using a high end wireless asus router, I really doubt this is the problem. Although, I'm using a DSL modem from 2006.

Probably contacting ISP tomorrow.

 

If the issues just started in the past day or two, it's definitely the first place to start looking.

 

Presuming everyone else who uses the internet is ok with it, you could (depending on your internet connection) connect your computer directly into your modem and see if you still have high latency. If you still have the latency spikes, then the issue is either with the computer we're testing with, or with the ISP. If there are no longer any latency spikes, then you know the issue is being caused by one of the other devices hooked up to the internet.

 

Also, do you know what type of internet you have? DSL over the phone lines, Cable over the Coax Cable connection, WiMax Point to Point Wireless, Fiber? Particularly with DSL, absolute minimum latency will typically start in the 20-60ms range.

Issues have been since 2 months. Past month the problem has gotten worse.

I wish I could. Appearantly the modem is in my neighbours house. I could bring in a laptop and try though.

Using DSL over phone lines... i live in woods aswell, city is 10km away.

[DotBowder]

Windows 8.1 and the problem occurs with other devices (android)

"When I first read this I thought this was going to be windows 10 auto updates." What we mean is, the windows 10 update is being downloaded by tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of computers today because microsoft just make the update available. If 1 computer on your network is downloading the windows 10 update, it could be consuming all of your bandwidth.

 

If your modem is from 2006, there's a reasonable chance it's about toast now. I've seen DSL modems that have been in service for 10+ years, but I typically start seeing major failures around the 4-8 year markers.

 

"I wish I could. Appearantly the modem is in my neighbours house. I could bring in a laptop and try though."

THIS could EASILY be the problem. You said that your computer is wired into an Asus router. Is there a cable between the two buildings that connects the Asus to the neighbors router or is it wireless between the two buildings?

 

If it's wireless between the  two buildings, then that's what we should focus our attention on first.

[Jääger]

"When I first read this I thought this was going to be windows 10 auto updates." What we mean is, the windows 10 update is being downloaded by tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of computers today because microsoft just make the update available. If 1 computer on your network is downloading the windows 10 update, it could be consuming all of your bandwidth.

 

If your modem is from 2006, there's a reasonable chance it's about toast now. I've seen DSL modems that have been in service for 10+ years, but I typically start seeing major failures around the 4-8 year markers.

 

"I wish I could. Appearantly the modem is in my neighbours house. I could bring in a laptop and try though."

THIS could EASILY be the problem. You said that your computer is wired into an Asus router. Is there a cable between the two buildings that connects the Asus to the neighbors router or is it wireless between the two buildings?

 

If it's wireless between the  two buildings, then that's what we should focus our attention on first.

 

Oh, makes sense. I'm a little ignorant with all the windows 10 news, thanks for clearing up.

There is a long cable that connects the router and modem, so should be a clear connection between modem and router.

 

 

[DotBowder]

Ok, so the most likely scenario is this. 

 

1st House:

DSL Modem > Primary Router > Long-Ass Ethernet Cable Running to 2nd House

 

2nd House:

Long-Ass Ethernet Cable From 1st House > Asus Router > Your Computer

 

I presume the ping test your running is from the command prompt. Run the following command in the command prompt

tracert google.com

When you do this, it will say "Tracing route to Google.com over a maximum of 30 hops" then, on the left side, it will count up from the number 1. What it is doing is listing all of the routing equipment between your computer and google.com. (DO NOT POST THE RESULTS ON THE FORUM, depending on the internet connection, it *could* give away your external IP and single you out to be targeted by any unsavory users of this forum. Unlikely, but feasible.)

 

Here's an example:

   Tracing route to google.com over a maximum of 30 hops   1    <1 ms    <1 ms    <1 ms  192.168.1.1 [Whatever is listed here will be the Asus router IP]   2    10 ms    10 ms    10 ms  192.168.2.1 [Whatever is listed here will likely be the IP of the router in the 1st house]   3    73 ms    79 ms    93 ms  [bla bla bla]   4    73 ms    79 ms    93 ms  [bla bla bla]   5    73 ms    79 ms    93 ms  [bla bla bla]   6    73 ms    79 ms    93 ms  [bla bla bla]   7    73 ms    79 ms    93 ms  google.com 173.194.33.70   Trace complete.

Now, to the right of #1, it SHOULD show your Asus router, then, to the right of # 2, it should show the router in the 1st house because it's the next "hop" or the next "link in the chain".

 

The IPs of the routers will look something like the listings below:

192.168.*.*

10.*.*.*

172.16.*.* - 172.31.0.0

 

After you have the IP address of the router in the main house, try pinging it constantly:

ping [1st house router ip here] -t

And ping your router:

ping [Asus router IP here] -t

If you see the latency spikes when pinging the router in the 1st house, then we know the issue is a communication problem between the two houses. If you don't see any latency spikes, then we know the problem is either the internet being bottlenecked, or further issues with your ISP.

[DotBowder]

Alternatively, you could download this program called WinMTR. It runs the tracert test over and over and over and over and records the ping times to each piece of routing equipment. Again, DO NOT POST THESE RESULTS PUBLICLY IN THE FORUM. Depending on your internet connection, it could potentially give away your external or internet IP address.

http://winmtr.net/download-winmtr/

 

Here's a short video explaining the basics of how to read MTR results, however it is showing a linux based MTR program as opposed to WinMTR. It's basically the same, except one's in a command line, and the other isn't: 

[Jääger]

Sorry for inactivity, my internet went offline since yesterday and I had to contact my ISP. They saw no problem with the traffic or bandwith so their first thought it was my  asus router. I was told to use laptop directly with primary router, it fixed the issue (online again). 

Weirdly at some point my router decided to work again, but the ping problem still occurs. I'm yet to test the same setup i did with laptop using a PC, for this i need an ethernet cable extender though. If this fixes the issue, the asus router needs a replacement. 

Ok, so the most likely scenario is this. 

 

1st House:

DSL Modem > Primary Router > Long-Ass Ethernet Cable Running to 2nd House

 

2nd House:

Long-Ass Ethernet Cable From 1st House > Asus Router > Your Computer

 

I presume the ping test your running is from the command prompt. Run the following command in the command prompt

tracert google.com

When you do this, it will say "Tracing route to Google.com over a maximum of 30 hops" then, on the left side, it will count up from the number 1. What it is doing is listing all of the routing equipment between your computer and google.com. (DO NOT POST THE RESULTS ON THE FORUM, depending on the internet connection, it *could* give away your external IP and single you out to be targeted by any unsavory users of this forum. Unlikely, but feasible.)

 

Here's an example:

   Tracing route to google.com over a maximum of 30 hops   1    <1 ms    <1 ms    <1 ms  192.168.1.1 [Whatever is listed here will be the Asus router IP]   2    10 ms    10 ms    10 ms  192.168.2.1 [Whatever is listed here will likely be the IP of the router in the 1st house]   3    73 ms    79 ms    93 ms  [bla bla bla]   4    73 ms    79 ms    93 ms  [bla bla bla]   5    73 ms    79 ms    93 ms  [bla bla bla]   6    73 ms    79 ms    93 ms  [bla bla bla]   7    73 ms    79 ms    93 ms  google.com 173.194.33.70   Trace complete.

Now, to the right of #1, it SHOULD show your Asus router, then, to the right of # 2, it should show the router in the 1st house because it's the next "hop" or the next "link in the chain".

 

The IPs of the routers will look something like the listings below:

192.168.*.*

10.*.*.*

172.16.*.* - 172.31.0.0

 

After you have the IP address of the router in the main house, try pinging it constantly:

ping [1st house router ip here] -t

And ping your router:

ping [Asus router IP here] -t

If you see the latency spikes when pinging the router in the 1st house, then we know the issue is a communication problem between the two houses. If you don't see any latency spikes, then we know the problem is either the internet being bottlenecked, or further issues with your ISP.

 

I tried the tracert, everything was fine except #2 #3 says "request timed out" I tried it many times, same result.

EDIT: tried it a few more times and got:

8 28ms 36ms 39ms

9 1315ms 1605ms 66ms

--

8 38ms 26ms 31ms

9 24ms 38ms 38ms

-- 

11 449ms 521ms 55ms

 

and more

 

 

Pinging both of my routers showed stable results, 1ms, rarely 2ms etc.

 

WinMTR seems interesting, I'll use it later, thanks. And big thanks for taking your time!

[DotBowder]

I tried the tracert, everything was fine except #2 #3 says "request timed out" I tried it many times, same result.

EDIT: tried it a few more times and got:

8 28ms 36ms 39ms

9 1315ms 1605ms 66ms

--

8 38ms 26ms 31ms

9 24ms 38ms 38ms

-- 

11 449ms 521ms 55ms

 

and more

 

 

Pinging both of my routers showed stable results, 1ms, rarely 2ms etc.

 

WinMTR seems interesting, I'll use it later, thanks. And big thanks for taking your time!

 

Because the ping times to the routers were stable at a low latency, then we know that either the issue is caused by one of 3 general areas.

 

1. The bandwidth at your location may be getting maxed out causing the high pings. (I would find this less likely as the pings would be high for a considerable chunk and not just one out of a few.)

2. There's a problem with your ISP that they're not seeing. (You may be able to test this one with the WinMTR test. You can watch and see which "hop" the latency spikes at, and that will tell you how far out the issue is in the Internet.)

3. Some random problem that doesn't make logical sense that is happening. (Sometimes weird things crop up in the networking world that just don't make any sense. I leave this option on here because I've seen weird stuff that makes no sense happen before.)

 

On a tracert test, and using MTR, sometimes, the owners of the routing equipment will not allow them to respond to pings (This may be why #3 times out 100% of the time). Other times, you can get a really high ping because the routing equipment can prioritize pings as "low priority." That being said, we can still gain a lot of information from this.

 

What hop were the routers on? Your Asus was almost for sure hop 1, but how about the other router? Above you say something about hop 2 and 3 not responding for a while. I would have expected hop 2 to be the router in the main house, and then hop 3 to be your ISPs equipment.

 

If you want to, let WinMTR run for 5-10 minutes, then take a print screen of it and PM it to me. I can take a look at it and see if anything looks particularly fishy.

[DotBowder]

If you want to, let WinMTR run for 5-10 minutes, then take a print screen of it and PM it to me. I can take a look at it and see if anything looks particularly fishy.

 

Ohhhhh, your internet is connected over cellular signal.

 

On the MTR tests you sent me, it shows that all hops after hop # 3 experience the random latency spike, which means the latency issue is happening between hop 1 and hop 4. (Because Hops 2 and 3 timeout, we have to assume the issue could be anywhere between 1 and 4.) You said that you were able to ping the router in the 2nd house just fine, so we'll assume that the issue isn't between hop 1 and 2, your Asus router and the router in the 2nd house. (I think it's a little odd that the router in the main house isn't responding to the MTR test as it's just a normal ping, but if you were able to ping it normally without issue, then we'll assume it's fine.) If we make that assumption then the issue is between hops 2 and 4. There's still the possibility that you're consuming all of your bandwidth.

 

tracert

1. Asus router

2. Router in 2nd building (modem plugged in via USB) (Because the modem is a usb modem, it probably won't have it's own "hop")

3. Cell Tower/Cell Signal transmitter

4. Cell Tower/Cell Signal transmitter - Back End

...

 

Probable Causes:

1. Poor cellular signal from modem to cell tower. (If the issues started immediately, or all at once, I suspect this is the most probable cause.)

 

2. Cell tower has too many people connected to it and is starting to get more and more congested. (If the issues gradually started over weeks/months, then I would expect this to be the most probable cause.) (This would be the worst-case-scenario. If the ISP has allowed the cell tower to become over-congested (or perhaps many other people using the same cellular frequency w/ different carriers or something), then there's really nothing that we can do about it until the ISP upgrades/changes their equipment.)

 

3. Your internet speed is getting maxed out. (Given the new information, this is less probable.)

 

Things to Try:

1a. Try moving the modem around. Move it two meters to the left. Move it two meters to the right. Move it next to a window. etc. If the modem is getting a bad signal, then moving it to another location may help. 

1b. If you know where the cell tower is that the signal is coming from, try to move the modem so it can see the tower with nothing between them.

 

2a. Call your ISP again and ask if there're any tips/ideas for lowering latency/ping. Ask them if there's a different modem you could get that might get a better signal (eg: Modem with an external antenna).

 

3. We can test and eliminate the "Probable Cause # 3" listed above. Maxing out your bandwidth. To test this follow the directions below: (I don't think you're maxing out your bandwidth, but it's still a possibility.)

3a. Start pinging google. "ping google.com -t" look at the latency and see what the "normal" latency is when you're not downloading anything.

3b. Start running a speed test. While the speed test is running, look at the latency. If the latency stayed exactly the same, then you're maxing out your bandwidth all the time. If the latency spiked way up, then your probably not maxing out your bandwidth all the time and we can eliminate this as a possibility.

[Jääger]

Ohhhhh, your internet is connected over cellular signal.

 

On the MTR tests you sent me, it shows that all hops after hop # 3 experience the random latency spike, which means the latency issue is happening between hop 1 and hop 4. (Because Hops 2 and 3 timeout, we have to assume the issue could be anywhere between 1 and 4.) You said that you were able to ping the router in the 2nd house just fine, so we'll assume that the issue isn't between hop 1 and 2, your Asus router and the router in the 2nd house. (I think it's a little odd that the router in the main house isn't responding to the MTR test as it's just a normal ping, but if you were able to ping it normally without issue, then we'll assume it's fine.) If we make that assumption then the issue is between hops 2 and 4. There's still the possibility that you're consuming all of your bandwidth.

 

tracert

1. Asus router

2. Router in 2nd building (modem plugged in via USB) (Because the modem is a usb modem, it probably won't have it's own "hop")

3. Cell Tower/Cell Signal transmitter

4. Cell Tower/Cell Signal transmitter - Back End

...

 

Probable Causes:

1. Poor cellular signal from modem to cell tower. (If the issues started immediately, or all at once, I suspect this is the most probable cause.)

 

2. Cell tower has too many people connected to it and is starting to get more and more congested. (If the issues gradually started over weeks/months, then I would expect this to be the most probable cause.) (This would be the worst-case-scenario. If the ISP has allowed the cell tower to become over-congested (or perhaps many other people using the same cellular frequency w/ different carriers or something), then there's really nothing that we can do about it until the ISP upgrades/changes their equipment.)

 

3. Your internet speed is getting maxed out. (Given the new information, this is less probable.)

 

Things to Try:

1a. Try moving the modem around. Move it two meters to the left. Move it two meters to the right. Move it next to a window. etc. If the modem is getting a bad signal, then moving it to another location may help. 

1b. If you know where the cell tower is that the signal is coming from, try to move the modem so it can see the tower with nothing between them.

 

2a. Call your ISP again and ask if there're any tips/ideas for lowering latency/ping. Ask them if there's a different modem you could get that might get a better signal (eg: Modem with an external antenna).

 

3. We can test and eliminate the "Probable Cause # 3" listed above. Maxing out your bandwidth. To test this follow the directions below: (I don't think you're maxing out your bandwidth, but it's still a possibility.)

3a. Start pinging google. "ping google.com -t" look at the latency and see what the "normal" latency is when you're not downloading anything.

3b. Start running a speed test. While the speed test is running, look at the latency. If the latency stayed exactly the same, then you're maxing out your bandwidth all the time. If the latency spiked way up, then your probably not maxing out your bandwidth all the time and we can eliminate this as a possibility.

 

Tried connecting the laptop directly from trendnet router (primary router) once again, seeing if this had any impact, but no.. still crazy ping hops.the DL speed seems to jump aswell.. sometimes 10mbps, then after a few minutes 3.. then back to 7 etc.

 

1a. I'll try it tomorrow. The problem might lie in weak signal, sometimes after heavy rain my internet goes crazy slow. Horrible ping + 0.50mbps dl speed

2a. Seems the only way to go after i see if positioning helps

2b. Trees are covering the house where modem is, so impossible .

3a.  40, 50, 30 etc and when i loaded speedtest it went atleast 1000+ constantly

 

My internet today: 

Morning: Good for browsing and watching streams but in games constant ping hops or rubber banding.

Day: Literally same as morning

Evening: Decent for browsing, streams are fine for some period but keeps lagging out time to time. Gaming is near impossible, even dies out in the middle of a competitive match.

Night: Bad for browsing, bad for streams and no way I'm gonna play another game today again.

 

I'm pretty sure my internet is much worse on night than in day. That's not the first time. Like un-useable, at times, whats the cause for that?

Can't be my neighbours, I did tests when they were away and they didnt download anything although i'm not 100% sure.. Hmm,  I remember my internet having unlimited bandwith as well decent speeds. 

[DotBowder]

Tried connecting the laptop directly from trendnet router (primary router) once again, seeing if this had any impact, but no.. still crazy ping hops.the DL speed seems to jump aswell.. sometimes 10mbps, then after a few minutes 3.. then back to 7 etc.

 

It sounds like a signal issue between the modem and the ISPs Cell tower. With cellular networks, the speed is bound to fluctuate, but shouldn't be going from 10, to 3, then back up to 7. 

 

The speed will get slower in the afternoon/evening likely due to other people coming home and using up the bandwidth on the cellular tower, OR, it could be other people using cellular internet and it's creating too much noise for your modem to get a proper connection to the cell tower. In other words, it sounds like a signal issue or your ISP overselling bandwidth on the cell tower. If they did happen to oversell bandwidth on the cell tower, then they would have received complaints from other people. If they haven't gotten any other complaints like yours, then it's most-probably a signal issue.

 

I can't explain why it would continue to have poor speeds/connectivity late at night, I would expect the worst times to be 4pm through 9pm, maybe as late as 10pm, but then I would expect it to get better after that.

 

At this point, re-positioning that modem is going to have the best chance for helping things. If that doesn't seem to help at all, you'll probably have to call your ISP again and see if they have any ideas.