latency Identify latency problems to game server

[Pontus Hultkrantz]

TL;DR
Ping to 92.223.86.86, 10 km away at ~170 ms ping. Acquaintance nearby with different ISP has 9 ms. Is the issue my ISP, Wifi,...?

 

Background

I am playing an online game where the server, to my knowledge, is physically located in the same city (~10km=6miles). I have cabled internet with WiFi and have a ping of around 170-200 ms with severe in-game spikes. At my friend's house, under a different ISP, the ping is 9 ms without any spikes.

 

I need help in identifying whether the issue is from my ISP, my WiFi set-up, or the game server itself. That my friend has a lower ping seems to indicate that it is my ISP. If so, I need to contact my ISP and tell them what is wrong. The game has several local servers with similar results.

The game runs on my Android Phone using 5.2GHz WiFi band. PingPlotter is running in my older laptop using the 2.4GHz WiFi band. Although similar ping test on my phone yields the same 170-200ms ping.

 

 

Traceroute from me to 92.223.86.86 using (PingPlotter in Windows)

 

 

Traceroute from 3rd party Singapore server to 92.223.86.86 (https://www.ip2location.com/free/traceroute)

 

 

Geoping from 3rd party Singapore server to 92.223.86.86 [3ms] (GeoPing in Android PingTools)

 

 

CABLED sample as requested:

 

A new WiFi sample taken for comparison:

 

We can see that the cabled one still has 170 ms ping to destination. However, the amount of package loss is greatly reduced ( PL% columns and the red bars)

The WiFi sample taken previously and the new one differ in that the package loss for Hop 6 is greatly reduced.

 

Graph using 3rd party server and VPN

VPN (SG): 84.17.39.173
3rdParty (SG): 185.128.24.225
Target (SG): 92.223.86.86

I suppose pinging from my VPN means that it first goes from ME to VPN.

ME <-> VPN traceroute seems to hop via Hong-Kong (SG<-> HK <-> SG).

 

 

Post was published earlier here

https://superuser.com/questions/1805724/identify-latency-problems-to-gaming-server

[GOTSpectrum]

Do you know what technology your ISP is running, FTTP, DOCSIS, ADSL, Etc? 

[Pontus Hultkrantz]

32 minutes ago, GOTSpectrum said:

Do you know what technology your ISP is running, FTTP, DOCSIS, ADSL, Etc? 

Seems to be fiberoptics, there is a very thin cable (yellow cable with green ends) that looks like optics going from the wall into the router.

[jaslion]

You tried a cable yet?

[Alex Atkin UK]

3 hours ago, Pontus Hultkrantz said:

TL;DR
Ping to 92.223.86.86, 10 km away at ~170 ms ping. Acquaintance nearby with different ISP has 9 ms. Is the issue my ISP, Wifi,...?

 

I am playing an online game where the server, to my knowledge, is physically located in the same city (~10km=6miles). I have cabled internet with WiFi and have a ping of around 170-200 ms with severe in-game spikes. At my friend's house, under a different ISP, the ping is 9 ms without any spikes.

 

I need help in identifying whether the issue is from my ISP, my WiFi set-up, or the game server itself. That my friend has a lower ping seems to indicate that it is my ISP. If so, I need to contact my ISP and tell them what is wrong. The game has several local servers with similar results.

The game runs on my Android Phone using 5.2GHz WiFi band. PingPlotter is running in my older laptop using the 2.4GHz WiFi band. Although similar ping test on my phone yields the same 170-200ms ping.

 

 

Traceroute from me to 92.223.86.86 using (PingPlotter in Windows)

 

At a glance it looks like you are in Singapore and that IP is in Luxembourg.

My guess would be if your friend is showing that IP as local, its being used across regional server locations and on your ISP for some reason its getting it very very wrong and sending you to a server half way across the planet from you.

That said, from the UK its showing as Luxembourg too.

[Pontus Hultkrantz]

10 hours ago, Alex Atkin UK said:

At a glance it looks like you are in Singapore and that IP is in Luxembourg.

My guess would be if your friend is showing that IP as local, its being used across regional server locations and on your ISP for some reason its getting it very very wrong and sending you to a server half way across the planet from you.

That said, from the UK its showing as Luxembourg too.

I think the ".lu" adress is due to the hosting company being registered in LU, but they host servers across the globe. So afaik the IP adress is in SG still. But I'm not perfectly sure.

[Pontus Hultkrantz]

13 hours ago, jaslion said:

You tried a cable yet?

Added a new traceroute with cabled connection, as well as one new WiFi for reference.

 

We can see that the cabled one still has 170 ms ping to the destination. However, the amount of package loss is greatly reduced ( PL% columns and the red bars) on cabled vs WiFi.

The WiFi sample taken previously and the new one differ in that the package loss for Hop 6 has been greatly reduced.

[Pontus Hultkrantz]

Turns out the game server hosting company has a traceroute tool.

 

https://lg.gcore.lu/

and using

Region: Asia & Pacific

Router: Singapore

IP: 116.15.1.21 (me)

we get 180ms, just what I observe pinging the specific game server.

 

Results below (something funky happens between hop 3-5):

Is hop 5 in Belgium??? =S

 

traceroute to 116.15.11.121 (116.15.11.121), 15 hops max, 60 byte packets
 1  vrrp.gcore.lu (92.223.85.2) [AS199524/AS202422]  0.213 ms
 2  92.223.116.83 (92.223.116.83) [AS199524]  1.004 ms
 3  10.255.48.204 (10.255.48.204) [*]  0.971 ms
 4  *
 5  sjo-b23-link.ip.twelve99.net (62.115.141.126) [AS1299]  178.900 ms
 6  singaporetelecom-ic-335367.ip.twelve99-cust.net (62.115.8.167) [AS1299]  174.671 ms
 7  203.208.172.234 (203.208.172.234) [AS19905/AS7473]  166.770 ms
 8  203.208.158.125 (203.208.158.125) [AS19905/AS7473]  174.274 ms
 9  203.208.182.249 (203.208.182.249) [AS19905/AS7473]  174.265 ms
10  203.208.177.214 (203.208.177.214) [AS7473]  171.498 ms
11  203.208.182.250 (203.208.182.250) [AS19905/AS7473]  170.311 ms
12  203.208.153.246 (203.208.153.246) [AS19905]  170.228 ms
13  203.208.182.254 (203.208.182.254) [AS19905/AS7473]  170.162 ms
14  165.21.138.246 (165.21.138.246) [AS3758]  183.604 ms
15  *

[mMontana]

@Pontus Hultkrantz a temporary cable for exclude WiFi Issue is possible or simply "too pricey" "too messy" for a test?

Even a loan of the cable could work for few hours of tests.

[Pontus Hultkrantz]

2 minutes ago, mMontana said:

@Pontus Hultkrantz a temporary cable for exclude WiFi Issue is possible or simply "too pricey" "too messy" for a test?

Even a loan of the cable could work for few hours of tests.

I have run a test using cable, plots added to the original post in the end. What I can see is that it doesn't change the ping to destination, but lowers the package loss a lot.

[mMontana]

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

If the pings drops that much only changing ISP, maybe a different ISP might be an upgrade for your issue.

If you haven't a custom setup/buyed parts for wifi, this could also change the WiFi status of your house.

[Pontus Hultkrantz]

Solved here

 

The traffic from the game server back to me is routed via San Jose in the US, hence the 180ms latency. The reason is that, as opposed to all other ISPs in SG, my ISP does not peer (openly) on Singapore Internet Exchange (SGIX), hence the traffic cannot enter my ISP without peering elsewhere instead, in this case in the USA. The solution is to change ISP to one that peers openly.