Lag Spikes in Games and Discord!

[Satish Suthar]

Hello there, everyone!

 

So recently for about a month or so, I've been having this crazy issue that I've never had before, it's about my internet lagging when I'm in an online game or on a voice chat service like Discord,

So what happens is that, when I'm playing a game or talking to someone on Discord or doing both, out of every 1-2 minutes, I get lag spikes of about 4-5 seconds and it's getting more and more frustrating especially when gaming, if it was just voice chat, I'd put up with that but it's not. I then switch to my 4G to game. The thing is.. my internet remains connected and is fine, it's just that there's about a few seconds lag every minute, randomly.

 

I looked at the issue online and some people have it when they're using WiFi so they fix it by connecting with an Ethernet wire.

However, I never use WiFi, the internet is connected by an ethernet cable to my PC.

 

More information about my internet :

It's a fibernet (FTTH) connection. My ping is manageable, I play at around 90-120ms on Singapore servers.

My connection's speed is Up to 50 Mbps.

 

Yet, it's so damn frustrating lately to even start any online game. No matter the game, it lags at random times for a couple of seconds or so, making everything unplayable.

I can't just figure out what's wrong with my connection exactly.

 

(Here's what I've done so far :

Re Installed Windows (10)

Stopped OneDrive in the background

Stopped p2p Windows Update thing, whatever that is according to the reddit thread here :

)

 

Yet, none of that worked in my favor, I'm pretty sure it's my internet's fault but I can't figure out what is it and what should I tell my ISP, because when I told them about the lag, they're saying "If your router has the internet light on then it should work"

I read in one post somewhere that it's something about frequency but Idk how I figure that out and how I explain it to the guys working at the ISP office in easy way.

 

Anyone who could try to post any possible solution to this is a life saver! Or at least help me figure out what the hell is going on here exactly.

 

Thanks.

[Hiitchy]

Is it possible for you to turn your ONT off for 30 seconds to 1 minute? Can you do the same thing for your modem? Do you ever notice these spikes happening during a certain time of the day (Morning, Afternoon, Night)? 

[Satish Suthar]

1 minute ago, Hiitchy said:

Is it possible for you to turn your ONT off for 30 seconds to 1 minute? Can you do the same thing for your modem? Do you ever notice these spikes happening during a certain time of the day (Morning, Afternoon, Night)? 

Surely, I can turn them off, I tried turning them off and on again, but that doesn't solve it. And no certain time, because it happens all the time, any time of the day!

Be it morning/afternoon/night. If I want to game, I have to use my phone's 4G (USB Tethering) to play without lags but that sure does increase my ping but it's desperation making me do it at this point.

[Hiitchy]

Just now, Satish Suthar said:

Surely, I can turn them off, I tried turning them off and on again, but that doesn't solve it. And no certain time, because it happens all the time, any time of the day!

Be it morning/afternoon/night. If I want to game, I have to use my phone's 4G (USB Tethering) to play without lags but that sure does increase my ping but it's desperation making me do it at this point.

I understand... Did you ever ask your ISP if they're doing any work in the area, or if they can run a signal test from your hardware to their servers? It doesn't make much sense to me that you'd be having these issues, especially with Fiberop...

[Satish Suthar]

Just now, Hiitchy said:

I understand... Did you ever ask your ISP if they're doing any work in the area, or if they can run a signal test from your hardware to their servers? It doesn't make much sense to me that you'd be having these issues, especially with Fiberop...

I didn't, because I don't know what to ask them and I will do that in the morning and hopefully they get what I mean because it's kind of frustrating to talk to them too, however, me living in this town where I am, I do not have a choice but to go with them and it worked perfectly okay for about 5-6 months now.

One guess of mine is that recently they did set up a new connection of Fibernet in my area, about a few houses away, what they did was that they set up another box kind of thing on my roof since there was a lot of extra wire so they set up the box thing there, and then from that, they gave them a new connection.. I don't know how it works exactly but it's just my guess, if that could pose issues or not, but then if it did, I don't think I should be getting the same amount of speed because it's not exactly sharing a connection. But as I said, I'm not an expert.

[NinJake]

9 minutes ago, Hiitchy said:

It doesn't make much sense to me that you'd be having these issues, especially with Fiberop...

Especially 60+ ping with fiber...

 

[Hiitchy]

Just now, Satish Suthar said:

*snip*

Yeah, I completely get you. However, my understanding of the fiberop connections they do here at least, is that each person has their own individual connection and they shouldn't be sharing them with anyone around the area unless they're doing FTTN/FTTC (To the node/To the curb).

 

Anywho, just ask your ISP to run a line test from your hardware to their server. If they don't understand what that means, ask them to ping the hardware... They should understand that.

 

Ask them if all the hardware signal to their server is in spec with what their technicians install, because you didn't have these problems before.

 

Ask them if there is any congestion in the uplink (upload) or downlink (download), because I still don't understand why you'd be having issues with ping.

 

If all else fails, ask them what they can do to make things better for you as a bill paying customer who isn't getting what they're paying for, or isn't able to use what they're paying for.

[Satish Suthar]

1 minute ago, Hiitchy said:

Yeah, I completely get you. However, my understanding of the fiberop connections they do here at least, is that each person has their own individual connection and they shouldn't be sharing them with anyone around the area unless they're doing FTTN/FTTC (To the node/To the curb).

 

Anywho, just ask your ISP to run a line test from your hardware to their server. If they don't understand what that means, ask them to ping the hardware... They should understand that.

 

Ask them if all the hardware signal to their server is in spec with what their technicians install, because you didn't have these problems before.

 

Ask them if there is any congestion in the uplink (upload) or downlink (download), because I still don't understand why you'd be having issues with ping.

 

If all else fails, ask them what they can do to make things better for you as a bill paying customer who isn't getting what they're paying for, or isn't able to use what they're paying for.

Alright, mate, I'll do that and keep the forum updated tomorrow with their response. Thanks by the way!

[Hiitchy]

1 minute ago, Satish Suthar said:

Alright, mate, I'll do that and keep the forum updated tomorrow with their response. Thanks by the way!

Please do, it'll help me think further into what you can ask them. Not a problem, hope it all goes well!

[Satish Suthar]

By the way, this is the architecture thing of my FTTH connection, in case if it tells you anything, idk how to read this complicated stuff. :

I'm also going to have to ask them about the sharing thing they did with that box, because I have my suspicion. Because that also happened about a month ago or so.

[Levisallanon]

What kind of network are you on (local)?
How many people use it etc and what kind of devices are connected to it?

Have you tried making a wireshark capture already to see if anything strange happens?

You could check where the problem lies by going into the cmd and using
ping [ip address] -t
this will make the ping go on untill you cancel it with ctrl+c
Instead of the ip address you can also use a hostname like "www.google.com"
 

If you make it write to a log like this:
ping [ip address] -t>[path to logfile (like C:\log.txt)]

 

if you make it ping to the default gateway (your router) and an external address (one which is reliable like google) and then try to create the lagspike you can see if you have lag to only and external address or also to your default gateway. if the latter is the case the problem most likely lies in your local lan. 
 

[Satish Suthar]

2 hours ago, Levisallanon said:

What kind of network are you on (local)?
How many people use it etc and what kind of devices are connected to it?

Have you tried making a wireshark capture already to see if anything strange happens?

You could check where the problem lies by going into the cmd and using
ping [ip address] -t
this will make the ping go on untill you cancel it with ctrl+c
Instead of the ip address you can also use a hostname like "www.google.com"
 

If you make it write to a log like this:
ping [ip address] -t>[path to logfile (like C:\log.txt)]

 

if you make it ping to the default gateway (your router) and an external address (one which is reliable like google) and then try to create the lagspike you can see if you have lag to only and external address or also to your default gateway. if the latter is the case the problem most likely lies in your local lan. 
 

I don't know about the wireshack thing but I have tried pinging 8.8.8.8 this morning with my cmd and I remember that there were 2 packets lost out of 20 once and then one packet loss on a second try. Resulting in 5% and 10% packet loss at that time, however, after that, and right now, there's 0% packet loss with 50 requests.

I tried with Google.com and my default gateway, 0% still.

I'll try it again, and I heard we should keep it running in the background while playing games or something? To check? If you say so, I'll try that and see what happens when the game lags.

[Levisallanon]

1 minute ago, Satish Suthar said:

I don't know about the wireshack thing but I have tried pinging 8.8.8.8 this morning with my cmd and I remember that there were 2 packets lost out of 20 once and then one packet loss on a second try. Resulting in 5% and 10% packet loss at that time, however, after that, and right now, there's 0% packet loss with 50 requests.

I tried with Google.com and my default gateway, 0% still.

I'll try it again, and I heard we should keep it running in the background while playing games or something? To check? If you say so, I'll try that and see what happens when the game lags.

It's not a surefire way to see where the source of the problem is, but it could give hints.
Best would be to run both at the same time (2 seperate windows) 1 to google and 1 to your default gateway and then game or use discord. As soon as the lagspikes appear see if the packets get dropped or the pings increase in both windows or just one.

[Satish Suthar]

1 minute ago, Levisallanon said:

It's not a surefire way to see where the source of the problem is, but it could give hints.
Best would be to run both at the same time (2 seperate windows) 1 to google and 1 to your default gateway and then game or use discord. As soon as the lagspikes appear see if the packets get dropped or the pings increase in both windows or just one.

I'll try and that be sure to update the thread with that one as well in the morning, thank you, sire!

[Hiitchy]

10 hours ago, Satish Suthar said:

*pic snip*

After looking through the photo, my question is why would a splitter be required for an ONT before going into the Optical Distribution Frame (ODF)? This looks like the "sharing" that you're talking about and doesn't make very much sense at all...

 

In theory, a splitter is intended to allow multiple connections to connect or be run elsewhere on a network. But in this photo, it looks like the second network (The one with the IPTV, Phone, PC and RF) is being splitted for no apparent reason. If you aren't in the splitted connection and have your own direct connection to the ONT, it's because there's no other person taking advantage of the FTTH in your area. In this case, it looks like they were intending to run a line but stopped halfway through according to the photo, which is weird imho.

 

You need to find out if your ONT is running into a splitter which it most likely is, and if the splitter has any open connections that have not been terminated correctly.

[Satish Suthar]

11 hours ago, Levisallanon said:

It's not a surefire way to see where the source of the problem is, but it could give hints.
Best would be to run both at the same time (2 seperate windows) 1 to google and 1 to your default gateway and then game or use discord. As soon as the lagspikes appear see if the packets get dropped or the pings increase in both windows or just one.

So I did it as you asked and found out that right when my game lagged, the ping to my default gateway didn't stop so there was no lag there but pinging to 8.8.8.8 did stop.

Resulting in 4% packet loss

However, I also had running another window as I pinged Google and there was even more packet loss with that, before the lag appeared, resulting in 14% loss.

[Satish Suthar]

4 hours ago, Hiitchy said:

After looking through the photo, my question is why would a splitter be required for an ONT before going into the Optical Distribution Frame (ODF)? This looks like the "sharing" that you're talking about and doesn't make very much sense at all...

 

In theory, a splitter is intended to allow multiple connections to connect or be run elsewhere on a network. But in this photo, it looks like the second network (The one with the IPTV, Phone, PC and RF) is being splitted for no apparent reason. If you aren't in the splitted connection and have your own direct connection to the ONT, it's because there's no other person taking advantage of the FTTH in your area. In this case, it looks like they were intending to run a line but stopped halfway through according to the photo, which is weird imho.

 

You need to find out if your ONT is running into a splitter which it most likely is, and if the splitter has any open connections that have not been terminated correctly.

I talked to the guy, he says he's looking into it and escalated it with someone else, I guess I'll have to wait for a couple of days before I could complain again.

Oh well this is really annoying. I talked about the sharing thing and he says it isn't the issue, that's all he said. But I'll bring it up again next time I talk to him because I know it's not likely to be solved so quickly, I'll have to call them multiple times so that they will pay attention to it.

[Levisallanon]

1 hour ago, Satish Suthar said:

So I did it as you asked and found out that right when my game lagged, the ping to my default gateway didn't stop so there was no lag there but pinging to 8.8.8.8 did stop.

Resulting in 4% packet loss

However, I also had running another window as I pinged Google and there was even more packet loss with that, before the lag appeared, resulting in 14% loss.

[image]

[image]

well that kind of proves the problem lies outside your network.
It either means something is going wrong in your ISP's network, or your modem/router settings are wrong and that's what causing it.

[Falconevo]

What coax modem have you been given by your ISP?

 

The latest Intel (PUMA6) has some serious latency issues, maybe you have a coax modem with this chipset.

[Satish Suthar]

2 minutes ago, Falconevo said:

What coax modem have you been given by your ISP?

 

The latest Intel (PUMA6) has some serious latency issues, maybe you have a coax modem with this chipset.

The modem/router I have is Huawei's Echolife HG850a

[Satish Suthar]

15 minutes ago, Levisallanon said:

well that kind of proves the problem lies outside your network.
It either means something is going wrong in your ISP's network, or your modem/router settings are wrong and that's what causing it.

I've gone through the settings, there's so many settings that is out of my understanding to fix if there is something to fix at all.. but I doubt that, since it worked before for months with the same settings, I wouldn't know why that would be an issue now all of a sudden.

[Levisallanon]

Did you try updating the firmware of your router already?

Maybe you ISP changed something in their network and thats why it isn't working for your anymore

[Satish Suthar]

I remember trying to find an updated firmware for the model a while back but I didn't find any, that was the time when I learned that Huawei discontinued this product, so there's no official page that I could find on their website anymore.

I don't know what my ISP changed with their network but maybe you are right, it's just that the guy won't tell me straight up about it, so far, he did understand the problem of me having the packet loss issue, so he said this/along the line,

"I have escalated the issue with the other guys to fix the speed issue, that should resolve it"

And idk why he said the speed issue when it's the packet loss thing, because my speed is fine, so I repeated that I have the lag issue, not the one with speed but he said that it will fix the packet loss as well.

What was annoying to me is that he said he "knew" about the issue so he has been working on it for quite some time but this issue is about a month old now and I doubt there's any truth to him working on it prior to me complaining today.

Hopefully something happens and it gets resolved or I'll have to call him a few more times, if by then it doesn't get resolved then I'm escalating this one with the general manager of the ISP here, if all else fails at the end of the day, I'll have to change towns in the end, I can't live with this.

[Satish Suthar]

Hello everyone!

 

Just to update this thread on the situation, my situation has been fixed for now, it's been about 2 weeks and I haven't had any lag, it's because I told my ISP that day about the "packet loss" issue.

Luckily, the guy understood that there was some kind of congestion in the backend server somewhere outside of my town, and as he said that it'll be fixed soon, it did.

Though he lied about working on it for quite some time before I complained but that doesn't matter as long as it's resolved haha.

 

Thanks to everyone of you! To take your time and try to enlighten me on the issue so that I could explain everything better and this made the guy seemed like I knew a lot about the technical stuff so I think that may have played a part in him acknowledging my issue and try to fix it.

[Hiitchy]

54 minutes ago, Satish Suthar said:

Hello everyone!

 

Just to update this thread on the situation, my situation has been fixed for now, it's been about 2 weeks and I haven't had any lag, it's because I told my ISP that day about the "packet loss" issue.

Luckily, the guy understood that there was some kind of congestion in the backend server somewhere outside of my town, and as he said that it'll be fixed soon, it did.

Though he lied about working on it for quite some time before I complained but that doesn't matter as long as it's resolved haha.

 

Thanks to everyone of you! To take your time and try to enlighten me on the issue so that I could explain everything better and this made the guy seemed like I knew a lot about the technical stuff so I think that may have played a part in him acknowledging my issue and try to fix it.

Really great to know the issue was fixed! I know it can be nervewracking but at least now you don't have to worry about it anymore!