Random Ping spikes makes any multiplayer game unplayable

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hunter32tz

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Nov 14, 2013
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My ISP is AT&T. Ever since I have upgraded to their "superior" internet, I have experienced constant ping spikes every day, at completely random times. One person can be on the internet watching a youtube video, this causes the ping to massively spike up to over 1000 and stay like that until the router is reset.

I have talked to their techs over 5 times now, we've probably had about 4 guys come out to take a look. Most recently, the guy claims he fixed the problem, but it still persists.

I am so fed up with their terrible service. I honestly don't know what else to say, but what I'm asking is for some help at least locating the problem.

From what I understand there are many diagnostic tests I can run that can be interpreted to determine what issues my connection has. However, I am completely new to that type of thing. To start, could anyone recommend what test I can run? I will happily post the results and maybe you guys could figure out something.

Again, this is the final straw as I have no other options to try.

Thanks.
 
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arossetti

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Feb 22, 2013
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First off, I'm not familiar with AT&T service or what their superior internet is. What are the advertised upload and download speeds that you should be getting?

Next, how are you connected? Ethernet or wireless. If wireless there could by a myriad of issues effecting the wifi quality and speed. It could be router placement, EMI, frequency from competing wireless devices like cordless phones, conflicting/overlapping channels from another WAP, etc.

It could also be an issue with firewall settings, Anti-virus, QoS on the router.

You'll need to post a little more information. Next, we'll need to determine the connection speed from host to router/gateway, then router/gateway to destination.

If it's wired (or wireless) it could be router configuration.

For general upload/download speeds go to www.speedtest.net
To check connection speed to a specific target, use ping from the command line, use traceroute to check hops and routes, flush your DNS and renew ...

Post a little more info and we'll see what we can do.
 
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hunter32tz

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Nov 14, 2013
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Not really, I'd say pretty much any download occurring causes the ping to spike extremely high. I was just using youtube as an example. Also, yes, the ping issue does go away most of the time after the download/video/whatever is stopped. I just don't understand how this occurs at completely random times also.


 
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hunter32tz

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Nov 14, 2013
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I'm supposed to be getting about 5mbps, which is what I get when the ping is fine. However, when it spikes, I get around 0.2mbps download. I am currently connected to my router via powerline, but this problem has happened long before I even bought the powerline setup.

Also, when the ping spikes, it applies to all devices connected to it. Any computer, smartphone, tablet, etc. all gets the same results of extremely high ping and low download speed when this happens. It isn't just one computer.

About the antivirus and the like, I'm really not sure. The router is a modem/router combo that is AT&T branded and was installed by one of the technicians. It isn't an aftermarket router.
 
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bill001g

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Aug 9, 2012
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Generally if it load related you either have used all the capacity and your only real option is to buy more or you are getting errors on the circuit and load is causing more of these errors to occur. Hopefully your router will show you the utilization of the line. Otherwise you are going to have to use something like the resource monitor on each of the devices and see how much network bandwidth each is using and try to add them up. Although it tends to be download that is over utilized upload speeds if they are very low can also be over used so you should look at both numbers.

If you are getting errors on the line due to load you can generally see this in one of the displays. Can't say for sure because ATT has a number of device....some of which are a huge pain. The ISP should be able to also see any errors.
 
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arossetti

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If it is across multiple devices which I assume are wireless connections then I would look towards EMI. What 802.11 standard are you running? Are there cordless phones in the same frequency range?

Also, are the different devices all active at the same time? Just because you have 5Mbps on a download doesn't mean you have the throughput available get all the data through the pipe if everything is asking for say streaming video at once.
 
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hunter32tz

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Nov 14, 2013
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I can't find what standard I'm running as the router installed is some weird ATT branded one that is shit, and I can't find any specs on it. Also, yes, there are cordless phones in the frequency range, I'd say at least 4.

Also, I don't think the different devices are all simultaneously active. I have been using a bandwidth monitor and did some basic tests.

Here's something I noticed, and could be a serious issue: When a device attempts to upload/download something as simple as a website, the ping spikes up extremely high. This ping spike once again applies to every single device connected to the router. I'll use this exact page as an example. If I got on my phone right now and opened up this URL, my ping would spike to over 700 and the download speed will drop stupidly low. Sending/uploading/emailing a picture yields even worse results.

I am having trouble understanding why this is happening. Is there anything I can do to my connection to improve it? I feel like one little thing just pushes the ping and download speed right off the edge. Do you have any recommendations as to what would be the cause of this issue?
 
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arossetti

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Feb 22, 2013
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What type of service do you have? You said AT&T was your ISP so I am assuming DSL? If so it could be the quality of the phone lines in your house and/or the quality of the external connection. To try to trouble shoot a little more, I'd first disconnect all wireless devices and unplug Any wifi extenders that are plugged in. Then I'd connect via Ethernet to the router and see if you are getting the same issues. I'd also make sure any firmware for the router is current. Then I'd reset the router and try again.
 
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