Connected to the internet but always losing connection to games.

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
Status
Not open for further replies.
V

VictusEmeritus

Commendable
Sep 20, 2016
5
0
1,510
Hello, hopefully someone can help me. I'm running Windows 7 x64 and connected my PC directly from my PC to the modem.
I have been having incredibly irritating internet issues that myself and my ISP cannot solve.
I would be able to open webpages with no problems but when II play WoW, Overwatch, GTA5, Terraria with buds, I always seem to lag hardcore or just bluntly get disconnected from the session entirely. It doesn't last longer than a few seconds to a minute though, but it always happens again anywhere between 5-40 mins later.
I talked to my ISP many, many times, most times the guy I get says my connection is fine with no problems. A few times they said there were kinda unusual readings. One time he said there was upload packet loss. I have even had an ISP tech come and check my connection a few times. One said everything was fine and said I would have to call when it's happening (which doesn't help because it doesn't last longer than a few seconds or so, especially when I have to spend 5 to 10 minutes navigating their stupid auto menus. And one said that the connection here was fine but down the road it might be interfering with my service (although he seemed to want to end the day because he had a trainee with him and just wanted to pass the problem off to another tech).
Things I have tried:
DNS Flush.
Set the connection from Automatically find a DNS ip to various free DNS's out there from Google and OpenDNS.
Update Windows.
Many resets and reboots of the modem and my computer.
Double and triple check my physical cord and internal PC components for looseness or damage.
Did a malware and rootkit scan with Malwarebytes, Security Essentials, Avira and Housecall, all with no results.
My computer is the only one this is happening to, however I don't have access to another PC that can play some of these games to test, or a friend to help out with it. However multiple devices are connected at different times with no issues. I am frustrated beyond belief, I hope someone can help me out here. Thanks for reading.
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
amtseung

amtseung

Distinguished
Jan 28, 2014
1,057
0
19,960
If your PC network adapter drivers are up to date, you've tried power cycling your modem, and you're wired directly into the modem (not even a router :O ), it's either your modem itself, or it's not inside your local network. Problems can range from rats having chewed cables running from the house to the street, something in the street not being right, or even a data center not functioning properly. Try running traceroutes to the game server IP addresses, if you know them. If you're seeing a bunch of returns where the packet never got anywhere, usually you can even find where the packet died, and you can take that information back to your ISP.

Loading webpages is very different from playing a game. When you load a web page or video, you can download a large quantity of data at once, not need any for some time, then push more. A game, however, needs a small quantity of data constantly, without interruption, in both directions. That interruption that inevitably occurs is what we call lag. When the data gets too clumped up and goes in and out in chunks instead of a constant stream, we get lag and rubberbanding.

In all likelihood, this isn't your fault. You can't control the internet connection you have from your chair all the way to the server location. Seeing it occur with multiple games with servers is wildly varying locations, the network failure is probably closer to home. If it isn't your ISP directly, maybe a shared backbone with another ISP where a failing data center handling the handing off of data could be a cause.

Start by making sure your modem isn't the cause.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
V

VictusEmeritus

Commendable
Sep 20, 2016
5
0
1,510
Thank you for the replies guys.
I'm not quite sure how to go about running a traceroute. However the more things I try, the more it seems likely that it's the modem and how it interacts with just my PC. If it helps, when a tech came down to replace our previously storm damaged modem, he put a splitter on the cord from the wall to the new modem because our signal was "too strong".
And a tech did come down and check the connections and cords outside. He said it looked fine. :/
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
amtseung

amtseung

Distinguished
Jan 28, 2014
1,057
0
19,960


If the wiring immediately outside the house seems solid, at least according to the tech, it's probably your modem, or the wires within the walls of your house introducing excessive noise into the system. Of course, it's far easier to replace a modem than the wires inside the walls or in the street, so that's where I'd start. I personally recommend buying one yourself after fishing through lots of newegg and amazon reviews rather than letting a tech replace your dying unit with another potentially ancient dying unit. Less headache in the long run. How old is your current modem? Do you know the make/model?

How to run a tracert (traceroute)
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
V

VictusEmeritus

Commendable
Sep 20, 2016
5
0
1,510
Apparently from what the tech said when he installed the new modem, it's a newer model. It's an Arris Touchstone DOCSIS 3.0 Gateway. it had a new box and plastic and everything. Of course that doesn't mean anything, they could just refurbish and repackage. But at this point I'm guessing that it's either some obscure settings interfering with my ability to stay connected to games or a faulty modem.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
amtseung

amtseung

Distinguished
Jan 28, 2014
1,057
0
19,960
Did the tech that came to check your connection ever check for noise? I remember when my house lost internet for a good week, a tech dropped by and said that there was so much noise being introduced into the neighborhood's grid that we actually started pulling wires from the walls of the house, and after a couple hundred feet of cat5e and coax later, we found a yard of wire that was... missing, chewed by rodents with visible bite marks on most of the cable, which was the source of the problems. In fact, we were introducing so much noise into the system, half of our street was affected by it, and our ISP had cut us from the grid to try and get rid of the noise problem. We ended up having to move our modem and router to a completely different part of the house and prayed it wouldn't also get chewed by rodents, and had to set up multiple access points since the router was moved from a very central location to the farthest corner in the house.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
V

VictusEmeritus

Commendable
Sep 20, 2016
5
0
1,510
Yeah he did. Everything turned up fine. Something odd I did notice though is that these lagging and disconnecting problems tend to happen with more frequency during the evening to early morning hours (9pm-4am).
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
amtseung

amtseung

Distinguished
Jan 28, 2014
1,057
0
19,960
Mmmmmmmm.

That's typically the time everyone tries to use the internet, when people come home from work, after they eat dinner, and internet traffic really picks up. If this is what I think it is, it's entirely the fault of your ISP, because the street doesn't have the throughput to handle everyone's traffic at once, so people who use more bandwidth more consistently are getting throttled during the busy hours.

If I'm wrong, oh well, I tried.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
V

VictusEmeritus

Commendable
Sep 20, 2016
5
0
1,510
Amtseung, I appreciate your ideas and your help and also anyone else who commented on here. However I think I have a good idea on what's happening. After talking with a tech at Blizzard, he told me it wasn't me or even likely my hardware or even my ISP but a 3rd party my ISP uses called Level 3. Apparently that seems to be the culprit and am investigating with my ISP to try and get it looked into. Anyone else who happens to be searching for clues about the same issues I'm having, It might be a 3rd party telecommunications company your ISP uses. I still don't know if this really is the cause. but from the logs I saw and what the Blizzard tech told me, he's pretty sure its Level 3.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Status
Not open for further replies.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom