Internet packet loss issue that I can't fix.

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atrax_morgue

Commendable
Sep 29, 2016
4
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1,510
Ok so I been dealing with this for the last 3 weeks now and basically ever since this problem started happening I've been unable to play any online multiplayer games due to packet loss spikes.

I've called Cable One(help me)...my ISP at least 10 times in 2 weeks and basically I hadn't downloaded PingPlotter yet and the first 3-5 calls I was doing pathpings to 8.8.8.8 and the game server I was playing on I was getting packet loss on hops "beyond their control" which was hops 6 and 7 on the first picture and 5 and 6 on second picture I am submitting with this. On 6-7 I was getting packet loss anywhere from 3-14% on them. Anyway first 5 calls my ISP was blaming hops beyond their control and said it was the game's problem and its servers were getting DDoS. ( I was playing Overwatch, Dota 2 and Dead by Daylight and their were no reports of DDoS at all)

I downloaded PingPlotter about 1 weeks ago and it has been showing a different story here is a current picture I just took with router as hop 1 and ISP hop 2: http://imgur.com/a/6rikr Here is a picture with direct modem connection skipping the router entirely hop 1 is ISP : http://imgur.com/a/nz33H .

After doing everything I could possibly thing of within my control to see if I could pinpoint the issue(replacing ethernet cable,direct modem to computer connection,updating router firmware,updating NIC card driver and various diagnostic utilities etc) cableone finally decided to send a tech out to my house on Tuesday and ran a new cable from outside my house to the pole. Well after he did that I ran Pingplotter again and it showed the same data I then went to cmd and pinged 8.8.8.8 -t to about 100 times and I got a 8% packet loss from that. Anyway called them again that same evening and the tech came back out today and ran a new cablefrom my modem into the attic to the cable box outside. After he was done I ran the program and pinged google again and I was getting the same packet loss results. Then the tech told me it was beyond his control as to what the problem is and to call the cable one office again to see if they could help any. Because I was getting good ping and speeds on speedtest.net he seemed to think I was making up the issue/there was no problem.

So I'm at a loss as to what to do any insight to what the problem may be would be helpful I have good ms/ping but my packet loss is constant I don't know if is something that is my issue or my ISP. Here is my modem's signal result page if helps any: http://imgur.com/a/HY5q7 It is hard to convince them it is there issue since I can browse the internet and watch youtube videos but basically online gaming is impossible.
 
Solution
jsmithepa
To discount LAN problem (local to you) ping from the modem/gateway.

MTU problems was in the olden days of PPPOE which nobody uses anymore, but you should be free to change it to anything even below 1400 for testing purposes, nothing is gonna blow up and you find out if that's the problem.

If you have this problem with just this one host, then the ISP maybe right, the problem maybe with the game host and there is nothing they can do about it. Go directly to a forum for this game host and note if anybody else post the same problem.
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atrax_morgue

Commendable
Sep 29, 2016
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1,510



Ok, I went there followed the instructions it says you shouldn't really go below 1400 MTU. So I first was able to get 4 successful pings at 1442 but I tried 1442 once more and I had two time outs again. So I had to drop all the way to 1402 before I could get 4 successful pings again tried 1402 a second time and third time and I both times I could only get 3 successful pings. The fourth try I could only get 2 successful pings with 2 dropped. Should I go lower than 1400 or why does it work once then I try the same number again and get drops?
 
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BadActor

BadActor

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Oct 31, 2015
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I would set it at 1442 since you weren't completely able to eliminate packet loss. Unfortunately, it looks like the problem is beyond your or your ISP's control and is the result of bad line quality. Hopefully, it's an issue that can be fixed by the provider where problems are occurring. Phone and cable lines can be damaged by water or mechanical damage and cause the line quality problems.

You can try lowering the MTU even further to see if that will help but I suspect it won't. Be advised that going too low will reduce your throughput. You can also try changing your DNS servers to help reduce the latency caused by having to resend packets.

http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-1890089/find-fastest-dns-server-configure-windows.html
 
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bill001g

Titan
Aug 9, 2012
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I would not worry about MTU. Unless you have changed it pingplotter uses very small packets to test..I think 100 bytes if I remember right. In a way this is problem with ping plotter because it does not detect mtu issues.

The cable modem screen you linked shows that you are seeing very few errors on the physical media to your house. Your ratio of uncorrectable errors to good data is excellent. Now you could have errors on the uplink side where they are getting errors on the ISP side. Only the ISP can see that number but because your uplink power is not real high it likely is ok. When the device on the ISP end detects a lot of errors it will instruct your cable modem to increase its transmit power.

This pretty much means the tech that came out to your house is correct and there is likely nothing wrong with the connection to your house. There is a extremely tiny chance the modem has some other strange problem but it is not very likely.

Because your problem is detected at the first ISP hop and it appears the cabling is good this generally is something wrong at the ISP first location. It is hard to say there can be many devices that you can not see that run layer 2 between you and the 10.96.16.1.

You need to use a very simplistic test. Run simple ping commands to your router and to the 10.96.16.1.....hopefully it will respond. Many first line ISP techs understand simple ping but do not understand ping plotter. This pretty much will show your router and PC have no issues and since they tested the line to your house it has to be something related to the device that has ip 10.96.16.1.

You need to work very hard to get to a ISP tech that has some brains. The information you have presented is pretty clear that the ISP has a issue you just have to find the tech that can understand you......Are you sure you power cycled your pc and modem :)
 
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A

atrax_morgue

Commendable
Sep 29, 2016
4
0
1,510


Thanks for the response so I pinged my router 300 times 0 packet loss, but the issue I have is when I try to ping 10.96.16.1 all the pings return as "request timed out" because I believe 10. IPs are private network addresses and can't be pinged properly unless there is a way around this. I'm not really sure how PingPlotter can "see" the packet losses on these nodes since they are private addresses but it shows them in the program.

When I type in 10.96.16.1 into PingPlotter I get 100% packet loss.
 
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jsmithepa

jsmithepa

Polypheme
Jun 14, 2014
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To discount LAN problem (local to you) ping from the modem/gateway.

MTU problems was in the olden days of PPPOE which nobody uses anymore, but you should be free to change it to anything even below 1400 for testing purposes, nothing is gonna blow up and you find out if that's the problem.

If you have this problem with just this one host, then the ISP maybe right, the problem maybe with the game host and there is nothing they can do about it. Go directly to a forum for this game host and note if anybody else post the same problem.
 
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Solution
B

bill001g

Titan
Aug 9, 2012
28,319
2,754
125,640
Your ISP sucks :). It is really hard when they have configured the second hop to not respond. What you need to do is keep going hop3 hop 4 etc until you get one that responds.

Problem is if you get too far out the ISP will claim that is not their device and since you can not prove (because they disabled it) that it is their device drooping the ping.

Not sure what to suggest 0 ping loss to your router pretty much proves you have no issue in your house.
 
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A

atrax_morgue

Commendable
Sep 29, 2016
4
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1,510


Don't worry they have already done this. I'm sending a new link with today's data on it from PingPlotter: https://share.pingplotter.com/PFZXziRUbtx.png Guess what? hops 2-5 are blocked from ping requests and hop 6 and onward just so happens to be the hops at which point are "beyond their control".

Since this has been going on for more than 3 weeks now the first week and a half I was on the phone with technical support and they were insisting it wasn't them and instead it was the games I was playing and/or hops "beyond their control".It was me trying to convince them it wasn't the games but something wrong with the connection. They only owned up when I showed the the PingPlotter data and that is when they said "ok" we will send a tech out.

I live out in a rural area and if I had any choice in broadband service I would switch in a heartbeat but sadly Cable one is the only game in town.
 
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Clay_5

Commendable
Feb 3, 2017
1
0
1,510
Sorry, little late to this but I just wanted to let you know that I also had CableOne and I also had the EXACT same problems. Fortunately, I'm friends with the Cable tech and he was honest and sincere and tried everything he could.. however, he admitted to me the real problem of CableOne...

Their CEO and company motto is to save money and be tightwads... this is coming from the CableOne worker. They don't want to spend an extra dollar on their infrastructure and their network quality is starting to really suffer, especially in rural communities.

Like you, I was experiencing packet loss so severe I didn't even bother playing online games anymore. I mean, the downloads were fine, sure, but you also gotta factor in their fascist way of dealing with monthly bandwidth overage plans... I believe I was paying over 130 a month because they kept punishing me for using too much bandwidth.

CableOne is is a scummy company.

I've moved on to a WISP ISP, the only other option I had. Surprisingly, you'd think a wireless ISP would suck with latency, and yes it's not perfect, but the funny thing is it's actually BETTER than the CableOne connection. Very embarrassing I would say.

Good luck out there.
 
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