Router high ping networking issue - ><

[Tac]

Two weeks ago out of the blue my ping went randomly from 2-5ms to 900ms+ . One day it works fine the next day it spikes for hours.

I know its router related as it works fine if connected directly to the cable modem.

Thing is.. I bought a new router and it does the same thing...I've changed the network cables and nothing seems to work.  I've tried CMD - ping while in safe mode and the problem persists.

When I call my ISP tech support they keep giving me new DNS server addresses which fixes the problem temporarily and sometimes it doesnt work. Since its a router issue they wont touch the issue.

So... what can I do? I take two online classes that use video lectures and it is becoming a problem not being able to watch them on time.

 

[Rob52240]

Login to your router next time this happens and check to see if anyone is borrowing your connection.

[Tigger29]

What are you pinging?  The router?

I can guarantee you weren't pinging Aces High's servers at 2-5ms but that is a normal ping for your router or your modem.

If you're not wireless and pinging your router often reveals 900ms+ then you either have a problem with your computer or with your router.  Since connecting it directly to the modem fixes this then the router must be the problem.

If you are wireless then you might have interference coming from somewhere.  Wireless connections are far from consistent.

When is the last time you power cycled the router?

[Tac]

I use dos prompt ping and tracert to google and yahoo . It comes back avg 15ms to 30ms when its normal. Now it does 1ms to router then poof.. 900ms to my ISP server and so on.

Powercycled the router dozens of times over the past few days. What is really odd is that I purchased a new router and its doing the same thing as the old one.

It is a wireless router but my pc is connected directly by cable...and no, there is no one else hooked via wireless as I did put a password to access the wireless. With that being said my wireless connection also suffers the ping issue be it my ipad or my laptop.

Funny thing is this all started the same day google announced its privacy policy changes  

[Tigger29]

So what are you pinging when you get 2-5ms?  That looks like a computer-to-router ping.

And yes malware could do something like this too but connecting your computer directly to the modem wouldn't cure it if that was the case.

I remember back when I first got DSL years ago I suffered from intermittent lost packets and high ping times.  I didn't have a router just went directly through the modem and used software to connect via PPPOE on my win98 machine.

Anyway I went through three modems and fought with (at the time) SBC for hours over the issue with no resolution.  Finally I ended up installing the network card that was provided with my self-install kit and that fixed things.  I didn't thing I needed to bother with it because I already had a network card which worked great for everything else but once I installed the replacement card everything worked great!  Simply put my old card wasn't compatible with their modem for some reason..  Who would have thunk it?

Try disabling the wireless part of the router.. just for giggles.

Next time it's acting up do a ping directly to the router and see what it is (should be 5ms TOPS).  Then ping the modem (should be 10ms TOPS).  Then ping your ISP's DNS servers.  This still should be under 100ms... probably more like 20-30ms tops.  This should help you to find out where the problem is.

You can also download pingplotter.. it may help with this too.

[Tac]

I reset the thing to factory defaults and it seems to work ok now. Best guess is that MTU (or something) setting.

[Vulcan]

I reset the thing to factory defaults and it seems to work ok now. Best guess is that MTU (or something) setting.

DNS and MTU will not affect pings (unless you push the packet size up when you ping).

[MrRiplEy[H]]

I use dos prompt ping and tracert to google and yahoo . It comes back avg 15ms to 30ms when its normal. Now it does 1ms to router then poof.. 900ms to my ISP server and so on.

Powercycled the router dozens of times over the past few days. What is really odd is that I purchased a new router and its doing the same thing as the old one.

Beware of unnecessary power cycles. Your ISP may take it as an indication of line quality issues (your modem dropping offline through interferences) and automatically set you up for line buffering. This will add a 40-50ms buffer to your line to enable faster handshake speed and keep the connection up.

[Vulcan]

Beware of unnecessary power cycles. Your ISP may take it as an indication of line quality issues (your modem dropping offline through interferences) and automatically set you up for line buffering. This will add a 40-50ms buffer to your line to enable faster handshake speed and keep the connection up.

Only if it's a really old implimentation of DSL (i.e. ADSL 1).

[Tac]

Thanks but it is a cable modem not DSL.

All I can say is so far its been working a-ok. Did a reset to factory default and re-installed the router exactly as I did before and now there is no high ping...for the time being.

I just find it odd I used the same router for 4 years and never had a problem... then this happened.. got a new one and it kept happening until I did the above.

[Bizman]

I just find it odd I used the same router for 4 years and never had a problem...

This reminds me of an issue I had when my Internet provider changed their hardware. It appeared that my built-to-last modem was incompatible with their new system until they ran a firmware update.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

Thanks but it is a cable modem not DSL.

All I can say is so far its been working a-ok. Did a reset to factory default and re-installed the router exactly as I did before and now there is no high ping...for the time being.

I just find it odd I used the same router for 4 years and never had a problem... then this happened.. got a new one and it kept happening until I did the above.

Ah that explains it. Cable modems are notorious for problems. Cable modem network is based on the cable tv connections. Those connections are chained (opposed to dsl which is distributed individually from the nearest dslam point) from house to house with each house having it's own connection 'node'.

The trouble with this setup is that if a single user starts downloading pr0n 24/7, it affects the available bandwith of all the subscribers in your loop. The same thing goes with hardware troubles, if even a single node goes bad or needs a reboot in your whole loop - it messes up everyones connection.

I had cable for a few years and it drove me nuts - nothing but trouble all the time.