High latency

[rheeley]

Well my broadband was activated on monday and i had pings of around 40ms, not amazing compared to my old virgin cable that gave me a ping of 10-15 but as it was stable i was happy just to finally be back on the internet.

However within hours the ping had doubled and i was finding it impossible to play my games like quake online. I have requested interleaving off to see if helps and this has been done yet my pings are still bad.

Here are some ping tests done just now:

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\Rob>ping www.jolt.co.uk

Pinging www.jolt.co.uk [82.133.85.65] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 82.133.85.65: bytes=32 time=47ms TTL=53
Reply from 82.133.85.65: bytes=32 time=48ms TTL=53
Reply from 82.133.85.65: bytes=32 time=48ms TTL=53
Reply from 82.133.85.65: bytes=32 time=75ms TTL=53

Ping statistics for 82.133.85.65:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 47ms, Maximum = 75ms, Average = 54ms

C:\Documents and Settings\Rob>ping www.adsl24.co.uk

Pinging www.adsl24.co.uk [84.234.16.39] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 84.234.16.39: bytes=32 time=48ms TTL=57
Reply from 84.234.16.39: bytes=32 time=47ms TTL=57
Reply from 84.234.16.39: bytes=32 time=48ms TTL=57
Reply from 84.234.16.39: bytes=32 time=49ms TTL=57

Ping statistics for 84.234.16.39:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 47ms, Maximum = 49ms, Average = 48ms

C:\Documents and Settings\Rob>ping www.google.com

Pinging www.l.google.com [64.233.183.99] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 64.233.183.99: bytes=32 time=58ms TTL=243
Reply from 64.233.183.99: bytes=32 time=56ms TTL=243
Reply from 64.233.183.99: bytes=32 time=59ms TTL=243
Reply from 64.233.183.99: bytes=32 time=59ms TTL=243

Ping statistics for 64.233.183.99:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 56ms, Maximum = 59ms, Average = 58ms

Tracert to jolt:


Tracing route to www.jolt.co.uk [82.133.85.65]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms 192.168.1.1
2 48 ms 47 ms 45 ms dogwood.dsl.enta.net [84.45.242.69]
3 47 ms 46 ms 46 ms vlan4001.global-switch.dsl.enta.net [84.45.242.6
5]
4 47 ms 46 ms 46 ms gi3-8.telehouse-east.dsl.enta.net [84.45.242.50]

5 48 ms 47 ms 48 ms te5-2.telehouse-east.core.enta.net [62.249.192.1
21]
6 89 ms 47 ms 47 ms te4-3.global-switch.core.enta.net [87.127.236.82
]
7 47 ms 46 ms 46 ms te1-1.interxion.core.enta.net [87.127.236.86]
8 55 ms 48 ms 105 ms 195.219.195.25
9 46 ms 48 ms 46 ms te1-3.cr05.tn5.bb.pipex.net [195.66.224.29]
10 46 ms 47 ms 47 ms g2-48-5.ar01.tn5.bb.pipex.net [62.72.140.14]
11 48 ms 47 ms 47 ms ge-0-0-0-3801.jolt-gw.cust.pipex.net [212.241.24
1.14]
12 48 ms 47 ms 51 ms secure.jolt.co.uk [82.133.85.65]

Trace complete.

Anyone got any input that may help me to lower this ping, or any idea what might have caused it to go up so high in the space of a few hours? :(

I am using a speedtouch modem plugged into a linksys wireless router. This pc is connected via ethernet.

[James]

With pings of 40+ even to the gateway I'd guess at you're either a long way away from our servers or the router/equipment you use is not giving you the best performance.

Interleaving will definitely reduce ping times. Cable is always more efficient than ADSL due to it's setup.

It shouldn't be that high, as for example this is a traceroute as we speak:

Tracing route to bbc.co.uk [212.58.224.131]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 1 ms 1 ms 1 ms 78-32-xx-xx.adsl24.co.uk [78.32.xx.xx]
2 19 ms 15 ms 18 ms spruce.dsl.enta.net [84.45.242.72]
3 18 ms 18 ms 17 ms vlan4001.global-switch.dsl.enta.net [84.45.242.65]
4 18 ms 16 ms 16 ms gi3-8.telehouse-east.dsl.enta.net [84.45.242.50]
5 18 ms 16 ms 16 ms te5-2.telehouse-east.core.enta.net [62.249.192.121]
6 19 ms 16 ms 16 ms te5-1.telehouse-east2.core.enta.net [87.127.236.98]
7 17 ms 17 ms 16 ms 212.58.238.177
8 19 ms 17 ms 18 ms 212.58.238.153
9 16 ms 16 ms 17 ms rdirwww-vip.thdo.bbc.co.uk [212.58.224.131]

[Nailz]

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\Richie>ping www.jolt.co.uk

Pinging www.jolt.co.uk [82.133.85.65] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 82.133.85.65: bytes=32 time=17ms TTL=53
Reply from 82.133.85.65: bytes=32 time=16ms TTL=53
Reply from 82.133.85.65: bytes=32 time=16ms TTL=53
Reply from 82.133.85.65: bytes=32 time=19ms TTL=53

Ping statistics for 82.133.85.65:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 16ms, Maximum = 19ms, Average = 17ms

C:\Documents and Settings\Richie>

[Sparx]

Tracing route to jolt.co.uk [82.133.85.65]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 1 ms 1 ms 1 ms dsldevice.lan [192.168.1.254]
2 23 ms 24 ms 23 ms larch.dsl.enta.net [87.127.229.36]
3 22 ms 22 ms 21 ms vlan4003.telehouse-east2.dsl.enta.net [87.127.229.33]
4 23 ms 22 ms 23 ms gi2-8.telehouse-east.dsl.enta.net [84.45.242.53]
5 22 ms 23 ms 22 ms te5-2.telehouse-east.core.enta.net [62.249.192.121]
6 22 ms 23 ms 23 ms te4-3.global-switch.core.enta.net [87.127.236.82]
7 25 ms 23 ms 23 ms te1-1.interxion.core.enta.net [87.127.236.86]
8 22 ms 24 ms 23 ms 195.219.195.25
9 22 ms 23 ms 23 ms te1-3.cr05.tn5.bb.pipex.net [195.66.224.29]
10 24 ms 23 ms 23 ms g2-48-5.ar01.tn5.bb.pipex.net [62.72.140.14]
11 24 ms 61 ms 23 ms ge-0-0-0-3801.jolt-gw.cust.pipex.net [212.241.241.14]
12 23 ms 23 ms 24 ms secure.jolt.co.uk [82.133.85.65]

Trace complete.

Pinging jolt.co.uk [82.133.85.65] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 82.133.85.65: bytes=32 time=22ms TTL=53
Reply from 82.133.85.65: bytes=32 time=21ms TTL=53
Reply from 82.133.85.65: bytes=32 time=21ms TTL=53
Reply from 82.133.85.65: bytes=32 time=22ms TTL=53

Ping statistics for 82.133.85.65:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 21ms, Maximum = 22ms, Average = 21ms

Seems OK here, how far are you from your exchange and what router are you using? Along with any filters, extensions, general wire/house layout, etc..?

[rheeley]

Thanks for the replies guys. I can only assume from those pings of 15 etc that you prolly live in the south :P

Well i have a Speedtouch 530 router bridged into a linksys wrt54gl wireless router. It is a new build property with the sockets already built in but i am connected to the master socket.

Even though a ping below 40 would be really nice and i will try some other equipment, its the fact that my ping was 40 to start with and yet is now 80, earlier on the same servers i was getting 40ms on yesterday i was getting 120. Just seems odd that would go from semi decent to really bad in the space of a day thats all.

Will try taking out the router and connecting with just the speedtouch and see if any improvement.

Also have a zyxel adsl router lying around that i could try but it does not have wireless which would be a problem for me. However if it turns out to be my equipment i will happily buy a new modem/router.

[rheeley]

Just tried it with the zyxel router on its own and it still has the same results on the ping tests so guess i can rule out the hardware.

[James]

Yep. Note that ping times always depend on your location from the server you are pinging, so if it's down south or overseas the ping will be much higher.

Interleaving should now be off - any better?

James

[nixon]

I notice that making the Atlantic hop is taking quite some time - around 200-300ms. Also the pings vary a lot. Is this because Im new and just switched, or due to an entanet issue or is it just like that all of the time?

[rheeley]

Yep. Note that ping times always depend on your location from the server you are pinging, so if it's down south or overseas the ping will be much higher.

Interleaving should now be off - any better?

James

I thought it was off last night when i was doing my tests as it stated that was off on the website, however it had not been 48 hours so will give it a shot tonight. Currently at work.

I appreciate all the responses and constructive comments i have received, i am certainly not here to moan about my service just looking for anything i may have missed :)

Have a good day guys.

[rheeley]

weee, pinging jolt at 30 now so it has settled back down somewhat, can live with that :)

Thanks all

[James]

Great stuff :)