High ping troubleshooting

[b_naresh]

I have been getting high pings to TF2 servers recently. Trace route always shows a time-out on the first hop. My PC is connected to the ADSL cable modem. It takes 100+ ms at the second hop (the ISP's default gateway). I'm pasting a sample tracert below.

Code: Select all

E:\>tracert in.yahoo.com

Tracing route to any-fp-in.a05.yahoodns.net [72.30.2.43]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1     *        *        *     Request timed out.
  2   109 ms   105 ms   109 ms  triband-mum-59.184.63.254.mtnl.net.in [59.184.63.254]
  3   109 ms   113 ms   105 ms  triband-mum-59.185.3.33.mtnl.net.in [59.185.3.33]
  4   108 ms   103 ms   105 ms  115.113.133.10.static-mumbai.vsnl.net.in [115.113.133.10]
  5   105 ms   105 ms   105 ms  59.163.16.1.static.vsnl.net.in [59.163.16.1]
  6   104 ms   103 ms   105 ms  59.163.16.1.static.vsnl.net.in [59.163.16.1]
  7   350 ms   347 ms   347 ms  if-0-0-0-503.mcore3.PDI-PaloAlto.as6453.net [216.6.29.69]
  8   337 ms   335 ms   333 ms  ix-11-0-1.mcore3.PDI-PaloAlto.as6453.net [64.86.84.146]
  9   337 ms   333 ms   335 ms  ae1-p400.msr1.sk1.yahoo.com [216.115.106.153]
 10   335 ms   333 ms   335 ms  te-8-1.bas-k1.sk1.yahoo.com [68.180.160.9]
 11   339 ms   335 ms   335 ms  ir1.fp.vip.sk1.yahoo.com [72.30.2.43]

Trace complete.

What could be the reason for this? Cable modem going bad, TCP/IP or cable modem configuration issue or ISP problems?

[Anonim1979]

"ADSL cable modem" ?
ADSL - telephone line, Cable modem - TV cable

---
My setup. 6Mbit/512kBit. Central Europe. So over the pond jumps = 100+ms
Router Planet WRT-440 (3 computers connected on 192.168.x.x) -- Cable modem (Motorola one with TV/phone/Internet on one coaxial cable)--- Internet

Code: Select all

tracert in.yahoo.com
  1     1 ms     1 ms     1 ms  192.168.0.1
  2     8 ms    14 ms     9 ms  -----My ISP servers-------
  3    13 ms    12 ms    10 ms  -----My ISP servers-------
  4    17 ms    15 ms    14 ms  -----My ISP servers-------
  5    40 ms    55 ms    60 ms  ge-1-3-0.pat1.dee.yahoo.com [80.81.192.115]
  6    38 ms    37 ms    43 ms  ge-1-2-0.pat2.dee.yahoo.com [66.196.65.133]
  7   144 ms   145 ms   211 ms  so-3-0-0.pat2.dcp.yahoo.com [66.196.65.129]
  8   138 ms   141 ms   129 ms  xe-5-0-0.msr2.ac2.yahoo.com [216.115.108.151]
  9   139 ms   180 ms   130 ms  xe-8-2-0.clr4.ac4.yahoo.com [76.13.0.107]
 10   129 ms   140 ms   127 ms  te-9-1.bas-a1.ac4.yahoo.com [76.13.0.177]
 11   133 ms   132 ms   129 ms  ir1.fp.vip.ac4.yahoo.com [67.195.160.76]


My cable modem a few times required reboot - full power off for a few seconds - after ISP changed something on their side. Speed upgrade etc.
My neighbour had an old one that had reset button on back side that required pin to press (a small hole) - after ISP changed something major it required such manual reseting.

[notfred]

Don't worry about the first hop timing out, it just means it doesn't have ICMP enabled on it.

For the immediate high latency on second hop, I suspect your DSL provider has interleaving on for your line. If you can get your line clean and get them to turn off interleaving, you may do better.

[b_naresh]

Don't worry about the first hop timing out, it just means it doesn't have ICMP enabled on it.

For the immediate high latency on second hop, I suspect your DSL provider has interleaving on for your line. If you can get your line clean and get them to turn off interleaving, you may do better.

Thanks for your response! I was earlier facing frequent disconnects - the ADSL light on the modem used to go off, then flicker and come back on intermittently. I think they must have switched on interleaving to solve that issue, thus introducing the high ping issue.

[lordT]

My guess is that this an issue with the ISP. My pings to SH and eClub goes up to 350 occasionally and even to 700 at times. I'm guessing they changed their routing.

Are you on MTNL/BSNL by any chance? Or Reliance?

[b_naresh]

My guess is that this an issue with the ISP. My pings to SH and eClub goes up to 350 occasionally and even to 700 at times. I'm guessing they changed their routing.

Are you on MTNL/BSNL by any chance? Or Reliance?

I'm on MTNL. My pings to Singapore/Malaysian servers used to hover around 80-100 and to UK/European servers around 150-170. Since a week, they have gone up to 175-200 for Singapore/Malaysia and 260-280 for UK/European servers. It's like 100ms getting added to my ping. notfred's explanation makes sense. The tough part will be dealing with MTNL customer support and getting them to switch off interleaving.