Gaming impossible due to massive lag spikes and very high ping BFBC2

[#1]

I'm at my wits end here. I've run through every diagnostic suggested but have had no result whatsoever. Sometimes it's possible to play with reasonable ping for a while, not great but anything between 50-100 is doable. Then all of a sudden it spikes to between 300-1000 and I normally get kicked from the server at some stage, or have to wait a minute until the ping drops back to reasonable levels while the game continues around me.
I mainly play Battlefield Bad Company 2, purchased and run through Steam.
I've got a Thomson Router which has been replaced with no result, I've changed ethernet cables etc. Running traceroutes to the game servers seem to point towards a problem with plusnets gateways:
Tracing route to 89-145-98-101.as29017.net [89.145.98.101]
over a maximum of 30 hops:
  1    33 ms    99 ms    98 ms  dsldevice.lan [192.168.1.x]
  2    35 ms    35 ms    37 ms  lo0-central2.pcl-ag04.plus.net [195.166.128.242]
  3    34 ms    33 ms  207 ms  gi1-12-421.pcl-gw01.plus.net [84.92.6.232]
  4    69 ms  268 ms  183 ms  te2-2.pte-gw1.plus.net [212.159.0.186]
  5    59 ms    90 ms    68 ms  te2-4.pte-gw2.plus.net [212.159.1.102]
  6    36 ms    75 ms    43 ms  ae2.core-1.lhc.lon.uk.as29017.net [195.66.224.141]
  7    38 ms    41 ms    36 ms  89-145-98-101.as29017.net [89.145.98.101]
Trace complete.
C:\Users\xxx>tracert 89.145.98.101
Tracing route to 89-145-98-101.as29017.net [89.145.98.101]
over a maximum of 30 hops:
  1    45 ms    99 ms    97 ms  dsldevice.lan [192.168.1.x]
  2    35 ms    35 ms    35 ms  lo0-central2.pcl-ag04.plus.net [195.166.128.242]
  3    95 ms  208 ms  199 ms  gi1-12-421.pcl-gw01.plus.net [84.92.6.232]
  4    34 ms    34 ms    35 ms  te2-2.pte-gw1.plus.net [212.159.0.186]
  5    34 ms    37 ms    35 ms  te2-4.pte-gw2.plus.net [212.159.1.102]
  6    35 ms    34 ms    37 ms  ae2.core-1.lhc.lon.uk.as29017.net [195.66.224.141]
  7    42 ms    43 ms    35 ms  89-145-98-101.as29017.net [89.145.98.101]
Trace complete.
I'm getting no response to my queries about the high ping but have submitted a wireshark capture for the support team to look over.
I've tried different pc's just to rule out hardware problems and the problem is the same. I upgraded to the Extra package to make sure the gaming was prioritised traffic but it's just not working, at all.
Anybody out there with the same issues?
/Cheers, Harold

[#2]

Hi there,

Quote from: redcar39

I've got a Thomson Router which has been replaced with no result, I've changed ethernet cables etc. Running traceroutes to the game servers seem to point towards a problem with plusnets gateways: Tracing route to 89-145-98-101.as29017.net [89.145.98.101] over a maximum of 30 hops:  1    33 ms    99 ms    98 ms  dsldevice.lan [192.168.1.x]  2    35 ms    35 ms    37 ms  lo0-central2.pcl-ag04.plus.net [195.166.128.242]  3    34 ms    33 ms   207 ms  gi1-12-421.pcl-gw01.plus.net [84.92.6.232]  4    69 ms   268 ms   183 ms  te2-2.pte-gw1.plus.net [212.159.0.186]

I don't think that's anything to be worried about to be honest. These are Cisco routers that are well known for de-prioritising ICMP traffic as per the post here. It's really the end-to-end pings that you should be concerned about and they look fine.

Quote

I'm getting no response to my queries about the high ping but have submitted a wireshark capture for the support team to look over.

I've taken a look at that and responded to both your tickets. With any luck we should be able to make some tweaks this week that should improve the situation.

Quote

I've tried different pc's just to rule out hardware problems and the problem is the same.

Would be helpful if you could try another modem/router (although I understand that this isn't always possible).
Edit: Similar problem being reported by somebody else here.

[#3]

Quote from: Bob

I've taken a look at that and responded to both your tickets. With any luck we should be able to make some tweaks this week that should improve the situation.

Work has been scheduled for tomorrow morning.

[#4]

@redcar39, have you noticed any improvement since the changes we made a couple of days ago?

[#5]

I'm afraid nothing has improved. The support guys have tried everything and BT have been sent out to check the line and fixed some problem with it but I'm no nearer a solution. I've had the traffic management system switched off completely but still no luck.
Yesterday was the same as usual. Starts off fine for about 30 minutes, pinging 60-80. Then comes the lag spikes where the game becomes unplayable for a couple of minutes before settling down and I can play for 2 minutes or so. Then the next lag spike lasting another cpl minutes before I can return again. The performance gets increasingly worse and in the end I can't be bothered with it anymore, no point waiting 6 minutes to play 2, not to mention unfair to my team mates.
My guess is that the faults on the line just keep adding up and chokes the connection to death in the end. I can't confirm this myself but unless plusnet are happy to monitor the line while I play we won't see a solution to this.