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broadband latency reaching 3400ms constantly but still not being investigated

FIXED
RitchieF
Hooked
Posts: 5
Registered: ‎03-05-2018

broadband latency reaching 3400ms constantly but still not being investigated

I have been trying to contact customer service concerning an issue on my home network as seen below (taken 5min ago)

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.16299.251]
(c) 2017 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\ritchie.f>ping 8.8.8.8

Pinging 8.8.8.8 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time=1976ms TTL=57
Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time=1729ms TTL=57
Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time=2407ms TTL=57
Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time=3400ms TTL=57

Ping statistics for 8.8.8.8:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 1729ms, Maximum = 3400ms, Average = 2378ms

C:\Users\ritchie.f>tracert 8.8.8.8

Tracing route to google-public-dns-a.google.com [8.8.8.8]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 2 ms 2 ms 3 ms dsldevice.lan [192.168.1.254]
2 * * * Request timed out.
3 * 3688 ms * 129.hiper04.sheff.dial.plus.net.uk [195.166.143.129]
4 25 ms 35 ms 35 ms be3-3100.pcn-ir01.plus.net [195.166.143.128]
5 25 ms 25 ms 26 ms 195.99.125.136
6 701 ms 804 ms 685 ms 62.172.103.51
7 2977 ms * 1913 ms 109.159.253.93
8 * * * Request timed out.
9 443 ms 444 ms 456 ms 64.233.175.154
10 1343 ms 1987 ms 2099 ms 108.170.230.157
11 2981 ms * 2121 ms google-public-dns-a.google.com [8.8.8.8]

Trace complete.

 

There is a clear latency problem on plusnet network but after trying several time to contact customer service, it is still not being investigated. The last time i called the person on the line told me that the line was fine because it was synchronising properly on his monitoring system. I wonder how many people he might have said that to, and even though i told him that i have made ping test and could see latency reaching above 3000ms, he kept telling me that everything is fine because the line is up.

 

There is clearly a problem on the server being used (129.hiper04.sheff.dial.plus.net.uk [195.166.143.129] ) and it has been ongoing for several months now, hence why i am writing on this forum.

Please help

7 REPLIES 7
pjmarsh
Superuser
Superuser
Posts: 4,030
Thanks: 1,575
Fixes: 20
Registered: ‎06-04-2007

Re: broadband latency reaching 3400ms constantly but still not being investigated

Your tracert doesn't really show there is anything wrong with 129.hiper04.sheff.dial.plus.net.uk, or that it is causing you any latency, otherwise the ping times to be3-3100.pcn-ir01.plus.net on the next hop and those that follow would also be high.  Not all equipment will respond to pings, and even those that do might treat them as low priority.

Superusers are not staff, but they do have a direct line of communication into the business in order to raise issues, concerns and feedback from the community.

RitchieF
Hooked
Posts: 5
Registered: ‎03-05-2018

Re: broadband latency reaching 3400ms constantly but still not being investigated

It shows that the issue starts from there, and that it may be worth investigating. The facts that the next number are lower does not mean that the issue is not there, it could be due to the way the server is analysing the packet, meaning that it took longer for the precedent server to send the packet back than the next one. It can also be due to congestion on a particular server, either way it is worth analysing. The fact that the server does not send the icmp back does not mean that the icmp is disabled, it could also mean that the server has not been configured properly and is not correctly setting its TTL. Talking about priority, Icmp has usually the same priority as data, so if icmp takes 3000ms so is the data.Also qoQOSs is usually not set up on non MPLS network, as it will be useless if it is not set up all the way by other network, so priority shouldn't be an issue there.
There is an actual issue on the plusnet network and i believe the best way to resolve it would be to actually investigate it.
Ps: I'm a network engineer
Chris
Legend
Posts: 17,724
Thanks: 600
Fixes: 169
Registered: ‎05-04-2007

Re: broadband latency reaching 3400ms constantly but still not being investigated

Fix

Hi there,

Quite often when we see a ping increase similar to this it's due to the line being maxed out on download of upload at the time of the test. This is more common on slower lines, so it's definitely something worth checking out. Make sure that nothing else is using your connection when you're running ping tests.

Former Plusnet Staff member. Posts after 31st Jan 2020 are not on behalf of Plusnet.
RitchieF
Hooked
Posts: 5
Registered: ‎03-05-2018

Re: broadband latency reaching 3400ms constantly but still not being investigated

Hi,
Thanks for your reply. I managed to get through the correct person at plusnet that understood what i meant. It seems that the day shift workers are more knowledgeable than the one working out of hours, so my case finally advanced today. The issue could be linked to bad internal wiring (i live in an ex-counsil flat) but we will need to book an engineer to find out more...
RitchieF
Hooked
Posts: 5
Registered: ‎03-05-2018

Re: broadband latency reaching 3400ms constantly but still not being investigated

Ps: the maxed out line do make a lot of sence, as the appartement is being shared and we usually get 2mbps connection speed at peak ( i live in one of the few areas in london without optic fiber)
RitchieF
Hooked
Posts: 5
Registered: ‎03-05-2018

Re: broadband latency reaching 3400ms constantly but still not being investigated

Hi All,

 

Problem fixed. It was due to overutilisation on the line at peak time due to really low bandwidth speed (1 to 2mbps). This was created by a cable extension(25m+ long running along the wall, probably unshielded so picking up noise) installed there in order to bring the router to the center of the house. I connected the router directly on the phone line and this increased my speed by an extre 1-2mbps in average. 

 

PS: unfortunately we do not have fiber optic in our area...

VileReynard
Hero
Posts: 12,616
Thanks: 582
Fixes: 20
Registered: ‎01-09-2007

Re: broadband latency reaching 3400ms constantly but still not being investigated

Why not site the router next to the BT, install a 4 port Gigabit ethernet switch in the middle of the house.

Connect the two with 25m of ethernet Cat 5e cable (which will have no losses).

This will still work well with fibre, if its ever installed and will support multiple wired devices.

All quite cheap to do - perhaps £30 in total.

"In The Beginning Was The Word, And The Word Was Aardvark."