Consistent Latency Spikes

[#1]

Hi Plusnet team,

Since setting up my connection I have occasionally been experiencing periods of Latency Spikes where the connection will jump from a latency of 30ms to ~300ms alternatively every few seconds when playing various online games.

I have ran the Performance Test at http://speedtest.btwholesale.com/ which came back 'inconclusive' and have attached various tracert's/pings to show the problem in action.

I have considered buying a 3rd party router to attempt to fix the issue, although I am not sure this would achieve anything! It would be great to try and diagnose the issue before taking action.

Thanks,

Matt

[#2]

Welcome to the forums @Grogar 

Hmm, well. The only thing I can offer is that Plusnet were going to be looking at (your 3rd hop) 141.hiper over 2 weeks ago..

Erm, is it? 141.hyper..... still timing out here (just this very moment checked).

(ignore me misspelling hiper)

You're not impacted by this issue though.  I know this because I know what IP you're using and it's not in the impacted range.

Was a reply I got at the time

3 * * * Request timed out.
4 10 ms 10 ms 10 ms 140.hiper04.sheff.dial.plus.net.uk [195.166.143.140]

So I gave another example

Hey @DS, those timed out responses don't indicate a problem, just that the host didn't respond to the traceroute.  Routers can be configured to ignore or de-prioritise ICMP traffic like traceroutes.

Which was the reply

I then replied with this:

What I was pointing out, was most of the times I've tested, the 3rd hop sometimes is there (141.hyper) with * * x ms, * x x ms or indeed not there at all (as above).

I know hop2 won't be there, plus I wasn't sure if hop 7 should be there either.

I'm not too up on why I sometimes see '141 hyper' then why I don't - same tracert to xyz and it always is either there (but not x x x ms) or not there.

And the reply was

@Kelly  wrote on 07/03/19

Routing changes when it needs to/is forced to.  It might indicate an issue, or not!  I'll have a closer look though as the 141.hyper thing popped up in a separate conversation internally today.

(my bold)

I did reply here but to date I have not had a reply back.

So, maybe Plusnet can find out it 141 hiper was looked at or not...?

This may then give you an answer?

[#3]

ADSL or Fibre?

Upload/Download speeds?

Are speeds "normal"?

Wifi or Ethernet cable?

I run a script that does a background speedtest every 2 hours that my PC is switched on and writes the result to a file.

It's basically similar to signing up to https://www.speedtest.net/ which will show your speeds & ping times (provided you remember to run it periodically).

[#4]

- Fibre

- Bandwith is absolutely fine, I pay for 76mb/s + 8mb/s and I consistently get close to that

- Speeds are totally 'normal'

- I have been rotating between Ethernet & Powerline to attempt to diagnose the issue locally, both have the same problem

@DS thanks for your reply, looks like loads of people are having similar issues (I wonder if it's hardware related!)

[#5]

I have just noticed it seems to be to do with when I am streaming video. I am watching a game stream and it causes the regular ping spikes, when I pause the stream the ping totally flatlines at 20-30ms.

This can't be expected behaivour?

Edit: It seems to just be whilst watching Twitch Streams (BBC iPlayer streams do not cause the ping issues)

[#6]

Not a problem and I'm glad I could let you know you're not alone

I've been personally 'harping' on about this for too long. If I had just £1 for every tracert I've done, I could have bought myself out this blooming contract. Most of mine are very erratic within Plusnets network, but again I'm the only one or my evidence gets skimmed over .....

In your case, being a gamer, although it looks like you already are, going to a static IP has helped others out there. We used to be gamers but that stopped not long after coming to PN, could be a coincidence, or maybe not.

They can't see what it's like at this end. This laptop I'm currently using have been factory reset twice since being with Plusnet. Same recently with another laptop. My TV was doing, sorry, trying to do an update via the interweb when my connection dropped - the TV manufacturer had to send me the file via the post in USB format just to getting it off the stuck boot screen. But mines an isolated issue. The router recent firmware appears to be borked too. Anyhoo, I do have a connection issue, it's been going on a while now, the then 'threat' of £65 for a no fault scenario put me off pursuing it, but this time I'm sticking with this until they either let me go, or Openreach pull their finger out and fix it.

I really hope they find the issue within their network as this will stop 'several' unhappy bunnies for moaning

edit

I have just noticed it seems to be to do with when I am streaming video.

Crikey, you living in my house? I've been having many issues with streaming content too - the amount of times YT (for example) has buffered is unbelievable - erratic, poor PQ, 'loading for slow connections' and some (rare) days it's fine. But it can't be an issue on their network..... It also happens with just this laptop and nobody else using the connection.

[#7]

There are lots of reports on the BT forums as well - streaming Netflix in particular seems to cause large latency spikes while gaming.  Some have solved it by buying a new router so might be worth trying?  What is your bufferbloat rating on this speed test?

http://www.dslreports.com/speedtest

[#8]

For the benefit of comparison, carried out at 01:35 on 22/03/19 - therefore just me online.

(only showing the date it was saved as proof, not that it's needed)

Note the overall, bufferbloat, quality, speed and the only thing photo shopped is my user ID on the properties bit.

And that's with a 2 metre brand new decent quality ethernet cable!!

I rest my case (but until recently my upload was 1.8Mbps or lower)

[#9]

What is the sync rate on your router?  Your speeds are pretty low - do you get higher speeds on any other speed test sites?

[#10]

Well, you did ask!!

0126 on 220219
Download Speed (Mbps): 1.70
Upload Speed (Mbps) : 1.94
Ping Latency (ms): 55

1133 on 220219
Download Speed (Mbps): 24.64
Upload Speed (Mbps) : 2.69
Ping Latency (ms): 46

1222 on 22.02.19
Download Speed (Mbps): 1.91
Upload Speed (Mbps) : 2.67
Ping Latency (ms): 41

1320 on 23.02.19
Download Speed (Mbps): 1.67
Upload Speed (Mbps) : 2.70
Ping Latency (ms): 57

1725 on 24.02.19
Download Speed (Mbps): 95.36
Upload Speed (Mbps) : 1.16
Ping Latency (ms): 178

0120 on 27.02.19
Download Speed (Mbps): 771.04
Upload Speed (Mbps) : 2.11
Ping Latency (ms): 60

02.03.19 at 1740
5. DSL uptime: 0 days, 14:35:23
6. Data rate: 2522 / 22189
7. Maximum data rate: 2094 / 22835
8. Noise margin: 4.0 / 4.9

02.03.19 at 1810
5. DSL uptime: 0 days, 15:04:58
6. Data rate: 2522 / 22189
7. Maximum data rate: 1930 / 22823
8. Noise margin: 2.6 / 4.8

02.03.19 at 1921
5. DSL uptime: 0 days, 16:16:45
6. Data rate: 2522 / 22189
7. Maximum data rate: 1702 / 22715
8. Noise margin: 1.8 / 4.7

02.03.19 at 1942
5. DSL uptime: 0 days, 16:36:07
6. Data rate: 2522 / 22189
7. Maximum data rate: 1716 / 22627
8. Noise margin: 1.7 / 4.7

02.03.19 at 2022
5. DSL uptime: 0 days, 17:17:29
6. Data rate: 2522 / 22189
7. Maximum data rate: 2602 / 23205
8. Noise margin: 7.0 / 5.0

5. DSL uptime: 0 days, 17:19:27
6. Data rate: 2522 / 22189
7. Maximum data rate: 1657 / 22759
8. Noise margin: 1.6 / 4.7

5. DSL uptime: 0 days, 17:24:07
6. Data rate: 2522 / 22189
7. Maximum data rate: 1657 / 22823
8. Noise margin: 1.6 / 4.7

5. DSL uptime: 0 days, 17:27:23
6. Data rate: 2522 / 22189
7. Maximum data rate: 1657 / 22735
8. Noise margin: 1.5 / 4.7

5. DSL uptime: 0 days, 17:55:39
6. Data rate: 2522 / 22189
7. Maximum data rate: 1653 / 22874
8. Noise margin: 1.5 / 4.8

5. DSL uptime: 0 days, 18:13:01
6. Data rate: 2522 / 22189
7. Maximum data rate: 2637 / 23213
8. Noise margin: 7.0 / 5.0

5. DSL uptime: 0 days, 20:52:19
6. Data rate: 2522 / 22189
7. Maximum data rate: 2178 / 23133
8. Noise margin: 4.1 / 4.9

5. DSL uptime: 0 days, 20:59:48
6. Data rate: 2522 / 22189
7. Maximum data rate: 2168 / 23185
8. Noise margin: 4.1 / 5.0

2304 on 03.03.19
5. DSL uptime: 1 days, 19:58:59
6. Data rate: 2522 / 22189
7. Maximum data rate: 2532 / 23097
8. Noise margin: 6.6 / 4.9

Above are some historic BTw test results and rates from the hub.

I do have an ongoing connection issue - dropping and bouncing SNR (up and down). Engineer #3 swapped all my d-side and e-side to another pair, which brought the upload speed up to around 3Mbps - best I've had it on VDSL. Enginner #4 coming on the 26/03.

Here's the latest stats

6. Data rate: 3854 / 30910
7. Maximum data rate: 2551 / 31841
8. Noise margin: 1.8 / 5.2

(note the upload SNR)

TBB speed tester is the best one thus far, it tends to be accurate. You'll see a BTw one (above) did give 771.04Mbps which is totally incorrect.

The last BTw result (which actually completed) was around 18Mbps.

Last TBB result (during this reply) was 28.5Mbps d/l and 1.8Mbps u/l.

But even when the connection is stable, it's still hit and miss

(all above on ethernet)

[#11]

Hi @Grogar

I've tested your line and I can see some errors on your line which could be causing the issue.

If you would please rule your internal wiring out by plugging the connection into your test socket which is under the faceplate of your master socket and seeing if you are still experiencing latency issues. This rules out internal wiring, face plates and extension sockets as being the cause. How to locate the test socket and set your connection into it can be found here:
https://community.plus.net/t5/Library/Testing-From-The-Master-Socket/ba-p/1322242

Please do let us know once it is in the test socket so we can run another test.

[#12]

Hi@Beyhive 

My router has actually been in the Test socket for the last few months after I had some problems with my router dropping connection (putting it into the Test socket seemed to eliminate these problems).

Thanks!

[#13]

Hi @Grogar,

Thanks for getting back in touch. It sounds like you may have already run through this, but just before we investigate any further I'd ask if you've been able to through our online troubleshooting guide? For reference, this can be viewed here.

If the steps in the above guide fail to improve your broadband speeds then we'll need to arrange for an engineer to come out and investigate the fault further. Before we can arrange for this to go ahead, we'll need you to read and respond to a ticket I've raised on your account, which can be viewed here.

To clarify, the engineer we are proposing to book would investigate and attempt to resolve the cause of your speeds being below the estimated speed range for your line - not necessarily the issues you are experiencing with latency.

[#14]

Hi @TheMightyAJ,

I don't have a problem with broadband speeds atleast from my point of view, the bandwith is perfectly fine and is reguarly hitting what I expect. My latency problem is all I am looking to solve, it seems to be related to peak times and 'bandwith' as in if I am consuming bandwith via streaming during peak times I receive consistent latency spikes whilst gaming.

I am also not particuarly keen to potentially pay £65 for an engineer to try and solve a problem I dont have in a property I dont own!

[#15]

Hi @Grogar,

Sorry, I should clarify, the reason why we'd be looking to investigate this as a speed fault is because the downstream sync speed is currently showing as performing below the estimated speed range for your line. Unfortunately, latency issues aren't matters that we would typically investigate as faults with the service as these issues more often than not lie between yourself and the server/servers you're connecting to. I've retested your line again and I'm not finding anything from our side that may be causing the latency issues your experiencing, other than whatever is causing your speed to perform below the estimates, which is why I'd suggested this line of fault investigation. With that being said, if you don't want to book an engineer appointment at this time then it's not something you have to do - just let us know if you change your mind and we'll be happy to pick this back up.