Game Stutter on new plusnet contract

[#1]

Hi All,

Am hoping someone can help with this. I am a frequent player of star wars battlefront 2 and have recently switched to plusnet. Since doing so I am experiencing frequent in game stutter where my character 'runs on the spot' or teleports briefly nearby. This never happened on my previous ISP. I can provide an in-game video showing the issue.

Although I normally use powerline adapters since having this issue I have tested it plugged directly into the router and I still see the problem. The router itself is plugged into the master socket. 

Traceroute below doesn't seem to show any issues but it's practically impossible to have this running when the stutter happens as it appears to be random :

Tracing route to gosprapp3171.ea.com [159.153.38.49]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1     4 ms     4 ms     4 ms  dsldevice.lan [192.168.1.254]
  2    24 ms    54 ms    15 ms  84.93.253.112
  3    19 ms    18 ms    16 ms  84.93.253.115
  4    17 ms    16 ms    16 ms  195.99.125.134
  5    18 ms    31 ms    25 ms  peer7-et-4-1-5.telehouse.ukcore.bt.net [194.72.16.142]
  6    16 ms    16 ms    16 ms  166-49-128-32.eu.bt.net [166.49.128.32]
  7    17 ms    16 ms    16 ms  ldn-b1-link.telia.net [213.248.97.48]
  8    16 ms    18 ms    17 ms  ldn-bb3-link.telia.net [62.115.114.234]
  9    25 ms    25 ms    26 ms  dln-b1-link.telia.net [62.115.119.243]
 10    26 ms    27 ms    25 ms  bioware-ic-147166-dln-b3.c.telia.net [80.239.192.78]
 11    28 ms    30 ms    28 ms  159.153.72.22
 12    27 ms    28 ms    26 ms  gosprapp3171.ea.com [159.153.38.49]

I haven't made any changes to the router settings or anything else. I'd be grateful if someone could advise.

Thanks

[#2]

Hi @almclean15,

Thanks for getting in touch.

I'm sorry to hear of the game stutter issue and appreciate the frustration this is causing.

I've checked the line diagnostics which are coming back showing you have a downstream rate of 78.0 Mbps and 20.0 Mbps upstream. This suggests your line quality is excellent and indeed there does not appear to be any indicator of interference on the line itself.

In view of this I would suggest you carry out your own domain checks first, as such:

Connect to the test socket:

Wi-Fi troubleshooting (for when you are using Wi-Fi)

Let us know how that goes.

Thanks - LF

[#3]

Thanks LF.

The engineer who came round when I was connected with plusnet replaced my faceplate on the master socket with an NTE5C MK4 and I wondered if this might be the cause as others seem to have had issues (eg https://community.plus.net/t5/Fibre-Broadband/Anyone-with-a-BT-Openreach-NTE5C-Mk4-Faceplate-should-...

I currently have my pc plugged directly (wired) into the plusnet router and this is plugged directly into the test socket and my first test after you replied on Tuesday felt like it was showing an improvement. But having tried exactly the same thing again several times today I am still getting this stutter - eg my character will occasionally run on the spot and/or teleport. I have literally just had this happen to me just a few minutes ago. 

As you say the down and up stream speeds look fine, but is it packet loss, latency or jitter that is the issue here?

Thanks

A

[#4]

Hi @almclean15

Based on your trace route, I'd say it's none of those things because as you've confirmed, the trace route doesn't show any areas of concern at this stage. We need to try and get a trace route, or similar that shows the results of your connection when this issue is occurring - I appreciate that this might be difficult.

I believe there is a utility that can run in the background of your PC which monitors your connection on a longer term basis than a trace route, but the name escapes me - I'm going to throw this open to the community as I am certain that there are better minds in this specific field than mine and I'm sure that someone will pop up shortly with the name of the 3rd party connection monitoring software that eludes me.

If you can continue to run trace routes in the interim that would be helpful.

Thanks

Dave

[#5]

Also worth exploring the contents of this thread here.

Best wishes

Dave

[#6]

Thanks Dave,

I have managed to get a tracert running while I am seeing these issues. Seems to vary in the hop where the delay occurs. This is plugged into the test socket my end and all wired.

Tracing route to gosprapp3171.ea.com [159.153.38.49]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 4 ms 4 ms 4 ms dsldevice.lan [192.168.1.254]
2 16 ms 15 ms 16 ms gi12-0-0-141.ptw-ag01.plus.net [84.93.253.96]
3 18 ms 18 ms 16 ms 84.93.253.99
4 495 ms 16 ms 19 ms 195.99.125.134
5 1233 ms 19 ms 15 ms peer7-et-4-1-5.telehouse.ukcore.bt.net [194.72.16.142]
6 15 ms 15 ms 15 ms 166-49-128-32.eu.bt.net [166.49.128.32]
7 16 ms 15 ms 15 ms ldn-b1-link.telia.net [213.248.97.48]
8 17 ms 17 ms 18 ms ldn-bb3-link.telia.net [62.115.114.234]
9 25 ms 26 ms 27 ms dln-b1-link.telia.net [62.115.119.243]
10 25 ms 26 ms 26 ms bioware-ic-147166-dln-b3.c.telia.net [80.239.192.78]
11 26 ms 25 ms 27 ms 159.153.72.22
12 29 ms 26 ms 29 ms gosprapp3171.ea.com [159.153.38.49]

Tracing route to gosprapp3171.ea.com [159.153.38.49]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 4 ms 5 ms 4 ms dsldevice.lan [192.168.1.254]
2 15 ms 16 ms 15 ms gi12-0-0-141.ptw-ag01.plus.net [84.93.253.96]
3 16 ms 16 ms 15 ms 84.93.253.99
4 16 ms 18 ms 16 ms 195.99.125.134
5 16 ms 16 ms 16 ms peer7-et-4-1-5.telehouse.ukcore.bt.net [194.72.16.142]
6 16 ms 17 ms 16 ms 166-49-128-32.eu.bt.net [166.49.128.32]
7 15 ms 15 ms 16 ms ldn-b1-link.telia.net [213.248.97.48]
8 17 ms 17 ms 18 ms ldn-bb3-link.telia.net [62.115.114.234]
9 1915 ms 26 ms 26 ms dln-b1-link.telia.net [62.115.119.243]
10 25 ms 25 ms 26 ms bioware-ic-147166-dln-b3.c.telia.net [80.239.192.78]
11 27 ms 27 ms 27 ms 159.153.72.22
12 27 ms 25 ms 25 ms gosprapp3171.ea.com [159.153.38.49]


Tracing route to gosprapp3171.ea.com [159.153.38.49]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 7 ms 5 ms 8 ms dsldevice.lan [192.168.1.254]
2 15 ms 14 ms 23 ms gi12-0-0-141.ptw-ag01.plus.net [84.93.253.96]
3 19 ms 15 ms 15 ms 84.93.253.99
4 16 ms 16 ms 16 ms 195.99.125.134
5 1560 ms 16 ms 15 ms peer7-et-4-1-5.telehouse.ukcore.bt.net [194.72.16.142]
6 19 ms 16 ms 18 ms 166-49-128-32.eu.bt.net [166.49.128.32]
7 1931 ms 16 ms 16 ms ldn-b1-link.telia.net [213.248.97.48]
8 16 ms 18 ms 17 ms ldn-bb3-link.telia.net [62.115.114.234]
9 29 ms 27 ms 24 ms dln-b1-link.telia.net [62.115.119.243]
10 24 ms 25 ms 25 ms bioware-ic-147166-dln-b3.c.telia.net [80.239.192.78]
11 123 ms 28 ms 26 ms 159.153.72.22
12 26 ms 26 ms 25 ms gosprapp3171.ea.com [159.153.38.49]


Tracing route to gosprapp3171.ea.com [159.153.38.49]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 4 ms 5 ms 4 ms dsldevice.lan [192.168.1.254]
2 1267 ms 14 ms 16 ms gi12-0-0-141.ptw-ag01.plus.net [84.93.253.96]
3 16 ms 17 ms 16 ms 84.93.253.99
4 1303 ms 17 ms 16 ms 195.99.125.134
5 15 ms 16 ms 15 ms peer7-et-4-1-5.telehouse.ukcore.bt.net [194.72.16.142]
6 16 ms 18 ms 17 ms 166-49-128-32.eu.bt.net [166.49.128.32]
7 16 ms 16 ms 17 ms ldn-b1-link.telia.net [213.248.97.48]
8 18 ms 17 ms 16 ms ldn-bb3-link.telia.net [62.115.114.234]
9 25 ms 25 ms 25 ms dln-b1-link.telia.net [62.115.119.243]
10 26 ms 26 ms 28 ms bioware-ic-147166-dln-b3.c.telia.net [80.239.192.78]
11 52 ms 25 ms 26 ms 159.153.72.22
12 27 ms 28 ms 26 ms gosprapp3171.ea.com [159.153.38.49]

Tracing route to gosprapp3171.ea.com [159.153.38.49]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 7 ms 4 ms 4 ms dsldevice.lan [192.168.1.254]
2 23 ms 20 ms 15 ms gi12-0-0-141.ptw-ag01.plus.net [84.93.253.96]
3 20 ms 14 ms 15 ms 84.93.253.99
4 263 ms 25 ms 20 ms 195.99.125.134
5 439 ms 22 ms 23 ms peer7-et-4-1-5.telehouse.ukcore.bt.net [194.72.16.142]
6 15 ms 16 ms 15 ms 166-49-128-32.eu.bt.net [166.49.128.32]
7 15 ms 16 ms 17 ms ldn-b1-link.telia.net [213.248.97.48]
8 1442 ms 19 ms 18 ms ldn-bb3-link.telia.net [62.115.114.234]
9 25 ms 25 ms 25 ms dln-b1-link.telia.net [62.115.119.243]
10 27 ms 27 ms 25 ms bioware-ic-147166-dln-b3.c.telia.net [80.239.192.78]
11 27 ms 30 ms 28 ms 159.153.72.22
12 27 ms 27 ms 26 ms gosprapp3171.ea.com [159.153.38.49]

Tracing route to gosprapp3171.ea.com [159.153.38.49]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 3 ms 5 ms 3 ms dsldevice.lan [192.168.1.254]
2 15 ms 15 ms 16 ms gi12-0-0-141.ptw-ag01.plus.net [84.93.253.96]
3 1077 ms 18 ms 15 ms 84.93.253.99
4 14 ms 14 ms 15 ms 195.99.125.134
5 15 ms 14 ms 14 ms peer7-et-4-1-5.telehouse.ukcore.bt.net [194.72.16.142]
6 18 ms 14 ms 16 ms 166-49-128-32.eu.bt.net [166.49.128.32]
7 16 ms 15 ms 16 ms ldn-b1-link.telia.net [213.248.97.48]
8 17 ms 19 ms 21 ms ldn-bb3-link.telia.net [62.115.114.234]
9 27 ms 27 ms 27 ms dln-b1-link.telia.net [62.115.119.243]
10 26 ms 24 ms 24 ms bioware-ic-147166-dln-b3.c.telia.net [80.239.192.78]
11 26 ms 26 ms 27 ms 159.153.72.22
12 27 ms 26 ms 26 ms gosprapp3171.ea.com [159.153.38.49]

And on a different session when the second hop is to a different plus.net ip
Tracing route to gosprapp3171.ea.com [159.153.38.49]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 1 ms <1 ms 1 ms dsldevice.lan [192.168.1.254]
2 2429 ms 13 ms 12 ms vl241.ptw-ag02.plus.net [84.93.253.120]
3 2044 ms 14 ms 13 ms 84.93.253.127
4 13 ms 13 ms 13 ms 195.99.125.142
5 13 ms 14 ms 13 ms peer7-et-4-1-5.telehouse.ukcore.bt.net [194.72.16.142]
6 13 ms 13 ms 13 ms 166-49-128-32.eu.bt.net [166.49.128.32]
7 16 ms 13 ms 13 ms ldn-b1-link.telia.net [213.248.97.48]
8 14 ms 14 ms 14 ms ldn-bb3-link.telia.net [62.115.114.234]
9 23 ms 23 ms 22 ms dln-b1-link.telia.net [62.115.119.243]
10 23 ms 23 ms 23 ms bioware-ic-147166-dln-b3.c.telia.net [80.239.192.78]
11 24 ms 26 ms 25 ms 159.153.72.22
12 24 ms 23 ms 25 ms gosprapp3171.ea.com [159.153.38.49]

Any further thoughts?

Thanks

Alistair

Moderator's note by Dick (Strat): Post released from Spam Filter.

[#7]

Hi @almclean15 

To my eye those trace-routes don't show any issues even the hops that have excessively high latency. It's normal for intermediate hops to show high latency occasionally or time out completely as those hops would just be setup not to respond back to the ping request in a timely fashion, they'd be prioritising actual internet traffic instead.

The main part is the latency at the end hop and that the trace completes.

Do you play any other games and experience lag when playing them too?

[#8]

Yes, I am getting glitches in other games. All I can see is that I get those large numbers for the first packet when there is a glitch in the play:

Tracing route to gosprapp3171.ea.com [159.153.38.49]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 4 ms 4 ms 4 ms dsldevice.lan [192.168.1.254]
2 1239 ms 14 ms 13 ms 84.93.253.88
3 16 ms 15 ms 15 ms 84.93.253.91
4 21 ms 17 ms 15 ms 195.99.125.136
5 16 ms 23 ms 16 ms peer7-et-7-0-4.telehouse.ukcore.bt.net [62.172.103.164]
6 15 ms 16 ms 15 ms 166-49-128-32.eu.bt.net [166.49.128.32]
7 16 ms 16 ms 17 ms ldn-b1-link.telia.net [213.248.97.48]
8 17 ms 20 ms 18 ms ldn-bb3-link.telia.net [62.115.114.234]
9 26 ms 25 ms 25 ms dln-b1-link.telia.net [62.115.119.243]
10 26 ms 31 ms 29 ms bioware-ic-147166-dln-b3.c.telia.net [80.239.192.78]
11 27 ms 26 ms 30 ms 159.153.72.22
12 26 ms 26 ms 26 ms gosprapp3171.ea.com [159.153.38.49]

Everything is more normal when it is running fine :

Tracing route to gosprapp3171.ea.com [159.153.38.49]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 9 ms 7 ms 4 ms dsldevice.lan [192.168.1.254]
2 18 ms 17 ms 19 ms 84.93.253.88
3 16 ms 16 ms 16 ms 84.93.253.91
4 17 ms 18 ms 19 ms 195.99.125.136
5 20 ms 20 ms 21 ms peer7-et-7-0-4.telehouse.ukcore.bt.net [62.172.103.164]
6 17 ms 15 ms 17 ms 166-49-128-32.eu.bt.net [166.49.128.32]
7 16 ms 20 ms 16 ms ldn-b1-link.telia.net [213.248.97.48]
8 19 ms 18 ms 17 ms ldn-bb3-link.telia.net [62.115.114.234]
9 26 ms 26 ms 27 ms dln-b1-link.telia.net [62.115.119.243]
10 28 ms 32 ms 27 ms bioware-ic-147166-dln-b3.c.telia.net [80.239.192.78]
11 28 ms 30 ms 28 ms 159.153.72.22
12 29 ms 25 ms 26 ms gosprapp3171.ea.com [159.153.38.49]

What else can I try to get to the bottom of this?

Thanks

[#9]

Thanks for getting back to us @almclean15

I'm sorry to hear that you're still having issues.

We've tested your line and we can't see any cause for this.

Are you able to use a tool such as pingplotter?

This will allow us to look into this further

[#10]

Hi All,

In case anyone else has a similar issue, mine was resolved by removing/disabling hyper-v virtualization that I had enabled previously.

Thanks

A