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Has anyone seen this before?

JHewess
Grafter
Posts: 81
Thanks: 4
Registered: ‎20-11-2014

Has anyone seen this before?

Hi all,
a bit of an odd one...
Since last Tuesday (3rd), I've been getting some rather odd ping spikes showing up on my TBB quality meter. They happen every six hours or so, and last for around an hour. See the below image

On this image, you can clearly see the spikes at around 2am, 8am, 1pm, and again just before 7pm. This image is from yesterday. They always have the same pattern, i.e. a slowly increasing set of spikes, a dip / stoppage and then a couple more spikes.
I've ruled out anything at my end from causing this, as I disabled all WLANs and unplugged all network cables from the back of the router as a test at 10.30pm the previous evening. You can see when I starting to re-connect things around 4.30/5pm in the image. I've also noticed some considerably higher ping spikes in general, potential congestion, and the odd bit of packet loss (also evident in the above image). While performance isn't overly effected by them, I have had a bit of buffering on Netflix while they've been happening. Chances are I wouldn't know it was happening if I wasn't monitoring it.
This is how my connection looked prior to these spikes starting

This is a snapshot from Monday 2nd, and shows a typical day's activity, with spikes at 6am (when I check my emails etc when I get up), and then get home just before 5pm, and some Netflix streaming around 6pm.

I was wondering if maybe it might have something to do with maintenance that was scheduled for that Monday night / Tuesday morning (2nd / 3rd), which is listed on Zen as
Quote
"10 second down time for customers untill OSPF reconverges on the ERXs"
but there was no dropped session / packet loss to indicate that my line was effected or included in it. There was more maintenance scheduled last night, listed as
Quote
"BT is implementing a one-touch project to upgrade MSE, MSC, IEA, EES and EEA devices at (Belper, Monmouth, Sapcote, Strood, Turriff, Doncaster, Malton Metro, Shrewsbury, Truro Kenwyn & Faraday). This involves a software upgrade and some hardware changes on the device in a single night under (Program 45 - 7750 Software Upgrade)."
but likewise there was no dropped session / packet loss shown. I was hoping that this second round of maintenance might alleviate this weird 'issue', but it as had no effect.
So my question is: has anyone seen anything like this before? It's not a big deal, but is is rather odd and I'm intrigued to know what might be causing it. While it's far too regular to be man made per se, I'm hoping it's nothing nefarious. I've checked all of my routers logs and there's nothing out of the ordinary, and (not that it's fool proof) there are no unusual connections listed. I've have also not changed any settings, or added/removed any equipment since it started.
10 REPLIES 10
JHewess
Grafter
Posts: 81
Thanks: 4
Registered: ‎20-11-2014

Re: Has anyone seen this before?

A little update on this. The maintenance has had no effect at all, so am ruling that out. I'm starting to think that it's something to do with the 7800dxl router that I'm using. The below ping graph is from Tuesday 17th Feb. We were away all day, so there was no-one around to use the broadband. There are clear spikes every six hours, as before:

However, when switching back to the Plusnet provided Technicolor router, the spikes disappear, and the connection is as it was previously:

This graph is from the 19th. Before the red packet loss spike it's the Technicolor, after is the Billion. I switched them over the previous evening before we went to bed so that I'd get a clear graph with minimal usage overnight.

This graph is from yesterday and shows normal usage at various points during the day. We're back on the Technicolor here. 
Is anyone aware of any issues with the Billion's that might cause these spikes? The odd thing is that I've changed nothing on the router at all, and it never used to display these odd spikes. As per my last post, they just started happening on the 3rd Feb. Weird.
Gus
Aspiring Pro
Posts: 3,236
Thanks: 26
Fixes: 3
Registered: ‎31-07-2007

Re: Has anyone seen this before?

Disable wifi and check again, I get spikes every 2.5 hours when wifi is on, on my billion 8800NL
edit: an example from last week when i was away for a 5 days
FTTP 500 regrade from Tues 28th November
JHewess
Grafter
Posts: 81
Thanks: 4
Registered: ‎20-11-2014

Re: Has anyone seen this before?

Ok Gus, I've give that a try and see what happens, thanks. Turning it off during the day isn't practical for obvious reasons, so will turn it off over night to see what happens. If that is the cause it's bizarre that its just suddenly started. May have to trawl through the WiFi settings and see if there's any obvious cause. I've also updated the Billion's firmware today to 2.32d.dm12, which I doubt will make a difference, but you never know. Clutching at straws really.
JHewess
Grafter
Posts: 81
Thanks: 4
Registered: ‎20-11-2014

Re: Has anyone seen this before?

Gus, I concur, it's definitely WiFi related. I've experimented with turning both the 2.4 and 5g bands off, either one at a time or both together, and with both of them off the ping graph is completely clear. I've also posted on the Billion forums, but am no closer to finding a cause or solution. Am seriously considering ditching the Billion.
brueton
Grafter
Posts: 313
Thanks: 7
Registered: ‎03-07-2009

Re: Has anyone seen this before?

I am also seeing regular ping spikes on my 8800NL (2.32d.dh14). I agree it is WiFi related, they disappear when it is disabled.
There should be a new version of firmware for the 8800NL available soon, 2.32d.dh52 was released on 10 Feb 2015 but withdrawn the next day because of authentication problems. I have a couple of older versions of the firmware and will try them out when I get a chance.
JHewess
Grafter
Posts: 81
Thanks: 4
Registered: ‎20-11-2014

Re: Has anyone seen this before?

Cool, thanks Pete, kinda glad it's not just me. Here's the thread I started over on Billion's forum incase either of you wanted to keep an eye on it: http://www.billion.uk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=3524
brueton
Grafter
Posts: 313
Thanks: 7
Registered: ‎03-07-2009

Re: Has anyone seen this before?

I have raised a thread in the 8800 series forum: http://www.billion.uk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=3529
JHewess
Grafter
Posts: 81
Thanks: 4
Registered: ‎20-11-2014

Re: Has anyone seen this before?

Excellent. Fingers crossed they can suss it.  Smiley
brueton
Grafter
Posts: 313
Thanks: 7
Registered: ‎03-07-2009

Re: Has anyone seen this before?

It looks as if version 2.32d.dh65 of the firmware for the 8800NL may have fixed my problem with regular ping spikes.
Pete
JHewess
Grafter
Posts: 81
Thanks: 4
Registered: ‎20-11-2014

Re: Has anyone seen this before?

Glad to hear it Pete. Still nothing for the 7800 though so I'll give em a poke.