My Ping and I

[#1]

I'm stumped

I've seen some comments from staffers whereby they've said the latency results for another poster on here (sorry forgot user ID, may bad) with similar results are normal (or words to that effect)

I have no idea why the 2nd hop differs or why they are higher sometimes.

The router dropping is possibly coz they switched you back to the original port

(but if that's the case, why are you having latency issues)

What results do you get from a tracert to pingbox1.thinkbroadband.com ?

I probably won't be able to crack this, but posting it up must be beneficial for Anoush to pass on to whomever is looking at this.

[#2]

as requested... although the output doesn't seem helpful at all

[#3]

To me it does

(but PN might be right on this, I still think they should all be the same)

1st tracert, hop 5  - goes via Telehouse. (pointless info, but back in 2000 98% of the UK's internet went through this building)

2nd tracert, hop 8 - I also see this from time to time and put it down to their (TBB's) end

3rd tracert, hop 2 - It takes longer via your gateway, I just can't explain why

If all was fine, then I'd expect to see all 3 traceroute results to be showing similar results, but they are how mine used to be.... different!

[#4]

@Gandalf Honestly?  I've showed you videos with my ping spiking all over the place and countless traceroutes detailing the problem, I don't know how to detail it further. 

When paying for the top dollar for the top package, advertised as suitable for online gaming, I'd expect to be able to play games on it and use more than 600kbps bandwidth without it becoming unplayable. With the advent of cloud gaming it's only going to become more of an issue. 

There are plenty of similar horror stories with BT, wondering if they've implemented some low-key traffic shaping to video streaming sites if plusnet haven't. 

https://community.bt.com/t5/Home-setup-Wi-Fi-network/Recent-online-gaming-ping-spikes-when-streaming...

[#5]

@ElGappo, I’m not dismissing what you’re saying and I’m sorry if has come across that way. I’ve just said that those graphs don’t show any packet loss, I do understand you’re experiencing lag while gaming when the connection is being used.

@jbligh87, the high latency to BBC is probably going to be expected if they rate limit ICMP and we already know this community site can be a bit sluggish at times so that likely isn’t helping the results on that trace-route. That said I acknowledge you’re seeing high latency on certain hops to the pingbox address.

I’ve had a look into your Wireshark capture and I think I’ll need some more time to analyse it, I’ve not actually seen one before so I’ll need to enlist some help. Tricky part is getting it to the office, it’s a pretty big file.

Aside from seeing the trace-routes and trying in vain to find the cause, at this point it may be worth waiting to see what the Marvel Team(the experienced faults advisers at BTWholesale I emailed) reply back with, although I suspect it may involve arranging further engineers. This actually may not be a bad idea in ElGappo’s case, because and unless I’m not remembering correctly  I don’t think we’ve sent out 1 engineer yet. Probably worth exploring the possibility of a problem on the Openreach network.

Like to add that it’s probably almost as frustrating for us when you guys experience problems and we just can’t figure out what is causing it, latency issues are the most tricky and difficult.

[#6]

we already know this community site can be a bit sluggish at times

sluggish at times I tend to have it normal at times

Tricky part is getting it to the office, it’s a pretty big file

Invite them to yours?

that it’s probably almost as frustrating for us when you guys experience problems and we just can’t figure out what is causing it

I have to agree. You're the ones that get all of our love and affection!!

As an aside, borrowed from the recently linked topic from my enemy, a member of their staff has stated

So I am going to believe that Netlix have recently changed something in their stream to collect data which is impacting some other services on our BT Hub related to QoS, I've just had one of our Hub Development guys replicate the issue with some low level testing and can see the different levels of impact between Netflix and other streaming services

But BT are not going to mention that chances are BT also cache certain content, namely Netflix...? tut tut.

(and if their PrivPol is like PN's, then.... actually no.... not going there.... there's enough stuff to be getting on with on this thread me thinks)

Anyway, looking at that thread, this issue appears to be very much like we have on here. I still don't get how I had issues for well over a year with gaming and streaming etc, now since then I don't appear to be having issues and yet others that didn't have issues are recently reporting it. I totally get the frustration as I know what it's like.

(fwiw, I'm currently up to page 11 on that BT thread)

[#7]

Posted earlier on in this threat, I have exactly all the same issues. Three different routers used now with no varying results, I have a router with excellent QoS settings (connected via LAN), and a standalone wifi access point with bandwith restriction capabilities. With the QoS and Wifi restricted to 20% capacity, the spikes are still relentless while Netflix is running.

I have tested everything in my house extensively, very much doubt its an internal issue.

[#8]

Having read all 27 pages of the forum thread @ElGappo linked to, I’ve a feeling that this may be an issue on the SVLAN infrastructure.

Tomorrow when I’m back in the office I’m going to raise this with the quality assurance/complex faults team at Wholesale to investigate further

While we’ve tried a VLAN move for @jbligh87 already, hopefully by providing multiple circuits affected our suppliers may be able to spot something. Will keep everyone here posted.

[#9]

So I read that whole thread.

And apart from one post from BT, there were 2 forum edits (they still use employees for moderating the forums)

Here's some of the only reply from BT. Their only comments were on 28/04/19, from a person I actually used to known (and met in person)

Thanks for all the comments and please accept my sincere apologies for the problems some of you are having with online gaming. As an online gamer myself I can appreciate how frustrating this can be.

From the comments that have been posted in the last few months we understand that some of you are reporting an increase in latency, on your connection when streaming content from Netflix and other streaming services. This then has a knock on effect on your gaming experience.

I have reported a case to our network team to make sure that BT has not implemented any changes on the network side of things that may have an impact. Today I have received an update that both the core and access network has been checked and there is nothing here that would explain the problems being reported on this thread. As <another poster> has mentioned, reports of this nature appear all over the internet across a multitude of ISP’s both in the UK and worldwide so it doesn’t seem specific to any one provider or location.

I appreciate my comments will come as a disappointment because I cannot share any info that may help, however I just wanted to let you all know that your comments have not gone unnoticed, and if there was anything we could do to improve the situation we would have.

The poster whom he quoted, is another person I got to know fairly well during my time on those forums. He's ex BT and he wrote several replies, the one of some interest (not that all of them were not interesting) was a possible workaround:

cannot be done on a home hub unless you have all devices connected via a managed Ethernet switch.

Identify the device that is streaming Netflix and restrict its download bandwidth to 1.5Mbs (Netflix recommended minimum speed) and its upload bandwidth to 300Kbs. Ensure that its given the lowest possible priority on your network.

See if that helps. If that fixes the problem, then you can try increasing the Netflix download speed a little bit at a time. Netflix recommend 3.0Mbs for DVD quality.

Apply the same limits to any other video streaming device, apart from BT YouView.

Ensure that the gaming console/computer is connected using a direct Ethernet cable, to eliminate any latency caused by a wireless connection. If you are using a computer for gaming, make sure there is no other program running which is using the network, like Cloud services, email, or Windows updates

But this doesn't explain if they also use a caching system on their network, of which Plusnet do. This brings content closer to us (the end user), though guess where the content is stored could be in part why the issues in this thread have been raised.

I still don't understand why the latency 'blips' on hop 2 for those of you on a static IP. The only possible factor is that you're all in the same area (but we don't need to know where you are, these are just my thoughts).

[#10]

So basically what im taking from the post from the BT forums is that, as expected its a BT/PN issue with our lines or the exchange or whatever but its basically never going to be fixed other than one day (like DS) it might fix itself and somebody else will get a smack with the [-Censored-]ty end of the stick?

Am i within my rights to cancel my contract here? i asked earlier about reducing my package back to the cheaper one, because i only upgraded to try and fix this issue, i never contacted that number because i fully expect to get connected to india and told that i cannot downgrade, then explain my ping issue only to be told that the person im speaking to doesnt know what a "ping" is.....

Im not even sure switching to another provider is the answer here, not when BT control all the lines? the only other option is virgin media and the council havnt installed the line yet at my house

[#11]

@gdaviez, sorry to hear that. I'm happy to stay on top of this until we get to the cause of the issues you guys are experiencing whether that's something in common between you all or individual issues.

As per my previous reply I'm going to engage our suppliers quality assurance team tomorrow. We'll also see what the marvel team's investigation brings, I should hopefully have an update tomorrow on the back of that.

With regards to calling us I can assure you that our contact centres are 100% based in the UK.

Apologies for the inconvenience caused.

[#12]

(edit. in reply to post 325)

Actually, I think Plusnet are more likely to work with us on this, whereas BT don't get this involved.

I had this issue for well over 12 months, but with a dropping connection it was hard to find the actual cause. I did think moving to a hub 6 would have fixed mine, as the hub one is a re-badged BT Hub 5 and those of us whom are familiar with those routers know how they work. The last OR engineer appears to have fixed the dropping connection (I did have a fault free connection for 30 days recently). In my case, it does appear to be the data centre that fixed my latency issues and it was eventually confirmed that I was one of the users on that data centre.

As it's fixed, I wouldn't have thought the 'fault' has reappeared,  even on other connections, but it is something that causes me to be in doubt.

I have no idea about your contract or if they will let you leave earlier than planned.

Plusnet do not have an Indian call centre, they're UK based only

I know how it feels to be having these issues, if I knew what it was I'd have said so by now.

(It is interesting that BT customers have had the same issue, plus there are a few other PN customers reporting latency issues too, this can't be ignored)

[#13]

The call centers are UK based but I spent every single night for at least 3 weeks and having to start right from the very beginning with every call center team member like my account notes didn't exist. I got "have you tried resetting the router?" Or "are you using WiFi" Every day for 3 weeks..on top of that I was getting lied to (reported, identified and escalated internally) as team members were telling me engineers were coming out, me taking time off work then finding there was no record of the engineer being booked at all. It was an absolute nightmare using the call center.

The forums at least have people who handle an issue and see it through. The call centers are totally useless at talking to eachother, BT engineers and the customer and treat your issue as a brand new one every time you speak to someone.

Id like to hear back from these other teams to work out if this is going to be fixed any time soon...

Also my internet dropped out again lastnight.

[#14]

@jbligh87, sorry to hear you've had a poor experience on the occasions you've called in.

I'll make sure feedback is provided to the appropriate advisers regarding the way they've handled things.

I'd also like to note that the majority of staff myself included you see on here had once been on inbound calls, so I can say for certainty that this is not normal or what we'd expect when you call us.

With regards to your connection dropping, this would likely be something we'll need to arrange another engineer to investigate because it's likely not to do with anything we've been discussing recently.

Can you confirm your router is plugged into the master socket?

Thanks.

[#15]

I spent every single night for at least 3 weeks and having to start right from the very beginning with every call center team member like my account notes didn't exist. I got "have you tried resetting the router?" Or "are you using WiFi" Every day for 3 weeks..on top of that I was getting lied to (reported, identified and escalated internally) as team members were telling me engineers were coming out, me taking time off work then finding there was no record of the engineer being booked at all. It was an absolute nightmare using the call center.

Wow

(not a good wow, a bad wow)

I could probably count on one hand how many times I've called in, more so after reading how long it can take to get through. This is why I tend to mention 'stuff' on here instead, you appear to get a better response.

(though some staff don't always read back, but sometimes they do, but at least one does do this in his own time - he doesn't need to but I can't fault him for that!)

Anyway, I've read a post today whereby a PN staff member has referred to a 200page BT Forum thread that is/was? discussing latency issues whilst other streaming takes place, the PN staff member also mentions BT are/have? looked at a data centre, could Anoush (or a.n.other) look into this to see if this thread is being linked to other reports?