Ping keeps bouncing/jumping

[Harvey26]

hi there.
recently i have encounter a problem which has frustrated me a lot and i cant seem to find a solution anywhere.
so basically until recently my latency has been absolutely fine with pings of 20 on average all the time whilst gaming on games like counter strike: global offensive. However for about a week my ping has been constantly jumping to from around 50/60 ping all the way up to 1000+ and i don't know why. i have the exact same set up and software as before it just sorta started to happen out of the blue and all the other devices connected to my wifi e.g. brothersPC, ipads, phones, have been working fine with no problem.
my drivers are up to date and tis not just with gaming as i ran "ping google.com -t" and still got jumpy results.

it would really help me out if someone could come up with a solution on how to get it stable and i would be very grateful as it is impossible to play csgo online at the moment.

ps: Im sorry f my grammar was bad or i was unclear feel free to ask anything.

 

[ubuysa]

You can check that it's not your problem by going to http://www.dslreports.com/tools/pingtest and running the comprehensive ping tests there. This website send out 50 pings/Second to a globally diverse range of servers and presents the results both in tabular and graphical form. The graph is particularly useful for detecting jitter. If you see a nice central cluster of ping responses in the graph there is nothing wrong with your PC or your ISP and the issue must be elsewhere (and thus probably outside your control).

 

[Harvey26]

Thanks for the reply, I tested my ping on a website similar to that before and sometimes it would have 23 m/s with 1/2m/s jitter and other times it would have 90m/s with about 50m/s jitter. Lao I know this isn't on my service provider (even though they're crap) as consoles and other computers work fine with no jitter.

 

[ubuysa]

Thanks for the reply, I tested my ping on a website similar to that before and sometimes it would have 23 m/s with 1/2m/s jitter and other times it would have 90m/s with about 50m/s jitter. Lao I know this isn't on my service provider (even though they're crap) as consoles and other computers work fine with no jitter.

As you clearly know, the network delays could be aywhere along the route between you and the server you're trying to connect to. All you can really do is ensure that the problems are not with you or your ISP.

 

[SpyderTracks]

What network card do you have? I take it your connected on wireless?

 

[Harvey26]

My network card is a ralink rt61 turbo

 

[mishra]

Can you switch-off and/or disconnect all devices from your router. Then make sure you restart main router and only have your own PC connected by cable (no other devices using your broadband/network)?
Is the same problem still there?

It could be just DNS issue. Can you ping by IP address instead (ie: ping 8.8.8.8 -t ). Is the issue still there?

You may want to type in command prompt:
ipconfig /flushdns
ipconfig /registerdns
ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew

I believe you are using WiFi to connect to your router. Could you check by connecting cable?

 

[ubuysa]

Can you switch-off and/or disconnect all devices from your router. Then make sure you restart main router and only have your own PC connected by cable (no other devices using your broadband/network)?
Is the same problem still there?

It could be just DNS issue. Can you ping by IP address instead (ie: ping 8.8.8.8 -t ). Is the issue still there?

You may want to type in command prompt:
ipconfig /flushdns
ipconfig /registerdns
ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew

I believe you are using WiFi to connect to your router. Could you check by connecting cable?

It's not going to be DNS, in the first post the OP is having problems pinging an IP address.

 

[mishra]

He clearly states he is pinging "www.google.com" not sure how you can tell he is pinging IP address. Unless I am missing something. I am not saying it is a DNS issue but issues with DNS could show unstable ping times.

 

[Distinct]

Are you able to connect through Ethernet temporarily? If so do this and re-test. If the issue does not continue look in to a new wireless card and due to the amount of devices you have mentioned that connect to your internet with no issues I would advise looking in to 5GHz. Check your router has it (if not your ISP will probably send you one if they have one for free) and purchase a new card rather than a replacement - I personally think that will fix your issue but yeah my two cents.

 

[thisisevilevil]

Wireless signals can be erratic at times. This is usually because you don't know how many there is nearby, and how many access points is broadcasting on the same signal. 2.4GHz is, unfortunately, a widely used frequency and the signal is very easily disrupted (Microwaves, Wireless phones, Wireless Gaming Headsets etc.). Imagine you also have maybe 10-15 nearby access points broadcasting on 2.4GHz, with at least 3 clients connecting to the same on the same frequency. That's a huge mess, I can tell you that. It might work for a while, but you can never expect it to work a 100%. You can confirm this scenario by simply pinging your own router, then you should see the same results, as from the screenshot you posted, when the issue occurs. Use ping x.x.x.x -t (x.x.x.x would be the IP of your router. The -t simply specifies an unlimited amount of pings, so it will only stop, when you do a CTRL-C or close the cmd prompt). There's also this little neat tool, which can basically tell you how many access points is nearby, and what channel they are broadcasting on: http://www.techspot.com/downloads/5936-inssider.html - Also keep in mind that Wireless bandwidth is largely shared between users. So you already mentioned that there's a few people connected to this access point. More people connected, that is actively using the connection = Slower wireless speed.

If you currently have one of those dual band routers, where you have the option of having 1 band of 5GHz and 1 band of 2.4GHz, you should go for that. If you only have a simple router, that can only broadcast 1 signal, keep in mind, if you switch your router to broadcast on 5GHz, a lot of older devices will not be able to see the access point, as they can only communicate on 2.4GHz.

In the end, if you plan on doing serious gaming, using a cable is always the better option. If it's not possible, consider investing in an AC router + an AC WLAN card. The technology has improved a lot over N-draft + A lot of the better AC routers have Dual band or more, so you for instance, can reserve one band for online gaming, and another band for streaming HD movies/downloading stuff.

 

[ubuysa]

He clearly states he is pinging "www.google.com" not sure how you can tell he is pinging IP address. Unless I am missing something. I am not saying it is a DNS issue but issues with DNS could show unstable ping times.

Look at the output of the ping he's complaining about in the first post. The DNS lookup has been done, each ping goes to an IP address and that's where the delays he's talking about occur.

 

[mishra]

Look at the output of the ping he's complaining about in the first post. The DNS lookup has been done, each ping goes to an IP address and that's where the delays he's talking about occur.

You sir are correct. You know, I always thought each iteration of ping does it's own DNS lookup... oh well everyday is a school day.

 

[ubuysa]

You sir are correct. You know, I always thought each iteration of ping does it's own DNS lookup... oh well everyday is a school day.

It certainly is.

If you enter ping /? you'll get the full list of switches. So for example, ping -n 15 www.microsoft.com will do one DNS lookup forllowed by 15 pings to the same IP address.