Intermittently high ping, 200-500ms of latency

[johndoe997]

Been having this issue of a much higher latency than usual for this broadband connection. Before, it would usually max out at around 30-40ms of latency at worst, but recently (beginning around 6 months ago) it goes as high as 500ms and can stay that way for several hours, or persist for a short while then miraculously go away. It basically dictates when its worth playing anything online.

I'm pretty sure it's not my connection to the online servers in the games I play because it persists regardless of the game, and the latency can be so high that even videos take a second before loading anything into the buffer. the download speeds themselves are fine, and within expectations for my expected speed.

I've tried to isolate the variables, by testing various online games and online ping-testers, but it persists. I've also tried turning the router for for around half and hour, then plugged it back in to see if that may help, but it didn't do anything.  Of course, going through the chatbot to try to get some help went nowhere so I thought I'd ask here.

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Hi john,

I'm sorry to hear this. Could you try powering down the router for a full 30 minutes please and then retest this again. This will reset the current session so just wondering if there is any change with the ping/latency following this?

Thanks

Michelle

[johndoe997]

Sorry for the delay, It was actually fairly consistent until a couple of days ago where its actually now consistently high, at least in the eveningtime when I'm playing a game. Even late into the night and almost nobody in the house is also using the internet (and likely the entire neighbourhood isn't using it either), it's there's still quite high latency, somethimes dropping down to 30 or so ms, only to jump back up again for prolonged periods. As I write this, it's pretty abysmal (see attached).

[Chris-TalkTalk]

Hi johndoe997,

I can't see any issues at our end. Connection looks stable and error count is pretty much zero every hour. Have you noticed any improvement over the last few days as there was a line profile change at the end of March?

Chris
 

[johndoe997]

Sorry for the delay, I have tested an older router and the performance/issues I was experiencing were pretty similar, maybe a bit worse because it was an older model, so I'm back to using the newer one. Like before, There was a short period where it seemed fine, but then issues have again started cropping up more consistently i.e. one day it will be at around 200-500ms, then during some sessions it wont rise past 30ms... 

Nothing on my end seems to suggest that my downloads are being saturated, so I don't really know the cause unless it's happening on the ISP end.

Can you check to see the line latency at multiple times rather than once? like, It might be fine when you check it but that's literally what 'inconsistent' means: sometimes its working fine but sometimes its not. AT the time of posting this, its not looking great, very consistent spiking to over 900ms.

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Morning,

Thanks for the update. I've re-checked the connection stats now and the connection stats look really consistent. Do you have an alternative router that you could test with please?

Thanks

Michelle

[johndoe997]

Oh hey, sorry for the silence for a while. I've been gathering some times and measuring the ping spikes, both whenever I see noticeable lag in games and measuring them with https://www.netmeter.co.uk/ping-test/ . I've charted below some of the times I was seeing spikes, and when they returned to normal, or what i'd consider playable. 

Start time	End time	Ping measured
4:50PM   19/02/24	6:10PM   19/02/24	80-350ms
10:30PM  19/02/24	12:30AM  20/02/24	30-80ms
12:30AM  20/02/24	1:00AM   20/02/24	120-450ms
12:10AM  21/02/24	3:30AM   21/02/24	20-40ms
8:00PM   21/02/24	8:30PM   21/02/24	20-110ms
8:30PM   21/02/24	11:50PM  21/02/24	150-350ms
12:00AM  22/02/24	1:00AM   22/02/24	25-60ms
10:30PM  22/02/24	3:00AM   23/03/24	30-90ms
4:30PM   25/02/24	12:30AM  26/02/24	150-400ms
12:30AM  26/02/24	5:30AM  26/02/24	18-60ms
3:30PM 13/03/24	4:30PM 13/03/24	90-400ms

Now, As you can see there's a 2 and a half week long gap between the last measurement (13/03/24), and the one before it (26/02/24), and that's because I measured very normal latency in those weeks, to the point I thought that maybe the problem had solved itself. This would be between 20-100ms of delay, which is perfectly playable in my book. There would be the occasional spike to 300, or even 500 but it would be only for a second or two during a 2-3 hour long play session. In the past 2-3 days though, this has become much less consistent, where it might arguably be as bad as it was before.

I'm not sure what could be the cause at my end, I didn't fiddle with my setup in any way other than swapping some of the ethernet cables around etc, although I plugged my computer directly into the router during a high-ping period and still got the high ping (and vice versa during normal, low ping). 

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Morning john,

How are you getting on?

Thanks

Michelle

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Hi john,

Ok thank you and we'll check back in with you in a few days to see how you're getting on.

Thanks

Michelle

[johndoe997]

I see, I'll make a note of when I'm seeing the latency spikes, and how long they last for/when they end. the in game spikes and the recorded ping (using https://www.netmeter.co.uk/ping-test/ ) seem accurate enough. 

[Chris-TalkTalk]

OK thanks. Could you just make a note of a couple of times when you see the high latency and I'll check to see if there's anything that could be causing it

Chris

[johndoe997]

I'm using a laptop (with the wireless internet turned off) and the talk talk ethernet powerline network adaptors plugged into the mains. been using this setup for a couple of years without issue. I've also checked on a computer plugged straight into the router, and it's also consistently high. if its sub-20ms on this device, its consistently that low regardless of the device, but if it spikes up to something like 200ms+, its the same or worse on other devices. Also, not that its a particularly scientific test, other people in one of the  online games I play usually report much lower latency in the chat, such as 30-50 whilst i'm at 300-400.

[Chris-TalkTalk]

OK thanks. Line test is passing and sync speed looks OK. Are you experiencing the high latency on more than one device? Is the device connected to the router by ethernet cable or wifi?

Chris

[johndoe997]

updated the profile

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Hi john,

Can you please update your community profile to include your:

• Name
• Telephone number
• Alternative contact number

We'll then look into this further. Please do not post this information on this thread. Once you've updated your profile please post in your topic to confirm it's updated.

Thanks

Michelle