Regular high pings 4 times a day

[JamKart]

Hi

I play online racing games and for at least two years I've been experiencing high pings during a race with bad consequences as the car bounces around and ruins the race.

It's only recently that I noticed the pinging happens at the same time in a race. It actually starts at 20:26:47 and lasts four seconds. A friend wrote me a UCP pinging utility that allowed me to log the results over a 24hr period (log file attached). This identified four periods in the day where this high burst of ping occurred...

20:26:47

02:26:47

08:26:47

14:26:47

i.e. at exactly six hour intervals.

Note, before the clocks went back the error occured at 21:26:47

I initially thought it was the online racing server at fault but the high ping occurs if I ping google.co.uk.

The tracert to google.co.uk is...

Tracing route to google.co.uk [142.250.200.35]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 1 ms <1 ms <1 ms ttrouter.lan [192.168.1.1]
2 7 ms 5 ms 55 ms host-2-97-96-1.as13285.net [2.97.96.1]
3 6 ms 5 ms 5 ms ae52-ner002.nec.as13285.net [78.144.1.11]
4 27 ms 10 ms 10 ms ae52-scr101.loh.as13285.net [78.144.1.10]
5 51 ms 12 ms 63 ms host-78-144-4-33.as13285.net [78.144.4.33]
6 50 ms 12 ms 11 ms 216.239.54.127
7 27 ms 11 ms 10 ms 142.251.52.145
8 13 ms 11 ms 11 ms lhr48s30-in-f3.1e100.net [142.250.200.35]

Trace complete.

I setup multiple pings to all these hops and, apart from the router hop, all have the high ping.

I've reproduced the error on a different PC, disconnected all other internet devices in the house and rebooted the router for 30 mins - all make no difference.

I've checked logs in the router but nothing happens at the critical time.

My thought is it's an error in the router or something is going on at 

host-2-97-96-1.as13285.net [2.97.96.1]

My router is a TalkTalk WiFi Hub with 174 firmware installed.

Can you do any tests to establish what's happening please

[JamKart]

Hi

New router arrived and I setup the logging to see if the problem was fixed. Unfortunately it was still the same but this time the error moved from 08:26:44 to 08:24:35...

2024-11-08T08:24:31Z | Received: 1340 | RTT: 16 ms
2024-11-08T08:24:33Z | Received: 1341 | RTT: 16 ms
2024-11-08T08:24:33Z | Received: 1342 | RTT: 16 ms
2024-11-08T08:24:35Z | Received: 1343 | RTT: 18 ms
2024-11-08T08:24:40Z | Received: 1344 | RTT: 4840 ms
2024-11-08T08:24:40Z | Received: 1345 | RTT: 3840 ms
2024-11-08T08:24:40Z | Received: 1346 | RTT: 2841 ms
2024-11-08T08:24:40Z | Received: 1347 | RTT: 1840 ms
2024-11-08T08:24:40Z | Received: 1348 | RTT: 841 ms
2024-11-08T08:24:41Z | Received: 1349 | RTT: 1 ms
2024-11-08T08:24:42Z | Received: 1350 | RTT: 1 ms
2024-11-08T08:24:43Z | Received: 1351 | RTT: 17 ms
2024-11-08T08:24:44Z | Received: 1352 | RTT: 18 ms
2024-11-08T08:24:45Z | Received: 1353 | RTT: 4 ms

I managed to borrow a different router (a technicolor dga0122nlk), monitored the UDP for 24hr and no errors.  So I've concluded you have a bug in the firmware somewhere.

You recommend always using a TalkTalk modem so I'm reluctant to buy something else. How do we get this bug to the attention of the development team so that it can be fixed in a subsequent firmware update? 

Regards

[Debbie-TalkTalk]

Hi @JamKart 

The router is on its way, please allow 24-48hrs for this to arrive.

Thanks

Debbie

[JamKart]

Hi,

Can you confirm a new router is on it's way? If so, how long should it take to arrive?

Thanks

[JamKart]

Hi

Here are the results of the UDP ping test to firestone.racedepartment.com on port 9600...

Tracert to race server

This was over wifi with my wired connection removed from the router. But the result in the past is the same over wired connection and to any location

[JamKart]

If you run the test at 08:26:47 then you might see the really high ping

[JamKart]

Hi, the problem was seen on both wired and WiFi. 

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Good morning,

I've run a test on your line now which hasn't detected a fault and the connection stats also look good. The ping/traces are showing high pings to the router. Was this test completed when connected wired? If it was then I think we should send a replacement router to rule this out and see how the connection compares.

Thanks

Michelle

[KeithFrench]

I think that it could be the router, or it could be on the TalkTalk network. I have asked one of TalkTalk's support to pick your thread up and investigate where the problem might be. If they concur about the router, then they will send you another.

They aim to respond within 48 hours (Monday - Friday) excluding Bank Holidays, but if more urgent you can always try the Service Centre on 0345 172 0088. The posts are responded to in time/date order, oldest first.

[JamKart]

I've pinged host-2-97-96-1.as13285.net [2.97.96.1] at 20:26 tonight via an O2 hotspot and no delay was detected. So that sounds to me like the router might be at fault.

[JamKart]

Tracing route to avon.racedepartment.com [31.204.152.159]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 1 ms 6 ms <1 ms ttrouter.lan [192.168.1.1]
2 16 ms 58 ms 5 ms host-2-97-96-1.as13285.net [2.97.96.1]
3 6 ms 5 ms 5 ms ae52-ner002.nec.as13285.net [78.144.1.11]
4 12 ms 12 ms 9 ms ae52-scr101.loh.as13285.net [78.144.1.10]
5 47 ms 11 ms 12 ms ae62-scr102.thw.as13285.net [78.144.1.118]
6 38 ms 11 ms 59 ms host-78-144-3-177.as13285.net [78.144.3.177]
7 56 ms 18 ms 57 ms nlrtm1-rt002i.i3d.net [109.200.218.152]
8 84 ms 16 ms 58 ms avon.racedepartment.com [31.204.152.159]

Trace complete.

The first four hops are identical - which is why I said it wasn't an issue with the destination ping.

I only have to ping the first hop to see the issue

[KeithFrench]

A tracert to Google is not much help, what about one to the game server?