DSL consistently high ping, how do I build a case to show my ISP?

I've recently switched to Century Link and I have a DSL line, the isp before it was satellite internet and while it had low bandwidth the latency was definitely playable to good. Now that I have this new ISP I have at the lowest if I'm lucky, to servers very near me, 150+ ping. Now don't get me wrong 100 is really playable but it's more usually at around 200+ than anything, and it'll get really bad frequently and just jump up to 300+,400+,500+. How do I go about building a case to present to my ISP? What tools do I use to to measure this and how? I have this application called PingPlotter that seems very adequate but if I ping plot to my usual servers can't my ISP just say that's the servers problem not theirs? What am I supposed to test then?

Tracert output:

(This one is the server I used to play on with 80-50 ping)

C:\Users\Shpee>tracert 104.153.105.95

Tracing route to us3.skial.com [104.153.105.95]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1     1 ms     1 ms     1 ms  modem.Home [192.168.0.1]
  2  1523 ms   559 ms    63 ms  67.40.227.243
  3     *      841 ms    63 ms  phnx-agw1.inet.qwest.net [75.160.237.145]
  4  1324 ms  1602 ms    70 ms  los-brdr-01.inet.qwest.net [67.14.102.110]
  5   503 ms  2013 ms  1325 ms  63-235-40-146.dia.static.qwest.net [63.235.40.14
6]
  6  1144 ms   920 ms   839 ms  dls-b21-link.telia.net [62.115.139.8]
  7  1507 ms   996 ms  1208 ms  chi-b21-link.telia.net [62.115.135.42]
  8  1033 ms   576 ms   591 ms  chi-b22-link.telia.net [62.115.141.176]
  9  1263 ms  1027 ms   113 ms  telia-2.e2.router2.chicago.nfoservers.com [64.74
.97.253]
 10  1047 ms   495 ms   478 ms  us3.skial.com [104.153.105.95]

Trace complete.

(This one is bbc as you can see)

C:\Users\Shpee>tracert www.bbc.co.uk

Tracing route to www.bbc.net.uk [212.58.246.92]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1     2 ms     2 ms     2 ms  modem.Home [192.168.0.1]
  2  1040 ms    74 ms    68 ms  67.40.227.243
  3  1641 ms  1156 ms   666 ms  phnx-agw1.inet.qwest.net [75.160.237.145]
  4   704 ms    75 ms   139 ms  los-brdr-01.inet.qwest.net [67.14.102.110]
  5    79 ms   115 ms    71 ms  63.146.27.34
  6     *        *        *     Request timed out.
  7   853 ms   337 ms   197 ms  unknown.Level3.net [212.187.139.230]
  8     *        *        *     Request timed out.
  9     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 10   198 ms   199 ms   209 ms  ae0.er01.cwwtf.bbc.co.uk [132.185.254.93]
 11   198 ms   202 ms   200 ms  132.185.255.165
 12   200 ms   203 ms   198 ms  bbc-vip013.cwwtf.bbc.co.uk [212.58.246.92]

Trace complete.

C:\Users\Shpee>

This is the pathping to my usual server

Tracing route to us3.skial.com [104.153.105.95] over a maximum of 30 hops:   
0  Shpee-PC.Home [192.168.0.7]   
1  modem.Home [192.168.0.1]   
2  67.40.227.243   
3  phnx-agw1.inet.qwest.net [75.160.237.145]   
4  *     los-brdr-01.inet.qwest.net [67.14.102.110]   
5  63-235-40-146.dia.static.qwest.net [63.235.40.146]   
6  dls-b21-link.telia.net [62.115.139.8]   
7  chi-b21-link.telia.net [62.115.135.42]   
8  chi-b22-link.telia.net [62.115.141.176]   
9  telia-2.e2.router2.chicago.nfoservers.com [64.74.97.253]  
10  us3.skial.com [104.153.105.95]

Computing statistics for 250 seconds...
            Source to Here   This Node/Link 
Hop  RTT    Lost/Sent = Pct  Lost/Sent = Pct  Address   
  0                                           Shpee-PC.Home [192.168.0.7]
                                0/ 100 =  0%   |   
  1    6ms     0/ 100 =  0%     0/ 100 =  0%  modem.Home [192.168.0.1]
                                1/ 100 =  1%   |   
  2  873ms     2/ 100 =  2%     1/ 100 =  1%  67.40.227.243
                                0/ 100 =  0%   |
  3  863ms     3/ 100 =  3%     2/ 100 =  2%  phnx-agw1.inet.qwest.net [75.160.237.145]
                                0/ 100 =  0%   |   
  4  886ms     3/ 100 =  3%     2/ 100 =  2%  los-brdr-01.inet.qwest.net [67.14.102.110]
                                0/ 100 =  0%   |   
  5  919ms     2/ 100 =  2%     1/ 100 =  1%  63-235-40-146.dia.static.qwest.net  [63.235.40.146]
                                0/ 100 =  0%   |   
  6  930ms     1/ 100 =  1%     0/ 100 =  0%  dls-b21-link.telia.net [62.115.139 .8]
                                1/ 100 =  1%   |   
  7  976ms     2/ 100 =  2%     0/ 100 =  0%  chi-b21-link.telia.net [62.115.135 .42]
                                0/ 100 =  0%   |   
  8  969ms     2/ 100 =  2%     0/ 100 =  0%  chi-b22-link.telia.net [62.115.141 .176]
                                1/ 100 =  1%   |   
  9  ---     100/ 100 =100%    97/ 100 = 97%  telia-2.e2.router2.chicago.nfoserv ers.com [64.74.97.253]
                                0/ 100 =  0%   |  
 10  937ms     3/ 100 =  3%     0/ 100 =  0%  us3.skial.com [104.153.105.95]

Trace complete.

Also my router is called the ZyZEL C1100Z

This is probably relevant

DSL Link

Link Statistic
Status
Broadband Mode Setting:
Auto Select
Broadband Mode Detected:
G.DMT
DSL Link Uptime:
1 Days, 6H:53M:10S
Retrains:
4
Retrains in Last 24 Hours:
0
Loss of Power Link Failures:
0
Loss of Signal Link Failure:
4
Loss of Margin Link Failure:
0
Link Train Errors:
0
Unavailable Seconds:
129
Estimated Loop Length:
900 feet
Uncanceled Echo:
10
Transport Mode:
ATM
Path Parameter:
0/32
Priority:
UBR without PCR
Service Type:
ATM - LLC Bridged

DSL Power

http://puu.sh/p8z0j.png

DSL Transport

http://puu.sh/p8yZn.png

DSL Guest

Posted 2016-05-28T21:56:28.093

Reputation: 3

Please [edit] and provide a tracert (or better pathping) output to one or two of your problem servers. That will allow the source of the latency to be determined. For comparison do the same to a well known address, for example www.bbc.co.uk. – DavidPostill – 2016-05-28T21:59:10.187

Your router stats might also be interesting ... – DavidPostill – 2016-05-28T22:02:07.563

http://pastebin.com/7Tx4HP12 If I'm supposed to be able to post large amounts of text I don't know how but there's the stuff you asked for, if you want the router stats what do you mean by that – DSL Guest – 2016-05-28T22:29:43.870

How to get your router line stats a bit old, and probably doesn't cover your modem. But it tells you what to look for if you can find the right page in your modem. – DavidPostill – 2016-05-28T22:35:13.180

Can you provide pathping output? That will show packet loss as well as latency. pathping 104.153.105.95 will be enough. There is definitely an ISP issue here. – DavidPostill – 2016-05-28T22:42:03.230

Oh, some more questions: Is this a wired or a wireless connection? Direct to the modem? Or do you have other networking equipment in between? Was all game playing/downloading/watching moves/etc stopped before the tracert? – DavidPostill – 2016-05-28T22:49:48.677

"Also my router is called the ZyZEL C1100Z" log in to the router and go to the DSL status page. Report back the results. – DavidPostill – 2016-05-29T00:08:14.037

You really can't trust traceroute, or its variants, on the Internet. It is a tool which can be used on your own network, where you know what to expect from the results. Many ISPs, or the ISPs in the path, will send traffic from traceroute through a different path, or through alternate/backup links to other ISPs, in order to disguise their internal networks. You simply cannot trust traceroute information from someone else's network. The same applies to ICMP echo (ping) and ICMP echo reply. These tools may also be unreliable across MPLS networks, where routing is not used. – Ron Maupin – 2016-05-29T00:29:27.980

@RonMaupin In this case the pathping output is showing data loss between the CPE and the DSLAM. I don't think any ISP can reroute the path taken by the data for this first hop. They could manipulate the RTT but why would they? Note 873ms is more than enough for US to UK and back ... ;) – DavidPostill – 2016-05-29T00:54:01.223

@DavidPostill, I get that there is a problem with the ISP. I just wanted to comment to the OP that traceroute cannot be trusted to give accurate information on the Internet, even if your ISP doesn't reroute the traffic, other may. The RFC for traceroute always had an Experimental status, but it has now been moved to Historic status and deprecated. – Ron Maupin – 2016-05-29T00:57:53.537

@RonMaupin Hmm. Thanks, I wasn't aware of that ... – DavidPostill – 2016-05-29T00:58:51.717

@DavidPostill, RFC 6814, Formally Deprecating Some IPv4 Options, Section 2.3 Traceroute: "The Traceroute option is defined in [RFC1393]. The Traceroute option is defined as Experimental; it was never widely deployed on the public Internet."

– Ron Maupin – 2016-05-29T01:06:17.530

Did you run these traces while nothing else was using the connection, and what is the connection speed? – Julie Pelletier – 2016-05-29T02:43:53.617

Answers

How do I go about building a case to present to my ISP?

Looking at the pathping output:

Hop  RTT    Lost/Sent = Pct  Lost/Sent = Pct  Address   
  0                                           Shpee-PC.Home [192.168.0.7]
                                0/ 100 =  0%   |   
  1    6ms     0/ 100 =  0%     0/ 100 =  0%  modem.Home [192.168.0.1]
                                1/ 100 =  1%   |   
  2  873ms     2/ 100 =  2%     1/ 100 =  1%  67.40.227.243

There is a 1% packet loss between your modem (hop 1) and the ISP DSLAM (hop 2)
The important packet loss is that shown next to a vertical bar |

This indicates a real loss on the connection (there is a loss of data transmitted along the route).
Packet loss next to an IP Address indicates a loss pinging that particular router.

This can indicate the router is overloaded and is not responding to pings in a timely fashion.

A loss here does not affect the transmission of data along the route.
There is a very high RTT (873ms) once packets leave your network.
There is additional packet loss shown later in the output, but that is outside of the OP's ISP (Qwest) network.

The overall loss from start to end is 3% as shown by the data for hop 10 (the final hop):
```
10  937ms     3/ 100 =  3%     0/ 100 =  0%  us3.skial.com [104.153.105.95]
```

Looking at DSL Link

Retrains: 4
Retrains in Last 24 Hours: 0
Loss of Power Link Failures: 0
Loss of Signal Link Failure: 4

Your modem should have finished retraining "Retrains in Last 24 Hours: 0" and the line speed should be stable.

The pathping output indicates a problem with your internet connection.

You should speak to your ISP.

DavidPostill

Posted 2016-05-28T21:56:28.093

Reputation: 118 938

1Can you please explain how you reached these conclusions? – Hefewe1zen – 2016-05-29T00:17:06.020

@DSLGuest Final answer, including everything I can figure out from you diagnostics. – DavidPostill – 2016-05-29T01:05:14.367

@Hefewe1zen I've expanded the answer to try an explain it for you (and everybody else). – DavidPostill – 2016-05-29T01:05:54.277

Thank you for helping me, what should I, roughly, tell them? – DSL Guest – 2016-05-29T05:53:49.060

@DSLGuest That there is a problem with your connection, it has packet loss and a very high RTT. – DavidPostill – 2016-05-29T09:08:59.743

When you contact your ISP provider you'll have first level support on the line. I do not think that they will need/understand these reports. You can say you have a high ping and they'll surely proceed with verifications.

You can look for other indicators of a bad line - check your ADSL router's administration interface. Some indicate the ping there, you may also see the number of (corrected) errors that are occuring, etc.

To illustrate how support works, I share my recent issue with my ADSL. Because of successive interruptions, I contacted the ISP. At first I had a vocal robot on the line leading to automatic checks on my line even before talking to a real person. Then first level support did checks and indicated that the issue was in my building. We agreed that the ISP would send a technician. The technician then did the local verification and determined that line was unbalanced because of an issue in the connection of the RJ wall connector. Once resolved, the line was balanced again. In the mean time he had verified that the signal level arriving at the premisis was within the guaranteed levels, and did several measurements with his specialized equipment.

So you should give your ISP a call so see how it works - you can always abandon and do further investigations before you request a techician that may be at your charge if the issue is not from the ISP. I do not think that Ping reports are of any actual use. The ISP uses their own references.

le_top

Posted 2016-05-28T21:56:28.093

Reputation: 274

It looks like timeouts and high latency are happening on qwest.net (which is CenturyLink). In short, there is a problem on your ISPs network, between you and the internet.

Keep a couple of tracert logs and call them and explain what's happening. Don't be afraid to ask for support escalation if the first tier tech is unhelpful.

Hefewe1zen

Posted 2016-05-28T21:56:28.093

Reputation: 1 316