Broadband Tweaks → [DSL] High ping times

Hi all. I've been working with Dr Olds in the Elnk DSL forum and have made some progress. I've had consistently high ping times for as long as I can remember. It really only effects online gaming so It's not the end of the world but every now and then I get frustrated enough to try and fix it. Dr Olds suggested I post here for further help. Here's the tests (I hope)

»/tweak ··· terpppoe



A Speedtest.net result shows 3.05 mb/s dn and .32 up instead of the 2.88 dn that the linked test above shows. While running these tests I showed 73ms latency to the Washington server (comcast) but twice got 37ms to the NY sever (Speakeasy) which is VERY unusual. I typically get 57ms to the ATLANTA server, which I am right next to, using Speedtest.net.

»/lineq ··· /2634544

Here is a recent 24hr Smokeping test:

»/r3/sm ··· de932683

I am on ELNK DSL at '3.0/.3' dn/up although the Zyxel P-660R-D1 shows sync rates of 3554/384 and I typically get better than 85% of that. After installing a Home Run (learned from this site, thank you) my line quality went way up and we were able to upgrade to the 3.0. Bandwidth isn't really an issue, it's the pings that are bothering me. I use XP and have one other computer on the network but it is hardly used. The Zyxel is a NAT router. The distance calculator says 'closed'. If that really becomes important I'll try to force it out of Elnk.

Here's a tracert to Google:
Tracing route to google.com [66.249.90.104]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 1 ms 1 ms 1 ms 192.168.1.1
2 46 ms 46 ms 46 ms user-1121s01.dsl.mindspring.com [66.32.240.1]
3 46 ms 46 ms 46 ms dir04-vl-5.ga-atlanta0.ne.earthlink.net [199.174
.118.17]
4 46 ms 45 ms 46 ms cor01-vl96.ga-atlanta0.ne.earthlink.net [209.165
.96.1]
5 46 ms 45 ms 46 ms bor01-g2-3.ga-atlanta0.ne.earthlink.net [207.69.
223.144]
6 240 ms 200 ms 75 ms bor01-ae1.ga-atlanta1.ne.earthlink.net [209.86.6
6.50]
7 45 ms 45 ms 46 ms aix.pr1.atl.google.com [198.32.132.41]
8 45 ms 102 ms 85 ms 72.14.233.56
9 70 ms 70 ms 181 ms 209.85.254.49
10 68 ms 69 ms 68 ms 216.239.43.112
11 69 ms 69 ms 68 ms 209.85.241.222
12 69 ms 68 ms 69 ms lga15s04-in-f104.1e100.net [66.249.90.104]

Trace complete.

And one to dslreports:
1 1 ms 1 ms 1 ms 192.168.1.1
2 47 ms 46 ms 47 ms user-1121s01.dsl.mindspring.com [66.32.240.1]
3 46 ms 46 ms 46 ms dir03-vl-5.ga-atlanta0.ne.earthlink.net [199.17
.118.1]
4 45 ms 46 ms 46 ms cor01-vl96.ga-atlanta0.ne.earthlink.net [209.16
.96.1]
5 47 ms 47 ms 46 ms bor01-g2-3.ga-atlanta0.ne.earthlink.net [207.69
223.144]
6 46 ms 47 ms 47 ms bor01-ae1.ga-atlanta1.ne.earthlink.net [209.86.
6.50]
7 47 ms 45 ms 46 ms 99.xe-0-1-0.cr1.atl1.us.nlayer.net [198.32.132.
8]
8 61 ms 62 ms 67 ms xe-0-1-0.cr2.iad1.us.nlayer.net [69.22.142.106]

9 61 ms 61 ms 59 ms ae1-40g.cr1.iad1.us.nlayer.net [69.31.31.153]
10 66 ms 65 ms 65 ms xe-5-1-0.cr1.nyc3.us.nlayer.net [69.22.142.93]
11 69 ms 80 ms 79 ms po3.ar1.ewr1.us.nlayer.net [69.31.95.157]
12 66 ms 66 ms 65 ms as8001.te2-3.ar1.ewr1.us.nlayer.net [69.31.95.1
0]
13 66 ms 67 ms 67 ms 0.e1-4.tbr1.oct.nac.net [209.123.10.122]
14 67 ms 66 ms 66 ms vlan804.esd1.oct.nac.net [209.123.10.2]
15 67 ms 67 ms 66 ms www.dslreports.com [209.123.109.175]

Trace complete.

These numbers are about 10% better than they were after working with Dr Olds. Mostly involving losing a flaky router and just using the Zyxel router/modem from Elnk.

Can anybody interpret the Smokeping test? I'm not reading that one very well.

I know there's alot here, thanks for all your time.

So Crates

»/tweak ··· terpppoe

hi I'm also having this issue with my emachine computer too anything will help at this point. tks

You really should not be double posting in multiple forums.

What I see is high latency at your hop and sometimes a little packet loss. The latency is the killer and not the small packet loss.

Read and follow what this FAQ suggests.
»Tweaking FAQ »I'm getting latency and/or packet loss. What can I do?

Start your own thread and answer the following questions. »Posting Rules - Broadband Tweaks

Thanks for the reply. Yes I agree it looks like first hop latency and I'm not sure there's anything I can do about it. I was hoping I would end up with some hard numbers that I could take to Elnk, assuming anybody would talk to me.

Fwiw I only posted here per Dr Olds request. He is a regular on the Elnk DSL forums and has helped hundreds of people.

So Crates

I would suggest that before you go to Elnk with "hard numbers" that you are "clean" on your end. And, yes, I know Dr. Olds and his many contributions to this site.

• Start eliminating hardware on your end. Do you have another MODEM to use for testing purposes? Connect your box directly to the MODEM and see what the results are.

• Ping your MODEM and NIC. What results do you get?

• Did you read the FAQ and see if there is anything in there that might be an issue?

• Did you ask Elnk for a ping test for latency and packet loss?

Thanks Shark. I don't have another Modem atm. I have had this problem for as long as we've been at this address. During that time we've had the Netopia UHP modem and D-link 604 Router that were standard with Elnk at that time, a Home Run that I did which definitely improved line quality, another d-link gaming router (which proved quite flaky) and finally the current Zyxel P-660R-D1 which is a Modem/Router combo. I am as direct as I can be seeing as the Zyxel has only one ethernet port. I bought a Netgear 5 port switch which appears to be working flawlessly and have the 2 computers and 1 xbox hooked up to it. Losing the flaky router appears to have given a 10% improvement to pings and a big reduction in jitter so the problem may in fact be on my end after all.

Pinging my modem I get the normal 1ms for nearly 100 pings, no anomalies, no packet loss.

Pinging the NIC gives the same, good, results. Following that train of thought I pinged the modem from my roomates computer and it was the same.

I read the FAQ and couldn't find anything that applied or wasen't already ok.

I did not know you could ask earthlink to run a ping test from their end. That would be great. I'll look into it.

Thanks again,

So Crates

It sure looks like things are pointing to the ISP. The issue is local; anywhere from your PC to the CO.

Bundle up your LQT's and send them to the ISP. Make the call to Elnk.

Are there any other ISP's in your area?

Hi shark. I'm pretty sure I could switch to cable except that I'm not the homeowner, I only rent from him, so I have no direct control over the ISP. I guess at this point I will have to bite the bullet and call Elnk, which I'm dreading.

I'll let you know if there's any progress.

So Crates