DSL Extreme → Sporadic packet loss

I'm an avid Battlefield 3 player and every now and then I get disconnected.

I ran a utility called PingPlotter that traces packet loss and latency over times. I've attached a screenshot of this utiity when I was having the problem.

Most of the time the DSL line is OK but every now and then I simply can't play online games at all due to these packet loss/latency spikes.

What is causing these spikes and why does it suddenly just vanish - and then come back ?

Come somebody at DSL Extreme help me with this?

And now the problem has vanished and everything is normal again ?????

I detected the problem around 9:00pm Pacific Time. And the problem went away close to 10:00 pm.

Hi LordBritish ,

dslx_nick is out of the office today but him or Steve should be back tomorrow and can follow up with you directly. Alternatively you can open a ticket with our support team by calling 866-491-7221 and someone in our support team would be able to assist.

It looks like there is a little packetloss at the first hop. Are you directly connected to the modem or using a router? Is that wired or wireless? Are there any other data transfers or anyone else using the connection while it is occurring?

Thanks

I'm using a normal wired router.

There are no other data transfers while the problem was happening.

I doubt the problem is my router or else I'd be getting the problem all the time. And the problem wouldn't suddenly vanish all on it's own. That doesn't sound like a router issue to me.

It sounds much like this issue: »SUDDENLY High latency an packet loss to gateway

Um *cough*. The linked thread turned out to be an infected machine on the network sending out massive upload traffic and being accessed by out-of-country IPs. I certainly hope you're not running into the same issue, but you may want to run a full antivirus scan on all computers connected to the router... and may want to check what ports are showing traffic on your router.

We do have instances where a router failing causes intermittent connection problems, so you may want to try bypassing the router and just connecting directly with one PC for a while as a test. Not saying it IS your router causing the problem, but seeing if the problem remains with the router removed would prove if the problem is elsewhere.

If you need further help though, feel free to shoot me a PM with your account info.

I'm getting packet loss again. It's not my fault.

It's happening at the second hop.

Not saying it's your fault, but the first screenshot you posted *does* show packet loss at the first hop, and has a longer history recorded on the bottom showing packet loss every minute or so. At any rate, if you want to send me your account info I can have a tech look into this for you.