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DSMCasey
join:2004-03-27
Sanger, TX

DSMCasey

Member

[Connectivity] Latency at 1st Hop?

Hello,

Tech came out today from SL because I'm having latency spike issues.
The tech's recommendation was to replace my modem. I use a SB6120 that's about a year old. Seems odd, but I have ordered a new SB6180 just in case his assessment is correct.

Here's the problem:
My Average latency to the first hop: 10.244.64.1 is around 40ms which is bad but not terrible. The real problem comes when it spikes to around 400-500ms. It spikes every 2min - 2hrs I have no idea why it is more frequent sometimes, but it does appear to be effected by peak times.

Of course with the latency spikes I'm having a hard time gaming/watching movies/etc. I doubt the new modem will fix it as even the tech said, my signal levels are beautiful.

Any thoughts/suggestions? Latency hops after the first hop appear to be great.

Thanks,
Casey
Sanger, Tx
DSMCasey

DSMCasey

Member

Ping plotter from just now. I'm still experiencing issues. Yesterday afternoon was the most solid my ping has been in a few weeks. Not sure what happened or if they were working on it, but it was much better.
DSMCasey

DSMCasey

Member

Here's one over several hours worth of pinging today.
DSMCasey

DSMCasey

Member

1:10am on Sunday. Still issues. There can't be much traffic at this time...right?

moldypickle
Premium Member
join:2009-01-04
Haughton, LA

moldypickle

Premium Member

What does your graph look like for hop 2? And zoom it out to 24 hours.
DSMCasey
join:2004-03-27
Sanger, TX

DSMCasey

Member

Moldy - I closed ping plotter last night, I'll run it today and get back to you on that. I have adjusted the view for you already, I just need to get data from today.

I count hop 1 as the first hop AFTER my router. So hop 2 would be link.sta.suddenlink.net which is high sometimes. However, its hard to determine if that is really an issue because the first hop is so spikey. In reality, if my connection was strong, my pings to www.suddenlink.net should be 13ms or less with very little variance. However, thats not the case or even close to it. I know they are working on something in my area, and I will try and be patient, its just that usually when they tell me they are working on something in my area it takes a month or more before the fix is implemented.

Unfortunately, I have a long history with Suddenlink. They generally fix the problems after they eventually find them, but it takes a while. I would never consider bitching this much about my food at a restaurant or any other service. But, I'm "married" to suddenlink, they're the only high speed connection in my area despite Fios being available 7 miles away (the irony!). And I rely on my connection for work and to keep my family sane. We are all nerds here. So it's paramount to me that it stays humming along strong.

moldypickle
Premium Member
join:2009-01-04
Haughton, LA
ARRIS SB8200
Ubiquiti UDM-Pro
Ubiquiti UniFi UAP-nanoHD

moldypickle

Premium Member

but hop 2 is hop2. being that hop 1 is appearing ok, that's some what important. Shows the issue isn't strictly limited to inside your own network. Also, it LOOKS like you've set your polling to about 1 per second. If it's not there, could you adjust that to closer to 1 trace every 10 seconds please. Just the nature of the trace, the routers can chose to ignore or not respond quickly to the ping request, especially when it comes in too fast. Just as an example, if i set my polling rate to fast from my location, I can actually induce artificial packet lose.

But JUST from the pictures you've put up, the connection really isn't appearing that bad off. You're showing a momentary 1-3 second spike in latency and I can't tell if that's just the test showing it, or actual latency in your line. Ideally, let PP run for 24-48 hours continuously, set the polling rate around 10 seconds, focus a graph to Hop 2, and set it to show a full 24 hour span.

Also make sure you're saving all that data too, if SDL tech comes by, you'll be able to just shot him the saved file to analyze.

gatorkram
Need for Speed
Premium Member
join:2002-07-22
Winterville, NC

gatorkram to DSMCasey

Premium Member

to DSMCasey
In my opinion, no matter what the issue is, a first hop outside your local network, being 20ms is to high, period. Mine is 5-8.

What the underlying issue is, is a whole different ball of wax.
DSMCasey
join:2004-03-27
Sanger, TX

DSMCasey

Member

Exactly what Gator said. A hop averaging 20 ms at the first hop outside my home is crazy. But that's not even really the issue. Its the momentary spikes that keep me from watching movies smoothly or gaming. I will raise the time between pings, but the spikes are generally .5s to 1s in length with no packet loss. I do *occassionally get packet loss, but not regularly which is why I keep the time low between pings.

Just remember, I'm pinging www.suddenlink.net to get from my home to them should be less than 20ms.

Also, on a normal chart, it would be flat, there would be no or very few spikes. Spikes indicate a problem.

PS - Tonight has been rough for latency spikes. I will post charts later.

moldypickle
Premium Member
join:2009-01-04
Haughton, LA
ARRIS SB8200
Ubiquiti UDM-Pro
Ubiquiti UniFi UAP-nanoHD

moldypickle

Premium Member

I understand what a spike in a chart means, lol. But a 1ms latency spike to 200ms would have literally NO effect on any kinda of video streaming. With the exception of a barely noticable hick up in a live broadcase, all streaming in buffered several megs in advance. You could literally reset your modem and have it reconnect before netflix or youtube would throw an error. Gaming would be interupted by issues more severe than what your PP is showing also. I'd be willing to bet that there is something else effecting your connection, that latency is just the byproduct.

Sadly I don't have access to any of the tools that SDL tech does, so keep collecting that PP data so you have a few days worth to send off to him. Hopefully he'll be around come tuesday.
moldypickle

moldypickle

Premium Member

Also ran a tracert myself to suddenlink.net, no problems on my end. Done suddenlink.com also, had to leave the network to reach that one, which i found hilarious.
DSMCasey
join:2004-03-27
Sanger, TX

DSMCasey

Member

Moldy,

I have issues while gaming and watching streams/youtube mostly. The spikes are more severe than 200ms. I spike as high as 1 second or 2 seconds and have packet loss on occassion. Generally the spikes last about 2 seconds of pings consistently around 800ms or so. I attached another chart. Today was really rough for gaming, I had a hard time playing League of Legends and World of Warcraft.

*NOTE: Ignore the RED part, I reset the modem and router to try and help. My wife and I were playing a ranked game in League and both died b/c of the spikes. Made me so damn mad. The resets didn't help though.

I also noticed suddenlink.com is not in my network. I think suddenlink.net is for customers that they "bought" and suddenlink.com is for the original network of suddenlink customers. Not really sure though. I know that when they first bought my local provider, the sudddenlink.net and suddenlink.com websites looked totally different.

SDL L3Tech
join:2011-06-07
Tyler, TX

SDL L3Tech to DSMCasey

Member

to DSMCasey
Hello DSMCasey. I actually see a few problems. I flipped you over to a different upstream that should help with the severe latency spikes though the lesser abnormal latency will likely continue.

I have contacted the local team with my findings. I will let you know when I receive an update.

Note: suddenlink.com is hosted offnet to our network, as you noticed.
DSMCasey
join:2004-03-27
Sanger, TX

DSMCasey

Member

Thank you! you're awesome

If you need any further data from me I will post.

This morning things have been really good latency wise.

SDL L3Tech
join:2011-06-07
Tyler, TX

SDL L3Tech to DSMCasey

Member

to DSMCasey
Please keep the PP trace running and post it again tomorrow morning.

moldypickle
Premium Member
join:2009-01-04
Haughton, LA

moldypickle to DSMCasey

Premium Member

to DSMCasey
Tell your wife I love her!!!! lol, playing ranked together, oh to dream!
DSMCasey
join:2004-03-27
Sanger, TX

DSMCasey

Member

SDL - I got my new modem in today. The SB6180 and got it all connected but it's not grabbing 4 downstream channels, but rather one only (its capable of 8).

Ping has been rough today as well. I will keep PP running.

Thanks.

SDL L3Tech
join:2011-06-07
Tyler, TX

1 edit

SDL L3Tech to DSMCasey

Member

to DSMCasey
I'm not sure why it didn't lock on to the 4 downstreams to begin with but I forced it over. Now I can see that it's properly bonded to all 4.

Edit: I'm running PP traces to the cable modem itself and for the last 10 minutes they have been flawless. From where I am the average is 14ms with a peak of 21. I know it's only 10 minutes so far but I'll keep it running.
DSMCasey
join:2004-03-27
Sanger, TX

DSMCasey

Member

They have been good last few minutes I will keep PP running. Maybe we're all fixed. If so that would be GREAT!!

thanks for your help!
DSMCasey

DSMCasey

Member

Well, there was some improvement. The spikes were less severe by a good bit. They are still there but they don't go as high as 1 second + anymore. So there is improvement which is a good sign. Here's tonight's graph.

I will try and post tomorrow morning the graphs from overnight. Not sure if I will have time or not, but I shall do my best!
DSMCasey

DSMCasey

Member

Overnight was great. I guess it is/was more isolated to peak times that there are issues. Here's overnight's graph.
DSMCasey

DSMCasey

Member

Today's Chart. Kinda same thing. Seems to be getting better in off-peak times but remains unchanged in Peak times. I suspect this is an oversold issue maybe? Or a major piece of equipment is pooping out. Not sure. Anyway, if there is a repair timeline available I would love that.

From 2am - 10am it's great!
From 4pm - 2am it's spikey!

SDL L3Tech
join:2011-06-07
Tyler, TX

SDL L3Tech to DSMCasey

Member

to DSMCasey
As I mentioned in my original post, I found a few problems and flipping you to the other upstream would help with the larger spikes but there would still be some there until we work out the other problems.

I'll let you know when I get an update from the locals.
DSMCasey
join:2004-03-27
Sanger, TX

DSMCasey

Member

SDL,

You've been great and I appreciate your help! Would you like me to continue to run PP 24/7?

Thanks,
Casey
DSMCasey

DSMCasey

Member

Last 36hrs or so
DSMCasey

DSMCasey

Member

Still having same issues. Will post ping plotter in next day or so.

SDL L3Tech
join:2011-06-07
Tyler, TX

SDL L3Tech to DSMCasey

Member

to DSMCasey
We performed maintenance this morning at 2am that should have resolved the slow speeds during peak-time problem. I'll watch it for the next 24 hours to confirm.
DSMCasey
join:2004-03-27
Sanger, TX

DSMCasey

Member

Thank you sir, I will keep PP running as well
DSMCasey

DSMCasey

Member

Ping plotter got all messy because power went out several times due to heavy storms here locally. But 6pm - 2am there was no change in ping, still very large spikes. Off-peak times still seem to be fine though, flat as a board and low pings.

-Casey

SDL L3Tech
join:2011-06-07
Tyler, TX

1 edit

SDL L3Tech to DSMCasey

Member

to DSMCasey

24h Last graph is DSMCasey

60 second - non peaktime
I have attached PingPlotter trace I have been running for the past 24 hours. The top image shows two cable modems of your neighbors then yours. The bottom two images are 60 second captures that just occurred. The 3rd graph in each image is yours (DSMCasey's).

Thanks to the various maintenance that was performed, right now the node's upstream is at about 13% utilized. The downstream is about 15% utilized. We are still a few hours before the total bandwidth utilization reaches the beginning of peak-time.

During peaktime (past 24 hours), the upstream reached 43% utilization and the downstream reached 74% utilization. No more saturation observed.

As you can see from the various traces above, your modem shows increases latency starting close to 2pm (central) until 2am. However, the two of your neighbor's modems I traced to did not show the same latency. These are on the same upstream and downstream that your modem is on. This tells me the remaining latency spikes are isolated to your direct connection.

Since I'm seeing intermittent latency spikes now, I started watching your cable modem and I was able to catch a few small bursts which reached the capacity of your upload. Something on your network is intermittently and briefly bursting to the upload capacity of your cable modem.

See below; I have bolded the modem's upstream utilization during one of the latency spikes and added the information in ().

CMTK01#sh cable modem [removed] verb | inc US Through
Total US Throughput : 89138 bits/sec, 58 packets/sec (89kb/s of 2mb)
CMTK01#sh cable modem [removed] verb | inc US Through
Total US Throughput : 1480284 bits/sec, 177 packets/sec (1.4mb/s of 2mb)
CMTK01#sh cable modem [removed] verb | inc US Through
Total US Throughput : 1882071 bits/sec, 222 packets/sec (1.8mb/s of 2mb)
CMTK01#sh cable modem [removed] verb | inc US Through
Total US Throughput : 107306 bits/sec, 89 packets/sec (100kb/s of 2mb)

The command above was repeated in quick succession.