Help interpreting Pingplotter hops on BT

[loanhead]

Hello

I've been having connection BT FTTC issues for a while (asked for help on here) , The problem is high and prolonged ping spikes and packet loss, to the point online gaming is unplayable. It affects other things like streaming services etc.

I was quick to point the blame towards the problem being outside my property, which could be a mistake on my part. I got a replacement Smart Hub and the problem persisted. BT ran some tests on my line, said yes there was an issue, but then because I was meeting the minimum speed guarantee it didn't matter and there was nothing they could do.

I was ready to leave for another ISP, but then thought there's no point in leaving if I'll have the same problem with another provider. To try and get any information to help. I did some monitoring using pingplotter on my PC. The PC is connected to a Gigabit switch which is then connected to the Smart Hub. To make sure the switch etc and internal house wiring wasn't an issue I connected a Macbook direct to the Smart Hub with a CAT6 ethernet cable. There's 3 screenshots from each with random ping spikes picked from the logs.

I've attached graphs below. Can anyone help identifying the hops?

Hop 1 - My BT Smart Hub. Hop 2 - would that be the local cabinet?

Many thanks

[Crimliar]

In most cases "PingPlotter" is the wrong tool, it has it's uses, but it's giving you some pretty, important-looking graphs that don't mean very much at all!

The important thing in all that data that you've posted is that you've a 900ms+ delay between your router and the first traceable switch within the BT network.  That would suggest to me that you have a device of some kind plugged in between your BT router and the ONT (on FTTP), or that there is something wrong with your connection between the wall socket and the cabinet (VDSL) or exchange (ADSL).

[loanhead]

Thanks for the response. I’m FTTC. In regards to the wall socket, we only have 1 phone socket, our Master, which had no extension wiring etc. I have twice swapped out the faceplate to eliminate it from being an issue.

[Crimliar]

It appears that the line fault you mentioned is the cause.  There is no normal reason for the connection from the wall socket to that first connection withing the BT network to have an almost 1 second delay.  I was expecting you to say there's another router, or exotic piece of kit in there.

It might be worth having a word with some of your neighbours to see if they also have issues, because it's sounding to me like a misconfiguration on the BT side of the connection!

[loanhead]

Ahh I only have 3 neighbours all of which a bit older. 1 I don’t believe has broadband, and the others 2 are unlikely to notice (one works away and the other is abroad constantly).

Do you think swapping ISP could fix it, or a physical fault on the actual line?

The pole which feeds us (our line travels underground from it), has considerable list and was condemned (and then un-condemned later).

[Crimliar]

Swapping ISP, might fix it, or it might not - it's a potentially expensive gamble.  The other gamble is that DV (Digital Voice) when it comes to you, might well not be  usable, and force BT to look into the problem further!

Really don't think there's any more of any value that I can add to this!

[loanhead]

No problem, thanks for the help so far.

We have DV, funnily enough while on the phone with a BT help agent (who had noted there was an issue and called me) - the call literally went spotty and disconnected. He called back and I said “it’s happening right now, I’m watching the ping/PL going through the roof”, that was when I got told that because my download speed is within the minimum speed guarantee there was nothing they could do lol.