Random ping spikes on fibre connection (gaming and non gaming)

[kmensforth1990]

Hey all,

My first post here so if ive missed out any information let me know and i'll try and get hold of it. Ive tried the online and telephone support and they cant really help me anymore so im open to suggestions.

Specs:
-Gaming PC
-Cat6 Ethernet Cable
-BT Smart Hub

Speeds
- Average Ping to EU gaming servers: 28ms
- Upstream: 18.41Mbps
- Downstream: 58.27Mbps

Issue:

So everything was fine until roughly the start of December when i started getting getting random ping spikes/stutters, i'll average 31ms ping whilst gaming however every 2-8 seconds it'll fly up to 150-300ms for half a second then drop back down, causing the game to stutter and making it literally unplayable.

I would just like to clarify that the issue is not with my broadband speeds

Video of the issue:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ore1j3DsG-E (ping displayed top right corner)
As you can see the spike coincides with a stutter within the game.

I also used VTfast as a friend suggested to try and route traffic differently but also provided me with this ping chart.

I've tried the following:
-Disabling WIFI.
-Making it so my pc is the only device connected.
-Disabling cloud programs on my pc.
-Changing Ethernet Cable.
-Ping looping multiple servers to recreate the issue outside of the game:

A friend suggested to use pingplotter to get more information which provided me with these results yesterday:

and

after the above BT support told me to restart the hub and they were going to reset the line or something and today it gave me these:

-Im currently restoring HH4 to default settings to see if its an issue with the Smart Hub.

However from the pingplotter graphs today im led to believe that the issue is more likely to do with BT routing than anything else? unless im entirely misinterpreting it.

Not really sure what else to try, so honestly im open to any suggestions at the moment.

Update:

Did the BT quiet line test by ringing 17070 and there was crackling in certain segments, could this be the cause of the issue?

[pippincp]

Report a noisey line fault on 151 not a broadannd fault.

[Keith_Beddoe]

---

@kmensforth1990 wrote:

  Did the BT quiet line test by ringing 17070 and there was crackling in certain segments, could this be the cause of the issue?

---

Yes, almost certainly the cause. Line noise causes errors and re-transmissions.

Report as a noisy phone line, just as  @pippincp has said.

If there is noise on the line, then you need to report it as a noisy line. Do not mention the broadband problem, otherwise it will end up in the wrong fault queue, and take much longer to be fixed. There are plenty of people who can fix phone faults, but not as many broadband people.

Once the phone fault is fixed, then the broadband will get better.

[kmensforth1990]

thanks for the replies, reported it to support and they did some test, confirmed a line fault and that an engineer would be out monday to fix the issue, will let you know how it goes!

[kmensforth1990]

Hey guys, engineer has been out and said the phone line is fine and did another speed test which came back fine, how do I convince BT to test the line for packet loss and stuff instead of just speed tests as I've already said the speed isn't the issue, also open to any other suggestions because it's getting to the point where I'm debating trying a different provider.....

[kmensforth1990]

still having issues guys? seems like a similar issue to a lot of people out there since upgrading to Superfast Fibre Plus which is when my issue started 😞

[kmensforth1990]

Hey guys, so I read somewhere that someone with a similar issue bought a new modem/router and it fixed his issue, so I bought a new one myself:

TP-Link ARCHER VR400 AC1200 Wireless VDSL/ADSL Modem Router

So far so good, all devices connected to it and stable 31ms pings to valve gaming servers without any freakish spikes.

Still think it's disgusting that BT are offering free line upgrades when their hardware can't support it and expect the customers to foot the bill for a new router/modem, will be contacting bt support to see if they'll foot the bill for the new router!

[kmensforth1990]

bump,

new router seems to have reduced the amount of spikes but still happening:

for some reason when my network is idle i get these spikes, however, when i set off a large download, my minimum ping increases to 40-50ms~ however i dont receive the spikes.

I've asked BT to roll me back to my old infinity 1 package to see if that helps at all

[kmensforth1990]

So BT agent on saturday said that they could roll me back to previous package but today i was told that i was told i couldnt and no record of the conversation was available, i also made ping graphs from friday:

The dropped packets is from my line disconnecting and reconnecting under a different IP and had to wait to update the ip for the graphs.

However ive just been on the phone to a really kind customer support agent and explained my situation, told me the max speed of my line was 60mbps and he did a line test and then told me that i was getting speeds of 78mbps, i've asked if there was a way to slow down my speeds as surely this could cause instability to which he made a complaint and forwarded it to the offline team? will report back when they get back in touch unless anyone has any ways of slowing down my internet on my end (ive tried QoS but doesnt seem to make much difference)

Lastly the other thing ive noticed is that if the network traffic is low, casual streaming/now tv/ gaming then the ping spikes occur, however if i set a large file downloading then the ping spikes disappear and i just get a higher average ping of around 80ms, obviously this isnt a fix as i'd have to download terrabytes of data constantly just to maintain this on a 78mbps connection.

[gg30340]

Do you still have the noise on your phone line? If you do you really need to get that resolved before doing anything else. 

If the noise is still there you need to report a telephone fault not a broadband fault.