Network packet loss issues (RESOLVED, PLEASE CLOSE)

[anrkyuk]

Greetings one and all.

So, yesterday I was playing Minecraft with my nephew on my Realm and I was suffering from intermittent lagging, about every 8-10 seconds lasting for a second or two each time.

If i was mining there would be no block breaking animation, just all of a sudden the block would pop, and if there were items on the floor I'd just walk over them and not pick them up.

I at first thought this was a Realm issue, but my nephew was not having any problems so quickly ruled this out.

After playing I went to do some shopping online and noticed google was slow providing search results, and so was Bing... and shops were also slow to provide results from searches.

A quick Google ping test showed that I was suffering frequent timeouts.

This was on my desktop gaming PC with a Netgear R7800 router and Virgin Media Hub in modem only mode.

I started by rebooting my PC = no change.

So I turned my router and modem off for 5 mins and powered back on = no change.

I tried a different cable on a different port on my router = no change

I flushed my DNS = no change

I changed my DNS to Google = no change

I ran Spybot and Malware bytes with nothing nefarious showing.

I then tested my Surface Pro 6 over wifi and it was suffering the same issues in Minecraft and Google ping was also suffering frequent timeouts.

I then updated my router firmware = no change.

I went on to VM's website (My ISP), a location check showed no known issues, I then used their web based tools to check my HUB (modem). It showed no issues and advised that I power cycle my modem, which I had already done.

Sadly I know only 1 other person in my street with VM and a computer an they are out, otherwise I'd ask them to run some checks to see if its the ISP at fault.

The only thing left I can think to try is to connect an old PC directly to my modem and or to put my VM Hub in to router mode to bypass my router.

Any thoughts ?

[Elucidator]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von A&A:

hop 1 is the router which is fine
hop 2 is the firewall which is fine
hop 3 is the modem which is not fine

Due to his modem being in bridge mode, hop 1 is his router
the modem is skipped and it enters the first of virgin's stuff (no ping reply there)
the third hop is likely a passthrough server virgin media controls.

You can't ping the modem with a trace route to google in this current setup.
You can however ping it on the LAN connection, so by pinging the modem's lan ip.

[Elucidator]

That upload packet loss is suspicious.
does that happen when you change preset to anything else?

Considering the packet loss to google after 10 minutes was also around 8.3% and google being in the US, it is consistent with these results.
but then germany is a mystery

[Elucidator]

No problem.

Ursprünglich geschrieben von anrkyuk:

With the hub in router mode I performed a ping test and left it running for 2 min, curiously no packet loss... I thought the end was in sight.

I forgot about this while thinking.
Its possible it still is the router to be honest. (The netgear router)

Packets get converted in a router so that they know where to go. If it is the router: you don't see packet loss with a ping to the router because there was no need to do anything with the packet other than to reply to it. Its hard to say since virgin media doesn't let you ping it.

Here's the latest firmware.
https://kb.netgear.com/000064555/R7800-Firmware-Version-1-0-2-90

I haven't read about any recent issues considering the router.


Either way (whether its the isp or the router) I know of one piece of software that may help:
https://developers.cloudflare.com/warp-client/get-started/windows/

This is a pseudo vpn thingy...
it converts all your packets to the same size same type same destination udp packets, all encrypted so no device understands anything.
and from one of those nearby cloudflare things converts them back, and sends them to the internet from there.
(it doesn't hide your IP though)

How it could help: because things become consistent for the devices involved. Usually its inconsistency that causes spikes.
your ISP has no clue what to make of the packets so there is nothing to filter.

It maybe worth testing out at least

[Elucidator]

Good luck with the tests.
Its possible your IAP has whitelisted the hub (modemrouter), your friend's hub may not work unless you call your IAP saying you want to use this one.
...
At least that is how it works over here. (in fact, companies are breaking EU law, since we should be able to buy and choose our own modem and have full control over the device, as well as more privacy and such)

(IAP being internet access provider, which is basically what people refer to when they say ISP; but IAP is more fitting. ISP is more like, amazon web services and other web hosting providers and such. Your 'isp' doesn't offer you any other online service other than access to the internet and communication.)


Well anyway yeah..
Looks like its going to be problematic either way and requiring to call them at some point.

[CZI]

If you have WiFi, better to use ehternet for online gaming.

You can check ping stableness with ping /t command.
ex) ping google.com /t

And better not have running any other apps in background especially browser.

If you still have issue and doubt on connection, it may worth to change global IP.
ex) http://www.myglobalip.com/

How to change global IP is following.
1) Change MAC address on router
2) Restart router

[Elucidator]

I have been watching the thread
Virgin Media, if things go well, should be able to fix it within a 10 minute phone call. (first you have to wait till its your turn, then they have to redirect you to the right place, etc.)
I mean they check the CMTS and the File Server (and your configurations), then they hack into your modem from their end to read the stats (and also read private info they don't really need, like MACs connected, etc.)
and then they run a few tests and likely see something is off 'somewhere' so they put through it to a engineer, and then a few days later someone drops by to replace your current modem (and maybe the cable too). xD

I expect that to happen at least.
Maybe they also need to redo the cable in the street or maybe they just need to fix something in the block box. (where all homes are connected to, before they wire the cable over fiber glass to Virgin Media)

meh-
Anyway, still good luck. ;p

[Rumunsko]

Hey pal, did you manage to sort it out?