INSANELY slow cable connection, please help analyze my ping!

[Lucky]

For some reason in XP when i do a ping it abruptly shuts down like halfway through, so i took a screenshot.See my ping results here.

I am using Roadrunner cable modem. This problem only started occuring in the past 3-4 weeks. I have a tech coming tommorow but I wanted some advice to guide him since in my experience they dont always know what they are doing. Is it possible to tell, with my ping results, what my problem is? Is it my modem? My line? Something else?

Thanks!

 

[mercutio11]

wow... your ping is extremely high..
Have you been Dslreports.com??
If you haven't been there, try use this link or visit RR forum.

 

[Lucky]

here is the DSLreports results, FWIW.

 

[Lucky]

see, now when I do pings they're fine, only 15 minutes later,

Target Name: forums.anandtech.com
IP: 216.151.100.125
Date/Time: 2/5/2002 3:40:31 PM

1 1 ms [xxxxxxxxx]
2 59 ms [10.32.32.1]
3 46 ms srp1-0.gvlgoh1-rtr1.columbus.rr.com [65.25.129.137]
4 67 ms srp1-0.clmboh1-rtr1.columbus.rr.com [24.95.81.221]
5 52 ms srp0-0.clmboh1-rtr3.columbus.rr.com [24.95.81.229]
6 32 ms pop1-col-P3-0.atdn.net [198.81.2.113]
7 22 ms bb1-col-P4-0.atdn.net [204.148.97.37]
8 382 ms bb1-ash-P14-3.atdn.net [66.185.152.25]
9 363 ms pop1-ash-P0-0.atdn.net [66.185.139.194]
10 391 ms sl-st21-ash-13-0.sprintlink.net [144.223.246.129]
11 387 ms sl-bb24-rly-15-3.sprintlink.net [144.232.20.20]
12 400 ms sl-bb23-rly-10-0.sprintlink.net [144.232.14.129]
13 382 ms sl-bb21-pen-12-0.sprintlink.net [144.232.20.33]
14 369 ms sl-bb20-pen-15-0.sprintlink.net [144.232.16.33]
15 359 ms sl-gw2-pen-9-0.sprintlink.net [144.232.5.10]
16 348 ms sl-starind-4-0.sprintlink.net [144.228.179.10]
17 339 ms g2-0.eth.gr-0.pitdc1.pa.stargate.net [206.210.91.230]
18 326 ms v1.eth.cr-3.pitdc1.pa.stargate.net [209.166.165.71]
19 306 ms forums.anandtech.com [216.151.100.125]




Or at least respectable compared to the other ones. What woudl cause such a huge fluctuation?

 

[Lord Evermore]

A) they're traceroutes, not pings.
B) No need to white out your internal IP address, since it's not personally identifying

As for what can cause it, bad signal on the cable line can do it. That's all the tech is going to need to check. Overload on the RR router/server that you first hit could also cause it.

Hop 1 is your own router/firewall. Hop 2 is the head-end router at your ISP. Since the latency starts at that point, the cable line is the most likely culprit. There may be some interference local to you, or some bad wiring along the line. It's often intermittent due to things like weather or if it's an external inteference, then whatever is causing it could go on and off. (Even something like whether it's windy could affect it, since the line might be moving back and forth and a bad connection goes on and off.)

 

[John]

Download the speedpatch from speedguide.net

 

[Lord Evermore]

A speedpatch isn't going to resolve failure of the service connection itself.

 

[John]

True, but the thread title clearly specifies INSANELY slow cable connection.

 

[Lucky]

Ill try that John. Meanwhile, my latest:

Target Name: www.fatwallet.com
IP: 128.242.179.150
Date/Time: 2/5/2002 7:12:55 PM

1 1 ms 1 ms 1 ms 1 ms 1 ms 1 ms 1 ms 1 ms 1 ms 1 ms [192.168.2.1]
2 2562 ms 1581 ms 2095 ms 2125 ms 1617 ms 2550 ms 1632 ms 1456 ms 1997 ms * [10.32.32.1]
3 2551 ms 1566 ms 2082 ms 2110 ms 1603 ms 2540 ms 1621 ms 1464 ms 1981 ms * srp1-0.gvlgoh1-rtr1.columbus.rr.com [65.25.129.137]
4 2529 ms 1540 ms 2066 ms 2085 ms 1577 ms 2512 ms 1597 ms 1440 ms 1955 ms * srp1-0.clmboh1-rtr2.columbus.rr.com [24.95.81.222]
5 2520 ms 1524 ms 2056 ms 2074 ms 1564 ms 2497 ms 1913 ms 1423 ms 1939 ms * srp0-0.clmboh1-rtr4.columbus.rr.com [24.95.81.230]
6 2507 ms 1498 ms 2041 ms 2050 ms 1543 ms 2473 ms 1892 ms * 1913 ms * pop2-col-P4-2.atdn.net [64.236.3.241]
7 2502 ms 1493 ms 2034 ms 2036 ms 1532 ms 2466 ms 1876 ms 1800 ms 1905 ms * bb1-col-P5-0.atdn.net [204.148.97.49]
8 2499 ms 1504 ms 2027 ms 2024 ms 1535 ms 2471 ms 1885 ms 1658 ms 1892 ms * bb1-ash-P14-3.atdn.net [66.185.152.25]
9 2487 ms 1490 ms 2042 ms 2006 ms 1519 ms 2478 ms 1869 ms 1663 ms 1876 ms * pop2-ash-P0-0.atdn.net [66.185.139.210]
10 2469 ms 1469 ms 2024 ms 1981 ms 1507 ms 2476 ms 1873 ms 1670 ms 1853 ms * dca-edge-04.inet.qwest.net [65.114.160.29]
11 2453 ms 1457 ms 2008 ms 1966 ms 1492 ms 2463 ms 1858 ms 1639 ms 1839 ms * dca-core-02.inet.qwest.net [205.171.9.65]
12 2444 ms 1434 ms 1981 ms 1938 ms 1466 ms 2439 ms 1831 ms 1643 ms 1820 ms * dca-brdr-01.inet.qwest.net [205.171.9.54]
13 2430 ms 1435 ms 1967 ms 1924 ms 1456 ms 2431 ms 1840 ms 1651 ms 1807 ms * iconspn.inet.qwest.net [205.171.4.110]
14 2428 ms 1841 ms 1968 ms 1926 ms 1452 ms 2432 ms 1861 ms 1696 ms 1805 ms * p4-4-0-0.r02.mclnva02.us.bb.verio.net [129.250.5.250]
15 2450 ms 1867 ms 1999 ms 1953 ms 1486 ms 2457 ms 1887 ms 1749 ms 1831 ms * p16-7-0-0.r02.stngva01.us.bb.verio.net [129.250.5.46]
16 2417 ms 1832 ms 1975 ms 1916 ms 1441 ms 2420 ms 1857 ms 1720 ms 1795 ms * p16-0-0-0.r01.chcgil01.us.bb.verio.net [129.250.5.102]
17 2393 ms 1807 ms 1953 ms 1892 ms 1420 ms 2397 ms 2206 ms 1695 ms 1774 ms * p16-2-0-0.r01.chcgil06.us.bb.verio.net [129.250.5.70]
18 2358 ms 1782 ms 1928 ms 1861 ms 1383 ms 2357 ms 2173 ms 1670 ms 1746 ms * ge-1-2.a00.chcgil06.us.da.verio.net [129.250.25.163]
19 2346 ms 1769 ms 1915 ms 1848 ms 1372 ms 2344 ms 2159 ms 1664 ms 1749 ms * [128.242.179.150]

 

[PowerEngineer]

I had a similar problem with my cable connection last year. What had been a fast, rock solid connection became much slower and frequently out completely. I had dealt with "customer support" several times over a three month period with no success, so they finally agreed to send out a tech. As luck would have it, the connection was up when he arrived. I did get him to check the signal strength, at which point he let out a long whistle. "Low?" I asked. "Very low." he replied. The fix was relatively simple; just an adjustment to the filters/attentuators in the outside cable box. I'm guessing that additional hook-ups in the neighborhood cut into signal strength. Back to fast (actually no as fast since "converted" to ATTBI from @Home), rock solid ever since. Hope your problem is as easily fixed.

 

[Lucky]

John, I installed two patches and will reboot in a minute to see if they help.

Engineer: Thanks for the kind words. I have a bit of a unique situation as Im in a ghetto apartment, so to speak, in that I dont have cable outlets in the wall. Its an old, old building so there is basically one 50' cable line coming in from outside, which when splits into three more 50' lines to run to the front of the apt., one for cable modem and one for each of my TV's. While my connection has never been the fastest (perhaps 1.5mbps tops, still not bad) this slowdown has only occured recently. When I first got it isntalled they commented on my unique cabling situation and said had they known of it, they probably wouldnt have installed it in the first place. However, at the time he did tweak it and until recently has been working perfectly for 4-5 months.

 

[AA0]

Its insanely slow because of the pings, so a speed patch won't fix that.

If its on and off like that, you probably have a problem with the line somewhere. If its been good for a while, then got bad, its not a line thing, well... mostly likely not.

If you get constantly bad speed, then it is a problem with your local cable company. Since the pings increase on your local area, its showing that your cable company may have over booked your area, or not have enough bandwidth. This is especially easy to prove if the speed goes back up at 2-3am.

 

[Lucky]

<< Its insanely slow because of the pings, so a speed patch won't fix that.

If its on and off like that, you probably have a problem with the line somewhere. If its been good for a while, then got bad, its not a line thing, well... mostly likely not.

If you get constantly bad speed, then it is a problem with your local cable company. Since the pings increase on your local area, its showing that your cable company may have over booked your area, or not have enough bandwidth. This is especially easy to prove if the speed goes back up at 2-3am. >>




Yeah, the speedpatch didnt help much, at least that I can tell. Im not sure if its overbooking or not, what time of day it is has no effect on the speed. Even if I try playing my FPS's at 3-6AM, my pings still max out above 999. Other times my connection simply doesnt work for 10-15 minutes.

Hmm...well if anyone has opinions on what this might be other than line problems (could it be my modem?) then please post, especially if you have had similar stories. Otherwise, I will await the RR tech at 1PM tommorow and show him the pings im getting.