High and Fluctuating Latency on Singapore Servers

Technical Support
1

Hello,

I live in Singapore, and have been an active Overwatch player for quite some time. As far as I am aware, there is an Overwatch server right in Singapore called ‘gsg1’, and since I live here, I have usually played Overwatch with my ping/ latency fluctuating from 15-40 ms. However, for the past couple days or so, I’ve noticed a dramatic increase in my latency to a base rate of around 70-80, but my latency consistently fluctuates to up to 150ms very frequently, especially when there is a lot of action on my screen.

I have tried resetting my router, game and PC, but this doesn’t seem to change anything. I have run some diagnostic tests as recommended on these forums, I am attaching my ‘dxdiag’ and ‘WinMTR’ files on this filebin link (https://filebin.net/ea7fxr1qgsmabisx), as well as a screenshot of my ‘Control-Shift-N’ screen (https://ibb.co/TrMhCf2) and a video outlining my severe latency in the Practice Range (https://imgur.com/a/Ncpjwyh).

Apologies for the slightly odd link formatting

The game is much harder to play and make an impact in with this hightened latency, I’d really appreciate it if you could help me out with troubleshooting this issue. Do let me know if you require any additional information from my side.

If it helps, I am pasting the contents of my ‘WinMTR’ below.


|                                      WinMTR statistics                                   |

|                       Host              -   %  | Sent | Recv | Best | Avrg | Wrst | Last |

|------------------------------------------------|------|------|------|------|------|------|

|                           192.168.1.254 -    1 |  201 |  199 |    1 |   29 |  168 |   32 |

|         bb116-14-207-254.singnet.com.sg -    1 |  205 |  204 |    3 |   41 |  206 |    8 |

|                           165.21.193.18 -    4 |  186 |  180 |    3 |   29 |  115 |   11 |

|                           165.21.193.17 -    0 |  208 |  208 |    4 |   70 |  294 |   62 |

|                          165.21.138.181 -    0 |  208 |  208 |    4 |   69 |  284 |   68 |

|      SN-SINTP1-BO402-ae1.singnet.com.sg -    0 |  208 |  208 |    3 |   70 |  321 |   71 |

|                         203.208.177.217 -    0 |  208 |  208 |    4 |   70 |  284 |   71 |

|                         203.208.166.233 -    0 |  208 |  208 |    4 |   70 |  284 |   68 |

|                         203.208.158.189 -    0 |  208 |  208 |    6 |   70 |  294 |   68 |

|                           72.14.210.137 -    0 |  208 |  208 |    5 |   69 |  265 |  184 |

|                         108.170.240.225 -    0 |  208 |  208 |    6 |   72 |  294 |   68 |

|                         108.170.240.242 -    0 |  208 |  208 |    6 |   71 |  294 |   74 |

|                           72.14.236.242 -   67 |   59 |   20 |    5 |   63 |  177 |   97 |

|                           72.14.236.223 -    0 |  208 |  208 |    6 |   72 |  294 |   75 |

|                          172.253.68.145 -    0 |  208 |  208 |    7 |   74 |  326 |   68 |

|                   No response from host -  100 |   43 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |

|                   No response from host -  100 |   43 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |

|                   No response from host -  100 |   43 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |

|                   No response from host -  100 |   43 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |

|                   No response from host -  100 |   43 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |

|                   No response from host -  100 |   43 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |

|                   No response from host -  100 |   43 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |

|                   No response from host -  100 |   43 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |

|                   No response from host -  100 |   43 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |

|                   No response from host -  100 |   43 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |

|                   No response from host -  100 |   43 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |

|                   No response from host -  100 |   43 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |

|                   No response from host -  100 |   43 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |

|                   No response from host -  100 |   43 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |

|                   No response from host -  100 |   43 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |

|________________________________________________|______|______|______|______|______|______|

   WinMTR v0.92 GPL V2 by Appnor MSP - Fully Managed Hosting & Cloud Provider ~~~~
2

Hey, PulledPork!

Thanks for providing that WinMTR test data. The test here shows packet loss paired with latency spikes up to ~169ms beginning from the first ‘hop’ and persisting through all subsequent hops:

192.168.1.254 - 1 | 201 | 199 | 1 | 29 | 168:warning: | 32 |

This first hop is the connection from your computer to the router or modem (depending on what device you’re connecting to). Packet loss is somewhat common to see with WiFi connections, so if you are using WiFi, try testing a direct connection to the router or modem via ethernet cable. Note that we do not directly support wireless connections. If you find that WiFi is the problem, you can contact the support team for the WiFi device or the wireless router.

If a wired connection doesn’t fix the issue or isn’t possible, and the troubleshooting steps here have no impact, I recommend contacting your Internet Service Provider (ISP) for assistance determining what is causing the packet loss. They might need to adjust network-level security/firewall settings or temporarily replace the network devices in your home to narrow it down further. Additionally, I always recommend requesting to be forwarded to a “level 2 or level 3 technician” when contacting the ISP since the front-line representatives typically only have access to basic diagnostics and troubleshooting tools.

Hopefully this information has provided further insight into the situation and helps get things fixed up so you can get back to playing as normal! Let us know if you have any questions going forward.

3

Hi Skelgarer,

Thanks for your reply.

I do already play via ethernet, so that doesn’t seem to be the problem.

I’ve tried all the troubleshooting steps mentioned above, and none have fixed the latency issues. However, there is something else that I believe may be the issue.

I have tried numerous other online games using the same PC and Internet connection that I play Overwatch on, and I consistently get a latency of around 20ms for every game I play - common for Singapore, even if the game doesn’t have a server located right here like Overwatch does. This makes it seem like my ISP isn’t restricting my latency in any way, it seems unlikely that they would only restrict it for one application like Overwatch.

I have also tried connecting to a VPN and playing Overwatch, and also logging into my Overwatch account from a different PC on a different Internet connection. None have seemed to fix my latency issues.

I have also used some online ‘Overwatch ping/latency’ testers (such as https://pingtestlive.com/overwatch ), although I do not know of their reliability, I have tested the ping to their ‘Singapore’ server on more than 5 different Internet connections, and have got the unusually high average of around 70ms latency (https://ibb.co/M5kL6pn), spiking up to 150ms at times. As I mentioned in my original post, I’ve always got around 20ms latency on Overwatch as well up until the last two days or so.

Hence, I don’t think it is a specific problem with my home network that my ISP could address, I have a feeling it may be the server as a whole having latency issues? Have there been any other reports of unusually high latency on Singapore servers, and are you able to check for yourself to see if you are having similar results?

Do let me know what you think, and if you have any additional troubleshooting advice. I’d really like to get back to playing Overwatch, but it is really difficult with this heightened latency.

4

These tests are a waste of time. You’re pinging the server directly in the WinMTR, there’s no need for an external website.

There is clearly interference or faulty equipment within the home network, though. That is demonstrated in the test with the average ping between computer and modem or router showing 29ms, and it really shouldn’t be greater than 5ms. There are also spikes to 168ms on the home network. This sets you up for a lot of lag as the connection continues through the ISP network. Before reaching Blizzard, the ping is already 69ms on the ISP nodes alone.

5

Hi Nicole,

Thanks for your reply.

Apologies, I am really not too familiar with how latencies and network issues work, and was just trying to do my own rudimentary tests at home.

I have reached out to my ISP for support, and will keep you posted of any developments.