Unplayable Latency Spikes as of Late

Arbiter-11315 · April 3, 2020, 1:21am

Hello everyone. My brother and I have been experiencing rather bad latency spikes recently in all Overwatch game modes. We both play from the same house and usually sport a cool 60-65ms ping at all times. In the past week or two, however, we both rarely stay at our normal latency and frequently reach upwards of 300-500ms instead. I’ve scoured the forums looking for others in similar situations and hope that my issue can be fixed, or at least have some light shed on the problem so that I can go back to fighting my brother in Overwatch, not my ping!

Below is all the information I can think of to help sort this out:

ISP: Comcast Cable Communications, LLC
Connection Type: Wireless – have restarted hardware and tested a wired connection: no cigar

Traceroute

Tracing route to 24.105.41.94 over a maximum of 30 hops

  1    <1 ms    <1 ms    <1 ms  172.16.0.1 
  2    12 ms    12 ms     9 ms  96.120.69.85 
  3    12 ms    17 ms    10 ms  96.108.102.177 
  4    15 ms    10 ms    13 ms  162.151.190.194 
  5    12 ms    11 ms    12 ms  68.85.106.229 
  6    18 ms    15 ms    19 ms  be-2-ar01.needham.ma.boston.comcast.net [68.87.147.149] 
  7    23 ms    24 ms    22 ms  be-7015-cr02.newyork.ny.ibone.comcast.net [68.86.90.217] 
  8    27 ms    21 ms    21 ms  be-10396-pe01.60hudson.ny.ibone.comcast.net [68.86.84.78] 
  9    23 ms    22 ms    23 ms  50.208.232.150 
 10    56 ms    65 ms    67 ms  ae1-br01-eqny8.as57976.net [137.221.71.33] 
 11    59 ms    89 ms    85 ms  et-0-0-2-br02-eqch2.as57976.net [137.221.65.8] 
 12    52 ms    47 ms    43 ms  et-0-0-1-pe03-eqch2.as57976.net [137.221.69.57] 
 13     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 14     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 15     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 16     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 17     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 18     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 19     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 20     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 21     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 22     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 23     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 24     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 25     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 26     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 27     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 28     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 29     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 30     *        *        *     Request timed out.

Trace complete.

Pathping

Tracing route to 24.105.41.94 over a maximum of 30 hops

  0  Arbitrator [172.16.0.20] 
  1  172.16.0.1 
  2  96.120.69.85 
  3  96.108.102.177 
  4  162.151.190.194 
  5  68.85.106.229 
  6  be-2-ar01.needham.ma.boston.comcast.net [68.87.147.149] 
  7  be-7015-cr02.newyork.ny.ibone.comcast.net [68.86.90.217] 
  8  be-10396-pe01.60hudson.ny.ibone.comcast.net [68.86.84.78] 
  9  50.208.232.150 
 10  ae1-br01-eqny8.as57976.net [137.221.71.33] 
 11  et-0-0-2-br02-eqch2.as57976.net [137.221.65.8] 
 12  et-0-0-1-pe03-eqch2.as57976.net [137.221.69.57] 
 13     *        *        *     
Computing statistics for 300 seconds...
            Source to Here   This Node/Link
Hop  RTT    Lost/Sent = Pct  Lost/Sent = Pct  Address
  0                                           Arbitrator [172.16.0.20] 
                                0/ 100 =  0%   |
  1    0ms     0/ 100 =  0%     0/ 100 =  0%  172.16.0.1 
                                0/ 100 =  0%   |
  2   13ms     0/ 100 =  0%     0/ 100 =  0%  96.120.69.85 
                                0/ 100 =  0%   |
  3   12ms     0/ 100 =  0%     0/ 100 =  0%  96.108.102.177 
                                0/ 100 =  0%   |
  4   12ms     0/ 100 =  0%     0/ 100 =  0%  162.151.190.194 
                                0/ 100 =  0%   |
  5   14ms     0/ 100 =  0%     0/ 100 =  0%  68.85.106.229 
                                0/ 100 =  0%   |
  6   32ms     0/ 100 =  0%     0/ 100 =  0%  be-2-ar01.needham.ma.boston.comcast.net [68.87.147.149] 
                                0/ 100 =  0%   |
  7   26ms     0/ 100 =  0%     0/ 100 =  0%  be-7015-cr02.newyork.ny.ibone.comcast.net [68.86.90.217] 
                                0/ 100 =  0%   |
  8   23ms     0/ 100 =  0%     0/ 100 =  0%  be-10396-pe01.60hudson.ny.ibone.comcast.net [68.86.84.78] 
                                0/ 100 =  0%   |
  9   45ms     0/ 100 =  0%     0/ 100 =  0%  50.208.232.150 
                                0/ 100 =  0%   |
 10   47ms     0/ 100 =  0%     0/ 100 =  0%  ae1-br01-eqny8.as57976.net [137.221.71.33] 
                                0/ 100 =  0%   |
 11   55ms     0/ 100 =  0%     0/ 100 =  0%  et-0-0-2-br02-eqch2.as57976.net [137.221.65.8] 
                                0/ 100 =  0%   |
 12   48ms     0/ 100 =  0%     0/ 100 =  0%  et-0-0-1-pe03-eqch2.as57976.net [137.221.69.57] 

Trace complete.

WinMTR


|                                      WinMTR statistics                                   |

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

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

|                              172.16.0.1 -    1 |  569 |  568 |    0 |    2 |  245 |    2 |

|                            96.120.69.85 -    0 |  573 |  573 |    8 |   13 |  284 |   11 |

|                          96.108.102.177 -    0 |  573 |  573 |    7 |   14 |  309 |   13 |

|                         162.151.190.194 -    1 |  569 |  568 |    8 |   13 |  187 |   10 |

|                           68.85.106.229 -    0 |  573 |  573 |    9 |   15 |  296 |   13 |

| be-2-ar01.needham.ma.boston.comcast.net -    0 |  573 |  573 |   13 |   21 |  311 |   20 |

|be-7015-cr02.newyork.ny.ibone.comcast.net -    0 |  573 |  573 |   19 |   26 |  319 |   22 |

|be-10396-pe01.60hudson.ny.ibone.comcast.net -    0 |  573 |  573 |   19 |   24 |  264 |   25 |

|                          50.208.232.150 -    0 |  573 |  573 |   19 |   29 |  312 |   22 |

|              ae1-br01-eqny8.as57976.net -    0 |  573 |  573 |   41 |   50 |  323 |   44 |

|         et-0-0-2-br02-eqch2.as57976.net -    1 |  569 |  568 |   41 |   49 |  155 |   93 |

|         et-0-0-1-pe03-eqch2.as57976.net -    0 |  573 |  573 |   40 |   49 |  356 |   41 |

|                   No response from host -  100 |  115 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |

|                   No response from host -  100 |  115 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |

|                   No response from host -  100 |  115 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |

|                   No response from host -  100 |  115 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |

|                   No response from host -  100 |  115 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |

|                   No response from host -  100 |  115 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |

|                   No response from host -  100 |  115 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |

|                   No response from host -  100 |  115 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |

|                   No response from host -  100 |  115 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |

|                   No response from host -  100 |  115 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |

|                   No response from host -  100 |  115 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |

|                   No response from host -  100 |  115 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |

|                   No response from host -  100 |  115 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |

|                   No response from host -  100 |  115 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |

|                   No response from host -  100 |  115 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |

|                   No response from host -  100 |  115 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |

|                   No response from host -  100 |  115 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |

|                   No response from host -  100 |  115 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |

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

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

Any and all help is greatly appreciated – I’ll keep doing what I can to figure this headache out in the meantime. Stay safe everyone!

Edit: Grammar
Edit 2: Changed solution from Nicole’s post post to my own that included the fix I found. I still credit Nicole with the solution as I wouldn’t have figured this mess out without their help. Just wanted my findings at the top of the thread for others with similar issues looking for a solution.

Nicole-1893 · April 3, 2020, 7:52am

Thanks for including the network info without anyone having to ask

Your home router/modem, (first line of WinMTR) 172.16.0.1, is showing a high occasional response time of 245ms, and is likely the cause of your issue. Sometimes this is fixed with a reboot, but since you did that, you may need to consult the ISP for service/replacement, or replace it on your own if it’s not leased.

Arbiter-11315 · April 3, 2020, 3:56pm

Thank you very much for the timely response, Nicole. I also noticed the abnormal response time from my router but didn’t want to jump to any conclusions as I am quite new to the whole network troubleshooting side of things.

I will most definitely investigate this further on my end; I just want to double check my hardware before replacing anything, but I believe your hunch is correct.

One last thing: the two other IPs you highlighted in your response – those are Comcast addresses, right? Would my router/modem be causing those enlarged response times as well? I don’t personally think so, but I want to cover all bases as long as I have your more expert opinion available.

I hope you’re doing well, especially with all the craziness going on right now. Thank you in advance for your help. I’ve seen you in almost every connection issue thread and appreciate your dedication and insight.

Kaldraydis-1147 · April 3, 2020, 5:22pm

Correct! Those are both Comcast nodes listed after the first hop, which is the router/modem device. You are also correct that it is possible for the router/modem to affect connection times on subsequent nodes.

Think of it like flowing water inside a hose, and the higher latency on the modem/router as someone pinching the hose temporarily. Even though they’re only pinching one part of the hose it will affect all subsequent water flow until the pinch is released.

The info Nicole posted for troubleshooting looks excellent so I definitely recommend trying it.

Hope the info helps! Let us know how things go!

Arbiter-11315 · April 3, 2020, 6:26pm

Will do, Kaldraydis. Thanks for elaborating on this information. I’ll try to remember to post back here if I fix anything, but – knowing me – I might be too excited to remember.

Hope you are well. Enjoy your weekend.

Edit: I tried to post a new reply to update you all, but I can’t seem to since no “user has participated” in this thread after my last post. I’m going to just add my reply/conclusion onto this one and hope people see it.

4/5/2020 9:37 AM EDT:

Alright everyone, I think I figured it out. I’ve managed to get back down to an average of 60ms while playing this morning.

I decided to further investigate the heightened latency of my router by pinging it with ‘Command Prompt’ and was seeing extremely unstable ping times, anywhere from <1ms to 500ms (as expected from the data Nicole pointed out). As I mentioned in a previous post, I was hesitant to give up on my router until every option was exhausted, so I did some digging in my router settings and came across ‘Quality of Service’ – specifically the ‘Upstream’ section. Now, I set up QoS a few months ago and based my maximum uplink bandwidth on my relatively consistent upload speed at that time. It is my belief that with the increased strain on ISPs the last few weeks, my internet up/down has suffered as a result (or maybe I’m just getting throttled, we’ll see after this all blows over). A fresh speed test confirmed this for me, as I saw my upload speed quite lower than usual. I have reconfigured the bandwidth the QoS works with now and it seems to have done the trick. Now when I ping my router, the average speed is 1ms; much better than before.

I hope that this is the fix I needed and that I didn’t just find a period when my router wasn’t on the fritz. I suppose only time will tell. Thanks for the help, all.

Have a good week!