Unstable ping

[Indigo]

Hello guys,

Since the day I got my Ziggo internet (about a month ago, I think), during evenings, almost every day that I use it I'm experiencing unstable ping while gaming. I wonder if it's fixable somehow or it is due to some kind of infrastructure problems?

I am connected to my PC via cable, although the Wi-Fi is unstable in the same way.

I'm uploading some screenshots with how the wall socket looks and the router. Also a screenshot of PingPlotter and a ping of google DNS. The cable from the wall socket to the router is 1.5 meter long.

Any suggestions or further questions for information for troubleshooting would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

[tobiastheebe]

The AOP (main outlet, TRAS-1000) is outdated.

Could you post the modem’s downstream/upstream data (instructions)?

[Indigo]

Downstream bonded channels

Channel Frequency (Hz) Power (dBmV) SNR (dB) Modulation Channel ID

1	690000000	3	40	256 qam	12
2	602000000	3.9	40	256 qam	1
3	610000000	3.7	40	256 qam	2
4	618000000	3.7	40	256 qam	3
5	626000000	3.5	40	256 qam	4
6	634000000	3.7	40	256 qam	5
7	642000000	3.9	40	256 qam	6
8	650000000	3.7	40	256 qam	7
9	658000000	3.5	40	256 qam	8
10	666000000	3.5	40	256 qam	9
11	674000000	3.4	40	256 qam	10
12	682000000	3.4	40	256 qam	11
13	698000000	3.2	40	256 qam	13
14	706000000	3.2	40	256 qam	14
15	714000000	3.2	40	256 qam	15
16	722000000	3	40	256 qam	16
17	730000000	2.9	40	256 qam	17
18	738000000	3	40	256 qam	18
19	746000000	3	40	256 qam	19
20	754000000	3	40	256 qam	20
21	826000000	1.9	38	256 qam	29
22	834000000	1.7	38	256 qam	30
23	842000000	1.5	38	256 qam	31
24	850000000	1.2	40	256 qam	32

Downstream bonded channels

Channel Locked Status RxMER (dB) Pre RS Errors Post RS Errors

1	Locked	40.3	642	108
2	Locked	40.9	408	328
3	Locked	40.9	348	184
4	Locked	40.3	386	291
5	Locked	40.3	577	340
6	Locked	40.3	452	140
7	Locked	40.9	324	181
8	Locked	40.9	369	118
9	Locked	40.3	369	286
10	Locked	40.9	496	185
11	Locked	40.3	471	120
12	Locked	40.3	616	62
13	Locked	40.3	378	137
14	Locked	40.9	809	185
15	Locked	40.3	343	31
16	Locked	40.3	344	86
17	Locked	40.9	1555	32
18	Locked	40.9	418	42
19	Locked	40.3	413	17
20	Locked	40.3	473	16
21	Locked	38.9	627	0
22	Locked	38.9	508	0
23	Locked	38.9	451	0
24	Locked	40.3	507	79

Upstream bonded channels

Channel Frequency (Hz) Power (dBmV) Symbol Rate (ksps) Modulation Channel ID

1	58799981	43.3	5120	64 qam	1
2	36000000	42.3	5120	64 qam	4
3	44500000	43.3	5120	64 qam	3
4	52000000	43.3	5120	64 qam	2

Upstream bonded channels

Channel Channel Type T1 Timeouts T2 Timeouts T3 Timeouts T4 Timeouts

1	ATDMA	0	0	5	0
2	ATDMA	0	0	12	0
3	ATDMA	0	0	6	0
4	ATDMA	0	0	8	0

Thanks for replying, here it is

[tobiastheebe]

Downstream and upstream both exhibit noise, uncorrectable errors ('Post RS Errors' column) should be 0. This requires further investigation by a technician, in addition to installing a new AOP.

A moderator (Ziggo employee) can schedule a technician appointment and will visit this topic within 2-3 days.

[Indigo]

I see, okay, I will wait for them then, thanks!

[Erik P]

Hi @Indigo,

Welcome to the Community and Ziggo!

I'm sorry to read that the ping is unstable. Lets fix this! A technician will help you to renew the AOP. 

I've made an appointment for Monday between 1700-2200 hour. If you want you can move the appointment in Mijn Ziggo.

[Indigo]

Hey again, guys,

Thanks for your help arranging the installment of the new AOP, the technician came and changed it. The downstream and upstream don't display any post rs errors now, so that's good. Ping looks a bit more stable as well.

However, during evenings I am still experiencing noticable jitter while playing online games, not as bad as before, but it's still there. I explained my problems to the technician when he came, however he was not amused and basically said 'if the internet works it works, don't look at ping and stuff like that'. All that is fine, but I'm wondering if there is anything else that you guys could look into and possibly improve?

Thanks a lot!

[tobiastheebe]

Could you configure the modem's router settings as described in this topic? This might improve jitter.

[Indigo]

Hi again, I tried to do that. It unfortunately doesn't seem to help a lot, the ping still seems to be spiking from time to time while doing nothing. 😕

Is there anything else that I can do to fix it?

Thanks!

[tobiastheebe]

Could you post the downstream/upstream data once again?

The jitter is still much too high, it should be ~5 ms or less, latency should be ~15 ms or less. I am suspecting upstream congestion within Ziggo's infrastructure.

[Indigo]

Downstream bonded channels

Channel Frequency (Hz) Power (dBmV) SNR (dB) Modulation Channel ID

1	690000000	2.7	40	256 qam	12
2	602000000	3.9	40	256 qam	1
3	610000000	3.7	40	256 qam	2
4	618000000	3.5	40	256 qam	3
5	626000000	3.2	40	256 qam	4
6	634000000	3.4	40	256 qam	5
7	642000000	3.7	40	256 qam	6
8	650000000	3.5	40	256 qam	7
9	658000000	3.5	40	256 qam	8
10	666000000	3.5	40	256 qam	9
11	674000000	3.2	40	256 qam	10
12	682000000	3	40	256 qam	11
13	698000000	2.9	40	256 qam	13
14	706000000	3	40	256 qam	14
15	714000000	3	40	256 qam	15
16	722000000	3	40	256 qam	16
17	730000000	2.9	40	256 qam	17
18	738000000	3	40	256 qam	18
19	746000000	2.9	40	256 qam	19
20	754000000	2.9	40	256 qam	20
21	826000000	1.7	40	256 qam	29
22	834000000	1.5	38	256 qam	30
23	842000000	1.4	38	256 qam	31
24	850000000	1.2	40	256 qam	32

Downstream bonded channels

Channel Locked Status RxMER (dB) Pre RS Errors Post RS Errors

1	Locked	40.9	16	0
2	Locked	40.9	16	0
3	Locked	40.9	13	0
4	Locked	40.9	22	0
5	Locked	40.3	16	0
6	Locked	40.3	16	0
7	Locked	40.9	12	0
8	Locked	40.3	13	0
9	Locked	40.9	9	0
10	Locked	40.9	12	0
11	Locked	40.9	16	0
12	Locked	40.9	15	0
13	Locked	40.9	20	0
14	Locked	40.9	14	0
15	Locked	40.3	12	0
16	Locked	40.9	19	0
17	Locked	40.3	14	0
18	Locked	40.3	21	0
19	Locked	40.3	20	0
20	Locked	40.3	20	0
21	Locked	40.3	40	0
22	Locked	38.9	23	0
23	Locked	38.9	27	0
24	Locked	40.3	40	0

Upstream bonded channels

Channel Frequency (Hz) Power (dBmV) Symbol Rate (ksps) Modulation Channel ID

1	58799991	42.8	5120	64 qam	1
2	36000000	41.8	5120	64 qam	4
3	44500000	42.8	5120	64 qam	3
4	52000000	42.3	5120	64 qam	2

Upstream bonded channels

Channel Channel Type T1 Timeouts T2 Timeouts T3 Timeouts T4 Timeouts

1	ATDMA	0	0	0	0
2	ATDMA	0	0	1	0
3	ATDMA	0	0	0	0
4	ATDMA	0	0	0	0

There it is. I also added a screenshot of pingplotter of the last few minutes

[tobiastheebe]

Downstream is nearly perfect with the new AOP, upstream still shows a deviated frequency.

I have requested the moderators to perform signal and infrastructure capacity verifications.

[Indigo]

Thank you! I will await for any news.

[Paul]

Goodmorning @Indigo,

Too bad that you're still having difficulties with the latency/ping! I've checked the connection and both the signal (SC-QAM) as well as the capacity are looking good. So far I don't see any difficulties on networkside. However, I will run a detailed measurement polling on the signal to rule out underlying causes. Alongside the signalmeasurement I will also run an ICMP measurement on the IP Address from you modem. Are you able to 
to keep track of and note down the dates + times when the connection is bad in the coming days? Then we can put this next to our measurement and thus put our finger on the sore spot. Depending on the outcome, we can determine the next steps to be taken. 

Additionally: 
Do you happen to be downloading on the home network when the ping shoots up?
Do you see the ping going up when playing certain games? If so with which games (and servers)?

[Indigo]

Starting today, I started logging on PingPlotter for longer periods of time, the findings I've attached on the screenshots with the date of today, and the timeframes themselves are visible on them. As you can see, it fluctuates a lot on a minute to minute basis, sometimes more than that, sometimes it's better and then again worse.

During the testing there were no downloads happening, home network was not even in use on any other device and I only browsed the web, watched some videos or tried playing a game even with a browser turned off, or just left the PC to log idly.
It seems that it doesn't really matter which game or server I am on, as many as I have tried, the ping is behaving the same way.

If there is an opportunity to look at more findings in the upcoming days, I will post it and let you know!

Thanks for your help!

[tobiastheebe]

The PingPlotter screenshot clearly show that the high latency and jitter occur between the router and CMTS, i.e. before reaching the internet, which results in all WAN destinations exhibiting these issues.

[Indigo]

Hey again, cannot edit my last post, so I will post some screenshots again. Pretty much the same story as on Friday, nothing to add.

[Indigo]

Hey, so is there anything that can be done to solve the issue in this case, do you think?

I also tested yesterday, there were the same fluctuations as the whole weekend and online games were barely playable sadly...

[Paul]

@Indigo In the measurement on the connection, I notice that there are problems with the upstream capacity, especially in the evening. I immediately passed this problem on to our network specialists so that action can be taken. I'll inform you as soon as I've an update in regards to the ticket. 

[Indigo]

Hey there again! Are there perhaps any news yet?

The internet has been bad in the same way any day that I used it throughout the week, although there were some improvements, for half an hour intervals or so and then it went back to being bad again.

For the past few days I've asked my neighbour and have been trying his WiFi, and his connection is so much better, which is pretty saddening, although I think he has a TELE2 internet or something.

Hopefully it can be resolved soon and thanks again!