Does this sound weird to you?
Does this sound weird to you?
Playing games like CS:GO and Valorant for months has been really bad for me. I keep getting lag spikes that aren't even showing up on the numbers inside the game, but when I use my command prompt ping test, it shows huge jumps right when I feel them happening. I tried cutting off internet access, restarting both my modem and router, waiting until later in the day to play, yet the problem keeps coming back at 2 a.m. My ISP hasn't helped me much here at all, and I'm stuck because I'm paying $120 for this service but can barely even play games anymore.
I am pinging my router. It sent back a reply with 32 bytes, and it took less than 1 millisecond for that message. That same response came back again, then once more, and again right before this one. The last reply actually took just 2 milliseconds instead of under 1 millisecond.
Got a reply from the same computer at 10.68.0.1, sending back exactly 32 bytes in about 8 milliseconds with a TTL of 254. That second reply came back with 32 bytes too, taking roughly 9 ms and keeping that same TTL of 254. Then the third one arrived in another 8 ms, also with 32 bytes and TTL 254. The fourth message took about 11 ms to arrive with 32 bytes and still a TTL of 254. This fifth reply was slightly slower at 12 ms for 32 bytes and kept the TTL at 254. And that sixth one came back in another 11 ms, again sending 32 bytes with a TTL of 254. Finally, the seventh message took way too long to get here—about 35 ms—but it still sent 32 bytes and had a TTL of 254. The eighth reply arrived quickly at 9 ms for 32 bytes and kept that same TTL of 254. And then this ninth one finally came back after a huge delay, taking 232 ms to get here, still sending 32 bytes with a TTL of 254.
In general this is a overload condition. Data is being held in a buffer someplace. Note the spikes to 43ms likely will not be seen in a game but if you consistently get the 200ms spikes that will cause a issue. I suspect due to the cost you have a very fast internet connection but you need to verify that you are not using all your bandwidth. I would test with just you game machine connected with the wifi radios turned off on the router. With a faster connection it would be the upload rate I would check first. You can see the total rates on your machine in the resource monitor network tab. With the delay to the first ISP router there is the very rare chance there is something wrong your router. Hard to test router and even harder to test if there is a modem in the box. If you have a separate modem I would plug your PC directly into the modem just to test. You will likely have to reboot the modem each time you change the device plugged into it. With a combo modem/router there is not much you can do, the firmware is controlled by the ISP so even that is option to upgrade. Maybe a factory reset of the router and configure just the wifi and admin passwords. Some features like parental controls or fancy firewalls can delay traffic. Most times these are in a disabled condition by default. It tends to be fairly rare for the router to be the cause. After this it gets into the ISP equipment. For most internet technology you share the final connection between your house and the first ISP node with many of your neighbors. Because the total bandwidth is huge it is not as common to overload this now days but it can happen if they have too many people that are constantly downloading. In theory a couple teens running torrents can still overload a neighborhood. This type of issue tends to be impossible to get fixed because the ISP will never admit they have oversold their networks and they have no easy way to fix it since they would have to run more cable/fiber under the streets. Data loss is actually easier to get them to fix because that most times is some defective equipment. Although your test likely shows the issue I would also test to 8.8.8.8. Sometimes intermediate routers in the path are configured to not prioritize responding to ping commands to avoid delaying real traffic or denial of service ping attacks.
Here is a ping test to 8.8.8.8 from today at the same time. Check out this picture on Imgur too: https://imgur.com/a/LYQujoG I even tried plugging my PC straight into the modem and it still didn't work faster in games.