Experiencing Higher Pings than Normal at Tastyspleen Quake 2 Servers

[[FP]Careless]

Hi Everyone,

I have a problem with my ping as I am playing quake 2 and hopefully someone here canhelp me out.

Until 2 -3 weeks ago, everything was normal but since then I am having higher pings than what i used to ping in the servers.
For example, I had always pinged around low 80's in Death Match and Mutant servers but I am pinging around 100ms at the same servers these days.

First I thought it was my computer or my wireless connection so I wanted to try a different computer, eliminating my wireless router and connecting directly from my cable modem but still the higher ping. Then, I thought it was my ISP. I called them, they sent a technican to my apartment but everything was perfect. I also called my ISP a few times in different days to make sure the connection is ok as usual but they  are telling me that everything is fine, the connection is solid and very good.

I have a 5mb download and 512kb upload  cable modem connection. Today, I even updated my internet speed to 10mb download and 1024k upload but still my ping is higher than it used to be. There is a difference of at least 17 - 18ms and that really makes a difference. At least, I feel it that way.

What could be the problem? Any suggestion?

One of the players suggested me to do a trace route or something but I do not even know what it is...

Can some of you put some shed on this problem?

Thanks for reading

[console]

One of the players suggested me to do a trace route or something but I do not even know what it is...

Here's a trace from the server to you:

traceroute to 24.83.214.54 (24.83.214.54), 30 hops max, 52 byte packets
 1  e1.ba.364a.static.theplanet.com (74.54.186.225)  14.621 ms  9.886 ms  14.428 ms
 2  vl1.dsr01.dllstx2.theplanet.com (12.96.160.9)  0.388 ms  0.256 ms  0.246 ms
 3  te9-4.dsr01.dllstx3.theplanet.com (70.87.253.117)  0.468 ms  0.498 ms  0.471 ms
 4  et5-1.ibr03.dllstx3.theplanet.com (70.87.253.5)  0.376 ms  0.427 ms  0.328 ms
 5  be.fd.5746.static.theplanet.com (70.87.253.190)  32.517 ms  33.269 ms  32.526 ms
 6  rt0as-equinix.vx.shawcable.net (206.223.115.20)  33.190 ms  33.144 ms  32.944 ms
 7  rc2as-ge2-0-0.vx.shawcable.net (66.163.64.2)  33.358 ms  33.213 ms  33.411 ms
 8  rc2ch-pos3-0.il.shawcable.net (66.163.77.145)  50.675 ms  50.719 ms  50.469 ms
 9  rc2nr-pos3-0-0.wp.shawcable.net (66.163.76.25)  69.145 ms  68.774 ms  69.119 ms
10  rc1so-pos4-0-0.cg.shawcable.net (66.163.76.193)  91.362 ms  91.239 ms  91.389 ms
11  rc2wh-pos0-15-5-0.vc.shawcable.net (66.163.76.186)  91.594 ms  91.785 ms  91.447 ms
12  rd1wh-ge9-0-0.vc.shawcable.net (66.163.69.166)  91.049 ms  91.318 ms  91.045 ms
13  dx2ca-g1.vc.shawcable.net (64.59.158.250)  91.657 ms  92.161 ms  91.797 ms


Hop 5 is geographically unfortunate for you.  What we would hope for is as straight a route as possible from Dallas to Vancouver.

However, the packets are being routed from Dallas, over to Houston, before they get onto shawcable's network.

Further, I suspect hops 8, 9, 10 are also geographically suboptimal for you.  The GeoIP information was incorrect for those IPs, but from the hostnames it appears the packets are going from Houston up to Illinois, Winnipeg, then Calgary, and finally Vancouver.

This is an unfortunately circuitous route.  It looks to be practically double the ideal distance.

If you're on Windows, to run a traceroute from your end, open cmd.exe and type:

tracert tastyspleen.net


Anyway...I suspect there's little you can do besides change cable providers and hope for a better route.  You could complain to shawcable that their routing sucks, but it's possible that is the most direct route available on their current network.


Good luck,

[[FP]Careless]

Hi Console.,

Thank you for your quick reply.

One thing that still blurs my mind.

How come I used to have 80 - 85ms ping in DM and Mutant servers as oppose to 100 ping at the moment? I mean if their routing sucks, how come I used to be in better ping?

Another thing, is there most common which is a shorter route from Dallas to Vancouver? I do know that there is another player living in Vancouver and he has DSL not cable and the company is different. He pings around 86ms in Mutant server. I do not know if that ISP's routing is better than Shaw. The name of the ISP that I am talking about is TELUS. Are you able to run a trace for that ISP so that I can make sure it is worth changing my ISP? Meanwhile, I will call Shaw and tell them their routing is not efficient for my gaming. Again, is there a best routing from Dallas to Vancouver or there is no such a thing? I am asking this so that when I talked to Shaw, I can explain myself clearly.

Thank you kindly

[console]

How come I used to have 80 - 85ms ping in DM and Mutant servers as oppose to 100 ping at the moment? I mean if their routing sucks, how come I used to be in better ping?

Almost certainly the route used to be different in some way.

We should also run a traceroute on your end -> tastyspleen.net, as routes are not always symmetrical to/from.

Another thing, is there most common which is a shorter route from Dallas to Vancouver?

Depends on which networks the various ISPs peer through.  In your case, it appears to be shawcable.net all the way down to Houston.  Since they have their own network, they are not likely to peer through somebody else's network even if a shorter route could be achieved that way.

I do know that there is another player living in Vancouver and he has DSL not cable and the company is different. He pings around 86ms in Mutant server. I do not know if that ISP's routing is better than Shaw. The name of the ISP that I am talking about is TELUS. Are you able to run a trace for that ISP so that I can make sure it is worth changing my ISP?

I would need to know the IP of someone in your area who is on TELUS.  Ah, OK, I found him in the player database. (travolta)

His IP does trace to Vancouver on telus.net.  And yes, the route is much more direct:

traceroute to 154.20.xxx.xxx (154.20.xxx.xxx), 30 hops max, 52 byte packets
 1  e1.ba.364a.static.theplanet.com (74.54.186.225)  3.432 ms  7.394 ms  4.240 ms
 2  vl1.dsr01.dllstx2.theplanet.com (12.96.160.9)  0.306 ms  0.339 ms  0.337 ms
 3  te9-4.dsr01.dllstx3.theplanet.com (70.87.253.117)  0.430 ms  0.420 ms  0.409 ms
 4  et3-1.ibr03.dllstx3.theplanet.com (70.87.253.1)  0.405 ms  0.709 ms  0.356 ms
 5  cr1-tengig0-7-3-0.dallas.savvis.net (208.172.139.129)  0.816 ms  0.757 ms  0.656 ms
 6  cr1-pos-0-7-5-2.chicago.savvis.net (204.70.194.46)  26.798 ms  26.389 ms  26.561 ms
 7  acr1-so-0-0-0.chicago.savvis.net (208.172.3.54)  26.461 ms  26.475 ms  26.467 ms
 8  telus-communications.Chicago.savvis.net (208.175.10.90)  27.611 ms  28.054 ms  27.740 ms
 9  154.11.88.197 (154.11.88.197)  73.707 ms  74.526 ms  73.587 ms

Meanwhile, I will call Shaw and tell them their routing is not efficient for my gaming. Again, is there a best routing from Dallas to Vancouver or there is no such a thing? I am asking this so that when I talked to Shaw, I can explain myself clearly.

Whether or not there is 'such a thing' will vary from ISP to ISP (because they arrange to peer through different carriers.)  Notice that telus appears to peer through savvis.net in this case.

But yes, if you're going to contact Shaw, I'd recommend being armed to the teeth with traceroutes.


Regards,

quadz

[[BTF]Sigma]

Dude, I live @ Joyce Station, where you at?

I think Trav lives in Richmond.

[[FP]Careless]

Hi Quadz,

Again, thank you for your reply!

Yes, I ran trace route on my p but could you please tell me how do I reach to log file so that I can paste the results here?

On the other hand, obviously, Telus's routing is better than Shaw for tastyplanet servers. If Shaw can not offer me a better routing, I guess I need to  change my ISP
and since you already confirmed Telus's service is much more direct than Shaw I think that means it is recommended by you that you prefer Telus over Shaw.

Thanks Quadz.

[console]

Yes, I ran trace route on my p but could you please tell me how do I reach to log file so that I can paste the results here?

Click on the icon in the upper left corner of the window.  You should see menu with Edit submenu, with Mark / Copy options.

Then just paste into the forums.

and since you already confirmed Telus's service is much more direct than Shaw I think that means it is recommended by you that you prefer Telus over Shaw.

I have simply stated that the traceroute from tastyspleen.net -> travolta's IP on telus.net, is better than the traceroute from tastyspleen.net -> your IP on shawcable.net.

I have not otherwise expressed any recommendations or preferences.

(However, I would go as far as to say that it appears likely that your route to tastyspleen.net would improve if you were on telus.net.)


Regards,

quadz

[[FP]Careless]

Dude, I live @ Joyce Station, where you at?

I think Trav lives in Richmond.

Hi Sigma.
I am in Vancouver.
By the way, who is your ISP?
Thanks

[[BTF]Sigma]

SHAW

C:\>tracert tastyspleen.net

Tracing route to tastyspleen.net [74.54.186.226]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1     1 ms    <1 ms    <1 ms  192.168.1.1
  2     *        *        *     Request timed out.
  3    27 ms      12 ms    13 ms  rd1bb-ge5-0-0-8.vc.shawcable.net [64.59.158.194]
  4    22 ms      35 ms    21 ms  rc2bb-tge0-7-0-0.vc.shawcable.net [66.163.69.145]
  5    108 ms    53 ms    53 ms  rc1sj-pos1-0-0.cl.shawcable.net [66.163.77.86]
  6    141 ms     *           111 ms  eq-sanjose-10G.theplanet.com [206.223.116.148]
  7    120 ms   117 ms   143 ms  c2.fd.5746.static.theplanet.com [70.87.253.194]
  8    122 ms   123 ms   104 ms  te7-2.dsr01.dllstx3.theplanet.com [70.87.253.10
  9    125 ms   107 ms   101 ms  76.fd.5746.static.theplanet.com [70.87.253.118]
 10   134 ms   150 ms   146 ms  po1.car06.dllstx6.theplanet.com [12.96.160.8]
 11   117 ms   109 ms   114 ms  tastyspleen.net [74.54.186.226]

Trace complete.

[[FP]Careless]

Hi Sigma,

Thanks for posting but personally I do not understand anything from this info. I wish Quads could comment on your trace info.

What do you ping at DM and Mutant servers? Could you please let me know?

Thanks again

[console]

Thanks for posting but personally I do not understand anything from this info. I wish Quads could comment on your trace info.

Sigma's traceroute ping times look worse than they should given the apparent geography of the hops.

I wonder if Sigma's modem upload or download bandwidth may have been saturated at the time the traceroute was produced.

[ReCycled]

That route tracing done by Quadz was very enlightening. Since I've moved to Nova Scotia, my connection has been poor for gaming. Probably no surprise because I went from hi-speed Rogers cable in a metropolitan area to a rural location serviced by DSL. And I'm sure the phone lines out here aren't great. But here's the mystery. I pinged 80 before on cable and could download movies while playing Quake with little degradation. My ping here is supposedly 73 but I get real delay and packet loss. If I download even one small movie my ping zings up to 300 plus. And it's unplayable. If I really pinged 73 I would have no complaint so I don't get the comparables before and after. Also when I first access the internet, nothing happens for about 4 seconds. It's almost as if the DSL modem wakes up and eventually starts my connection. After that, it's on continously unless I shut down internet/mail. Same process next time I open my browser. Previously on cable it was instant.

As I'm writing this my IP address is 142.68.85.159.

[[FP]Careless]

Hi Quadz,

Sorry for late reply. Here is my trace route to tastyspleen.net



C:\>tracert tastyspleen.net

Tracing route to tastyspleen.net [74.54.186.226]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1     1 ms    <1 ms     1 ms  192.168.1.1
  2     *        *        *     Request timed out.
  3    10 ms    17 ms     9 ms  rd1bb-ge4-0-0-5.vc.shawcable.net [64.59.158.242]

  4     7 ms    15 ms    10 ms  rc2bb-tge0-15-0-0.vc.shawcable.net [66.163.69.13
7]
  5    50 ms    62 ms    51 ms  rc1sj-pos1-0-0.cl.shawcable.net [66.163.77.86]
  6    98 ms   100 ms    99 ms  eq-sanjose-10G.theplanet.com [206.223.116.148]
  7   102 ms    98 ms   100 ms  c2.fd.5746.static.theplanet.com [70.87.253.194]

  8    99 ms   100 ms   110 ms  te7-2.dsr01.dllstx3.theplanet.com [70.87.253.10]

  9    99 ms   100 ms   102 ms  76.fd.5746.static.theplanet.com [70.87.253.118]

 10   107 ms   107 ms   104 ms  po1.car06.dllstx6.theplanet.com [12.96.160.8]
 11    99 ms   103 ms   100 ms  tastyspleen.net [74.54.186.226]

Trace complete.

Is it different than the one that you ran on my ip? or the same?

Thank you

[[FP]Careless]

Hi Quadz,

I just talked to Shaw. Here is the log:

Cameron #1050: Which security software do you run?
Careless: Norton.
Cameron #1050: Okay, from all the test results i have done and the information you sent - your first hop times out due to your security software and settings.... This will cause spikes and degraded signal (only to a point), the speeds on all the shaw servers in your tracert logs and well as mine show the shaw network under 30 and fine - however since this is being re-routed due to a malfunction on another network's server this is where the largest portion of the slowdown is occuring...
Cameron #1050: So, correcting norton will help improve "slightly", however for the largest performance increase - you would need to see if they offer an alternate server site, or wait until the path has been restored (malfunction repaired)... As a possible temporary fix you could try routing yourself through the Shaw Proxy, this could also boost your performance.
Cameron #1050: Shaw Proxy information is http://www.shaw.ca/en-ca/CustomerCare/InternetSupport/Residential/Browser/Support.htm
Careless: so since last 3 -4 weeks you did not change any routing at all? I mean since that heavy snow in Vancouver and Seattle etc. Because that is since my ping increased...
Cameron #1050: While i understand that, your results show clearly the Shaw network itself is not slow, it is after the Shaw network...


As you can see Quadz, this is a typical response from Shaw Technical Department. I am not sure how changing proxy will lower my ping? I did not even try it honestly because I do not believe in that. As for Norton, Quake 2 is in the safe programs section so there is no affect on that. I think I am changing my ISP

It will be either TELUS or a company called TEKSAVVY but I do not know their routing and I do not know anyone using that company as their ISP. I wish I could know someone so that we could run a trace route.

Thank you

[UUD-40]

I thought the 2nd hop was the cable modem.