In reply to a post by thatginner:

Anyone got any new ideas to what the actual problem is?

Yes, it's not DNS (was a vain hope).

It's cuz the Orange network is handing off to Paris, instead of London. It goes wrong after step 7.

Okay so it does seem to seriously increase at specific times during the day!!
Usually around 5-6 on the weekends and 7-8 midweeek.

But this is frustrating in itself as this is the times i game.
I have these ping plots for the bbc and google whilst gaming the past 2 days.

Thanks very much for the feedback. If it is congestion though is their anything that can be done?

If it is congestion then it's your isp's responsibility to sort it out ,by increasing the amount of available bandwidth , But getting the Isp to admit that there is a network capacity issue can sometimes be near impossible,let alone them adding more bandwidth, As you are on a WBC 21cn resold BT product , bandwidth is or was expensive,
If you get no joy from the ISP then you can just put up with it or make a formal complaint in writing firstly to the isp giving details of your problems if they dismiss it and refuse to do something, then you make a complaint to their ADR , they may ask that you then write again to the isp ,requesting a Deadlock letter , They then may be able to get comphensation (if you request it ) and be able to negociate a deal on your behalf with the isp, to allow you to leave without penalty (without paying any remaining period of the min term contract) if you are still inside the min term,
Somtimes switching ISP is the only way to get a better service, next time i would choose a LLU supplier SMPF (ADSL only ) Some smaller isp's offer a 1mth contract and free migration ,

Not a good idea to monitor pings whilst gaming.

Still putting in extra 2 or 3 steps after step 5.

We've all been on LLU with Orange, I find EE Orange WBC ADSL2+ is giving me higher speeds and lower pings.

Ping Target Name: bbc.co.uk
IP: 212.58.241.131
Date/Time: 17/02/2013 10:48:22

1 0 ms 0 ms 0 ms 0 ms [192.168.1.1] (EE Orange Bright Box router default IP address shown)
2 15 ms 15 ms 15 ms 16 ms [213.1.112.126]
3 16 ms 25 ms 15 ms 16 ms [213.1.115.238]
4 19 ms 19 ms 20 ms 20 ms [213.1.78.78]
5 21 ms 20 ms 20 ms 19 ms [213.1.79.14]
6 39 ms 19 ms 20 ms 20 ms [87.237.20.244]
7 19 ms 20 ms 20 ms 20 ms bbc-linx.pr01.thdow.bbc.co.uk [195.66.224.103]
8 * * * * [-]
9 23 ms 19 ms 20 ms 20 ms ae1.er01.rbsov.bbc.co.uk [132.185.254.46]
10 22 ms 20 ms 23 ms 22 ms [132.185.255.60]
11 20 ms 19 ms 20 ms 19 ms virtual-vip.thdo.bbc.co.uk [212.58.241.131]

Ping statistics for bbc.co.uk
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0.0%)
Round Trip Times: Minimum = 19ms, Maximum = 20ms, Average = 19ms
------------------------------

My EE Orange Bright box router stats.
ADSL Status
This page shows information about your ADSL connection if applicable.
Status
Configured Current
Line Status --- SHOWTIME
Link Type --- Interleaved Path
Operation Mode Automatic G992.5(ADSL2+)

Data Rate Information
Stream Type Actual Data Rate
Upstream .... 1264 (Kbps.)
Downstream 13181 (Kbps.)
Defect/Failure Indication
Operation Data Upstream Downstream
Noise Margin ...... 5.8 dB 6.3 dB
Line Attenuation 15.5 dB 29.0 dB

Indicator Name Near End Indicator Far End Indicator
Output Power 12.8 dBm 0.0 dBm
Fast Path FEC Correction NA NA
Interleaved Path FEC Correction 7471 0
Fast Path CRC Error NA NA
Interleaved Path CRC Error 52 1
Loss of Signal Defect 0 0
Fast Path HEC Error STR NA NA
Interleaved Path HEC Error 894 0
Error Seconds 30 1
Statistics
Received Cells 2567252
Transmitted Cells 258925

Not sure if this is any help but I've been having a similar problem for about a month now, with games running at 400-500ms lag . This is while using a cat 5 connection to my brightbox to my gaming machine which normally runs at 30-50ms lag with 11mb download and1mb upload.

Running pingplotter standard over the last few days has allowed me to track the latency over time and I suspect two things may be the cause.

1. Orange is throttling at peak times (high latency reduces after 10pm ish)
2. A new laptop running on wifi is "drowning out" my ethernet connection (not sure if this is possible, but lag times are starting to appear coincidental...)

I've just started trialling the wifi bandwidth control but am treading carefully as its the wife's laptop .

Possibly the OP has a similar issue with flat mates running wifi on their PC's and downloading including when they're out of the house?

Will post more in due course.

Just did an experiment in reducing the bandwidth control to 50% and running tracert then removing the control. Interesting result!

50% bandwidth control
Tracert 18.2.13 at 11:07pm

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>tracert bbc.co.uk

Tracing route to bbc.co.uk [212.58.241.131]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 1 ms 2 ms <1 ms 192.168.1.1
2 12 ms 9 ms 9 ms 213.1.112.78
3 20 ms 9 ms 13 ms 213.1.115.46
4 11 ms 13 ms 10 ms 213.1.67.190
5 18 ms 9 ms 15 ms 213.1.78.252
6 9 ms 9 ms 12 ms 213.1.79.30
7 17 ms 12 ms 9 ms 213.1.79.165
8 9 ms 15 ms 19 ms 87.237.20.242
9 17 ms 19 ms 21 ms 87.237.20.32
10 10 ms 20 ms 21 ms bbc-linx.pr01.thdow.bbc.co.uk [195.66.224.103]
11 * * * Request timed out.
12 12 ms 16 ms 21 ms ae1.er01.rbsov.bbc.co.uk [132.185.254.46]
13 20 ms 21 ms 22 ms 132.185.255.60
14 11 ms 17 ms 20 ms virtual-vip.thdo.bbc.co.uk [212.58.241.131]

Trace complete.

0% bandwidth control
Tracert 18.2.13 at 11:13pm

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>tracert bbc.co.uk

Tracing route to bbc.co.uk [212.58.241.131]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms 192.168.1.1
2 433 ms 423 ms 421 ms 213.1.112.78
3 454 ms 443 ms 415 ms 213.1.115.46
4 432 ms 423 ms 376 ms 213.1.67.190
5 434 ms 411 ms 413 ms 213.1.78.252
6 394 ms 402 ms 405 ms 213.1.79.30
7 414 ms 395 ms 395 ms 213.1.79.165
8 371 ms 395 ms 395 ms 87.237.20.242
9 419 ms 395 ms 395 ms 87.237.20.32
10 403 ms 405 ms 414 ms bbc-linx.pr01.thdow.bbc.co.uk [195.66.224.103]
11 * * * Request timed out.
12 418 ms 402 ms 405 ms ae1.er01.rbsov.bbc.co.uk [132.185.254.46]
13 403 ms 455 ms 409 ms 132.185.255.60
14 414 ms 401 ms 395 ms virtual-vip.thdo.bbc.co.uk [212.58.241.131]

Trace complete.

Didn't think Wifi would affect my ethernet connection...

It shouldn't, and isn't. Latency to the first hop (your router / 192.168.1.1) is fine in both circumstances. it is the latency of your connection that is the issue. Something between your router and the internet is going wrong. Heavy downloading? I presume the "bandwidth control"* is just applying a QoS so things are shared a bit.

*I presume, I have not read this whole thread.

Are other users on the local network hammering the connection?

The laptop is only surfing with minimal downloading of pdfs (4 pages or so if that).

Only other thing is the IP cam we're using in the house, its connected via cat 5 to the brightbox, and we're using our browsers to view the video. Would that increase latency but if so why would the bandwidth control wifi reduce my latency as shown in the 1st trace?

As far as I know the bandwidth control only sets a limit to the maximum upload and download speeds the brightbox allocates to the wifi.

Possibly the OP could try it out?