Annoying problem with Plusnet

Hello
I have been using Plusnet for a couple of years now, and generally they are good.
There customer service is good (Usually fast, although lately they are taking a week to respond and never with any fixes/positive answers to my problem.

Over a year ago, I was getting the same kind of problem when playing online games, my ping would start bouncing all over the place creating an unplayable experience. Thing is, I used to share my connection back then with my brother, and automatically I would blame him for downloading, although he insisted all the time that he was not downloading. I did not believe him.
Unfortunately, a year later, I learnt that he was actually telling the truth. Because now, I use the connection alone, and I am getting the same problems. Sometimes its fine, and other times like now it is not fine, and I am unable to play games with my friends.

I have had a ticket open with Plusnet for a few weeks now about this problem, and to be honest, they are going in circles and I am not seeing any progression at all in them fixing this problem.

I have used Wireshark to capture my game sessions whilst the lag spikes are occuring, and sent those to Plusnet, just like they advised.

They recently advised me to run some tracerts to the game server and send it to them, which I have.

Plusnet continue to tell me that the problem is not there own, but personally I am unsure. I have also contacted BT and they ran a line test, and they told me my line is fine.

Here are two tracerts, one to the game server I attempted to play on and another to BBC's website.

1 1 ms 1 ms 1 ms home [192.168.1.254]
2 36 ms 44 ms 31 ms lo0-plusnet.pte-ag2.plus.net [195.166.128.72]
3 116 ms 206 ms 206 ms ge0-0-0-504.pte-gw2.plus.net [84.92.4.90]
4 47 ms 51 ms 49 ms linx.mcbone.net [195.66.224.102]
5 51 ms 60 ms 55 ms ge-2-0-0-0.dus2-j.mcbone.net [62.104.191.196]
6 71 ms 52 ms 82 ms so-0-0-0-0.dus2-j2.mcbone.net [62.104.200.149]
7 55 ms 57 ms 62 ms Vlan55.dus2-x0.mcbone.net [62.104.198.10]
8 52 ms 60 ms 56 ms dyn-62-104-179-184.server.4netplayers.de [62.104
.179.184]


1 2 ms <1 ms 1 ms home [192.168.1.254]
2 74 ms 38 ms 52 ms lo0-plusnet.pte-ag2.plus.net [195.166.128.72]
3 35 ms 44 ms 33 ms ge0-0-0-504.pte-gw2.plus.net [84.92.4.90]
4 144 ms 37 ms 30 ms vl23.thn-gw2.plus.net [212.159.4.20]
5 34 ms 37 ms 30 ms rt0.thdo.bbc.co.uk [212.58.239.25]
6 34 ms 30 ms 33 ms 212.58.238.149
7 31 ms 34 ms 31 ms virtual-vip.thdo.bbc.co.uk [212.58.224.138]


When these lag spikes occur, my connection speed also drops. I was using BBMAX Speedtest and usually my connection is 5-6meg. But today when I am unable to play, due to connection problems, my connection is only at 3meg.

With all this information here, can anybody point a finger and identify what is causing this problem?
I am beginning to lose my patience with Plusnet and will likely migrate to another ISP If they are unable to identify and fix this problem anytime soon.

Thank you all for your time reading, and I hope someone is able to help me.

Any reason for the triple-cross post?

Not considered good forum etiquette.

Matt

Wasnt sure which catagory I should have used out of those 3, so thought Id post in them all sorry

One will do - it'll be seen by most people. Normally best to choose which one is most relevant, in your case, I would have chosen the Plusnet one - as they have a good rep, James, who will no doubt be able to help.

Matt

Ok thanks, Il delete the other 2 then
Time for me to sit and wait, and watch this thread then

OK.. Back to the problem.

Can you post some line stats from your router and also run a BT speedtest (and post those results too)?

Matt

Yeah sure

DSL Connection Details
DSL Line (Wire Pair): Line 1 (inner pair)
Protocol: G.DMT Annex A
Downstream Rate: 6496 kbps
Upstream Rate: 448 kbps
Channel: Fast
Current Noise Margin: 10.0 dB (Downstream), 21.0 db (Upstream)
Current Attenuation: 36.0 dB (Downstream), 21.5 db (Upstream)
Current Output Power: 19.8 dB (Downstream), 12.1 db (Upstream)
DSLAM Vendor Information: Country: {0xB5} Vendor: {TSTC} Specific: {0x00}
PVC Info: 0/38
Internet Connection Details
Connection Type: PPPoA
Username: ***
Internet Address: 212.159.46.129
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.255
Default Gateway: 195.166.128.72
Primary Domain Name Server: 212.159.6.10
Secondary Domain Name Server: 212.159.6.9
Domain:
Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU): 1500
Gateway Ping: Successful
DNS Communication: Successful
Configuration Server Post: Waiting for DNS information

Speedtest results incoming:

Edited by deleted (Sun 11-Oct-09 22:36:53)

I would remove your username if I were you.

For the BT speedtest, your username is the plusnet username (normally the one you would login to their site with).

If it is PlusNet DSL, the domain might be plusdsl.net.

Edit: Just seen wingco1's post, that is the username for the speedtest and yes, you should edit that out

Matt

Edited by deleted (Sun 11-Oct-09 22:35:40)

Ok thanks, removed the username now
Heres results:

Download speedachieved during the test was - 4833 Kbps
For your connection, the acceptable range of speeds is 600-7150 Kbps.
Additional Information:
Your DSL Connection Rate :6496 Kbps(DOWN-STREAM), 448 Kbps(UP-STREAM)
IP Profile for your line is - 5500 Kbps


When I do a speedtest with http://www.speedtest.bbmax.co.uk/ it also tells me my ping, and usually it is 50-70 but atm, even on that its saying my ping is 230

And one more thing if it helps, I actually use the "Broadband your way for gamers" as they used to call it. So surely I shouldnt be getting lag spikes in games :<

Edited by deleted (Sun 11-Oct-09 22:45:28)

Someone from Plusnet just responded from my last message, which was the two tracerts that I sent above. There response was:


Dear Mr Worrall,
Thanks for your response,

Whilst we do prioritise traffic on the package you are on we are not able to guarantee latency will be low. To be honest 52ms is not high. I am sorry that this is not as log as expected.

If you have any more questions please get in touch 24/7, either by our contact number 0845 1400 200 or through our assistant on our website at http://help.plus.net. Before you call us please check http://csc.plus.net/ as this will tell you the current call waiting times. These statistics are updated every 3 minutes.

Kind regards,

Peter Coventry

52ms is not high no, but the 116ms 144ms and 206ms certainly are. Did he just completly turn an blind eye to these digits, or did he genuinely not see them? Thats what I wonder.
"Whatever Lee. We dont care about you"
Anyone from Plusnet who would happen to give a damn about me and my faulty service, please help me Baaah

Yes, but don't look into traceroute times too much - ICMP is never prioritised on most routers, so if the router is busy (routing traffic), ICMP will show higher latency times.

Are you actually seeing such high latency in applications such as VoIP, or gaming?

Matt

Yes.
Thats what this whole thing is about, online gaming.
My usual ping is 20-50 depending on location of server etc.
When this fault "wakes up" my ping starts jumping, as I have actually become obsessed with checking my ping now (Thanks to this fault), I actually see the ping climbing up usually starting at 60 (Already higher than normal) and going all the way to 250, and then it starts 'dancing'. Returning back to 100, then shooting back up again and so on.
In games such as Battlefield 2, where its much more sensitive to connections, well, I dont even need to look at my ping there because as soon as your ping starts spiking, the entire games joins in and starts going nuts. You try aiming and it throws your crosshair all over the screen.

So to your question,
Are you actually seeing such high latency in applications such as VoIP, or gaming?
Heh. Yes, most deffinately. :<

Are you connected by wireless, or via wire (to the router)?

Matt

Wired, ethernet and not sure if i mentioned it here, but this fault is actually on and off. Thats what I meant by "wake up" etc.

Thanks - I've replied to your post over on Community.

Looks like a potential wiring issue.

Awesome. Impressive for him to identify that in minutes, when other PN staff havent been able to in weeks. Top marks for James

I obviously expected to much with my last comment above.
Both James's guesses were wrong, I still have the fault and Plusnet have basically said they cant fix it. Awesome stuff

That's pretty much it I'm afraid.

You're seeing occasional latency blips. So I've put you on the best traffic management profile at our end, at BTs end, tried with and without interleaving. You're not getting any drops or packet loss so we can't raise it with BT.

I'm sorry - there's really nothing else I can try and I wouldn't have expected a different ISP to have gone to the lengths that I already have.