[TelstraClear] Very High Latency with TCL PDQ MAX/MAX

Forums › One New Zealand (including Vodafone, WxC, Farmside) › [TelstraClear] Very High Latency with TCL PDQ MAX/MAX

Zimsar10

210 posts

Master Geek
Inactive user

#15665 2-Sep-2007 14:06

I have been having very high latency with my TCL PDQ MAX/MAX Interleaving OFF Plan over the last 2 weeks. The lag is intermittent, but appears to worse between 17:30pm-10:30pm making gaming unplayable. The latency issues also affect my general internet usage with web pages taking very long to load, much longer than usual at times.

What is most annoying is that I use to have a very stable connection, ever since I had Interleaving turned OFF & now it has unfortunately become very erratic & I have been getting wild/erratic ping spikes as a result. The issues appear to have coincided with some work that Telecom has been doing just up the road from me, whereby new cable has been laid for a new subdivision.

I dont know if this is related to my problems, but it could be & I definitely want this issue investigated, as it is ruining my internet experience completely.

I have attached some tracerts that may help diagnose the problem, including a normal ping to Orcon Data Centre, where the gaming server that I play is situated & I hope that some resolution can be found before too long.

I would also like to point out that I have done a FULL AntiVirus Scan (Norton Antivirus) & also updated & run Spybot Search & Destroy of which both programs have not detected anything abnormal at all. I have not made any changes to my computer setup whatsoever either.

I live 2.94km from my telephone exchange - measured by Telecom. I have submitted a ticket with all of this information so that TCL can investigate the problems I am having.

I would be very appreciative if anyone could help shed some light onto what might be causing this high latency, when previously my latency was so stable.

Router stats: Linksys AG241

DSL Status: UP

DSL Modulation Mode: GDMT

DSL Path Mode: FAST

Downstream Rate: 5952 Kbps

Upstream Rate: 800 Kbps

Downstream Margin: 10 db

Upstream Margin: 12 db

Downstream Line Attenuation: 48

Upstream Line Attenuation: 30

The below traceroute is a normal traceroute from my connection:

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]

(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\Grant Smith>tracert 60.234.73.178

Tracing route to 60.234.73.178 over a maximum of 30 hops

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms 192.168.1.1

2 15 ms 11 ms 13 ms 218.101.61.22

3 21 ms 11 ms 12 ms jcore2-ge-0-2-0-927-acld.auckland.clix.net.nz [218.101.61.14]

4 16 ms 13 ms 12 ms g1-0-927.u11.tspn.telstraclear.net [218.101.61.6]

5 11 ms 12 ms 46 ms ggis-gige-v906.telstraclear.net [203.98.18.67]

6 11 ms 12 ms 11 ms g0-1-0-4.akcr8.global-gateway.net.nz [210.55.202.49]

7 17 ms 20 ms 17 ms orcon-dom2.akcr8.global-gateway.net.nz [202.50.245.242]

8 25 ms 24 ms 23 ms gi-5-8.dsw1.nct.orcon.net.nz [60.234.9.24]

9 14 ms 19 ms 19 ms 60.234.73.178

Trace complete.

C:\Documents and Settings\Grant Smith>

**This traceroute shows high latency nearly every hop to the terminating gaming server:

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]

(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\Grant Smith>tracert 60.234.73.178

Tracing route to 60.234.73.178 over a maximum of 30 hops

1 1 ms <1 ms <1 ms 192.168.1.1

2 520 ms 255 ms 223 ms 218.101.61.22

3 63 ms 56 ms 129 ms jcore2-ge-0-2-0-927-acld.auckland.clix.net.nz [218.101.61.14]

4 13 ms 15 ms 20 ms g1-0-927.u11.tspn.telstraclear.net [218.101.61.6]

5 180 ms 503 ms 667 ms ggis-gige-v906.telstraclear.net [203.98.18.67]

6 12 ms 17 ms 35 ms g0-1-0-4.akcr8.global-gateway.net.nz [210.55.202.49]

7 573 ms 356 ms 322 ms orcon-dom2.akcr8.global-gateway.net.nz [202.50.245.242]

8 2216 ms 3291 ms 3869 ms gi-5-8.dsw1.nct.orcon.net.nz [60.234.9.24]

9 * * * Request timed out.

10 2843 ms 1006 ms 1658 ms 60.234.73.178

Trace complete.

C:\Documents and Settings\Grant Smith>

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]

(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\Grant Smith>tracert www.gamers.net.nz

Tracing route to www.gamers.net.nz [60.234.73.176]

over a maximum of 30 hops:

**This traceroute shows high latency every hop to the terminating gaming server:

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms 192.168.1.1

2 816 ms 979 ms 518 ms 218.101.61.22

3 187 ms 202 ms 325 ms jcore2-ge-0-2-0-927-acld.auckland.clix.net.nz [218.101.61.14]

4 107 ms 51 ms 126 ms g1-0-927.u11.tspn.telstraclear.net [218.101.61.6]

5 158 ms 96 ms 42 ms ggis-gige-v906.telstraclear.net [203.98.18.67]

6 507 ms 338 ms 121 ms g0-1-0-4.akcr8.global-gateway.net.nz [210.55.202.49]

7 404 ms 548 ms 548 ms orcon-dom2.akcr8.global-gateway.net.nz [202.50.245.242]

8 469 ms 284 ms 248 ms gi-5-8.dsw1.nct.orcon.net.nz [60.234.9.24]

9 142 ms 129 ms 118 ms 60.234.73.176

Trace complete.

C:\Documents and Settings\Grant Smith>

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]

(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\Grant Smith>tracert 60.234.73.178

Tracing route to 60.234.73.178 over a maximum of 30 hops

1 1 ms <1 ms <1 ms 192.168.1.1

2 12 ms 16 ms 14 ms 218.101.61.22

3 11 ms 10 ms 10 ms jcore2-ge-0-2-0-927-acld.auckland.clix.net.nz [218.101.61.14]

4 18 ms 57 ms 75 ms g1-0-927.u11.tspn.telstraclear.net [218.101.61.6]

5 20 ms 12 ms 11 ms ggis-gige-v906.telstraclear.net [203.98.18.67]

6 11 ms 11 ms 11 ms g0-1-0-4.akcr8.global-gateway.net.nz [210.55.202.49]

7 895 ms 952 ms 470 ms orcon-dom2.akcr8.global-gateway.net.nz [202.50.245.242]

8 282 ms 213 ms 465 ms gi-5-8.dsw1.nct.orcon.net.nz [60.234.9.24]

9 428 ms 336 ms 167 ms 60.234.73.178

Trace complete.

C:\Documents and Settings\Grant Smith>

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]

(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\Grant Smith>tracert 60.234.73.178

Tracing route to 60.234.73.178 over a maximum of 30 hops

1 1 ms <1 ms <1 ms 192.168.1.1

2 30 ms 12 ms 13 ms 218.101.61.22

3 10 ms 16 ms 16 ms jcore2-ge-0-2-0-927-acld.auckland.clix.net.nz [218.101.61.14]

4 14 ms 19 ms 15 ms g1-0-927.u11.tspn.telstraclear.net [218.101.61.6]

5 11 ms 11 ms 11 ms ggis-gige-v906.telstraclear.net [203.98.18.67]

6 11 ms 11 ms 11 ms g0-1-0-4.akcr8.global-gateway.net.nz [210.55.202.49]

7 13 ms 14 ms 38 ms orcon-dom2.akcr8.global-gateway.net.nz [202.50.245.242]

8 14 ms 12 ms 12 ms gi-5-8.dsw1.nct.orcon.net.nz [60.234.9.24]

9 13 ms 16 ms 16 ms 60.234.73.178

Trace complete.

C:\Documents and Settings\Grant Smith>

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]

(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\Grant Smith>tracert 60.234.73.178

Tracing route to 60.234.73.178 over a maximum of 30 hops

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms 192.168.1.1

2 12 ms 13 ms 13 ms 218.101.61.22

3 10 ms 10 ms 10 ms jcore2-ge-0-2-0-927-acld.auckland.clix.net.nz [218.101.61.14]

4 13 ms 24 ms 13 ms g1-0-927.u11.tspn.telstraclear.net [218.101.61.6]

5 19 ms 11 ms 11 ms ggis-gige-v906.telstraclear.net [203.98.18.67]

6 11 ms 11 ms 12 ms g0-1-0-4.akcr8.global-gateway.net.nz [210.55.202.49]

7 13 ms 27 ms 18 ms orcon-dom2.akcr8.global-gateway.net.nz [202.50.245.242]

8 13 ms 12 ms 13 ms gi-5-8.dsw1.nct.orcon.net.nz [60.234.9.24]

9 16 ms 13 ms 12 ms 60.234.73.178

Trace complete.

michaeln

238 posts

Master Geek

Trusted

#85303 4-Sep-2007 15:06

Do your pings vary significantly by time of day? Is it OK some times of the day but poor other times?

Zimsar10

210 posts

Master Geek
Inactive user

#85308 4-Sep-2007 15:38

Thanks for your reply. Basicly, my ping times use to be very stable & I never had the issues like I am getting now, ever. I have been on this plan for over 1 year now & the last two weeks my erratic game pings on New Zealand & Australian Servers have rendered my connection useless for gaming & web browsing is also very slow (pages taking much longer to load).

I am at a loss as to why this has happened, my sync is still very good, likewise with my download speed, it's the out of character latency that is crippling my connection that is really annoying me, essentially ruining my internet experience for what I use it most for (gaming & browsing).

If anything, I use to get the odd ping spike when playing in the evenings, anytime between 8:00pm & midnight, but certainly nothing whatsoever like I am getting now.

TCL are still looking into this problem for me, but I do appreciate any suggestions or input into this problem, thanks in advance.

barf

643 posts

Ultimate Geek

#85317 4-Sep-2007 16:26

does it cost anything to turn interleaving back ON? that might be worth a try.
disabling interleaving is essentially turning off the best error correction ADSL has (why ISPs would want do this is beyond me)

Sniffing the glue holding the Internet together

michaeln

238 posts

Master Geek

Trusted

#85319 4-Sep-2007 16:29

So it's bad all the time? Is there any time that you know of that it's not bad (now)?

You say download speeds are good. What results do you get from the Speedtest servers www.speedtest.net?

What does a diagnostic site like http://miranda.ctd.anl.gov:7123/ show?

michaeln

238 posts

Master Geek

Trusted

#85322 4-Sep-2007 16:48

barf:
disabling interleaving is essentially turning off the best error correction ADSL has (why ISPs would want do this is beyond me)

ADSL has extensive error correction, including forward error correction and interleaving, quite apart from the fundamental modulation techniques on the wire.
Interleaving deals with one particular kind of interference---impulse noise. The cost of interleaving is extra latency. For gamers, LATENCY = BAD!

If your link is slow, the combination of serialisation delay and interleaving is a killer---as in, you will be fragged off the planet

If however your link is fast, serialisation delay becomes insignificant, and impulse noise becomes somewhat more important, so turning interleaving on is likely to be a net win---assuming that your modem is training up to a decent speed.

Zimsar10

210 posts

Master Geek
Inactive user

#85402 5-Sep-2007 09:09

barf: does it cost anything to turn interleaving back ON? that might be worth a try.
disabling interleaving is essentially turning off the best error correction ADSL has (why ISPs would want do this is beyond me)

Having a stable, low ping is vital for gamers. I know what the purpose of interleaving is & as a gamer I know how it can add upto 50ms to your ping. I use to get 80-90ms before having interleaving turned off, now I get 35-40ms, which makes a big difference when gaming & also makes the game run smoother.

In short I don't want to turn it back on, my gaming ping ping has been so good up until the last 2.5 weeks, when it has been incredibly erratic.

Zimsar10

210 posts

Master Geek
Inactive user

#85404 5-Sep-2007 09:16

michaeln: So it's bad all the time? Is there any time that you know of that it's not bad (now)?

You say download speeds are good. What results do you get from the Speedtest servers www.speedtest.net?

What does a diagnostic site like http://miranda.ctd.anl.gov:7123/ show?

I haven't recently tried playing at different times of the day, but when I usually play between 7:00pm & 10:00pm, it is particularly bad. It is very difficult to capture high latency in a traceroute, but I managed to do so 3 times (out of 6 in total) & two of them showed very high latency at every hop, which is pretty rare.

I will do some tests from those links tonight, thanks so much for your help & suggestions.

Quic Broadband

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Zimsar10

210 posts

Master Geek
Inactive user

#85480 5-Sep-2007 18:07

Ok here are the SpeedTest.Net results, of which are very much normal for me:

Diagnostic Site:

TCP/Web100 Network Diagnostic Tool v5.3.4e
click START to begin
Another client is currently being served, your test will begin within 45 seconds
Checking for Middleboxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Done
running 10s outbound test (client to server) . . . . . 418.13Kb/s
running 10s inbound test (server to client) . . . . . . 299.59kb/s
Your PC is connected to a Cable/DSL modem
Information: Other network traffic is congesting the link - I had no other programs running at the time I done this test.

The ping is fine in this instance for the Speedtest.Net website, I will be gaming online on Friday night, it will be interesting to see what it is like then.