Problem solved. Ping spikes

[Lizard]

*I'm not very computer savvy, so if you could dumb down your questions/explanations that would be grand.
Alright so I've been having ping spikes on every tf2 server I go on. It never used to happen as much as it has been over about the last month. It happens about 3 or 4 times a week, sometimes lasting hours. It seems that when I stand still, it remains stagnant (around 75 on the particular server I usually play on) but when I start moving around it spikes up to around 200 and sometimes as high as over 400. And I get the typical doors not opening until a second after I walk into them and players and projectiles teleporting around the map.

It doesn't seem to be my fps, that stays about the same even when my ping spikes up. I keep getting told it could be my Internet service provider, and if that's the case, is there any practical thing I can do to alleviate the spikes?

Please halp meh

 

[Sharkey]

Anyone else on the network?

 

[takethepants]

The first things you should check are your home network since those are the easiest problems to solve. A few things to note:

- If you're on wifi, try wired connection, could be an issue with your wireless router or if you have a laptop, the wifi card in the machine
- Check your speed with something like speedtest.net when you're getting the spike and see if you've lost a lot of speed
- See if anyone else is on the network hogging all the bandwidth

75 ping is ok, but still a bit higher than you probably want anyways, so you might want to try and find closer servers and see if it's happening. There are many cases of ISPs providing poor routes to game servers, so while each end is find, the routing to get there has a bad or slow link in between, which is very noticeable in an online FPS. There really isn't much you can do about that though.

 

[Lizard]

Yeh I'm on wifi, and there are other people on the network. My laptop is usually the only computer in use, but there are 2 iPhones and an iPad on the network that are usually in use. Not sure if that matters

I live in Louisiana but I usually play on the Skial Los Angeles servers because the TX servers don't always have people on them. But when I do play on the TX servers I get about 30-40 ping, and I still get the spikes.

And lastly I've tried unplugging and replugging my router. I'm not sure about this wifi card you speak of. I might try a wired connection and see if that tickles any pickles

 

[Sharkey]

Yeh I'm on wifi, and there are other people on the network. My laptop is usually the only computer in use, but there are 2 iPhones and an iPad on the network that are usually in use. Not sure if that matters

I live in Louisiana but I usually play on the Skial Los Angeles servers because the TX servers don't always have people on them. But when I do play on the TX servers I get about 30-40 ping, and I still get the spikes.

And lastly I've tried unplugging and replugging my router. I'm not sure about this wifi card you speak of. I might try a wired connection and see if that tickles any pickles

What kind of internet do you have? Try running a speedtest.


What do the people who also use the network do? Do they stream netflix, youtube videos, anything like that?

 

[Lizard]

I have charter high speed Internet (broadband?)

The other people don't do anything too fancy, just checking emails and Facebook and watching YouTube vids. That's about it

 

[Bottiger]

winmtr + netgraph

 

[VEGAN DAD]

pingtest.net

 

[Lizard]

I thought it was better but it turns out it isn't. Same thing keeps happening, same specifics as last time I posted. Between once a week and several times a day my ping shoots up and stays up for as long as an hour (maybe longer but I rage quit after an hour)

 

[Sharkey]

I thought it was better but it turns out it isn't. Same thing keeps happening, same specifics as last time I posted. Between once a week and several times a day my ping shoots up and stays up for as long as an hour (maybe longer but I rage quit after an hour)

winmtr + netgraph

 

[Meowcenary]

I thought it was better but it turns out it isn't. Same thing keeps happening, same specifics as last time I posted. Between once a week and several times a day my ping shoots up and stays up for as long as an hour (maybe longer but I rage quit after an hour)

Are people still using ipads / iphones on your network?

I'm not sure if I'm just going crazy, but I think apple products might be internet hogs.

The second anyone in my house hold uses a ipad or iphone on our wifi my ping skyrockets. I can't play when anyone is using a ipad, iphone or my brother's mac pro because of the ping.

And yet, I played TF2 while my friend played Battlefield 3 on his laptop using my wifi. He was in a full 64 player server, I was in a normal 24 player game in TF2 and both of our pings were higher than usual but still playable.

I even tested it by using my iphone to load a webpage, our pings skyrocketed until it finished loading. Later that night my brother came over, hopped onto his mac pro and our ping was stuck so high that we couldn't even play anymore. I asked what he was doing and he was just looking up Youtube videos. He got off his mac for awhile, we went back to playing, pings were normal and then he started using his ipad. Lo and behold, our ping went to shit all over again until he left.

Either my internet is totally fucked or there's something about apple products that eat your ping.

My point is try seeing if the apple devices in your house are causing your ping to shoot up when they're in use.

 

[Lizard]

Yeh we have 2 iPhones and an iPad so that definitely might be the case. I haven't noticed any other obvious correlations

 

[Lizard]

Double post

 

[Lizard]

So I know this is old but I finally figured it out, hopefully. I contacted my ISP and when I did a speed test I was getting 0.43mbps download speed. No that isn't a typo. They said possibly my router wasn't compatible with my modem so they sent me a new one

 

[hXcjedders]

There's also sometimes problem where the modem has "skips" or something. (someone with more technical knowledge can probably explain in more detail) Anyways, brief losses in connection are normal in a very minor and unnoticable amount. However, if you have a faulty modem those skips can build up and cause massive lag issues such as full disconnects for an extended period. If your new router doesn't work have them send you a new modem too.