Packet Loss / Latency problem - Basingstoke

[mattyduk]

Sorry for posting this here, not the xbox live forum, but its less related to gaming.

I'm running XBOX live via a linksys wireless router. Over the last month I have noticed that the voice comms has become a bit scatchey in titles that never had this problem. This is made worse by Toca RD2, where voice comms when I'm hosting,is delayed by nearly 2 seconds.

When I run the diagnostic screen in XBOX LIVE (Main menu, Network settings, connect, then press X/Y), not only does it take a fair bit of time to resolve the DNS, but then I look at the figures at the bottom of the screen it shows the following :-

L 184ms P 19/25 (sometimes as low as 15/25)

So this looks a bit of a problem especially the packet loss.

Any ideas of what I can do ? The problem is that I have not subscribed to the NTL XBOX surcharge (I pay £50.00 to NTL at the moment, so I don't see why I should do this !) so they won't give me TS

I don't have my PC on when I'm using XBOX live so that isn't taking away any bandwidth

Help !!!

[Chris W]

The easiest thing to do would be to attach the pc on its own, and investigate the problems with packet loss and high pings. It is a lot easier to run diagnostics from a pc.

Try:
- continuous pings to various places for packet loss
- Traceroutes to various servers
- speed tests (robin walkers or dan ewell's blueyonder test)

MB

[mattyduk]

thanks for the quick reply.

Tonight, I'm going to upgrade the firmware on the Linksys router. Then plug the laptop into a basic hub, and start pinging some sites and see what kind of packet loss, if any , I get

I'll report back

[Ignition]

Originally Posted by mattyduk

thanks for the quick reply.

Tonight, I'm going to upgrade the firmware on the Linksys router. Then plug the laptop into a basic hub, and start pinging some sites and see what kind of packet loss, if any , I get

I'll report back

Should this not resolve anything this may be related to some recent local network issues in Basingstoke, let us know how you do.

[mattyduk]

Thanks for the reply.

What problems have there been with the Basingstoke network, and when are these problems supposed to be fixed ?

I upgraded the firmware on my wireless routers and also tested the xbox
diags using a direct connection, but no improvement.

Although the pings from the PC to BBC website etc look smooth, and downloads appear to be find, I am still worried about this loss of packets when using xbox live.

I spoke to NTL TS, who went through various tests above. He claimed that since the 6th of June, NTL have been experiancing problems with overuse of upstream and this might be causing my problem. They are supposedly looking into this problem.

Other than that he couldn't help me.

I've been speaking to some of my friendslist on ADSL and they don't lose any packets on XBOX LIVE diag screen. For some reason theirs always says 20 packets and mine (and another NTL use in Norfolk), show 25. But I always get a loss, sometimes as much as 1/2

I'm a bit unhappy about the situation because it use to be fine (I use to check this xbox diag screen every now and then). If the situation does not improve within 1 month, then will have to start looking at ADSL.

[mattyduk]

well, its still not better, infact last night worse, with the two people I was hosting for complaining of severe lag, and broken voice comms from me.

In the end, one of them hosted on a 512/256mb, and I saw how smooth Rainbow 6 SHOULD be in spectator mode.

My connection is fine for downloading and general surfing, but for gaming (one of my principle uses), it is a disaster.

I'm paying for a 1mb/256mb service which is far worse than a basic adsl service. NTL say they've know about the upstream problem since the 6th June and that is effect some customers, but they still haven't come back with a solution or fix date.

I pay NTL well over £600 a year and feel I deserve a better service than this. If this is not sorted out by the end of July then I'm moving to a decent ADSL provider.

Its not good enough NTL !

[Ignition]

He claimed that since the 6th of June, NTL have been experiancing problems with overuse of upstream and this might be causing my problem.

Oh really? News to me but still...

Please provide me your IP address, you could be on one of a couple of uBRs that serve Basingstoke.

For what its' worth if there were 'overuse' of upstream your pings to the beeb would be all over the place....

[Stop It]

I think the packet loss on the way to the xbox live servers isnt ahuge thing to worry about (I just got 11/25 packets just a second ago :O) and when I host PGR2 games, the voice is fine and so is the racing. and the ping...isnt the server it pings in the US? hence its near 200 (165 here)

[mattyduk]

Originally Posted by JustAnotherN00b

Oh really? News to me but still...

Please provide me your IP address, you could be on one of a couple of uBRs that serve Basingstoke.

For what its' worth if there were 'overuse' of upstream your pings to the beeb would be all over the place....

thanks for the reply. Do I PM you my IP address. When I spoke to NTL I had to connect the PC directly to the CM, not via the router, so he could run some tests. Would I have to do this or are you just checking the ip address ?

Secondly when running the network sign in check on xbox live, why does the DNS test (no.3) now take so long.

[mattyduk]

Originally Posted by Stop It

I think the packet loss on the way to the xbox live servers isnt ahuge thing to worry about (I just got 11/25 packets just a second ago :O) and when I host PGR2 games, the voice is fine and so is the racing. and the ping...isnt the server it pings in the US? hence its near 200 (165 here)

PGR2 racing is fine, its just that the voice use to be perfect. Why do ADSL owners I know get 20/20 packets reported ?

The biggest problem encountered so far (apart from last nights severely degraded connection), is TOCA RD2, where the voice lags by up to two seconds. I believe the network code on this game isn't as efficient as PGR2/Motogp, and therefore suffers greatly if their is a degradation of connection.

[Ignition]

Originally Posted by mattyduk

thanks for the reply. Do I PM you my IP address. When I spoke to NTL I had to connect the PC directly to the CM, not via the router, so he could run some tests. Would I have to do this or are you just checking the ip address ?

Secondly when running the network sign in check on xbox live, why does the DNS test (no.3) now take so long.

PM is fine, and no action on your part required at all.

[mattyduk]

Originally Posted by JustAnotherN00b

PM is fine, and no action on your part required at all.

Hi, sent you a PM

thanks again for your help

[mattyduk]

Any news ?

thanks