Somethings lagging but nothings changed

[beat]

First let me explain what i use virgin broadband for and why i have to leave them if this doesnt get fixed..

I connect to a financial sports exchange and require software to send and receive information with stability. I can usually refresh my application three times a second consistantly but for 2 weeks now ive been having eratic refresh rates and my cable connection has become unusable.

I go straight from the modem to my laptop via ethernet cable and NOTHING has changed in my setup. Ive had an engineer round to adjust my power levels (which were out considerably) but it hasnt fixed the problem.

I believe what im having is called "packet loss" and tech support wont do anything to help because as far as they can see my connection is always connected and my download and upload speeds are as advertised.

I really dont know what to try next, feels like a bit of a lottery to be honest, for 5 months ive had a solid, stable route to the sports exchange and now its all over the place.. Running a tracert isnt helping me find the issue either!

any ideas?

sam

[tweetiepooh]

Have you tried a different ethernet cable? It may be as simple as that.

I have used a package called 3D Tracerouter (free version is available) to map routes and see where slow connections/drops are but

1. Diagnostic traffic is often low priority and maybe slowed anyway
2. Some devices will be configured not to respond to such traces
3. If the network is busy such traffic may simply be dropped.

The problem may lie outside VM control so switching ISP may not help.

If you are connecting directly and you have no protection on your PC that may have been compromised. It may be worth scanning for malware. Also someone may have spotted your PC is connected directly and is trying to gain access.

It really is worth getting a router/firewall between the modem and PC. Get a cable (ie no built in DSL modem) device. If you do switch then all you need is to add the modem externally so money is not wasted. The firewall on the router will stop nasties out there getting in so easily and many have a log to show if someone is trying to scan/access your systems. Adding the firewall may make them simply go away.

[beat]

Im 99.9% sure its not a problem with malware or someone hijacking my connection because ive recently plugged into to my neighbours virgin modem to test stability and i still have the same stabilty issues in my trading software. I restore my laptop to factory settings every 4 months and the only application running is for trading purposes. Im sure its a Virgin network traffic problem or maybe something outside there network.. One thing i do know is that changing ISP WILL solve the problem as 3 internet cafes ive plugged into this week have been absolutely fine. SOMETHINGS STILL LAGGING AHHHHHH

[AmAtoL]

I can't offer any assistance unfortunately as your issues are mirrored by gaming on VM, there is very little chance of anything being done about the loss as it is seen as a gaming issue mostly. That sort of thing is the scourge of gamers and you are seein it first hand, only you are not using VM for leisure purposes like me.
You can monitor the network all night but they will just say as tweetiepooh intimated that it is servers configured to drop diagnostic packets, and you are back to square one again.

[beat]

Ok as ive not been able to work properly for 2 weeks ive done some research on my problems and ive managed to nail down whats causing the problem. Using tracerts and ping plotter ive tested 10 isp's in various locations and im sure ive found the route cause of my instability. Check this out!!

I route to the address that my software connects.

On the penultimate hop to this address i hit either one of these 3 hops (depending on which ISP im testing with)

64.69.188.10 (be- there and 2 other isps)
64.69.188.11 (virgin and 4 other isp's)
64.69.188.27 (sky and 2 other isp's)

Now then. if i go through .27 everything is completely fine but if i hit .10 or .11 the instability, packet loss, lagg all kicks in. .27 is perfect!!!!

Other traders have noticed this exact pattern and a DDOS has been mentioned as a possible cause.

What can be done about this, can i be rerouted through the "clean" hop? Can the owner of these suspicious addresses be contacted to investigate?

any help is much welcomed!!