Mobile ISP problems?

AOE2HDPlayer · Post by **AOE2HDPlayer** » Tue Jan 19, 2016 11:23 am

Hello, first of all thanks for creating this website and the optimizer. I appreciate you guys and forums like this because there are very few places on the internet people like myself to get solutions to issues that we have and I know this work can often go unappreciated. Thanks in advance!

Now, as for my problem. I am trying to run the game Age of Empires 2 HD and its expansions online on steam. Unfortunately, for some reason my ping is showing as pretty high to modern gamers on the server and they don't wish to play with me. Now I currently do not have broadband internet service because I don't use up very much data and can do most everything on my phone so I have a plan that tethers 5 gb of mobile data to my computer monthly so I can go online at home, etc and do the rest of my stuff via my phone. So I am not sure how low I can get my ping or if it is even a realistic goal to do so, but I am going to try because I really love this old school classic game.

So initially when I discovered this site I ran your analyzer and it told me:

MTU = 1440
MTU is not fully optimized for broadband. Consider increasing your MTU to 1500 for better throughput. If you are using a router, it could be limiting your MTU regardless of Registry settings.

It still reads the same output, but perhaps I am running the optimizer incorrectly because I have inputted the incorrect connection speed due to the fact that my mobile phone company does not guarantee a particular minimum speed on its networks. However with that said I ran speedtest.net and got 6.2 mbps at 30 ms after running your analyzer for the first time so I inputted 6 mbps into the optimizer and saved the settings, restarted my computer, and checked the analyzer again.

I read your forum guide and will try to answer the questions it poses within:

1. What is your advertised internet speed ?

I have no advertised internet speed as my "internet" company is my mobile phone company (tmobile) and I am tethering off their 4gLTE network for data. After 5 gb monthly of tethering I still have unlimited data at a slower speed. The speed seems to always be at least 5 mbps on the 4GLTE network. After that.. maybe 128k or 750k? I am not sure.

2. What actual transfer speed do you get?

3. Who is your Internet Provider (ISP), and what type of connection do you have ?

Tmobile, 5 Gb of mobile tethering on the 4G LTE network monthly. After that... ?

4. What are your current settings ? do a TCP/IP Analyzer test and copy/paste the results in your post.

n: 2016.01.19 11:18
IP address: 172.56.xx.xx
Client OS/browser: Windows 8.1 (Firefox 43.0)

TCP options string: 020405780103030801010402
MSS: 1400
MTU: 1440
TCP Window: 16384 (NOT multiple of MSS)
RWIN Scaling: 8 bits (2^8=256)
Unscaled RWIN : 64
Recommended RWINs: 64400, 128800, 257600, 515200, 1030400
BDP limit (200ms): 655kbps (82KBytes/s)
BDP limit (500ms): 262kbps (33KBytes/s)
MTU Discovery: ON « SpeedGuide.net TCP Analyzer Results »
Tested o
TTL: 48
Timestamps: OFF
SACKs: ON
IP ToS: 00000000 (0)

5. Your modem/router/ap brand ? (i.e. Motorola SB6100 cable modem, Linksys WRT54GS Wi-Fi router, etc.)

I don't have a modem/router? My phone is a Samsung Galaxy Note 4 model number SM-N910T

6. Your Operating System ? (i.e. XP,Vista 64bit,Windows 7, etc.)

Windows 8.1 with some updates removed for privacy reasons

edit:

I am not sure if this will help, but here is the output for the latency test in the analyzer:

Pinging [68.67.73.23] with 32 bytes ->bytes=32 time=565ms TTL=41
Pinging [68.67.73.23] with 32 bytes ->bytes=32 time=159ms TTL=41
Pinging [68.67.73.23] with 32 bytes ->bytes=32 time=172ms TTL=41
Pinging [109.105.110.116] with 32 bytes ->bytes=32 time=290ms TTL=46
Pinging [109.105.110.116] with 32 bytes ->bytes=32 time=367ms TTL=46
Pinging [109.105.110.116] with 32 bytes ->bytes=32 time=374ms TTL=46
Pinging [185.53.177.7] with 32 bytes ->bytes=32 time=202ms TTL=38
Pinging [185.53.177.7] with 32 bytes ->bytes=32 time=355ms TTL=38
Pinging [185.53.177.7] with 32 bytes ->bytes=32 time=362ms TTL=38
Pinging [74.125.239.114] with 32 bytes ->bytes=32 time=43ms TTL=54
Pinging [74.125.239.114] with 32 bytes ->bytes=32 time=77ms TTL=54
Pinging [74.125.239.114] with 32 bytes ->bytes=32 time=93ms TTL=54
Pinging [67.212.154.218] with 32 bytes ->bytes=32 time=68ms TTL=114
Pinging [67.212.154.218] with 32 bytes ->bytes=32 time=108ms TTL=114
Pinging [67.212.154.218] with 32 bytes ->bytes=32 time=77ms TTL=114
Pinging [104.82.52.193] with 32 bytes ->bytes=32 time=42ms TTL=54
Pinging [104.82.52.193] with 32 bytes ->bytes=32 time=44ms TTL=54
Pinging [104.82.52.193] with 32 bytes ->bytes=32 time=84ms TTL=54
Ping statistics for above hosts:
Packets: Sent = 18, Received = 18, Lost = 0 (0% loss)
Approximate round trip times (RTT) in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 42ms, Maximum = 565ms, Average = 193ms

Post by **Philip** » Wed Jan 20, 2016 10:10 am

The latency test in the TCP Optimizer shows some disturbingly high latency to servers far from you.. Average of ~200ms is not very good for games. Dropping to command prompt in Windows and trying a traceroute (syntax is: tracert speedguide.net) may reveal where the latency begins to occur.

Also, using some app to check the latency to the same server from your phone may reveal whether it is a local wireless/tethering issue, or one caused by your ISP (more likely). I doubt you can do many tweaks on your mobile device unless it is rooted, and even then it may not help much. Tweaking your Windows machine may not be useful if the issue is with the line provided by your ISP either. I wish we could do more.

AOE2HDPlayer · Post by **AOE2HDPlayer** » Fri Jan 22, 2016 12:51 am

Hopefully that helps. I know this is an odd scenario. Any help would be appreciated

Post by **Philip** » Fri Jan 22, 2016 10:32 am

Interestingly, the first seven hops are in a private range (all those 10.x.x.x addresses).. And the issues start at hop seven and continue from there on. Do some more traces and look at where the pings start spiking over 100, that is the problem. Unfortunately, there is little you can do about that.

AOE2HDPlayer · Post by **AOE2HDPlayer** » Sat Jan 23, 2016 3:46 am

Do you recommend I keep tracing to speedguide.net? If I understand you correctly what is likely happening is at some point I am jumping from my ISP's servers to public ones and so there is little I can do about the latency as that would require hardware changes to the points in between the my ISP's private networks and the address I am communicating with?

Post by **Philip** » Sat Jan 23, 2016 8:28 am

You can trace to another distant server if you prefer. Latency can occur if one of your ISPs routers gets congested, where they meet other providers' backbones (depends on their peering arrangements), and anywhere, really. Traces just show you where that latency is occurring.

AOE2HDPlayer · Post by **AOE2HDPlayer** » Sat Jan 23, 2016 3:56 pm