Fluctuating Ping - Months of calvary, please help!

[KeithTheMaltese]

Hello,

First of all let me answer the questions in Help & Tips:

1. Yes, I did.

2. ADSL - i need to enter a password and username to enter and it says PPTP so I guess that's PPPoE. I connect using a Speedtouch Home modem and an ethernet network card.

3. I live in Malta, Europe and my ISP is Euroweb. (http://www.euroweb.net.mt) The advertised speed is 512k download / 128k upload.

4.
TCP options string = 0204055001010402

MTU = 1400
MTU is not fully optimized for broadband. Consider increasing your MTU to 1500 for better throughput.

MSS = 1360
Maximum useful data in each packet = 1360, which equals MSS.
MSS is not fully optimized for broadband (although it might work well for slower connections). Consider increasing your MTU value.

Default Receive Window (RWIN) = 17680
RWIN Scaling (RFC1323) = 0 bits
Unscaled Receive Window = 17680
RWIN is a multiple of MSS
Other values for RWIN that might work well with your current MTU/MSS:
522240 (MSS x 48 * scale factor of 8)
261120 (MSS x 48 * scale factor of 4)
130560 (MSS x 48 * scale factor of 2)
65280 (MSS x 48)

bandwidth * delay product:
Your RcvWindow limits you to: 707.2 kbps (88.4 KBytes/s) @ 200ms
Your RcvWindow limits you to: 282.88 kbps (35.36 KBytes/s) @ 500ms
Consider increasing your RWIN value to optimize TCP/IP for broadband.

MTU Discovery (RFC1191) = ON

Time to live left = 116 hops
TTL value is ok.

Timestamps (RFC1323) = OFF

Selective Acknowledgements (RFC2018) = ON

IP type of service field (RFC1349)= 00000000

5. I did some speed tests at adslguide.org.uk since it is nearer to me. The average speed was around 350k down and 100k up. The browsing and downloading speed is all good...I peaked even 70kb/s on the fastest servers.

6. I'm running on Win XP Pro.

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Problem:
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The connection is fine - downloads go fast (peaking 70kb/s), browsing is fine and live streaming is nice. Yet, online play is unfortunately, not. I get terrible fluctuations of ping - the ping starts low but then suddently goes CRAZY...3000ish!...totally unplayable. Then it goes low again...but most of the times is high and by the time it goes low again it's too late because the game is ended. I have tried the main tweaks found on SpeedGuide...no luck!

I was on a 56k before and everything ran fine, OK - the ping wasn't good but at least it was playable all the way...hence I can't blame the geographical position (Malta) but something that has to do with the connection.

I have tried to tweak the MTU and make it 1500. In the registry it is shown as 1500 now, yet the TCP/IP Anyalsis still says it's 1400. What to do?

And if is not the MTU, (I have a terrible fear that it's not that simple), what is it that causes this huge fluctuation in ping during online games? And how can I stop it? It's a calvary, please help me!

Any info you want just ask, I'm a begginer at these things but I am keen to resolve this very depressing problem.

Thanks,

Keith.

[mnosteele52]

Welcome to Speedguide Keith , first we need to set your MTU properly, I'm not familiar with PPTP DSL so I'm not 100% sure what your MTU should be and it could be limited by your ISP. By chance do you have AOL installed on your pc? For now use the following settings and I'll look into PPTP and see what your MTU shoyld be and we can adjust the settings then, for now use the following:

DefaultReceiveWindow = 65536
DefaultSendWindow = 16384
DisableAddressSharing = 1
InitialLargeBufferCount = 100
InitialMediumBufferCount = 240
InitialSmallBufferCount = 320
LargeBufferSize = 81920
MaxFastTransmit = 64000
MediumBufferSize = 15040
PriorityBoost = 0
SmallBufferSize = 1280
TransmitWorker = 32
FastSendDatagramThreshold = 1024
EnableFastRouteLookup = 1
EnablePMTUDiscovery = 1
IgnorePushBitsOnReceive = 0
GlobalMaxTcpWindowSize = 16320
MaxFreeTcbs = 8000
MaxHashTableSize = 16384
MaxNormLookupMemory = 5000000
SackOpts = 1
SynAttackProtect = 1
Tcp1323Opts = 0
TcpLogLevel = 1
TcpMaxDupAcks = 2
TcpMaxHalfOpen = 100
TcpMaxHalfRetried = 80
TcpRecvSegmentSize = 1360
TcpSendSegmentSize = 1360
TcpTimedWaitDelay = 30
TcpUseRFC1122UrgentPointer = 0
TcpWindowSize = 16320
MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server = 8
MaxConnectionsPerServer = 4
DefaultTTL = 64
DisableUserTOSSetting = 0
TcpMaxDataRetransmissions = 6
DefaultTOSValue = 92

VERY IMPORTANT TO DO THE FOLLOWING

1. Under your LAN connection - properties - general tab, uninstall all the protocols there that you do not need.

2. Open IE and select tools - internet options - connections - LAN settings, make sure NOTHING there is checked.

3. Make sure you have the latest drivers for your NIC from the manufacturer. Set your NIC duplex mode to 10mb half duplex for Cable, for DSL it is ISP dependent unless you are using a router, if so then set it to 100mb full duplex for both Cable & DSL (the instructions are in my Help & Tips link). If you are using a router make sure you have the latest firmware.

4. Clear your temporary internet files.

5. Power cycle your modem, unplug it for atleast 15 seconds.

6. Download and update then do a scan with SpyBot, anything checked in red is spyware and safe to remove.

7. Make sure you do the faster web page tweak in my Help & Tips link.

[KeithTheMaltese]

Did all those fixes and webpages do load faster... Thanks

Yet I wish to fix that annoying MTU which still shows at 1400? Thanks.

I'll test the pings this evening and post again.

[mnosteele52]

Try the fixes I have listed in my Help & Tips link for your MTU Keith, PPTP stands for Point to Point Tunneling Protocol, I can't find what the proper MTU is supposed to be be I would assume 1480, so try the fixes and set it to 1480 and post back. We can then adjust your other settings if you get it set properly.

[KeithTheMaltese]

Bummer, still locked at 1400. I have every MTU setting in my registry @ 1480...1400 is non-existant anywhere.

Try all those fixes I think...

[funky]

Originally posted by KeithTheMaltese
Bummer, still locked at 1400. I have every MTU setting in my registry @ 1480...1400 is non-existant anywhere.

Try all those fixes I think...

Sounds like a cap from the ISP or on the Modem itself. It's not really anything you can fix unless you haven't updated the modem's driver yet. Tweaking doesn't really matter for your PING respondse, but the following tips might help:

• Set MTU and Rwin lower, perhaps to 576 and 6400
• Have a tech check your line to make sure that there's nothing interfering with the signals
• Pick gaming servers that are close to your area