We were using our connection to game on our PS4 and PC, and for the past handful of months I have been unable to due to an unreliable ping.
I test the ping to Google.com, Yahoo.com and 8.8.8.8 and will get under 100 Ms for a duration of time, and then it will spike to around 1000ms. I'll get ping results around 60ms for 15 minutes to an hour, then over 500ms to 1k for 15 minutes to an hour, and then it will go back and start the loop over again.
I have been trouble shooting on my end to try and narrow it down and I think it's likely it's the tower we use and was hoping to have Verizon Support look into it. The area code is 37874.
Steps I have taken is to make sure that nothing but the PC is connected to the network, Also to connect to the WIFI from the Verizon Router instead of the wired connection using our router. I have tried other PC's and a Laptop. I have even connected my phone and got the same results. Some times it's fantastic, other times it's not usable.
I have noticed the same results from my Verizon Wireless phone when it is not on the home network at all. I also enabled the hotspot from it and connected a laptop and would get similar results.
I am not sure if it's coincidental or not, but a tornado came through in November and destroyed several homes a couple of miles from me and it may have started around then.
Thanks in advance for any help.
What you're seeing maybe high latency and ping just shows high latency is there. Ping is usually the fastest way to see it, but it doesn't help much to diagnose a high latency issue. Blaming the tower is not supported by what ping has to say. What works better is a utility called Trace Route. From the command prompt, type:
Tracert 8.8.8.8
Tracert google.com
Tracert 4.2.2.1 >filespec
> is the redirect switch, filespec is the full file specification: c:\path\filename.ext of the file you want to send the output to. There is no screen output when the redirect switch is used.
Post the output from tracert 4.2.2.1 so we can see what you're talking about.
Thank you for the help. I just got home and could barely pull a website, but did this tracert per your instructions.
Tracing route to a.resolvers.level3.net [4.2.2.1]
over a maximum of 30 hops:
1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms cp.local.tld [192.168.0.1]
2 3 ms 3 ms 3 ms 192.168.1.1
3 1000 ms 1061 ms * 255.sub-66-174-175.myvzw.com [66.174.175.255]
4 * 628 ms 1028 ms 228.sub-69-83-49.myvzw.com [69.83.49.228]
5 550 ms 738 ms * 34.sub-69-83-60.myvzw.com [69.83.60.34]
6 535 ms * * 194.sub-69-83-63.myvzw.com [69.83.63.194]
7 579 ms * 447 ms 224.sub-69-83-32.myvzw.com [69.83.32.224]
8 435 ms 846 ms 661 ms 224.sub-69-83-32.myvzw.com [69.83.32.224]
9 654 ms 729 ms * 65.sub-69-83-32.myvzw.com [69.83.32.65]
10 * 646 ms * nash-b1-link.telia.net [62.115.44.117]
11 685 ms * * atl-b22-link.telia.net [62.115.138.214]
12 * * * Request timed out.
13 * * * Request timed out.
14
Then I got this one an hour later after the internet seemed to be functional again.
Tracing route to a.resolvers.level3.net [4.2.2.1]
over a maximum of 30 hops:
1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms cp.local.tld [192.168.0.1]
2 4 ms 2 ms 2 ms 192.168.1.1
3 53 ms 57 ms 57 ms 136.sub-66-174-37.myvzw.com [66.174.37.136]
4 66 ms 60 ms 53 ms 228.sub-69-83-61.myvzw.com [69.83.61.228]
5 71 ms 36 ms 50 ms 34.sub-69-83-60.myvzw.com [69.83.60.34]
6 65 ms 44 ms 48 ms 194.sub-69-83-63.myvzw.com [69.83.63.194]
7 76 ms 64 ms 42 ms 224.sub-69-83-32.myvzw.com [69.83.32.224]
8 49 ms 56 ms 47 ms 224.sub-69-83-32.myvzw.com [69.83.32.224]
9 70 ms 54 ms 57 ms 65.sub-69-83-32.myvzw.com [69.83.32.65]
10 52 ms 53 ms 48 ms nash-b1-link.telia.net [62.115.44.117]
11 69 ms 57 ms 74 ms atl-b22-link.telia.net [62.115.138.204]
12 * 64 ms 74 ms level3-ic-319173-atl-b22.c.telia.net [213.248.84.35]
13 * * * Request timed out.
14 64 ms 73 ms 57 ms a.resolvers.level3.net [4.2.2.1]
Trace complete.
After a few minutes of decent browsing I got this one.
Tracing route to a.resolvers.level3.net [4.2.2.1]
over a maximum of 30 hops:
1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms cp.local.tld [192.168.0.1]
2 4 ms 3 ms 2 ms 192.168.1.1
3 1112 ms 647 ms 263 ms 136.sub-66-174-37.myvzw.com [66.174.37.136]
4 760 ms 389 ms 735 ms 228.sub-69-83-61.myvzw.com [69.83.61.228]
5 460 ms 577 ms 731 ms 34.sub-69-83-60.myvzw.com [69.83.60.34]
6 892 ms 104 ms 297 ms 194.sub-69-83-63.myvzw.com [69.83.63.194]
7 914 ms 462 ms * 224.sub-69-83-32.myvzw.com [69.83.32.224]
8 479 ms 333 ms 872 ms 224.sub-69-83-32.myvzw.com [69.83.32.224]
9 865 ms 1100 ms 567 ms 65.sub-69-83-32.myvzw.com [69.83.32.65]
10 947 ms 736 ms 666 ms nash-b1-link.telia.net [62.115.44.117]
11 371 ms 352 ms 348 ms atl-b22-link.telia.net [62.115.138.204]
12 * * * Request timed out.
13 * * * Request timed out.
14 936 ms 889 ms 1042 ms a.resolvers.level3.net [4.2.2.1]
Trace complete.
Now again about 10 minutes later.
Tracing route to a.resolvers.level3.net [4.2.2.1]
over a maximum of 30 hops:
1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms cp.local.tld [192.168.0.1]
2 4 ms 3 ms 2 ms 192.168.1.1
3 63 ms 49 ms 44 ms 136.sub-66-174-37.myvzw.com [66.174.37.136]
4 75 ms 51 ms 50 ms 228.sub-69-83-61.myvzw.com [69.83.61.228]
5 104 ms 83 ms 53 ms 34.sub-69-83-60.myvzw.com [69.83.60.34]
6 66 ms 74 ms 48 ms 194.sub-69-83-63.myvzw.com [69.83.63.194]
7 100 ms 99 ms 81 ms 224.sub-69-83-32.myvzw.com [69.83.32.224]
8 79 ms 60 ms 48 ms 224.sub-69-83-32.myvzw.com [69.83.32.224]
9 55 ms 59 ms 55 ms 65.sub-69-83-32.myvzw.com [69.83.32.65]
10 58 ms 66 ms 108 ms nash-b1-link.telia.net [62.115.44.117]
11 72 ms 63 ms 85 ms atl-b22-link.telia.net [62.115.138.204]
12 * * * Request timed out.
13 * * * Request timed out.
14 76 ms 71 ms 54 ms a.resolvers.level3.net [4.2.2.1]
Trace complete.
I'll await any further instructions without flooding the thread any more, hopefully this helps illustrate what I was describing. Thanks again for any help.
The ping scores here are consistent with your observations of slow internet performance. We can see the local hops to the VZW device are quick but as soon as it hits the VZW network your start to jump all over the place. When the first hop to VZW is quick the rest of the results follow suit.
> I am not sure if it's coincidental or not, but a tornado came through in November and destroyed several homes a couple of miles from me and it may have started around then.
This would be a clue for me. You would have to know exactly where the tower is that you are connecting too but chances are if there is damage in the area the tower crews would have to get involved. They may have you rigged up with something temporary until they can apply full repairs at a later time. If this is around when the performance problems started then you may just have to sit tight and wait for VZW to respond.
The only other way to rule out a location/tower problem would be to bring the VZW device to another area. Let it connect to a tower that has good performance and see if the problem persists. 4G LTE routers are not the most mobile device but perhaps you could rig up a LAN at a buddies house for a night or something and compare your results. The best tests would be from another town where you can be sure you are away from any storm damaged equipment.
The first two hops belong to you and are as they should be, but that third hop is the start of Verizon's local network and +1000ms returns are not encouraging. Hop 7 and 8 are to the same IP address… The golden rule of TCP/IP networking is two network devices can't have the same IP address, yet there it is. I can't help but think that this is not helping the situation.
I would start collecting this data if I were you. You have a better chance of convincing the right person to figure it out if you have data that shows a problem.
Create a batch file and run the batch file to record 1 data sample. COPY and PASTE the data between the … lines to a Command Prompt:
…
Copy con: file.bat
@echo off
Echo Creating trace to Level 3 DNS Primary . . .
Date /t >>file.txt
Time /t >> file.txt
Tracert 4.2.2.1 >>file.txt
Notepad file.txt
Exit
…
Press F6 to end the copy and Enter to create the batch file.
As written, you can put both files in My Documents so you can edit and save to avoid Permission errors. Create a desktop Icon to file.bat and double click it to save a sample. You want the data to clearly show both good and bad. If you wish to see the output you can open file.txt with Notepad and scroll to the last entry.
If you do this then backup the data file in case it goes poof and just disappears. You marked your original post as a question so someone from Verizon should be along to offer assistance. Ordinarily you have to call Customer Service (800) 922-0204 to report an issue with the system.
Thank you, I shall try this. I have tried the tech support number but unfortunately with an intermittent problem it's hard to troubleshoot. Hopefully someone from verizon can see this and use the tracerts to help.
You're welcome! By the way, you have done all the usual stuff, right? Power down, remove the battery and SIM Card, wait a couple minutes, put it back together, and use the reset button to reset the router to factory defaults. I don't see that this was mentioned in the thread.
It's been my experience that the provider will fix it when they know what to fix. The first reaction is always, "You're doing something wrong." But when you have data that says different it's hard to deny it.
I'm using the installed LTE. So I have power cycled everything. I've even left everything off overnight to the same results. Today I went on the roof and raised up the cantenna to see if getting some more clearance over the house might help. It did not I'm sad to report.
I've been running the bat file and getting some data to give to tech support,in hopes they find me here.
Here's something odd that I would like your opinion on. I have been running tracerts simultaneously on my phone (Not on the network, just using it's internal antenna to get signal, which is also Verizon) when I have gotten the high latency on the PC. And it's not had the same high times that the PC gets. However, third hop is different. The others are the same. Any thoughts on that?
Start a new topic or ask questions in the open forum.
