Unstable internet, games lagging, and packet loss to router

[tenesmus]

The router is a G3100 and we have fiber gigabit internet. I'm hardwired but the problem of nonstop lag in games happens both on ethernet and on wifi. My download speeds are normal (around 1 gbps) but when I play games online there is constant lag, games are often unplayable.

I've tried running ping plotter and it always shows high packetloss to our router. For example pinging google.com shows 4-10% packet loss on the first hop, to our router... Pinging facebook shows ~35% packet loss to our router. Pinging pingplotter.com shows ~80-95% packet loss to our router. 

There are also other hops to what I think are verizon servers (such as lag-19.PHLAPAFG-PPR01-CC.ALTER.NET) that has ~80% packet loss.

I've tried 2 computers on this network both hardwired and both have the same results!

A call with Verizon wasnt helpeful they said there is nothing wrong with our network so I'm looking for advice from those with more expertise that I in this area. Perhaps another test I could to to determine if the problem is something on our end, like a bad cable, or if there are issues with Verizons networks being overcrowded or just bad and whether we should just switch to comcast. 

[smith6612]

So if you're losing pings to the router, this to me would suggest something is wrong with the local network. Do you have any extenders, or hubs, or switches on your network? Packet loss could be caused by a loop. Or it could be caused by an extender or device performing ARP Poisoning (pretending to be the G3100's IP). It could also be caused by some other misbehaving device.

Best way to isolate the problem is to disconnect everything except for your PC, while the PC is running a continuous ping to the router (ping 192.168.1.1 -t for example). If you don't have any packet loss, start re-connecting your devices one by one until the packet loss begins. Wait about 5 minutes in between so things have time to "soak in" and break.

[tenesmus]

When I run that command I don't get any packet loss. (I let it run for a couple minutes). However, every few moments the ping jumps from <10ms up to 60-100ms. Is this normal? BTW when I run ping plotter, the packet loss shows up immediately.

Thanks for the ideas

[PGFF]

I have 1G speed with exactly same problem and I live in Philadelphia. I play PUBG and Warzone, original ping was around 40ms, sometimes 10-20ms. Rarely packet loss1%.. The ping goes unstable between 40-90ms along with huge packet loss. and Verizon representative blame it on game server.  I will definitely switch to xfinity. The current status of Verizon didn’t give dam*about customer anymore. 

[smith6612 · Accepted solution]

Massive jumps like that aren't normal. The latency to your router should be within the <1ms to 2ms range.

What is the ping frequency you're using on Pingplotter? If you're pinging too fast (faster than 1 second), routers on the Internet do have rate limiting and can choose to respond slower.

[jstells]

Hi,

I have the exact same issue in the Maryland area. Constant skips every 20 seconds and download/upload is perfect. Used 3 different computers and 2 diff ethernets. Had router changed. Same exact issue.

Did you figure it out? Please let me know