high ping

Currently getting pings close to 2000 and can't pinpoint the cause. (I'm not a gamer) I typically ping 8.8.8.8. -t and monitor from that. Modem has been changed out, wires tested, doesn't matter if it wireless or not.
My question is, what would be a good course of action to eventually get me to the culprit? :confused

 

Not sure I can help much,but I'll give it a shot. First, here is an informative link about ping and read the related article about "Causes of Lag ..."
http://compnetworking.about.com/od/homenetworktroubleshooting/f/pingtest.htm

The 8.8.8.8 appears to be a google dns in the vicinity of Mountain View, CA. My ping on it resulted in 40 ms, which is normal for my location in Puget Sound, WA, rather close, internetwise. A ping of 2000 ms, might be the norm, if you are on Madagascar, using satellite.

Open a command prompt and enter tracert 8.8.8.8
You should get back several lines of hops and times. Line 1 should show about 1-4 ms for your local domain modem and it's IP. If it shows very high times, then latency is in your local network. If line 1 looks normal, but the rest of the lines are high, then the problem is in the wide area network (WAN). If the WAN is the problem, contact your internet service provider (ISP) for further assistance.

If the local network to the modem has high latency let us know. In that case, we would like to know your operating system.

 

Current ping not exceeding 140 ms.

Tracing route to 8.8.8.8. [8.8.8.8]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms 192.168.1.1
2 92 ms 63 ms 120 ms 137-118-145-1.htcnet.org [137.118.145.1]
3 41 ms 41 ms 40 ms n48s069.static.hardynet.com [198.41.48.69]
4 92 ms 87 ms 106 ms gi7-23.ccr01.iad01.atlas.cogentco.com [38.122.66
.217]
5 55 ms 78 ms 82 ms te0-16-0-33.ccr41.iad02.atlas.cogentco.com [154.
54.31.225]
6 110 ms 120 ms 101 ms 38.88.214.50
7 50 ms 67 ms 73 ms 209.85.252.80
8 47 ms 59 ms 51 ms 72.14.236.146
9 60 ms 54 ms 56 ms 72.14.235.12
10 136 ms 135 ms 143 ms 209.85.250.199
11 * * * Request timed out.
12 85 ms 86 ms 86 ms google-public-dns-a.google.com [8.8.8.8]

Trace complete.

This is Windows 7 pro

 

Your local network, line 1, looks fine. Line 2, the hop from your modem to the Highland Telephone Cooperative server is on the high side. This is worth discussing with HTC techs/service. Before doing so, do some more command prompt ping checks to 137.118.145.1 at different times over a few days. You want an idea of general performance. General times of 60-120 ms between your modem and the HTC server is bad performance. Something around 40 ms or less is ideal.

It appears to me, you have DSL service from HTC. If this is correct, make sure your inside phoneline installation is good. The shorter the distance from your modem to the Telephone box, the better. Don't use extensions. The fewer the connectors, the better. If recommended, use phone filters. If your side is clean and command prompt pings to HTC keep running high, definitely ask HTC to check out the circuit to your location.

I suggest you try some command prompt ping/tracert checks on 137.118.144.10 the HTC primary Domain Name Server (DNS). Compare the results with what you got on the Google public DNS 8.8.8.8 tracert. I suspect there will be fewer legs and lower latency. If not, then its something else to talk about with HTC.

By the way, I'm not a big fan of 3rd party online software speedtests (pings). Too many variables get added in such as a browser and most require the use of Flash. Their results are a rough indicator at best. I hope some of this helps nailing the 2000 ms culprit. gl

 

Thank you for your amazing help! I read the articles you recommended. I typically run between 54ms and 100 ms. I'm OK with that. I even function OK at 300ms. The problem becomes when things shoot up to 1000-2000ms. It can last 1-4 hours when it happens. Sometimes it won't happen for 2 weeks, sometimes 3 days in a row.

It's so random that I get to thinking, if this is a hardware problem, where's the consistency? That logic can transfer over to other areas as well. I get the feeling sometimes that something is updating or whatever and when it's done, it sets me free again. The internet is utilized 10-12 hours per day here.

A friend suggested wire shark but it's over my head.

Your thoughts?