Hi guys,

I've been experiencing packet loss at 1-4% during dota 2 games at irregular moments. The ping gets spikes at irregular moments too up to 200-400 ms. The experience is drastically reduced because of this.

I've been in touch with both my ISP and ping tests were done:

Ping statistics for 192.168.1.1:
Packets: Sent = 50, Received = 50, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 465ms, Average = 39ms

Although it does say 0% packet loss, but dota 2 ping tests says it gets up to 4%. In addition, here are some of the spikes I was talking about:

Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=254
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=254
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=396ms TTL=254
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=254
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=391ms TTL=254
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=254
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=254
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=254
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=254
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=254
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=254
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=254
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=254
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=254
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=254
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=254
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=220ms TTL=254
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=254
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=254

These are the last 20ish packets from the command prompt.
Is this normal? What could be the problem? I've already tried another ethernet and the result is the same.
Can anyone help?

No. That is not normal. They should all be <1ms.
The problem could be anywhere along the line between your PC and the router. Are we talking wired or wireless?
If wired, try replacing the cable (not very likely). If wireless, try moving the router (possible).
For either, try resetting your router to factory settings, then reconfigure. You'd be surprised how often that helps.

For a LAN the pings should really be 1ms or something close. A few possibilities are that something else on the computer is using the network, there's a faulty cable or the router itself needs to be rebooted.

thanks. But this machines is recently purchased: 19 Dec 2015. It was only put to use on 4Feb 2016, so I doubt that resetting it would work. Is there a modom that you would recommend?All amazon.ca ones have 4 stars or less

Just because it's new doesn't mean there isn't a problem.

As time is smaller then 1ms and wlan is most time 1ms until 5ms i assume youre on cable?
There were some problems with Inteldrivers not a long time ago personally i know of trouble with
e.g. Intel WLAN 7260 cards used in laptops.
I would try first different driver, or best: first try different PC if possible.

Can you do a ping to loopback? (127.0.0.1) If you ever get even a single packet that takes more than one millisecond, then you've got a problem that is in the guts of your router, not a cable problem or a wireless signal problem.

You probably see packet loss in dota because they time out packets fairly quickly - it doesn't help you at all to get information from half a second ago; that half second is gone, and you've done something in the interim. That's why you see no packet loss on your gateway ping (192.168.1.1), but see loss in the dota statistics.

If you're feeling especially helpful, could you also do a ping with a larger packet size? That would use the -l switch (or argument if you're oldschool), like ping -l 4096 192.168.1.1 That could help tell if your router is having trouble with sending/receiving packets, or rather the data in the packets.

You don't have to do any of that, of course. Just troubleshooting.

Well I have DSL, and the current computer I'm on has been able to use a modem without packet loss on Dota 2. It is only when I have made a new purchase for a new ISP that I've signed up with that I found this problem. The modem that I use did not ask me to install any drivers. I've pinged these things because I was given instructions on how to do them. I don't know what 127.0.0.1 is and how to do it. Additionally, I don't know how to do this old school method and its theory behind them. I don't want to do anything that is unsafe. Thanks for your detailed feedback though. I've learned something new about how dota works now.

Okay, I figured out doing those:
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=4096 time=2ms TTL=254
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=4096 time=2ms TTL=254
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=4096 time=2ms TTL=254
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=4096 time=196ms TTL=254
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=4096 time=2ms TTL=254
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=4096 time=2ms TTL=254
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=4096 time=2ms TTL=254
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=4096 time=2ms TTL=254
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=4096 time=2ms TTL=254
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=4096 time=2ms TTL=254
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=4096 time=2ms TTL=254
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=4096 time=2ms TTL=254
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=4096 time=2ms TTL=254
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=4096 time=2ms TTL=254
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=4096 time=2ms TTL=254
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=4096 time=2ms TTL=254
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=4096 time=2ms TTL=254
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=4096 time=2ms TTL=254
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=4096 time=2ms TTL=254
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=4096 time=2ms TTL=254
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=4096 time=2ms TTL=254
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=4096 time=2ms TTL=254
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=4096 time=2ms TTL=254
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=4096 time=2ms TTL=254
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=4096 time=2ms TTL=254
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=4096 time=2ms TTL=254
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=4096 time=2ms TTL=254
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=4096 time=2ms TTL=254
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=4096 time=2ms TTL=254
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=4096 time=542ms TTL=254

Ping statistics for 192.168.1.1:
Packets: Sent = 50, Received = 50, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 2ms, Maximum = 542ms, Average = 16ms

The packet size reveals the same thing.

The 127.0.01 result:

Reply from 127.0.0.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 127.0.0.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 127.0.0.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 127.0.0.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 127.0.0.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 127.0.0.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 127.0.0.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 127.0.0.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 127.0.0.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 127.0.0.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 127.0.0.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 127.0.0.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 127.0.0.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 127.0.0.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 127.0.0.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 127.0.0.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 127.0.0.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128

Ping statistics for 127.0.0.1:
Packets: Sent = 50, Received = 50, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 0ms, Average = 0ms

I don't know what these mean and how valid the test results are, but I'm not convinced that it is the wire's fault. I'm on my 2nd wire and the results are the same. My computer never had this type of problem before I moved 1 month ago so I'm doubting it is my computer's fault. However, if you know a good test to try on the computer I wouldn't mind.
Thanks!

Cool. Thanks for that info. I can explain, if you care.

Pinging loopback, or 127.0.0.1, means you are sending a ping to yourself. It should always be near-instant, because you aren't sending information out. Since all those pings were good, it means your computer (assuming that's what you were pinging from) is working. Specifically, it means that the network interface you are using (the port on your computer) is good.

Pinging 192.168.1.1 is pinging the next thing after your computer (often called your gateway) - in this case, it should be your router. There, you see, you're getting about the same amount of delayed packets as you were getting with normal-sized pings. That means that the problem is probably not with the amount of data carried by the packet, but rather with getting the packet successfully to and from the destination. Since you still have trouble with that, that means there is a problem between your computer's network interface, and the router's "guts" that do the reply.

So here's how you would troubleshoot that. First, you need to think about what things are involved in that signal path. You've got a cable, I assume. You've also got a port on the computer and the router. And of course, the router itself. If you could do a ping of 127.0.0.1 *from the router* you could eliminate the router itself. If you don't know how, that's fine. We'll look at the more common problems anyway, which is to say, the cable and the port. Troubleshooting the port is easy - move the cable that goes from your computer to the router into another port in the router (most household routers have 2-5 ports to connect to). If you still have problems, then you may have a bad cable. Use a different one - if you don't have a different one, buy or borrow one. Most likely, once you've verified that the port is working and the cable is working, things will magically start working, because computers are mostly made of magic**, and they hate us**.

I know you said that you don't think it's the cable. It very well may not be. It could be the actual conductive pins on the computer's interface, which would make the problem stick around even after changing cables and router ports. Sadly, that's a tougher one to test, unless you happen to have two ethernet ports on your computer, or a multimeter.

**professional opinion

So we've narrowed it down to the modem and the ethernet wire right? I've only tested the 127.0.01 and 192.168.1.1 and the 127.0.0.1 is good so that means my computer is good right? Prior to my previous reply, I was already on my 2nd ethernet cable and that the 2nd port on my modem was being tested. The results were the same. I'm just trying to make sure that my modem is the one at fault for this, as my replacement from Amazon is being shipped right now (They have generous online supports by the way). Thank you for helping me out and teaching me some cool stuff :)