Hey Bobby,

Sorry to see you’re still having issues playing your game.

The reply that you received from Comcast’s tech support hits on some valid points. Some devices are specifically configured to down prioritize ICMP echo requests in order to make way for more “important” network traffic (a topic we cover in more detail here: http://www.pingman.com/kb/5). This kind of down prioritizing wouldn’t typically have any effect on other network traffic, though - in these cases, the device is *only* dropping ICMP echo requests (requests specifically targeting that device and asking for a response back).

You mentioned that you notice latency problems in your game at the exact times that these hops show packet loss. Are there any periods in time that these hops *don’t* show packet loss, and you’re able to play your game without issues?

Your goal in troubleshooting an issue like this with PingPlotter should be to build a case by capturing both good, and bad periods. Ideally, you want to having PingPlotter running continuously (24x7), and when you experience issues playing your game - make a note those instances in PingPlotter. You can then go back through your collected data to try and identify any “problem” patterns that may be present in your collected data at the times you were experiencing issues.

If the pattern of packet loss you’re noticing at these hops matches up with your issues playing (when there’s no packet loss, you’re able to play - when there is packet loss, you have issues), then that *could* be indicative of a problem at those hops, and that kind of evidence can help build a more compelling case to bring to a provider (we cover this tactic in more detail here: http://www.pingplotter.com/gsg/buildingacase.html)

If the patterns of packet loss at those hops *doesn’t* match up to the issues you’re experiencing (for example - if there’s always packet loss at those hops, even when you’re able to play, or if you still have problems playing the game even when those hops *don’t* show packet loss) - then you may have some additional investigating to do. If this ends up being the case, your next steps should be to isolate and eliminate any variables (that you have control over) to see if you can further narrow down exactly what the culprit here may be. Our guide on using PingPlotter to troubleshoot network issues (https://www.pingman.com/network-nirvana/) provides some great guidance on this front (as well as a helpful worksheet!).

Hopefully this helps get you headed in the right direction. If you have any questions, or find yourself needing further guidance - feel free to shoot any pp2 files you have (or share your results via “File” -> “Share” in PingPlotter), along with any of your notes about when you were/weren’t able to play, and we’d be happy to take a look!

Best wishes,

-Gary