I have been having problems with my Charter 'high' speed internet for a while. I have tried talking to them numerous times and they have replaced my modem twice and sent a tech out to 'work on' the line. The problem is intermittent high latency. Ping plotter has been helpful in tracking it down.
I feel like the service is inadequate but Charter claims that everything is in spec. I don't have many other provider options. Anyone have any ideas on how to deal with Charter?
We don't have any specific guidance for Charter here (maybe someone from outside does?), but DSL Reports usually has a lot of discussion on different providers and discussion on comments from end users and stories of conversations and successes and failures.
In general, the following techniques apply to every provider:
Collect data 24/7 with PingPlotter. When putting together a case, show them samples from both good times and bad (ideally in the same picture, if possible).
Always correlate other problems to verify that the PingPlotter data you're collecting is actually representative of the problems you're experiencing. Sometimes, you'll see packet loss in PingPlotter that is an artifact of network configuration and doesn't represent the actual problem well. If you're seeing 50% packet loss in PingPlotter, but your VoIP calls are mostly good, then PingPlotter data and actual network conditions aren't supporting each other, so you need to look at PingPlotter settings to try and make those match.
Always start with the final destination of PingPlotter for packet loss / latency problems. Only problems seen there matter.
If possible, pick a final destination that you're having problems with (a VoIP server, Terminal Services server, game server, etc).
Don't rule out problems inside your own network. We often see hardware failure or wiring failure in home networks that end users don't think about - bad routers, cabling, hubs, power supplies, power noise, etc. Fixing problems in your own network can sometimes be the easiest solution to a problem. If you have two computers, PingPlotter to your other computer and see if you get packet loss / latency. In a LAN environment, this should be clean.
Don't find the very worst case in PingPlotter and send that to Charter. Try and use normal conditions - if you have a single 5 minute period that's off the charts bad, but it only happened once, that's not a great centerpiece for building your case (way too easy for your provider to discredit).
Be cordial but persistent. Don't give up when they say "We don't see any problems."
Thank you for the advice. I have posted over at DSLreports. I do have another computer and a wireless router. How would I ping the other computer? Sorry for the basic question, I don't know much about networking.
Just find the IP address for that computer, then enter that IP into PingPlotter. Look for any latency or packet loss.
If you don't know the IP address for your other computer, the instructions are different on each operating system - try Googling for something like "find ip address windows 7" (or whatever your operating system is).
OK, I had to turn the windows firewall off on the other computer.
I got some interesting results! With both computers connected wirelessly to the router I see spikes of 200 Ms pinging the other computer. This happens approx evey 10 seconds. I don't think this is good or normal. When both are connected wired to the router it bounces between 1 and 0 pinging Evey second.
I was hoping it would happen when wired directly also as the main problem I have been experiencing is poor gameplay on my Xbox which is wired.
So based on this, you should make sure the data you collect with PingPlotter is using wired - if you use wireless, you're going to be adding some local network latency that your Xbox isn't seeing. Were you wired or wireless when collecting data in the first post here?
Ok, sorry for the typos in my last couple posts, I was typing on my phone.
The first result from above was wired directly to the modem. The second result was through the router, probably wirelessly but I do not know for sure. I need to keep better track.
I am going to get some better data from pingplotter wired directly to the modem. I only have a laptop and a netbook so it takes a little more effort to get long term data.
