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#3802 - 01/06/21 09:49 PM One computer - only on wifi
Austinite Offline


Registered: 12/27/20
Posts: 15
On one new computer a wired connection has 0.5ms times to router but on wifi it is a spikey mess. It has ping times to the router that are all over the place and has not infrequent brief periods of significant packet loss.

I initially was spending hours trying to tweak settings on router. But it might be with the Macbook itself. Both an older Macbook and an iPhone have really good ping times.

Apple says the hardware "checks out" and that it must be a software issue - reinstall Big Sur and start adding bak programs. This is realistically days of work.

What would cause such variability on one and only one device?

I am using Sidekick - does not seem to have jitter on one of the computers.

Also - if there is a better way to post pics I am all ears.

Thanks

Austin

The pictures below are:
New Macbook
Old Macbook
iPhone

[img]http://https://www.dropbox.com/s/yjykwqsoz6oc7ka/Macbook16_02.png?dl=0[/img]
[img]http://https://www.dropbox.com/s/lmocq0md5z6obz0/macbook13_02.png?dl=0[/img]

[img]http://https://www.dropbox.com/s/40arx7zahy0b0kn/iphonepackets.jpg?dl=0[/img]


Edited by Austinite (01/06/21 09:50 PM)

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#3803 - 01/07/21 01:57 PM Re: One computer - only on wifi [Re: Austinite]
Austinite Offline


Registered: 12/27/20
Posts: 15
I am really pulling my hair out on this - so this is my older Macbook. Here are simultaneous traces one to my router and one to 9.9.9.9. On the trace to Quad9 my router looks like it is dropping a large number of packets?


[img]https://share.pingplotter.com/EdEpmNkSEF1[/img]
[img]https://share.pingplotter.com/EQrXkS9Tnwa[/img]

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#3804 - 01/07/21 04:02 PM Re: One computer - only on wifi [Re: Austinite]
Austinite Offline


Registered: 12/27/20
Posts: 15


Edited by Austinite (01/07/21 07:47 PM)

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#3805 - 01/08/21 01:09 AM Re: One computer - only on wifi [Re: Austinite]
AustinB Offline
Network Support @ Pingman Tools


Registered: 12/11/18
Posts: 64
Hey there Austin laugh

Thanks for writing in. I understand your frustration here, I'd feel the same way, especially with a new device!

Overall, your connection quality to Google and Quad9 look really good. There is a little bit of variance with latency (Jitter), but nothing too concerning...

That, however, was regarding your older devices. As you mentioned, the newer Mac does show more severe issues...

I can't interpret much with a screenshot of the trace for your new laptop, however, I can say that it's likely **not** a router problem or an issue "down the line", based on the results I'm seeing so far.

On your new laptop, I'd recommend tracing to your NIC (IPv4 address of the device), Loopback Address (127.0.0.1), router, and www.google.com. This way, you'll be able to check if there are any problems with the network interface (IPv4 address) or the TCP/IP stack (loopback).

Once you've got at least 24 hours of results, feel free to share them with us at support@pingplotter.com!

Lastly, here are a few articles that might be able to help you out a bit more:

- https://www.pingplotter.com/wisdom/article/solving-wireless-issues.html

- https://www.pingplotter.com/wisdom/article/microwaves-and-wifi.html

- https://www.pingplotter.com/wisdom/common-network-problems

Please let us know if there are any other questions we can help you with!

Austin Berner
Customer Support Specialist - Pingman Tools


Edited by AustinB (01/08/21 01:10 AM)

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#3806 - 01/08/21 01:13 AM Re: One computer - only on wifi [Re: Austinite]
AustinB Offline
Network Support @ Pingman Tools


Registered: 12/11/18
Posts: 64
(regarding your 2nd message.......)

When you see all that red show up in a trace, it's only natural to think something is wrong. However, as long as this packet loss doesn't carry through to the destination, it's not something to worry about!

This sort of packet loss indicates that these hops are "de-prioritizing" or dropping ICMP Time Exceeded responses. This behavior affects only the returning information and does not affect forwarded packets.

If you're interested, here are a couple of articles that can explain this concept a bit more:

- https://www.pingplotter.com/wisdom/article/latency-packet-loss.html

- http://www.pingman.com/kb/5

I hope this helps to make sense of your results better! Let us know if you've got any other questions on the matter.

Austin Berner
Customer Support Specialist - Pingman Tools


Edited by AustinB (01/08/21 01:14 AM)

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#3807 - 01/08/21 10:40 AM Re: One computer - only on wifi [Re: AustinB]
Austinite Offline


Registered: 12/27/20
Posts: 15
Thanks for this. These are great ideas and I am starting to collect the data. How can I share this data if I have Sidekick currently installed?

One thing I see is variability come about quickly and then go away and it seems to start at the router level. And this pattern is more likely on one computer vs another. It can be short but it can also involve packet loss.

Thanks again for helping me solve this.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ohq7awbndewrhvb/All%20Targets21_0108_03.png?dl=0



Edited by Austinite (01/08/21 10:41 AM)

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#3808 - 01/08/21 03:03 PM Re: One computer - only on wifi [Re: Austinite]
AustinB Offline
Network Support @ Pingman Tools


Registered: 12/11/18
Posts: 64
You're welcome, Austin!

You can share all of your Sidekick data at once by opening PingPlotter, and navigating to http://localhost:7464 in your browser. From there, scroll to the bottom and click Export Data.

The browser will take a moment and then load a new page, one with about 5 Share Page links built into a pre-written letter. Each link works just like a regular share page link, so people can view the image and download the data you had in Focus at the time of the export.

Regarding the pattern you're seeing (thank you for the image), I'm noticing 1 of 3 possible issues:

1. There is some wireless interference going on
2. There are one or more devices that took up significant network resources at that time (bandwidth saturation on the local network)
3. There's an issue at the device-level (not the router).

For more information about these issues, see these links:

- Solving Wireless Issues

- Bandwidth Saturation

(use the traces to your IPv4 address and Loopback address, as mentioned in my previous post, to identify issues at the device-level)

I hope this information helps! Let me know if I can be of any further assistance.

Austin Berner
Customer Support Specialist - Pingman Tools

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#3809 - 01/08/21 08:36 PM Re: One computer - only on wifi [Re: AustinB]
Austinite Offline


Registered: 12/27/20
Posts: 15
Thanks. I am recording more data but this is a preview. Two computers sitting side by side on the same AP.

One showing "network saturation" and the other with rocking ping times.

And for background this is on a small commercial Unifi system where each AP should be able to handle >200 clients and there are perhaps 8. The two computers are on the same AP but there are six of them available. There is 6-8 Mbps total network activity on a 400 Mbps account (that tests that fast wired and >200Mbps WiFi). I am baffled.

Older computer:
https://share.pingplotter.com/EcJ5kuN6cAk

Newer Computer:
https://share.pingplotter.com/arbSsQU51Ms

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#3811 - 01/11/21 04:34 PM Re: One computer - only on wifi [Re: Austinite]
AustinB Offline
Network Support @ Pingman Tools


Registered: 12/11/18
Posts: 64
Hey Austinite,

Thanks for sharing your data!

Based on your description, it's likely we can eliminate bandwidth saturation as an issue here.

In your data sets though, it does seem like the issue is starting at the device-level for the new computer. Have you tried running a trace to your IPv4 address and loopback address yet?

Results from those tests would likely be the last clue you need before looking for a solution here.

Your IPv4 address can be found in your network settings (or, just google "how to find my IPv4 address). Your loopback address will be 127.0.0.1.

Bad results at the IPv4 address should indicate that there's an issue with the network interface. Bad results at the loopback usually means that a TCP/IP stack reset is in order (or there's a hardware issue).

I hope this information helps!

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