09-07-2011, 07:39 PM
You can traceroute from your own computer. Windows has "tracert" as a command from the command window.
Usually if I'm trying to diagnose a problem, I'll tracert to the destination then pick a near point and a far point and run "ping -t" on them, then let that go for a few minutes. Some places have ping disabled though so you may not always get a reply.
If the near ping is clean while the far ping has packet loss then it's not me. If the near ping is bad then I'll start trying to whittle down the location having the problem. Usually if it's me, it's my router, cable modem or some problem between me and the local hub. The last time I had the cable guys out here to diagnose a problem, they "couldn't find anything" but somewhere in all the plugging and unplugging they did, the problem fixed itself. Probably a lose connection somewhere (and it wasn't in my house because I'd already unplugged and replugged everything, so I could test it with splitters off of the loop).
A long running ping test should come back with 0% packet loss (like 24 packets dropped out of 50,000). If you're seeing something like 5% packet loss or bursts of packet loss, that's the problem. It's probably not latency causing you trouble, but too many dropped packets (which may not be noticeable during web browsing or even downloads, except they'll be slower than they should).
I just recently fixed a packet loss problem by turning my router off and on, too. I won't pretend to understand that. Periodically the routers just go bad, too. Try plugging directly into your cable modem to rule out a router problem.
Usually if I'm trying to diagnose a problem, I'll tracert to the destination then pick a near point and a far point and run "ping -t" on them, then let that go for a few minutes. Some places have ping disabled though so you may not always get a reply.
If the near ping is clean while the far ping has packet loss then it's not me. If the near ping is bad then I'll start trying to whittle down the location having the problem. Usually if it's me, it's my router, cable modem or some problem between me and the local hub. The last time I had the cable guys out here to diagnose a problem, they "couldn't find anything" but somewhere in all the plugging and unplugging they did, the problem fixed itself. Probably a lose connection somewhere (and it wasn't in my house because I'd already unplugged and replugged everything, so I could test it with splitters off of the loop).
A long running ping test should come back with 0% packet loss (like 24 packets dropped out of 50,000). If you're seeing something like 5% packet loss or bursts of packet loss, that's the problem. It's probably not latency causing you trouble, but too many dropped packets (which may not be noticeable during web browsing or even downloads, except they'll be slower than they should).
I just recently fixed a packet loss problem by turning my router off and on, too. I won't pretend to understand that. Periodically the routers just go bad, too. Try plugging directly into your cable modem to rule out a router problem.