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First post, I'll try to be brief but will try to include as much info as is relevant.

My son is an avid gamer (Smite) but is getting disconnected from the server 3/4 times a day resulting in ever increasing time bans. There are a ton of things to tweak on his PC (which I have tried) but to no avail. One suggested test was to run two continuous ping tests on two PC's to see if they both hiccupped at the same time when he gets disconnected. This would rule out his PC being the problem and point the finger further up the line. Sure enough, that's what we saw. We were both pinging the router (and google) and the constant 1ms pings jumped to 33.

I continued to run the -t ping test for several hours. 11 times I scrolled back through the last minute and 11 times I saw spikes usually between 30 and 50ms but once to 342ms and ten seconds later 505ms. We phoned the ISP, they ran a test for 24 hours but found nothing. They said they were going to run another 24 hour test but before we could finish the conversation, I was placed on hold and then cut off. This was yesterday.

They want €50 if they replace the router and find it to be fine and I'm hesitant to get them to replace it because for me, it IS fine. I don't notice these hiccups but my son does but they don't always result in a disconnection or he would be disconnecting every minute.

So now I ask myself, are the two related or was it just a coincidence that we saw a spike in the ping at the same time of his disconnection? Are ping spikes normal and nothing to be concerned about or is the router faulty? (no router firmware updates available)

I'm no expert, just a dad with some knowledge learnt over the years but I know my limits (usually when google can't help me, which isn't very often).

A bit more info, 300mb fibre optic line and my Sons PC (which shows 300mb up and down on speed tests) is 3 years old and was top spec at the time of buying and is connected by RJ45 cable.

Any help on the ping hiccups or connection issues greatly appreciated.

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  • you were pinging your routers internal IP and the latency jumped to 33ms - 500ms from your PCs,which are connected via ethernet cable?
    – Keltari
    Commented Sep 2, 2018 at 14:57
  • That’s correct. 99 times out of 100 it would be. Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64. But the 100th time it would be Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=342ms TTL=64 And on this occasion after 10 more <1ms I got.... time=505ms TTL=64
    – Hotblack
    Commented Sep 2, 2018 at 15:43

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Having such a high latency internally is not normal. However, I want to make it understood that the occasional high latency isnt necessarily the cause of the game disconnects.

Unfortunately, there are a large number of variables that can be causing the latency issue. It could be the router, it could also be one of the other devices connected.

The first step is to eliminate all the variables. Disconnect all your devices from the router. All your PCs, phones, tablets, etc. It could be one of these devices is causing the issue. Then connect your son's computer. Does it still happen? If not, than one of the disconnected devices is causing the latency issue. If it does, disconnect his and try yours. Test the devices as necessary. If it continues to happen, it could very well be the router.

You dont have to spend $50 on a new router to just test functionality. You can go to Goodwill and pick up a used router for less than $5. You can then see if the issue occurs with that router. If not, than it defitely appears that the router is the source of the latency.

Again, I want to reiterate, solving this intermittent latency might not solve his disconnection issues with Smite. It can be purely coincidental. Check the Smite forums for similar problems, or even make a post asking for help. They should have a technical support forum for this type of issue.

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  • Kids are back to school tomorrow so I'll run some tests then. The €50 is basically a fine from the ISP (Jazztel in Spain) if they find nothing wrong with the router. I asked if they had a better router as the wifi only covers two rooms but this was the only one compatible with their line. I’m not sure how easy it is to replace it for another one as there looks like a ton of settings when I flick through the router menus. We've searched the Smite forums and tried all the fixes but the router blips suggests the problem is at out end. I’ll see what happens tomorrow, thanks for your input.
    – Hotblack
    Commented Sep 2, 2018 at 20:33
  • Test proved inconclusive. There were small lags no matter what was connected but nothing over 93ms and that was the highest by some margin. Once every few minutes there would be a 13 or 18ms spike but nothing like 300/500 the other day. My son played for an hour tonight without disconnection soooo, no idea at the moment.
    – Hotblack
    Commented Sep 3, 2018 at 20:41

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