Solution to PING/DC problems

Hi Guys

For the last 2 weeks I have been having big trouble with disconnects. I am using the Leatrix latency fix and usually get a ping of about 250-350, but even though the latency is perfectly fine as soon as a big number of events happen at the same time (Ony whelps and PoS final boss fight) my pc will just chain disconnect. What I have found that ever since the problems began my international download speeds have been terrible. I am on a 4mbit line using unshaped bandwidth and I get a max of perhaps 500kbits/s(about 60kbytes/s) using the website www.speedtest.net. Oddly my local download speeds are fine averaging out to about 2.5 - 3Mbit/s. So I reckon my dc's are related to a lack of bandwidth and not latency. Also my adsl connection is perfectly stable with not a single disconnect in the last 6 months.

I have tried Webafrica unshaped, Openweb unshaped, Axxess semi-shaped and Afrihost and though the latency varies between the 4 accounts, the international download speeds don't.
My wife and I play WoW together on the same connection, so I don't know how viable it is to start using a proxy service like lowerping, to try and stop the disconnects. Would we need to buy 2 separate accounts to use the service? We play on the Aggramar - eu realm.

The crap thing is until just before the problems with the Sat3 cable earlier in February, everything was perfect :(
Does anyone have any idea what might be wrong?
 
There must be something wrong with the undersea cable... every1 is complaining for the past 2 weeks
 
Right I just want to double check my stats. I moved to a new place, and when I got the Tellephone line activated, tada there was 384kbit ADSL. I signed up with Closer1 so I am pretty sure I am not suppose to have ADSL yet, anyways already put through the order for 4mbit.

Currently this is my stats.

SNR Margin (Upstream) 11.7 db
SNR Margin (Downstream) 15.0 db
Line Attenuation (Upstream) 48.0 db
Line Attenuation (Downstream) 44.0 db

Is that decent enough for 4mbit? Currently syncing at 384/127 on ADSL2+, modem is a Billion BiPAC 7300RA standard firmware.

Oh interesting, I forced it now to G.DMT and stats change to: (also it syncs 384/128 now too)

SNR Margin (Upstream) 12.0 db
SNR Margin (Downstream) 20.0 db
Line Attenuation (Upstream) 31.5 db
Line Attenuation (Downstream) 47.5 db
 
Last edited:
Those SNR's are pretty bad, they should be much higher if you currently syncing at 384. You will most likely have alot of desynchronization if you bump your profile up
 
Well, according to this I can get up to 6816kbit, which is fine since I really just need 2-4mbit to be at least happy with what I have. 384 is killing me for 2 reasons.

1. My latency in WoW is now 340ms constant vs 210ms I used to have using a private proxy. Same proxy, same pc, different line and house. Was on 10mbit at the commune I was in before.

2. Downloads is absolutely horrific, 40kbyte/sec vs 900kbyte/sec I used to have. I could live with 200kbyte/sec...

Now reading that above link, I think maybe I should redo the internal house wiring, this is a very old house, and the point in the house looks like the wires are silver, eg. aluminium I guess instead of copper. I am pretty sure that will increase the attenuation unnecessarily.
 
http://www.naschenweng.info/2008/10/16/adsl-significance-of-snr-and-attenuation

There is a difference between what your line can do and what games like wow are happy with. Obviously with downloading and browsing you don't really notice the spike here in there but in wow it means a DC in a raid.

That SNR with G.DMT seems fine to me, BUT remember those numbers are suppose to be higher (better) the slower line speed you use. Will have to wait and see how it looks when they change you.

As I've said before I've lived @ a few places. Always been lucky enough that my LA Down was below 40 and UP was below 20 (so its numbers I know work well for wow). Its basically the distance to your exchange and reduction in signal strength.

But more importantly @ these places I had SNR values of 12 down, 11-6 up (thing is they are not always static, and when they move down for a sec you get problems) To me it seems you want to get around 18+ down and 12+up.
When I change connectors I went to 24 Down and 13+ up and all my problems stopped there.

How all this exactly effects your latency (340ms vs 210) I am not sure. Get your 4 or 10mbps going and lets see how things look then.
 
Two items of information to add to this thread.

The first added as a copy paste from Something Thembi wrote while in FoA nad I don't think he would appreciatr me wtf'ing his bandwidth ;)

You need to check you SNR – Noise levels on your line
Signal to Noise Ratio is to how loud the signal is over background noise, think of it as how
loud Shad is on vent if he is going on about crap and you can’t hear Spud chances are the
SNR Noise level is low Spud needs to speak up to be heard over Shad i.e. increase his Volume
. The higher the SNR margin, the more stable the connection because of fewer errors. A
strong signal will allow the line to cope with faster speeds. In general, a higher signal to
noise ratio the better it is.

6bB. or below = Bad
7dB-10dB. = Fair but your very iffy.
11dB-20dB. = Good kind of average
20dB-28dB. = Excellent
29dB. or above = Outstanding

You line attenuation should be as low as possible !
Line attenuation is a very good indicator of line health. With ADSL, Line Attenuation is the
energy loss of signal transmission through the phone line. Several things can cause higher
line attenuation, including…

 Distance from the exchange
 Type of cable & gauge of wire used at your house, old cables = bad
 Phone line joins, such as wire connectors, extensions
 Additional phone points
 Corrosion on your phone line

Like I said, the lower the line attenuation, the better.

20bB. and below = FANTASTIC
20dB-30dB. = Excellent
30dB-40dB. = Very Good
40dB-50dB. = Good
50dB-60dB. = Poor you’re going to have problems
60dB and above = Your fooked.

A handy equation to use is to divide the downstream attenuation by 13.81, you can find that info on your router. This will
give you a fairly accurate distance from the exchange measured in kilometres, greater than 4 to 6 km you’re playing with
fire.
For example; if you had a downstream attenuation of 30dB… 30dB divided by 13.81 = 2.172 KM
Click to expand...

Second is a link that helped me with Windows 7 Latency fixes that I havnt seen linked anywhere. I am getting 275-350ms on an IS uncapped account.
What I like about it is that it's all command line driven, instead of burying into the registry. If something breaks you simply run the command to set **** back to default ;) (speaking of which, check the default settings before you change them just to make sure)

http://www.speedguide.net/articles/windows-7-vista-2008-tweaks-2574
 
Your quote has been linked about 44 times already :p
That link u paste are quite interesting thou, TY I'll have a look in more detail. (btw what settings are u running @?)

Any1 else wanna comment on that link in more detail?
 
I think most people;s problem won't be fixed by tuning the windows settings, bar for the Leatrix latency fix, everything else can just make your experience worse if you don't know what you doing.

My personal opinion is this:
1. Get a 512kbit but preferably 1mbit line - 1mbit usually is more stable than 4-10mbit and should generally work for most lines in SA, including my line that is pretty bad.
2. Have a proper ADSL router, I have seen some horrid routers out there, in my experience Billions work the best
3. Force your modem to use G.DMT if it uses ADSL2+, generally speaking its more stable because it uses a smaller band, meaning it works better on unstable lines.
4. Make sure your machine can handle WoW, its not terribly hard nowadays, all you need is 2gb memory (4gb works really nice), decent CPU but most importantly at least a mid range GFX card, low-end is just asking for trouble.

Generally speaking those ideas will work, the problem with 384kbit line, is not the download speed, but the terrible upload speed of 128kbit, not to mention any kind of download on a 384/512 line introduces 1000ms+ latencies, where-as 4mbit and above generally only introduce 100ms latency, the reason for this is the buffer on the other side of the line gets emptied faster with a fast line, which is why fast lines are not affected by that buffer, but slow lines are. It is quite horrible in all honesty.

Like I said, going from 10mbit line with 210ms to a 384kbit line increased my latency when the line is idle to 340ms in-game, nothing but the line has changed! Now my SNR and LA might look bad, but I am pretty sure I can get this line to be stable on 1mbit maybe 2mbit if I am lucky, but there are a few more things I am going to try, like replace the old plugs with huge aluminium in them with the newer plugs that doesn't have that, since that can also introduce higher LA because of the resistance of aluminium.
 
SnowWar said:
Your quote has been linked about 44 times already :p
That link u paste are quite interesting thou, TY I'll have a look in more detail. (btw what settings are u running @?)

Any1 else wanna comment on that link in more detail?
Click to expand...

Sorry, didn't see it in this thread tho? mebbe im goinng blind in my old age ;)
(and people keep asking "is my SnR ok?" leadin me to think there's a lack of that info here)

anyways, I run (from memory, so it may be dodge ;) I can confirm from home later) :
However... if you have not read up on the link: http://www.speedguide.net/articles/windows-7-vista-2008-tweaks-2574 and can't be fussed to use your god given braincells, don't come crying to me. (i.e. Use as is at your own bloody risk)
Be sure to run netsh int tcp show global to get your default settings for some fo these.

netsh int tcp set heuristics disabled
netsh int tcp set global autotuninglevel=normal
netsh int tcp set global congestionprovider=ctcp
netsh int tcp set global ecncapability=disabled
netsh int tcp set global rss=enabled
netsh int tcp set global dca=enabled
netsh int tcp set global netdma=enabled

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\DisableTaskOffload=0
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{NIC-id}\TcpAckFrequency=1

Tinuva:
Yes, if your line quality is mediocre, dropping line speed will introduce less errors and therefore reduce packet retransmissions and error correction. I did mention somewhere that WoW really hates packet loss/retransmissions ;)
I have found it better to run at 800ms with no errors than 300ms with errors (WAY back when)
 
Last edited:
Tinuva said:
Right I just want to double check my stats. I moved to a new place, and when I got the Tellephone line activated, tada there was 384kbit ADSL. I signed up with Closer1 so I am pretty sure I am not suppose to have ADSL yet, anyways already put through the order for 4mbit.

Currently this is my stats.

SNR Margin (Upstream) 11.7 db
SNR Margin (Downstream) 15.0 db
Line Attenuation (Upstream) 48.0 db
Line Attenuation (Downstream) 44.0 db

Is that decent enough for 4mbit? Currently syncing at 384/127 on ADSL2+, modem is a Billion BiPAC 7300RA standard firmware.

Oh interesting, I forced it now to G.DMT and stats change to: (also it syncs 384/128 now too)

SNR Margin (Upstream) 12.0 db
SNR Margin (Downstream) 20.0 db
Line Attenuation (Upstream) 31.5 db
Line Attenuation (Downstream) 47.5 db
Click to expand...
Well tonight 7:42pm my line dropped for 5 minutes, not sure what happened, the line was stable all the time till now, and it seems the line made a turn for the worst.

From 20db down, to 14db down...

Upstream 128 kbps
Downstream 384 kbps
SNR Margin (Upstream) 10.0 db
SNR Margin (Downstream) 14.0 db
Line Attenuation (Upstream) 31.5 db
Line Attenuation (Downstream) 52.0 db

Sad fact, this line haven't fluctuated at all on these stats, not even when it was raining, then boom one evening everything go even worse.

/sigh
 
How do I check my Line Attenuation or noise margin if my router (Billion 400G) doesn't show it?
 
I'm currently on a 384K line and my line att is 57 while my SNR is about 20. These numbers seem really bad to me and I'm not sure what to do, will upgrading to a faster speed help or should I first look to my line to reduce noise. I really want to start raiding 25 man, or even 10 man without disconnects.

Oh, and how can I find out how far away from a Telkom exchange I live?
 
Your Line Att basically tells you how far you are from the exchange. See http://www.naschenweng.info/2008/10/16/adsl-significance-of-snr-and-attenuation
IE you'r about 4km

More importantly: 50dB-60dB is poor and may experience connectivity issues

Regarding SNR, well there are 2 numbers. a Downstream SNR and Upstream. The higher the numbers the better. Typically imo you want to look @ Downstream SNR of 18+ and Upstream of 12+, and its important that it is stable (click refresh) and don't jump up and down.

Also 384k is known to give problems sometimes with 25 man raiding when allot is going on.

I think by now people should be able to find information for most situations in this thread somewhere, so just read it all. GL
 
i have no issues at all from my place with normal telkom setup but my m8's in Iraq and so forth use http://www.wowtunnels.com/ and they looove it , maybe try that if you need
 
Hi guys, I want to add a little story regarding what I always said was the no1 problem of WOW disconnects

So my line as always been pretty good:

ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 4096 kbps 512 kbps
Line Attenuation 38.0 db 20.5 db
Noise Margin 22.9 db 14.0 db

You can refer to previous posts if you want to know what those mean, but MOST important and the numbers @ Noise Margin. The higher the better (http://www.naschenweng.info/2008/10/16/adsl-significance-of-snr-and-attenuation)

So last week I started to have odd disconnects and I started to monitor things. Now the best thing you could do when you get a DC is log your rounter and check your SNR - Noise Margin value (downstream usally)
I have the option of setting a Poll Interval and I set it to 2 sec. As I stated above mine was always very stable @ 20+ db which is great. but then I noticed after the DC's it sometimes goes down to 14, 12, jumps to 6 or 8 and then later goes up again to the 20 db I saw it @ earlier the day. When this happens you might not see the router drop it's actual connection or your PPPOE connection dropping (if you use one) but you will defo see your Proxy and/or WOW connection dropping.
IMO you need to main to get your SNR (down) 18+ and be stable @ that.

So as a start I phoned telkom and had them reset my port. That helped, but only for a little while.
Anyway, so I worked closely with a Telkom Techy I know and end of the day the problem was @ the exchange and got fixed.

Wow is very very sensitive to these noise problems, specially when there is allot happening in WOW and thus allot of data being transfered. And its not something you always see, as it might be fine for most of the day and when you check the SNR value.

I hope this helps some1 in the future, GL
 
Tinuva said:
Right I just want to double check my stats. I moved to a new place, and when I got the Tellephone line activated, tada there was 384kbit ADSL. I signed up with Closer1 so I am pretty sure I am not suppose to have ADSL yet, anyways already put through the order for 4mbit.

Currently this is my stats.

SNR Margin (Upstream) 11.7 db
SNR Margin (Downstream) 15.0 db
Line Attenuation (Upstream) 48.0 db
Line Attenuation (Downstream) 44.0 db

Is that decent enough for 4mbit? Currently syncing at 384/127 on ADSL2+, modem is a Billion BiPAC 7300RA standard firmware.

Oh interesting, I forced it now to G.DMT and stats change to: (also it syncs 384/128 now too)

SNR Margin (Upstream) 12.0 db
SNR Margin (Downstream) 20.0 db
Line Attenuation (Upstream) 31.5 db
Line Attenuation (Downstream) 47.5 db
Click to expand...

Telkom gave me a newyears prezzi today it seems. Line is now finally active at 4mbit speed, stats are now:

SNR Margin (Upstream) 12.0 db
SNR Margin (Downstream) 15.5 db
Line Attenuation (Upstream) 17.0 db
Line Attenuation (Downstream) 31.0 db

Syncing at 4096/512, which I am more than happy with and it seems rock solid for now. Will do more tests as I go but really happy with what I am seeing right now!
 
Oki a quick question as i am not really sure what people mean when saying they are using a proxy, do they mean they are using places like lowerping, or they are sitting at a business where u need to use a proxy to get on the internet in the 1st place. aka proxy settings in your IE/firefox/chrome connection settings ?
 
Super BUMP!
This thread has been a HUGE help.
Kudos to SnowWar and others for very valuable comments!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X