Getting really unstable ping in D3, need help analyzing tracert/pathping:(

[timoseewho]

hi, lemme start off by saying i'm playing D3 from China, so the ping isn't stellar to begin with, but only recently (past 2 days) has it all of a sudden become extremely spiky. it used to be fairly stable around 200ms, but lately it's been going crazy from 200 to 800 to 500ms. i've done tracert to Blizzard NA D3 servers at 12.129.222.10 and have gotten the following

Tracing route to 12.129.222.10 over a maximum of 30 hops

  1     1 ms    <1 ms    <1 ms  192.168.0.1 
  2     1 ms     1 ms     1 ms  192.168.1.1 
  3     *        *        *     Request timed out.
  4    12 ms     6 ms     5 ms  120.196.26.205 
  5    11 ms    11 ms    11 ms  120.196.244.49 
  6    16 ms    29 ms    31 ms  221.183.19.233 
  7    46 ms    64 ms    46 ms  221.176.16.205 
  8    43 ms    42 ms    42 ms  221.176.17.218 
  9    50 ms    46 ms    51 ms  221.176.17.70 
 10   201 ms   200 ms   200 ms  223.118.10.26 
 11   194 ms   194 ms   195 ms  ae11-100.lax11.ip4.gtt.net [173.205.45.153] 
 12   197 ms   197 ms   195 ms  141.136.106.2 
 13   203 ms   201 ms   203 ms  199.229.231.30 
 14   198 ms   196 ms   199 ms  12.122.129.106 
 15   196 ms   196 ms   196 ms  12.123.249.73 
 16     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 17     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 18     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 19     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 20     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 21     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 22     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 23     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 24     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 25     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 26     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 27     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 28     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 29     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 30     *        *        *     Request timed out.

Trace complete.

Tracing route to 12.129.222.10 over a maximum of 30 hops

  0  X75V [192.168.0.128] 
  1  192.168.0.1 
  2  192.168.1.1 
  3     *        *        *     
Computing statistics for 50 seconds...
            Source to Here   This Node/Link
Hop  RTT    Lost/Sent = Pct  Lost/Sent = Pct  Address
  0                                           X75V [192.168.0.128] 
                                0/ 100 =  0%   |
  1    0ms     0/ 100 =  0%     0/ 100 =  0%  192.168.0.1 
                                0/ 100 =  0%   |
  2    0ms     0/ 100 =  0%     0/ 100 =  0%  192.168.1.1 

Trace complete.

what am i to get out of this? sorry for the super noob inquiry;\

edit: i think i've narrowed down the problem. i don't lag when i play through my VPN. i think it might be one of the routers my ISP is routing me through on the way to the US;\. i'm eye'ing that #3

 

[Pandasaurus]

I see zero problems with that trace. Out of curiosity, is there some reason you aren't playing on the Korea or Taiwan servers? It seems like you'd get a far better ping, to me.

The #3 hop is (with 99.9% certainty) the ISP edge router on your side of the network, so I suppose it's possible that's the problem. If ISPs in China are anything like here in the US, you'd need to spend a few hours on the phone just to get them to look and see.

You could also see if your ISP has a LookingGlass portal. If they do, take a peek at it when you have an issue. Blizzard has one but it's not as useful as most I've used, they only give you text output of a ping/traceroute/MTR from your chosen server to your IP. No checking other routes or anything with them.

 

[timoseewho]

I see zero problems with that trace. Out of curiosity, is there some reason you aren't playing on the Korea or Taiwan servers? It seems like you'd get a far better ping, to me.

The #3 hop is (with 99.9% certainty) the ISP edge router on your side of the network, so I suppose it's possible that's the problem. If ISPs in China are anything like here in the US, you'd need to spend a few hours on the phone just to get them to look and see.

You could also see if your ISP has a LookingGlass portal. If they do, take a peek at it when you have an issue. Blizzard has one but it's not as useful as most I've used, they only give you text output of a ping/traceroute/MTR from your chosen server to your IP. No checking other routes or anything with them.

thanks for having a look! i'm just here temporarily and all my friends are on the NA server;p

it's shitty that i've never done a tracert when my connection was fine, so that makes the #3 a little harder to diagnose

i've been actually playing through a VPN so far routing through Japan and has been a lot better lol

i didn't know about this LookingGlass thing but i'll check it out to see if it's available

 

[Fardringle]

It looks like your hop 10 to 223.118.10.26 is jumping from Hong Kong (hop 9) to Brisbane, Australia, which explains the increased PING time starting at that hop. Routing your VPN through Japan would make the traffic take a shorter path (via the Asia-America Gateway cables buried in the Pacific ocean). If this connection problem started recently, the ISP you are using in China might have changed their routing paths from the direct route on the Asia-America cables due to a connectivity issue between their network and the oceanic cables, or possibly some other problem along the route that is causing them to send the data through Australia instead.

 

[timoseewho]

It looks like your hop 10 to 223.118.10.26 is jumping from Hong Kong (hop 9) to Brisbane, Australia, which explains the increased PING time starting at that hop. Routing your VPN through Japan would make the traffic take a shorter path (via the Asia-America Gateway cables buried in the Pacific ocean). If this connection problem started recently, the ISP you are using in China might have changed their routing paths from the direct route on the Asia-America cables due to a connectivity issue between their network and the oceanic cables, or possibly some other problem along the route that is causing them to send the data through Australia instead.

ah thanks, i had no idea, i thought #10 was when it entered the states><

i'm currently in the southern part of China, Guangdong. would you say connecting my VPN through Japan to the west coast California be the shortest distance? i had no idea about the Asia-America Gateway you were talking about, i just randomly picked Japan lol

 

[Pandasaurus]

I question whether that node is actually in Australia, but I can't prove definitively one way or the other, so... It's just informed speculation on my part.

 

[timoseewho]

I question whether that node is actually in Australia, but I can't prove definitively one way or the other, so... It's just informed speculation on my part.

hm, i guess my question is, are there any downsides to using a VPN in terms of getting a stable connection? my impression is that having to connect through a VPN may be a little less stable than purely using the ISP's reroutes. the way i think of it is like this, instead of going from my ISP to the Blizzard servers, it'll be going from my ISP to the VPN to the Blizzard servers. i guess it also kinda depends on how reliable my VPN servers are huh? in general, is this a misconception

 

[XavierMace]

A VPN isn't typically unstable, you're typically just losing some potential speed. For example I've got 300/30mb internet. I'm not going to get 300mb down when connected to my VPN.

In your case however, the route your ISP takes would seem to be unreliable. If your VPN takes a different route, that may be your better option.

Keep in mind though that VPN quality varies just like ISP's.