High network ping (multiple PC´s and printers)

[Tonis]

My situation:

1 cat5 coming into office which is connected to router´s WAN port (Down: 90mbps / UP: 50Mbps) (router is TP-link Archer C60)
From that router goes 1 CAT5 cable to 16 port TP-link TL-SF1016D switch.and another to security camera box.
From switch goes 6 CAT5 to 6 workplaces.
Things connected to 6 cat5 are following:

1. Goes straight to PC
2. Goes stratight to PC
3. Goes straight to PC
4. Goes straight to PC
5. Another router which has connected only a phone (it´s not IP-phone but with the smaller connector to router, i don´t really know the name of the port).
6. Another 16 port TP-link TL-SF1016D switch where are connected following devices:
 2 PC´s
 4 network printers (3 Samsung M267x 287x Series and 1 Canon iR2020) – each has it´s own IP address

I haven´t configured anything, IP adresses are dynamic and DHCP server on router is enabled.
Switches aren´t accessible either. PC´s have dynamic IP addresses.

Problem:

When there is only one or two PC´s working at the same time, then there is 4ms ping max.
When everything is turned on, there is ping starting from 100ms up to 300ms. It goes back to 4ms for about minute and then goes back up, also often occurring timing out. Also i noticed that when I restart the main router with everything ON, then about 2 minutes there is 4ms ping followed by sudden jump back to 160ms where it stays.

I ping google.com.

What i have done:
1. Disabled windows update on all PC´s in Services.
2. Tried to use only one swtich
3. Pin pointing the problem by disconnecting everything and conencting back one at the time
4. Rrestarted everything multiple times (Router/switches/PC´s/printers)
5. Router firmware is up to date (checked with TP-link)

The workload is not that heavy and i have pretty much same layout in my other office with slower up and down connection, and there everything works fine. I´ve checked each PC netwowk usage when everything is on and it´s 0 on every PC.

Could anyone tell me what i´m doing wrong? I don´t have much experience on setting up networks, this is my biggest yet and I´d love to conquer it!

 

[razel]

Both your router and switch are 10/100 wired which means it's made for consumer level usage which your network could have outgrown. I think your router is just overwhelmed. Though it's wireless AC, it being 100 wired is a clear tell it's bottom of the line consumer grade made to sell rather than perform. It's also inadvisable to determine ping via the Internet. Instead of pinging google, you can ping your router's local IP instead.

Put all that together and I think your router CPU is just overwhelmed. If it has any QOS settings you can mitigate and prioritize traffic that's important to you there.

 

[JoeBleed]

I'm just going to start by saying: why the hell is TP-Link still making 10/100 networking equipment? The cost savings can't be worth it. I don't buy the power savings claim on those 10/100 switches unless they uses 3-5 Watts.

As for the size of his network being too big, that shouldn't be it unless that router is based on a old calculator or something is wrong with it. Maybe it's really, really substandard, but it would have to be really bad. my old wrt54g would do better.

I would like more detail on #5 with the other "router" and phone. how are they hooked up, what model, why a router? try running all of it without #5 router and phone connected.

As also mentioned, don't ping outside your network to try and troubleshoot internal. If you can verify your internal is fine then move to the outside. I'm not sure anything is wrong with your internal, but it would be good if you could do some pings to your router when you are having issues pinging google. I've never seen that router's interface, does it have a status page that may show network usage? cpu and ram usage?

Oh, and you didn't leave the default username and password set to access the router's configuration page did you?

 

[mindless1]

If I had to guess it would be that your main router is failing (electronically) and this surfaces once it heats up. Do tell me that you have at least popped the hoods on all networking gear to make sure none have failed capacitors?

I didn't have 100's ms pings back when I had 100Mb, and even the cheap semi-modern router processors are plenty fast enough to do mere pings unless overloaded with streaming video or P2P with QOS enabled.

 

[Tonis]

Great to see all of you participating. I appreciate that!
By now the problem is solved, though i have to say that it was rather unexpected solution and taught me to check EVERYTHING you can.

So basically the problem was that the landlord thought that internet bill was unpaid and restricted the speed (except it was paid), hence the high ping when connecting multiple computers at once.

I was relieved because I thought i did something very wrong but just couldn´t figure it out and I was bummed having spent hours troubleshooting and getting these news. Still, I learned a lesson from it despite everything.

Thank you all for your answers!
Cheers!