Thread: Huge Ping !!!

Hey guys,
I stay in Pune and I've been using BSNL BB for quite some time now. The service has been good, with a few hiccups in between. My current plan is the 750 unlimited one. I used to get ping between 20 ms to 90 ms. But off lately I've started getting ridiculous amounts of ping. I used Speedtest.net and Pingtest.net for the tests. I got the following results::

Using Speedtest::

Server:: Karachi (Recommended)
D/L Speed:: 169.6 KB/s
U/L Speed:: 46.2 KB/s
Ping:: 302 ms

Server:: Mumbai (Preferred)
D/L Speed:: 62.5 KB/s
U/L Speed:: 55.2 KB/s
Ping:: 656 ms

Using Pingtest::

Server:: Shuwaikh
Ping:: 686 ms
Line quality:: "F"
Jitter:: 2 ms
Packet Loss:: 0%

Modem:: HUAWEI Quidway WA1003A

I can understand the Pingtest result being high since Shuwaikh seems pretty far away from where I live, but what about Mumbai?? 656 ms??
Is speedtest.net not a trustworthy source? If the results are valid, what should my next step be?

I'd appreciate all the help guys! Thanks!

BUMP ! Anybody?

Use ping times from a command prompt on your machine to servers that you regularly use.

C:\ > ping www-dot-something-dot-com

This will give you useful information.

If the intervals seem too long, you can use other tooks like traceroute to find out where the delay is.

Originally Posted by Nick_H

Use ping times from a command prompt on your machine to servers that you regularly use.

C:\ > ping www-dot-something-dot-com

This will give you useful information.

If the intervals seem too long, you can use other tooks like traceroute to find out where the delay is.

Firstly, thank you Nick for the useful information.
I tried the command using google-dot-com and got the following results::

C:\>ping www<.>google<.>co<.>in

Pinging www<.>google<.>co<.>in [209.85.175.106] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 209.85.175.106: bytes=32 time=84ms TTL=53
Reply from 209.85.175.106: bytes=32 time=84ms TTL=53
Reply from 209.85.175.106: bytes=32 time=84ms TTL=53
Reply from 209.85.175.106: bytes=32 time=83ms TTL=53

Ping statistics for 209.85.175.106:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 83ms, Maximum = 84ms, Average = 83ms

84 ms seems good to me, but still I find the connection very slow. Not in terms of speed, but the time it takes to respond. I have to click more than once on ANY link to successfully access that page. Otherwise it just stays on "Waiting..." forever. I don't know whether this is directly related to the ping though.

I get around 33ms to google, on an Airtel connection. That is going to be routed, I guess, to a server in or near India, as they have a worldwide presence. (Oh, I just noticed you used .in)

To a couple of US-based forums that I use every day, I'm seeing around 290.

After a reboot (Windows caches the IP addresses) --- does it take long before you see the line

Pinging www<.>google<.>co<.>in [209.85.175.106] with 32 bytes of data:

come up? This is an indication of how quickly your DNS is translating the domain name to the IP address. Whilst I am very sceptical when I hear claims that changing DNS servers makes huge differences to performance (for many, I think it is psychological: go-faster stripes!) it is true that BSNL servers can be dreadful. This can be the cause of the kind of browsing problem you describe.

So, my next suggestion is to download a tool from Google called namebench (google it to find it). Run it on your system --- it will compare the actual performance of a large number of DNS services that it knows about, and recommend which to use.

EDIT...

ps... I was having a problem like this a few years ago, and I installed TreeWalk DNS --- which makes your own PC your DNS server, and caches its results so that visiting your regular sites is really quick. Again, google to find --- as posting links here seems to be problematic.

Originally Posted by Nick_H

I get around 33ms to google, on an Airtel connection. That is going to be routed, I guess, to a server in or near India, as they have a worldwide presence. (Oh, I just noticed you used .in)

To a couple of US-based forums that I use every day, I'm seeing around 290.

After a reboot (Windows caches the IP addresses) --- does it take long before you see the line

Pinging www<.>google<.>co<.>in [209.85.175.106] with 32 bytes of data:

come up? This is an indication of how quickly your DNS is translating the domain name to the IP address. Whilst I am very sceptical when I hear claims that changing DNS servers makes huge differences to performance (for many, I think it is psychological: go-faster stripes!) it is true that BSNL servers can be dreadful. This can be the cause of the kind of browsing problem you describe.

So, my next suggestion is to download a tool from Google called namebench (google it to find it). Run it on your system --- it will compare the actual performance of a large number of DNS services that it knows about, and recommend which to use.

EDIT...

ps... I was having a problem like this a few years ago, and I installed TreeWalk DNS --- which makes your own PC your DNS server, and caches its results so that visiting your regular sites is really quick. Again, google to find --- as posting links here seems to be problematic.

The namebench worked like a charm! (So far...). Got a 39% faster DNS server. The ping level has automatically come down. Even using Speedtest<.>net i get ping around 40-ish. A significant improvement I should say.
Just keeping my fingers crossed that I get such service for a long time.
A Big thank you to Nick ! Cheers!

But it is a big Thank You to Google, for this one, really. Especially as they didn't make it necessarily recommend their DNS

DNS should only improve the time it takes to get that numeric IP address after you enter the ping command. After that, it is no longer involved --- and would not have been involved at all if you enter an IP address directly.

Do have a look at Treewalk: you might get even better results. DNS is not the answer to all network ills, but many of us found a better life after moving away from BSNL's DNS