Ping issues, getting aggravated with Mediacom

Tek7

Tek7

CGA President, Tribe of Judah Founder & President
Staff member
Annath and I were on the new Tribe of Judah Team Fortress 2 server earlier today when I noticed my ping slowly creeping higher and higher. At first, it was manageable around 80, then hovered around 110, then kept climbing.

I loaded up HLSW, checked my ping to the new ToJ TF2 server, and watched HLSW generate the following ping graph:



I'm now hovering around 200 ping, which is essentially unplayable for TF2--which is especially aggravating, since tonight is ToJ's first TF2sday event on the new server.

After resetting my cable modem and wireless router to eliminate as many variables as I could, I called Mediacom and explained that I'd had this problem before. The tech's response was to schedule a tech to come out on the first available date--Wednesday, February 11. Not a typo. Not a lie. February 11.

This is the second tech they'll be sending out about this problem, meaning they failed to resolve the issue last time. It seems the problem is most severe any time there's a sudden change in temperature or a major storm (heavy rains, snow, ice, etc.).

I'll likely still attend tonight's ToJ TF2 event even if my ping is over 200, though I'll probably just hang out in spectator mode if that's the case.

Grr. Not happy with Mediacom right now.
 
Tek I have to say the problem may be your computer and not Mediacom. I've had Mediacom for almost a year now and have never had a single issue. Did you check the status page on your modem? I don't remember the ip but it was something like 192.168.0.100 or similar. Check to make sure you are getting a good signal to noise ratio.
 
BassMan449 said:
Tek I have to say the problem may be your computer and not Mediacom. I've had Mediacom for almost a year now and have never had a single issue. Did you check the status page on your modem? I don't remember the ip but it was something like 192.168.0.100 or similar. Check to make sure you are getting a good signal to noise ratio.
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The Mediacom tech confirmed it's a problem with noise on the line, not with my computer. I considered the possibility last time I had the problem, but made every effort to eliminate as many variables as possible and confirm it wasn't an issue with my computer.

EDIT: Also, the last time I had this problem, Mediacom sent a tech out and the tech replaced the cable modem. I'm seeing the exact same issue with a different modem. I haven't made any changes to my network in the last few days, either, so I have good reason to believe it's not a problem with any of my hardware.

And just to clarify on my last post: The problem isn't with the new ToJ TF2 server. The new ToJ TF2 server runs great. (Many thanks to The Mighty Gerbil for getting it set up!) The problem is with my ISP.

EDIT: Here's a screenshot from my cable modem diagnostics screen:

 
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this is why I dropped Mediacom... I gave up 7 Mbit cable for 5 Mbit dsl. But, I actually dropped my pings by 10 ms on average. Definitely like DSL better then cable since that bandwidth is decated to me and not shared like cable. (that was the problem here)
 
Don't give up hope Tek, Sentries guns don't lag server side. ;)
 
Whon said:
this is why I dropped Mediacom... I gave up 7 Mbit cable for 5 Mbit dsl. But, I actually dropped my pings by 10 ms on average. Definitely like DSL better then cable since that bandwidth is decated to me and not shared like cable. (that was the problem here)
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actually that is incorrect..it's shared..but in a different place..the biggest issue is the design of a cable network vs how the dsl network is designed..it's late here and i'll make a post on my blog about this tomorrow..:)
 
Well at least you were able to spectacte! We had 2 inches of ice and I had no road runner all night! Bummed because I was looking forward to the new server as well!
 
rev_rog said:
Well at least you were able to spectacte! We had 2 inches of ice and I had no road runner all night! Bummed because I was looking forward to the new server as well!
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My ping was okay (but not as good as usual) during last night's TF2sday event. The problem seems to come and go, but I want it gone for good before I start playing in scrims more often.
 
Tek7 said:
I'm now hovering around 200 ping, which is essentially unplayable for TF2--which is especially aggravating, since tonight is ToJ's first TF2sday event on the new server.
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Bah, you must not remember the good ol days with dialup. I loved my lag shield.
 
Was hanging around up there in the sky with 180~230 ping last night. Still getting a decent score. I has no boundaries. ;p

...wouldn't mind holding around 70 for sniping, but 130 will do. :p
 
that actually can work two fold, I've gotten plenty of deaths by lag kills the other way... me around 30-40 and they are over 100 makes it hard to track sometimes.
 
It's not just the high ping that's an issue--it's that the ping is inconsistent. It can hover around 150-200 for a few minutes, then spike to over 500 for a full minute, then drop back down to 100.

Fortunately, the problem hasn't resurface the last few times I've played games online, but I still have no indication the problem went away permanently so I'm keeping the appointment with the cable company.
 
/bump

I haven't had ping issues in a while, so I have reason to believe Mediacom finally split the nodes.

Of course, I haven't been playing first-person shooters during prime usage hours lately, so maybe I've just dodged the worst of the ping spikes.

Either way, I haven't felt the urge to throw bricks at Mediacom in a few weeks.
 
vibrokatana said:
Bah, you obviously need to go see a psychiatrist as you are hallucinating pretty badly.
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Oh, Mediacom is a cable company. I'm sure it won't be too long before they do something else (or the same thing) to upset me.
 
When I had an apartment with a friend we had MediaWorks as our cable provider.

My ping in any game would be fine all day, but then toward peak hours at night, it would shoot skyward with no signs of stopping.
 
I thought I was having the same problem last night, but it might have been related to the anime batch torrent I left downloading during TF2sday.

Oops!
 
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