Help Packet drops in the flat?

[Jupitus]

Hi all you adorable Fweddies!

I noticed a couple of days ago I was getting short interrupts watching youtube videos or streaming tv on my PC... literally millisecond breaks and resumptions. PC is connected via cat5 ethernet, about 7m long, to a small netgear 4 port and then the Sky router I have here.

I installed pingplotter (reminds me of the old DAOC days and French internet providers !) and have been tracing externally to stuff like bbc.co.uk just to get a feel for what's going on, and here is what I am seeing (attached, dunno if it will insert inline).

That seems to show packet loss PC <> Router, but a ping -t shows:

Ping statistics for 192.168.0.1:
Packets: Sent = 250, Received = 250, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 1ms, Average = 0ms

I have contact cleaned the eth connectors on the router, but this just seems a bit weird.... ideas please?

 

[MYstIC G]

Hi all you adorable Fweddies!

I noticed a couple of days ago I was getting short interrupts watching youtube videos or streaming tv on my PC... literally millisecond breaks and resumptions. PC is connected via cat5 ethernet, about 7m long, to a small netgear 4 port and then the Sky router I have here.

I installed pingplotter (reminds me of the old DAOC days and French internet providers !) and have been tracing externally to stuff like bbc.co.uk just to get a feel for what's going on, and here is what I am seeing (attached, dunno if it will insert inline).

That seems to show packet loss PC <> Router, but a ping -t shows:

Ping statistics for 192.168.0.1:
Packets: Sent = 250, Received = 250, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 1ms, Average = 0ms

I have contact cleaned the eth connectors on the router, but this just seems a bit weird.... ideas please?

If I'm reading that right your ping plotter says 50% loss to your router? That's pretty extreme

 

[Jupitus]

If I'm reading that right your ping plotter says 50% loss to your router? That's pretty extreme

Yes, and yet a DOS ping-t shows 0% packet loss......

 

[Jupitus]

I must admit, the ethernet cable is getting a bit old, but shouldn't break... PC probably needs a decent clean, and I am considering getting my own Cat cable crimping toolkit to update everything....

 

[MYstIC G]

I must admit, the ethernet cable is getting a bit old, but shouldn't break... PC probably needs a decent clean, and I am considering getting my own Cat cable crimping toolkit to update everything....

I would say it's worth just dealing them out. When I had all that nonsense with my power line adapters, the biggest drop was a dodgy cable

 

[Jupitus]

I would say it's worth just dealing them out. When I had all that nonsense with my power line adapters, the biggest drop was a dodgy cable

Yeah -I guess I'll do that first and test again.... just a bit confused about my ping results vs pingplotter... though I think PP is right as there is definitely something afoot!

 

[Jupitus]

Ok, needs a good clean, but I did clean and re-seat the eth into the PC and still the same... will have to be more thorough at the weekend, I guess

 

[caLLous]

Have you tried connecting directly to the router to rule the switch out?

 

[Jupitus]

Have you tried connecting directly to the router to rule the switch out?

Have another identical 4 port so far unused... swapped it in and still the same...

 

[Jupitus]

I have decided to replace my cables in the flat with my own crimped cat 5e stuff... any recommendations on cable manufacturer though? I'd prefer white, round and probably would get myself 50m just to make you guys think I love somewhere plush!

 

[caLLous]

I have decided to replace my cables in the flat with my own crimped cat 5e stuff... any recommendations on cable manufacturer though? I'd prefer white, round and probably would get myself 50m just to make you guys think I love somewhere plush!

Do you have a laptop you can plug into the same cable to rule out the RJ45 port on the PC? Or, less likely, an old PCI NIC you can try in the PC?

As for cable, I've used all sorts off of Amazon (and even stuff from bricks and mortar DIY places) over the years. The stuff on Amazon is all much of a muchness as long as it doesn't have like 1 or 2 stars. I did all mine with CAT 6 - it has better shielding and the plastic x-shaped core running down the middle so it's thicker and not as flexible but I find the plugs easier to fit. They come with little plastic "sleds" that you feed the strands through before you push the sled into the plug and crimp. I'm sure you can use the same sort of plugs for CAT 5E but they do make life easier. CAT 5E (FTP for the shielding) will be fine.

And ffs don't forget to put the boot on the cable before you crimp the plug on.

 

[MYstIC G]

I have decided to replace my cables in the flat with my own crimped cat 5e stuff... any recommendations on cable manufacturer though? I'd prefer white, round and probably would get myself 50m just to make you guys think I love somewhere plush!

Honestly, just buy new cables. I use Kenable for mine and never had any issues.

 

[Jupitus]

Do you have a laptop you can plug into the same cable to rule out the RJ45 port on the PC? Or, less likely, an old PCI NIC you can try in the PC?

As for cable, I've used all sorts off of Amazon (and even stuff from bricks and mortar DIY places) over the years. The stuff on Amazon is all much of a muchness as long as it doesn't have like 1 or 2 stars. I did all mine with CAT 6 - it has better shielding and the plastic x-shaped core running down the middle so it's thicker and not as flexible but I find the plugs easier to fit. They come with little plastic "sleds" that you feed the strands through before you push the sled into the plug and crimp. I'm sure you can use the same sort of plugs for CAT 5E but they do make life easier. CAT 5E (FTP for the shielding) will be fine.

And ffs don't forget to put the boot on the cable before you crimp the plug on.

Thanks mate - I think they call that 'pass through' connectors / crimpers... I'll be taking a closer look. On cables, I see some reports that they can be copper coated aluminium rather than copper, which is why I was after recommendations.... tbh someone like @Deebs probably has a source for decent stuff.... ?

EDIT: OH, and yes, I used to make wiring looms stuff for cars, so I recognise the 'oh fuck, what have I done' syndrome well!

 

[Jupitus]

Honestly, just buy new cables. I use Kenable for mine and never had any issues.

It's all custom lengths I want to do it properly my friend... I could get a long Kenable and then chop it up I suppose....

 

[MYstIC G]

It's all custom lengths I want to do it properly my friend... I could get a long Kenable and then chop it up I suppose....

Honestly, I wanted to do that when I finally ran cable all around the edge of our flat because I'd had enough of Powerline. A cable was circa £10 for 20m so vs the cost of full reel, I honestly didn't think it was worth it.

So I tidied the cable along the wall but there's a section by the TV where there's already existing cabling and the extra length got bundled there and hidden like all the others.

 

[Jupitus]

Honestly, I wanted to do that when I finally ran cable all around the edge of our flat because I'd had enough of Powerline. A cable was circa £10 for 20m so vs the cost of full reel, I honestly didn't think it was worth it.

So I tidied the cable along the wall but there's a section by the TV where there's already existing cabling and the extra length got bundled there and hidden like all the others.

Perhaps it's a bit of my OCD speaking, but the cables are exposed, particularly by the tv ... your point is well made, though

 

[Jupitus]

Obi-wan-Kenable

 

[Jupitus]

Obvs @Deebs didn't bother to read or come through with any help, but perhaps he was worried a cable would crush me if I was near the front door when the postman put it through the letter box

 

[Deebs]

Thanks mate - I think they call that 'pass through' connectors / crimpers... I'll be taking a closer look. On cables, I see some reports that they can be copper coated aluminium rather than copper, which is why I was after recommendations.... tbh someone like @Deebs probably has a source for decent stuff.... ?

EDIT: OH, and yes, I used to make wiring looms stuff for cars, so I recognise the 'oh fuck, what have I done' syndrome well!

I usually buy cables from Amazon, for long runs buy solid copper not stranded. For patch leads you want stranded. I usually buy ready made patch leads but when I run 30m runs around the house brought 100m of the stuff and rj45 outlets.

101 Series: Stranded vs. Solid Patch Cords

You’ve likely heard copper patch cords referred to as being constructed of either “stranded” or “solid” cable, but do you know the difference and which to choose when? Just like the name implies, stranded four-pair cables are cables where each of the eight conductors of the four-pair cable are...

www.flukenetworks.com

 

[Martok]

You say you use the Sky Route, this is a known issue and has poor and out dated firmware. Have you flashed and cleaned it? Has this only recently started to happen, if so it could be due to the current weather conditions. These things were built for the UK climate not the current heat wave, i know my router has been overheating and now has active cooling attached to it.

 

[Martok]

Sorry just noticed you said you had changed routers and still had the problem. my bad.

 

[Jupitus]

Sorry just noticed you said you had changed routers and still had the problem. my bad.

No, not at all... I swapped the netgear switch... thanks for your advice old bean