IT heads - ping return times?

[Treasurer]

My internet connection (over a lan) drops out momentarily every now and then.  I just did a ping -t to a log file and while most return times are coming in around 45-55ms, I'm getting some as high as 786ms.   How significant is that, if at all?  And if it is signifcant, is it most likely the network switch is the problem?

[lynchbhoy]

well to compare, on a corporate network you would be expecting at worst a 2ms average return speed.
with the speed you are getting, its no wonder you have time to click on a web page and go make a cup of tea and be back before the new page is onscreen.
Thats worse than old dial up speeds !

could be a lot of things ranging from broadband contention to network card being cream crackered.

Best test is to bring your pc/laptop to a freinds house an see if it is as slow there (if their machine is faster and yours still dog slow - then your computer is the problem)
otherwise  get onto your broadband provider

[Treasurer]

I mean I'm copying the result to a log file. I'm pinging an external website.


Ok, when I ping another pc on on the lan I'm getting a normal 1-2ms.  So it's the ISP I need to talk to?

[Gnevin]

My internet connection (over a lan) drops out momentarily every now and then.  I just did a ping -t to a log file and while most return times are coming in around 45-55ms, I'm getting some as high as 786ms.   How significant is that, if at all?  And if it is signifcant, is it most likely the network switch is the problem?

45-55 seems a little high but you shouldn't be getting anything like 786. Can you example your set up a little more

[lynchbhoy]

Ok, when I ping another pc on on the lan I'm getting a normal 1-2ms.  So it's the ISP I need to talk to?

so you have established that on a LAN its pinging as expected.

So the problem is the ISP, Line, Broadband modem or wireless router.

Its gonnna be trial and error for you to eliminate one by one
eg eliminate the wireless router (if you use one) by cnnecting directly into broadband modem.
if all still slow, then its either modem,line or the ISP (and possibly contention).

[rory]

You could do a traceroute by typing

tracert www.somewebsite.com

This will show you the time for each step that the packet takes, might give you more clues as to where the contention is.