Ping fluctuations

[Enzo_0]

About a week ago I started to have an annoying problem with my wired internet connection. My ping is going crazy from time to time (lets say 10 second intervals). I'm playing a lot of multiplayer games lately so this problem is killing me. In one moment I have ping value of 60, and few seconds later it is 800 or even more. It's not game-related, when I ping websites the same thing is happening. It is totally random, sometimes I even have perfect ping for few hours and then the fluctuation begins and the game becomes unplayable. I have scanned my computer for viruses, spyware and trojans - nothing. My connection speed is 1 Mbit, I am using a ZyXel Prestige 334 Router. I tried to restart it many times but that didn't helped. I'm using Windows XP Professional.

Any ideas what can cause this? Can the problem be on my side, or do I have to call my provider?

[Force Flow]

Do you have a firewall up, like zone alarm or sunbelt kerio? Those can tell you what processes are sucking up bandwidth.

Do you have any other computers using the connection?

[Enzo_0]

No firewalls (I'm pretty careful while surfing on the net), no anti-virus programs running in background. Only things running in background (well, all that i know of) are X-fire and Steam, but I have tested them, they are not the cause of my problem.

Only my computer is using this connection. Unfortunately I can't test the connection on another PC. I'll try to test it on my brothers laptop but this won't happen soon (not before Christmas).

EDIT: I forgot about something. I also have an Xbox 360 connected to my router, but I am never using my PC and my console at the same time so it's probably not the cause. I don't know if I have ping fluctuation on my console because it never shows you your ping.

[glc]

No firewalls (I'm pretty careful while surfing on the net), no anti-virus programs running in background.

How often do you do comprehensive manual scans for malware?

[Enzo_0]

I scan for spyware, trojans etc. every few days, and i wait longer between virus scans - maybe a month. I try not to install suspicious programs that i don't know or that are not known by majority of people I know.

[Force Flow]

Steam and XBox consoles auto-update, so if either of those start going, it will suck up available bandwidth.

Check to see if there are any games on steam in the middle of updating, or if your XBox is updating something.

[Enzo_0]

Originally Posted by Force Flow Steam and XBox consoles auto-update, so if either of those start going, it will suck up available bandwidth.

When I'm using my computer I have my console always turned off so it can't auto-update. Steam and X-fire also can't update during playing.