*All Users* October 2009 - Broadband Issues

I think we should have a sticky on this each month as it would help us all (both the customer and Tech support guys) when reporting problems to our Broadband providers and stop a lot of us getting the usual answers from Tech support, such as; your the only one with a problem, no fault at exchange, it's your modem or internal wiring etc..

Provider: BT
Connection: 7.6MB
Exchange / Location: Dundalk, Co.Louth

Problem: For two weeks now my speeds, sync and pings are all over the place regardless of what time I'm on the net. One minute I could have speeds of 6.5MB with pings of 34ms - 73ms, the next under 1MB with pings in the hundreds.

Currently:





Stats:

Cabaal

If your posting details then you realy need to post everything including SNR levels as line quality for a single user is a common cause

Xcellor

U.TV 7.6. In Newtownforbes Longford.

Line stats:
/ # adsl info
Current Training Status : Showtime
Current trained adsl mode : G.Dmt
Current trained adsl path : Interleaved
Downstream Bit Rate : 7616000 bps
Downstream Noise Margin : 15.0 dB
Downstream Attenuation : 8.0 dB
Upstream Bit Rate : 672000 bps
Upstream Noise Margin : 12 dB
Upstream Attenuation : 15.0 dB
/ #


For 3 months now Internet went from being good, 30 ms pings all day, near max download speed to really poor pings. 300-400 after 5pm - 12:30. Download speeds were awful too.

In the last couple of days things have improved, pings to local sites are now reasonable. But gaming is still terrible... I play Left 4 dead and my ping is 1750 Try killing zombies on that.

jayflame

Cabaal wrote: »

If your posting details then you realy need to post everything including SNR levels as line quality for a single user is a common cause

Hi Cabaal,

If you look again, HellBoy posted the Noise Margins details, otherwise known as SNR levels, along with line attenuation.

Hellboy, signals look good. Am concerned with people using sites like "Speedtest.net" and not confirming if things like Internet Security has been deactivated when doing a speed test.

I tried this once with AVG. I have a 20Mb/s connection, installed AVG and ran a speed test from my browser (Mozilla), the results were - 1Mb/s down, 1Mb/s up.
Uninstalled AVG after I found out it has a "Browser Scanner" which dramatically slowed the speed when loading pages, pings and tracerts were fine.

You might have already checked all this, so I might be wasting my time here, just sharing what I found, the hard way;)

jor el

jayflame wrote: »

Hi Cabaal,

If you look again, HellBoy posted the Noise Margins details, otherwise known as SNR levels, along with line attenuation.

If you look again, you'll see he edited his post after Cabaal made the request

Speedtest.net can often give random results, so I tend not to trust it. Open a command prompt and ping some websites. Use a site like heanet.ie to download a large file (ISO image) and check what rate you're getting. Use a download manager to maximise the speed. I think this is a better way of determining your true stats.

Problems with speed/ping from 5PM to midnight can usually be attributed to contention/capacity. A lot of exchanges, and a lot of cable loops, don't have enough capacity to cope with the demand, especially if there are a number of leeches on at the same time. This is not a problem that anyone other than the ISP can fix. In the case of re-sellers, only eircom can do this, the re-sellers have no control over contention or capacity at the exchange.

Update:

My speeds on BT 7.6MB are back to normal and constant throughout the day, came back at 10.30pm on Tuesday, 06/10/09.

At present:



Stats:

jor el

jor el wrote: »

Problems with speed/ping from 5PM to midnight can usually be attributed to contention/capacity. A lot of exchanges, and a lot of cable loops, don't have enough capacity to cope with the demand, especially if there are a number of leeches on at the same time. This is not a problem that anyone other than the ISP can fix. In the case of re-sellers, only eircom can do this, the re-sellers have no control over contention or capacity at the exchange.

That’s exactly what is currently going on, what with problems caused by the current upgrades and a lot of the exchanges are over capacity. As a result of this more re-sellers customers i.e. BT, UTV etc.. are first to be re-routed to relieve pressure from the exchanges, this is why you don't see as many Eircom customers having issues :rolleyes:

So if your with one of these re-sellers and are currently experiencing speed/ping issues, then more than likely there is not much you can do but wait for Eircom to fix / upgrade exchanges.

In my case Eircom kept coming back to BT to say there was no problem with their equipment, typical answer from Eircom. In most cases there may be no technical problem with their equipment, the only real problem is that it's either out dated or not designed to cope with current demand, having copper lines and no fibre don't help either.

The sooner this countries broadband network comes up to scratch or we can use ESB or Bord Gais fibre networks the better.

jayflame

jor el wrote: »

If you look again, you'll see he edited his post after Cabaal made the request

Oops, I stand corrected :eek:

DECEiFER

Provider: UTV
Connection: 7.6Mb
Exchange / Location: Tralee, Co. Kerry (Killerisk Exchange)

Problem: Erratic speeds, latency, and packet loss in the evening up until after midnight. It's not as bad tonight so far, but it's early yet.

Currently:






DOS Ping:

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7600]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation.  All rights reserved.

C:\Users\Dave>ping fwi.ie -t

Pinging fwi.ie [82.195.146.32] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 82.195.146.32: bytes=32 time=48ms TTL=56
Reply from 82.195.146.32: bytes=32 time=43ms TTL=56
Request timed out.
Reply from 82.195.146.32: bytes=32 time=43ms TTL=56
Reply from 82.195.146.32: bytes=32 time=96ms TTL=56
Reply from 82.195.146.32: bytes=32 time=72ms TTL=56
Request timed out.
Reply from 82.195.146.32: bytes=32 time=62ms TTL=56
Reply from 82.195.146.32: bytes=32 time=72ms TTL=56
Reply from 82.195.146.32: bytes=32 time=43ms TTL=56
Request timed out.
Reply from 82.195.146.32: bytes=32 time=50ms TTL=56
Reply from 82.195.146.32: bytes=32 time=50ms TTL=56
Reply from 82.195.146.32: bytes=32 time=43ms TTL=56
Request timed out.
Reply from 82.195.146.32: bytes=32 time=75ms TTL=56
Reply from 82.195.146.32: bytes=32 time=50ms TTL=56
Reply from 82.195.146.32: bytes=32 time=51ms TTL=56

Ping statistics for 82.195.146.32:
    Packets: Sent = 18, Received = 14, Lost = 4 (22% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 43ms, Maximum = 96ms, Average = 57ms
Control-C
^C
C:\Users\Dave>

What gives? I pinged the same Limerick server that Speedtest.net/Pingtest.net uses. No packet loss, eh? Ah well, just a normal evening using Eircom's bitstream.


Stats:

DECEiFER

DECEiFER wrote: »

What gives? I pinged the same Limerick server that Speedtest.net/Pingtest.net uses. No packet loss, eh? Ah well, just a normal evening using Eircom's bitstream.

Try this speedtest and see what you get:

http://speedtest.magnet.ie/

jspuds

DECEiFER

I have the same problem with Eircom 7.6MB in Wicklow Town.
Dropped pings get steadily worse from about 8PM until about 11PM every evening and it gets up to about 24% loss.
I rang Eircom Tech and got the usual bull about sending an Engineer out but they are only available during business hours, If they don't find a problem you get a bill. Problem is that during business hours broadband is fine with very little dropped pings.

DECEiFER wrote: »

Provider: UTV
Connection: 7.6Mb
Exchange / Location: Tralee, Co. Kerry (Killerisk Exchange)

Problem: Erratic speeds, latency, and packet loss in the evening up until after midnight. It's not as bad tonight so far, but it's early yet.

Currently:






DOS Ping:

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7600]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation.  All rights reserved.

C:\Users\Dave>ping fwi.ie -t

Pinging fwi.ie [82.195.146.32] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 82.195.146.32: bytes=32 time=48ms TTL=56
Reply from 82.195.146.32: bytes=32 time=43ms TTL=56
Request timed out.
Reply from 82.195.146.32: bytes=32 time=43ms TTL=56
Reply from 82.195.146.32: bytes=32 time=96ms TTL=56
Reply from 82.195.146.32: bytes=32 time=72ms TTL=56
Request timed out.
Reply from 82.195.146.32: bytes=32 time=62ms TTL=56
Reply from 82.195.146.32: bytes=32 time=72ms TTL=56
Reply from 82.195.146.32: bytes=32 time=43ms TTL=56
Request timed out.
Reply from 82.195.146.32: bytes=32 time=50ms TTL=56
Reply from 82.195.146.32: bytes=32 time=50ms TTL=56
Reply from 82.195.146.32: bytes=32 time=43ms TTL=56
Request timed out.
Reply from 82.195.146.32: bytes=32 time=75ms TTL=56
Reply from 82.195.146.32: bytes=32 time=50ms TTL=56
Reply from 82.195.146.32: bytes=32 time=51ms TTL=56

Ping statistics for 82.195.146.32:
    Packets: Sent = 18, Received = 14, Lost = 4 (22% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 43ms, Maximum = 96ms, Average = 57ms
Control-C
^C
C:\Users\Dave>

What gives? I pinged the same Limerick server that Speedtest.net/Pingtest.net uses. No packet loss, eh? Ah well, just a normal evening using Eircom's bitstream.


Stats:

Duiske

I've been stuck with the above for exactly 2 weeks today (3mb). While BT tech support have tried to be helpful they tell me that they can do nothing. They logged a fault with Eircom, but Eircom have refused to accept it as they say my line is fine.

Line Mode G.DMT Line State Show Time
Latency Type Interleave Line Up Time 00:14:45:58
Line Coding Trellis On Line Up Count 2

Statistics Downstream Upstream
Line Rate 2048 Kbps 256 Kbps
Noise Margin 32.9 dB 20.0 dB
Line Attenuation 2.0 dB 3.0 dB
Output Power 2.1 dBm -3.9 dBm
K (number of bytes in DMT frame) 65 9
R (number of check bytes in RS code word) 12 16
S (RS code word size in DMT frame) 2 16
D (interleaver depth) 32 4
Super Frames 3126880 3126920
Super Frame Errors 0 0
RS Words 106313950 13288908
RS Correctable Errors 119 0
RS Uncorrectable Errors 0 0
HEC Errors 0 0
OCD Errors 0 0
LCD Errors 0 0
ES Errors 0 0

I have tried everything possible. Different cables, router, pc, filters, but nothing makes a diference.
Frustrating ain't the word !!

Duiske

Hellboy, we are both on BT. Any idea why your ISP is showing as Esat on speedcheck, and mine is Internet Services Ireland ? Just curious.

Duiske

Duiske wrote: »

Hellboy, we are both on BT. Any idea why your ISP is showing as Esat on speedcheck, and mine is Internet Services Ireland ? Just curious.

Mine does the same now again, no idea why.

DECEiFER

hellboy99 wrote: »

Try this speedtest and see what you get:

http://speedtest.magnet.ie/

I did that with much the same results. I also did one at IrishISPTest.com.

jspuds wrote: »

DECEiFER

I have the same problem with Eircom 7.6MB in Wicklow Town.
Dropped pings get steadily worse from about 8PM until about 11PM every evening and it gets up to about 24% loss.
I rang Eircom Tech and got the usual bull about sending an Engineer out but they are only available during business hours, If they don't find a problem you get a bill. Problem is that during business hours broadband is fine with very little dropped pings.

I'd have the tech come out, explain the problem to him (or her) and just. Say it straight, mention when there is a problem, and see what the folks on the ground have to say about it, rather than the call center script monkeys who know less about broadband than most people here. I'm going to keep chasing my problem until I'm happy with a fix. It's in Eircom's hands now, thanks to my ISP, UTV. In fairness, UTV have been very good about it and have called me daily with updates on how far the fault report has been escalated.

Duiske wrote: »

Hellboy, we are both on BT. Any idea why your ISP is showing as Esat on speedcheck, and mine is Internet Services Ireland ? Just curious.

The different IP subnets BT have resolve to different names. Some still even say, "Ireland Online". It all depends on the IP assigned to you. They're just not up-to-date is all, nothing to worry about.

Duiske

Duiske wrote: »

While BT tech support have tried to be helpful they tell me that they can do nothing. They logged a fault with Eircom, but Eircom have refused to accept it as they say my line is fine.

I have tried everything possible. Different cables, router, pc, filters, but nothing makes a diference.
Frustrating ain't the word !!

Frustrating for both you and BT, there's not much you can do, this is the answer Eircom give the majority of the time.

Your line is more than likely fine and it's probably the same problem I had where it's an issue of overloading at an exchange and your been re-routed to relieve pressure from it. Mine is gone again too since this morning and I'm really getting fed up with it now. The only thing you can do is to ask BT what is happening, then send an email to Comreg (not that they are much use) and cc BT. The more that complain then maybe Eircom will actually get out and do something.

From bad to worse, if it keeps up like this I'll be getting rid of my broadband service as I'd be better off going back to dial-up :mad:

Xcellor

hellboy99 wrote: »

Ouch... nasty :S

I think they must have done some rerouting or upgrades since my connection has been fairly good for the last 3-4 days. Managed to download over 19 gigs. Pings are also 34-45ms.

Pings are back to normal, for now, but speeds are still bad.

BT 7.6MB

Duiske

hellboy99 wrote: »

Pings are back to normal, for now, but speeds are still bad.

BT 7.6MB

Lucky you !!

Duiske

Duiske wrote: »

Lucky you !!

I'm not that lucky, been bad now again since 5pm and dropping connection, check out my pings :eek: :eek:

Speeds and pings back to normal for now

BT 7.6MB

Speedtest: http://speedtest.magnet.ie/

Download Speed: 6330 kbps (791.3 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 571 kbps (71.4 KB/sec transfer rate)
Ping: 37 ms