Is my ISP messing with http data?

Druid

Hi,

I have noticed very slow http download speeds on my 2Mb/2Mb ibb connection. Ping times are fine (around 9-11ms to boards) but the download speed via http is very slow (in the region of 11-14kBps). Looking at DU meter it never goes anywhere near the 100kB/s but stays around 5-12kB/s on http downloads.

Im currently downloading skype at truely awful speed of 13kB/s. I decided to ping the server with large packets (max size 65500). My connection throughput jumps to about 70kB/s up and down.

Ive only tried pings but might have a look at other protocols and see if its just http that is slow.

Am I missing something obvious or is this the work of my ISP?
(To rule out my router being the problem I put a crossover to the antenna PSU thing and tryied pings with a laptop - same results).

-dru-

Sponge Bob

Druid wrote:

Am I missing something obvious or is this the work of my ISP?

You are indeed, namely the facility to read all the the other recent threads about IBB .

Druid

Gee thanks sponge bob. Really helpful post there!


Perhaps some links would be useful instead of just some sniping comment.

Dinner

Links you say, how about these as a tiny fraction of all the IBB threads that have been here in the last couple of months.

Is anyone happy with IBB?

Yet another IBB thread

OMG IBB Are that bad

IBB at its best

Then there is the sticky at the top of the page..Collating complaints against IBB


Bit of searching wouldnt go amiss you know.

Druid

Thanks Arabel,

I was half expecting a post similar to yours.

Now I know there are many many many many IBB threads and I did hope readers would realise that this is not another "Oh god I hate IBB and all that they stand for" thread. It is simply a question to see if IBB are using traffic shaping specifically on http data or if perhaps another problem is causing this issue.

While the links you gave a valid "Oh god I hate IBB and all that they stand for" threads they do not (as far as I can see) answer the question I asked in the inital posting here.

Now onto your little comment:

Bit of searching wouldnt go amiss you know.

let me answer that by saying:
"A bit of reading wouldn't go a miss you know."

Cheers anyway.

Drapper

Yes. IBB are a pile of ..... no sympathy on anyone getting them !! Arabell just gave a sample of the 100's of threads on BOards

Druid

Yes? So your saying that IBB do use HTTP traffic shaping. Have you any details on their policy for the shaping?

Arabel posted irrelevent links to threads that did not answer the question I posted.

I do not want your sympathy. IBB are the only ISP I can actually get broadband from. Hopefully this will change but at present it does not look likely unless I get a sudden urge to chop down a large number of trees.

So for clarity and in an effort to regain the original topic of this thread, this is not a thread about how rubbish IBB are or a chance for people to moan about how bad their encounter was with IBB.



Oh, in case anyone is wondering, yes I have been talking to IBB about this.

Drapper

Druid wrote:

Oh, in case anyone is wondering, yes I have been talking to IBB about this.

blah blah blah ................ did you read the Term and Conditions ?

Ask you friendly IBB rep about thier QOS policy!

Druid

not recently, no.

Im sure it says in there that they are allowed to manage their network "as they see fit". This doesnt bother me really. I'd just like nail down the reason for the slow http speeds (as being because of traffic shaping).

Ask you friendly IBB rep about thier QoS policy!

yes.


Anyway...Im going to conclude that 'yes indeed they do use traffic shaping'. Thank you all for your input. Could not have done it without you.

Drapper

get them to check your SNR level must be above 14 !!! for good connection.

post a few pings up mate

optiplexgx270

Druid
What mast are you on?
When did this start happening?

My connection has hit a wall similar to yours recently and problem seems to be a hardware upgrade on the mast that my VL equipment doesnt like (low signal now) so they are looking into turning my antenna to a different mast with the older hardware and if that cant be done (GIS fails) ill have to wait ~2months for the WiMAX equipment.

From the support tech:

AvrSNR = 18
AvrSNR = 17
AvrSNR = 17
AvrSNR = 18
AvrSNR = 19
AvrSNR = 19
AvrSNR = 19
AvrSNR = 20
AvrSNR = 19
AvrSNR = 19
AvrSNR = 19
AvrSNR = 18

What is SNR? He did say the signal was weak and my "openers" wore only 5/8 what ever that is. He thinks it may be the new WiMAX @ the mast is the prob as problem started once they put in the new hardware.

Im now getting 7% packet loss was 27% tech told me it was 60%+ in cork for a few days.

Everyone gives IBB such a hard time but forget to remember they have the largest wireless customer base and dont have the infrastructure already in place like dsl. I find customer support fine bar the wait time to get through and the fact they dont seem to be able to make outgoing calls to casll you back when they say they will.

Drapper

SNR is you singal to soud ratio I think ! from the first hop to the mast!

DemonOfTheFall

Druid, everyone has been trying to tell you that they dont use any traffic shaping policy, theyre just plain bollox.

From what I've read they have crap pings, crap packet loss, crap speeds, crap customer service and couldnt care less. that was the point that sponge bob was trying to make. theyve got far bigger issues than a little bit of traffic shaping.

zuma

Drapper wrote:

SNR is you singal to soud ratio I think ! from the first hop to the mast!

SNR = Signal to Noise Ratio.

A higher value indicates that there is less noise than a lower value.

I have no idea what SNR IBB view as acceptable.

Mutant_Fruit

they have the largest wireless customer base and dont have the infrastructure already in place like dsl

And whose fault is that? It's entirely IBB's fault. They should not be taking on more connections than they can reliably handle. And by the looks of it, they have taken on FAR more than they can handle, so they deserve all the **** they get.

Druid

Hey,

@ Drapper
Pings are not the issue, my pings are very good as quoted in original post.

C:\>ping www.boards.ie

Pinging www.boards.ie [82.195.136.36] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 82.195.136.36: bytes=32 time=11ms TTL=57
Reply from 82.195.136.36: bytes=32 time=13ms TTL=57
Reply from 82.195.136.36: bytes=32 time=10ms TTL=57
Reply from 82.195.136.36: bytes=32 time=10ms TTL=57

Ping statistics for 82.195.136.36:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 10ms, Maximum = 13ms, Average = 11ms

C:\>

@optiplexgx270

Im on the ballycoolin mast. Started happening about 2-3 weeks ago now. I have not been told my SNR but I remember it being about 18 at the time of install. Im currently waiting for a reply from 2nd line Tech Support.

I dont seem to have any packet loss issues, except when I increase the size of the ping packets to their max (65500 bytes).


@ DemonOfTheFall
A simple "No they are not using traffic shaping" would have sufficed. Seems to be a collective case of battology here. I am aware that a lot of people think IBB are crap but I really do not need to be told that they are rubbish ad nauseam. There are plenty of other threads for people to vent their fury on, this was quite a technical question which I hoped would receive a technical answer. It seems, finally, to be getting some good replies.

@ zuma
I was told by the actual IBB engineers (not subbies) that came here to install a min SNR of 16 is required for an install.

Mutant_Fruit

Maybe this could be causing your problems...

EDIT: Just noticed you said you weren't experiencing packetloss... would you be able to ping somewhere like www.jolt.co.uk and tracert it to see if you go through the same routers as me?