Via. The verdict.

Sloth

Ok well I rang them up today and was told that I was on the ADSL service but I was given the soho sign up sheets which I think are maybe radsl forms. I'm paying about 100 a month atm ( I plan to move down to the cheaper service after the two months if the connection gets better or else I'm not going to continue using the service) From what you said ADSL should always reach full speed so their explanation is definitly not correct about contention issues and distance. They told me they'd ring back today with further details so hopefully I'll find out a lot more.

flav0rflav

Well that would fit with the idea that the DSLAM is doing fixed speed ADSL and your modem is configured for RADSL. You just need a config change on your modem.

Coyote

Sloth if your ping is staying at 60ms for the first hop
that is the way ADSL is setup with the one you paying for.
if your paying more then 100 a month then your on ADSL
not RADSL. (why you have 24:1 contention and not 48:1)

the Interleaveing is still turned up high on the ADSL
it was turned down on RADSL which you do not seem to have.

next try tracert some servers

start-run-command-"tracert www.netsource.ie"
do some others as well
www.eicom.net
www.jolt.co.uk
www.microsoft.com


try downloading from a number of places
you should be able to get up to 55-60K a sec download


Q where are you playing your X-box live ?????
have you played any thing like CS, quake, Dod ?
Q what ping did you get with them ?

I do not think there is any thing wrong with your dsl
it's more lighy that your playing your xbox on servers in the USA.



Coyote

Sloth

I've tried playing stuff like Wolfenstein and my pings are in the hundreds all the bloody time.
Download speeds are at the awful end of about 15k per sec.

bk

Originally posted by Sloth
I've tried playing stuff like Wolfenstein and my pings are in the hundreds all the bloody time.
Download speeds are at the awful end of about 15k per sec.

Sloth, you still haven't answered the question everybody has been asking, are you paying > EUR 100 per month (24:1 ADSL) or EUR 66 per month (48:1 RADSL). It is a simple question.

Sloth

Reason I couldn't answer it was because Via themselves wouldn't tell me. Until now.
Here we go:

I have 512/128 DSL 24:1 not radsl. I'm now in support overdrive with respect to the calls and I think I have them on the defensive. They said that they're now doing everything in their power to fix the problem but I'll believe it when I see it.
The whole issue of contention keeps getting slapped in my face as to why the connection isn't working despite the fact I went for the dearer package because I was told contention would then not be an issue. Does anyone know what speeds I'd get if all other users on my exchange just happened to be maxing out their conn at 24:1?

bk

Originally posted by Sloth
Reason I couldn't answer it was because Via themselves wouldn't tell me. Until now.
Here we go:

I have 512/128 DSL 24:1 not radsl.

Yes as I thought, this goes a long way to explaining your problems:

Problem 1 - High Latency (Pings)

Eircom have still got a high interleaving setting (16-way I believe) set on their ADSL products.

This will cause you to get a ping of 50 -60 ms to the first hop, thus increasing your overall latency.

As Netsource are reselling this Eircom wholesale product, they also inherit the same interleaving settings and I don't believe there is anything they can do about this, however I may be wrong.

Problem 2 - Not connecting at 512kbps

This really is a problem and should be solveable. You can only order the 512Kbps ADSL product if you line passes a test for the 1Mbps service!!! (yes I know this seems stupid, ask Eircom). Therefore your modem should have no problem connecting at 512kbps and if it doesn't keep hounding them. they are required to give you this or you can demand your money back (Under The sales of goods and services act of 1980 - Goods and services must be delivered as described, if they are not then you can demand a refund, repair or replacement).

I'd say this problem was caused by a misunderstanding by somebody along the line, with everybody getting the RADSL service now, they have probobaly configured you for RADSL instead of ADSL either on the modem or exchange. This should be fixable.

The whole issue of contention keeps getting slapped in my face as to why the connection isn't working despite the fact I went for the dearer package because I was told contention would then not be an issue. Does anyone know what speeds I'd get if all other users on my exchange just happened to be maxing out their conn at 24:1?

512k / 24 = 21.3 k :eek:

However it is extremely unlikely this would ever happen. Try using your ADSL really late at night (about 4 AM), everybody else will probably be asleep

The problem is probably as I described above.

BTW if you wanted broadband for gaming, then this isn't the best service due to the high interleaving.

Esats LLU products (the > EUR 100 products) seem to be the best for gaming (lowest latency - they seem to use fastpath, 24:1 contention and 512k / 256k or 1m / 256k connection).

The RADSL based products from Eircom, ESAT and Netsource seem to be the second best for gaming with only low interleaving (4 way - causing first hop to be 20ms).

Sloth

How much for the 1mb/256k service and when will it be available in Dublin?
On the interleaving note I was specifically told that interleaving would be off for my connection and I asked again and again several times and was still told it would be off so the fact that it's still way up high (taking into account that they admitted it was set to low and not off) is something that is really starting to annoy me.
I also tried using my connection at 4:30am a few nights ago and got exactly the same results.

bk

Originally posted by Sloth
How much for the 1mb/256k service and when will it be available in Dublin?

Should be available from most main exchanges in Dublin, just ring them and ask them to test your telephone line for it, make sure they know which product you are looking for and NOT the RADSL (IOL Broadband).

Product Name Installation Charge Monthly Rental Charge Equipment
ADSL 512k/256k €125.64
€90.00 Included
ADSL 1M/256k €125.64 €205.00 Included
ADSL 2M/256k €150.00 €400.00 Included

All prices excluding VAT.

See here for pricing, availabilty and details

Sloth

Presumably though I could face exactly the same techincal issues that have dogged me since I got Via's service?

BlackFlag

I got my ADSL yesterday from ESAT
I pay 109 inc vat for buisness line even though I am home user

512/256

I d/l at 64kb/s

I play halflife deathmatch and ping between 18-40
average 33-40

I am in Dublin 1 ...thats the Summerhill exchnage

I am chuffed to pieces
esp after hard luck stories like ya own

zz03

The ISPs that peer thru INEX can be found here - Netsource is still listed as Via.

Their traffic stats are here

If you look at the yearly rolling chart at the bottom of the stats page you will see that traffic peaks during April are between 50 and 100% higher than the same month last year.

zz..

flav0rflav

This was an issue I was going to leave, but since you mention it ..

http://www.robtex.com/netexp/as9196

http://www.robtex.com/netexp/as2128

Would appear to indicate that Via in the UK is hooked to INEX, but Netsource are not. I'm sure this is a temporary issue as Netsource is new.

thomasb

The Irish network was split off into AS9196 last August, and that's the AS number at INEX.

clearly the INEX admins haven't updated their routing object, but that's not a major issue.

If you want to test the INEX connectivity, try doing a traceroute from Eircom / Esat connections to www.netsource.ie, you will see it go over INEX.

flav0rflav

Netsource, nor AS9196 appear in Eircom's listing:
http://www.robtex.com/netexp/as5466

AS9196 does show up in what I believe is Esat's listing:
http://www.robtex.com/netexp/as2110

As regards traceroute from Netsource, they go via London for Eircom and Esat.

C:\>tracert www.eircom.net

Tracing route to www.eircom.net [159.134.237.56]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 1 ms <1 ms <1 ms Fast.Start [192.168.100.1]
2 20 ms 33 ms 28 ms rt004dub.netsource.ie [13.79.63.254]
3 22 ms 23 ms 22 ms rt001dub.netsource.ie [212.17.32.97]
4 31 ms 36 ms 37 ms rt001thl.uk.vianw.net [195.102.254.69]
5 33 ms 38 ms 33 ms r1thl.vianw.net [213.2.253.1]
6 72 ms 297 ms 299 ms fa5-0-0.core1.thn.london.eircom.net [195.66.224.79]
7 51 ms 49 ms 49 ms 159.134.191.71
8 50 ms 62 ms 54 ms www.eircom.net [159.134.237.56]

Trace complete.

C:\>tracert www.iol.ie

Tracing route to www.iol.ie [194.145.128.36]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 <1 ms 1 ms <1 ms Fast.Start [192.168.100.1]
2 26 ms 36 ms 20 ms rt004dub.netsource.ie [213.79.63.254]
3 112 ms 216 ms 254 ms rt001dub.netsource.ie [212.17.32.97]
4 33 ms 37 ms 34 ms rt001thl.uk.vianw.net [195.102.254.69]
5 31 ms 43 ms 51 ms r1thl.vianw.net [213.2.253.1]
6 33 ms 32 ms 63 ms linx-gw.uk.esat.net [195.66.224.65]
7 47 ms 39 ms 41 ms pos2-1.core001.cwt.esat.net [193.95.131.9]
8 60 ms 51 ms 48 ms vlan3.rt002.cwt.esat-x.com [193.95.129.19]
9 42 ms 42 ms 43 ms vlan58.rt507.cwt.esat.net [193.95.132.34]
10 * * * Request timed out.
11 ^C

Tenshot

I'm seeing tracert from Eircom to NetSource via London as well.

However, I tried it a day or two ago and I think I saw it going via INEX. Maybe Netsource's link to INEX has gone offline again? I think Louise mentioned some problems with it in another thread.

thomasb

Dammit.

I'd assumed now the link was back up everything would be routing properly (the link into INEX was upgraded during the week and then promptly broke!).

It appears the Cisco router was doing something very, very odd with the BGP configuration. In any case - it's fixed now.

Thomas

flav0rflav

it sure is, good service!

C:\Program Files\Support Tools>tracert www.iol.ie

Tracing route to www.iol.ie [194.145.128.36]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 <1 ms <1 ms 1 ms Fast.Start [192.168.100.1]
2 22 ms 22 ms 20 ms rt004dub.netsource.ie [213.79.63.254]
3 21 ms 24 ms 27 ms rt001dub.netsource.ie [212.17.32.97]
4 31 ms 28 ms 30 ms rt001kil.netsource.ie [212.17.32.101]
5 26 ms 36 ms 24 ms 193.1.208.194
6 25 ms 28 ms 31 ms pos2-3.core002.cwt.esat.net [193.95.131.5]
7 23 ms 26 ms 25 ms vlan2.rt001.cwt.esat-x.com [193.95.129.3]
8 24 ms 23 ms 29 ms vlan56.rt507.cwt.esat.net [193.95.132.18]
9 * * * Request timed out.
10 ^C
C:\Program Files\Support Tools>tracert www.eircom.net

Tracing route to www.eircom.net [159.134.237.56]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 1 ms <1 ms <1 ms Fast.Start [192.168.100.1]
2 19 ms 32 ms 23 ms rt004dub.netsource.ie [213.79.63.254]
3 22 ms 30 ms 21 ms rt001dub.netsource.ie [212.17.32.97]
4 24 ms 23 ms 22 ms rt001kil.netsource.ie [212.17.32.101]
5 24 ms 24 ms 26 ms 193.1.208.196
6 32 ms 39 ms 26 ms atm4-1-0-139.core1.cra.dublin.eircom.net [159.13
4.191.125]
7 35 ms 32 ms 25 ms 159.134.191.71
8 27 ms 24 ms 29 ms www.eircom.net [159.134.237.56]

Trace complete.

Snowbat

Originally posted by thomasb
We are connected to INEX. However, we're not currently peering with cw.net there because despite sending emails to them asking them to set up peering we've had no response as yet.

They're called 'Clueless & Witless' in some circles :rolleyes:

GUI

Sloth..

i think i am in the same boat as you..
i had istream solo (ADSL 512/128k 24:1 contention ratio)..
with standard eircom ****e Zyxel ADSL modem..
it worked fine for a few months..

as soon as i got the downgrade to there RADSL package..
my adsl has not worked at all..
i got connected maybe 6 times in 3 weeks and immediately got disconnected?

is there a way to reconfigure this modem..
like a telnet interface?
i believe this is both are problems..

modem not properly configured for RADSL

anyone wanna jump in on this?

flav0rflav

I previously posted in this links to the manuals and knowledge base for this modem. The knowledge base mentions how to diagnose this problem and possible solutions, and the manual describes getting access to the device.

oh ok, in spite of annoying the mods:

There is info here about your modem

http://www.zyxel.com/support/knowledgebase.php

particularly under xDSL point.

One of the issues mentions that if the line is noisey and it doesnt train up to full speed (512) that every now and again it'll retrain, ie. drop the link and attempt to get a better link. But this can lead to a bit of a yo-yo situation. There are apparently ways to turn this behaviour off. see
http://www.zyxel.com/support/knowle...Flag=1021682379

GUI

have you done it yourself?
connected to the modem

Sloth

I've managed to interface with the modem now but I can't find anyway to do a noise test. The via person told me that they would tell me how to do this either tomorrow or the next day.
Looks like I'm finally starting to get through to them, they're doing some joint testing with eircom tomorrow in an attempt to find the fault.
Flav, that link doesn't seem to work for me.

DeVore

You can bet that the existance of this thread has made a difference too. Along the lines of "oh fúck, better solve that lads problems as a priority"

DeV.

Sloth

Aye, I doubt a refund threat would do all that much to hurry them up but when they see a thread with over 2000 views complaining about problems with them they suddenly seem to find new motivation. Only time will tell though really, hopefully tomorrow I'll know for sure if noise on the line is the issue or not.
Oh and as soon as the problem is fixed I plan to change the thumbs to an up

Supercell

It certainly is having an effect here on myself, was all ready to go with netsource once eircom qualified my new line for adsl, which they did today.

Like GUI_XP , i had i-stream solo for several months in the last place with no problems, but this thread has put doubts into my mind even though its a new location, as to wheter its a "too good to be true" offer. Netsource still havent replied to my email sent (which didnt bounce) over a week ago now....doesn't exactly inspire confidence....

In the intirim, think i'll stick with UTVip dialup and wait to see what their forthcoming broadband offering turns out to be.

Netsource, please get Sloth sorted out asap !!

ando

The Dsl link light has finally come on !! wohoo

no username or anything yet but the line is being picked up as 512/128 ! Just a question, whats the "Loop Distance" mean? The distance from the exchange?


11000 feet, thats about 3.5 km?

carbsy

Nice1 ando! hehe , you can rest easier tonight

I on the otherhand, being in Cork, have to wait an additional 2 weeks (original order at this stage put through on 18th April) for €ircon to activate my line! :rolleyes:

STaN

Originally posted by ando
The Dsl link light has finally come on !! wohoo

no username or anything yet but the line is being picked up as 512/128 ! Just a question, whats the "Loop Distance" mean? The distance from the exchange?


11000 feet, thats about 3.5 km?

where did you get the stats from?

Sloth

Update. Via have done a noise test and said theres no problems there. Next they suggest that I hire out an Eircom engineer to replace the lines leading into the house for the princely sum of €100. I've begrudgingly agreed to this and some time over the next week or so the engineer should come to replace the lines and hopefully fix the problem. If after getting all the lines replaced the problem still persists I'm going to move to IOL.