Sudden upstream speed problems

[JamesAllen]

Hi guys,

Is anyone seeing upstream speed issues at the moment?

Whereas I normally get 100k/sec I'm currently getting <15k/sec. FTP uploads seem to go to 70k/sec then drop to 2k/sec and radio streaming is a total no no.

I know it's not reliable due to traffic priority but I did see some high latency to gw3 on a traceroute.

ADSL Speed test took ages to do the upstream test and ended up reporting it was 0.20mbs instead of the usual 0.97mbs.

Would appreciate any advice on this as I will be streaming a radio show in 1.5hrs.

I rebooted my router when this first happened but still got the problem.

Thanks in advance.

[Rik]

My upstream and downstream speeds are normal, as is my ping (if anything, that's a bit better than normal). There's nothing on the status page to explain it, so I'd have to suspect a local problem, either exchange or your equipment/LAN. What other machines are connected atm?

[JamesAllen]

My ping is perfect as is my downstream, it's just upstream that has dropped suddenly. It's really weird.

All other machines are acting as normal after checking their network activity.

It's bizarre, but yeah must be local though support told me it cant just be upstream so I assume that means my router is screwed..

At least it's confirmed it's just me.. That does help.

[Rik]

The upload you're pushing out daily is going to tax an asymmetric system. If any other machine on your LAN is trying to download, or someone is trying to download from you, it would account for the speeds you're seeing.

[JamesAllen]

Hi Rik, yes I'm aware of this and I know exactly what my connection is doing. It's been fine since I got it installed but something is definitely wrong right now as with everything off, the upstream is terribly low.

Just weird to suddenly go like this unless my router is faulty.. It's ok at the moment test streaming but still not the correct speed. Will continue investigating though.

[Rik]

Have you got a spare router you could swap?

[JamesAllen]

I have but unfortunately it's an oldish linksys that when I tested it, it worked but only around 6000 sync and I wasnt able to confirm it would work properly with my ADSL2+ connection.

As a last resort I could try it..

Streaming seems ok now so I'm getting at least 15k/sec but I need to double that to be safe..

[Rik]

Daft question, but do you have to stream live, ie is the show live, or could you pre-record and upload?

[JamesAllen]

Ah yes it's a live show with listener interaction etc.

It's been perfect for months..

Although I'm test streaming to two servers now without issue.. so that's something.

[Rik]

I wonder whether having a dedicated line, purely for the radio show, would be a help?

[JamesAllen]

Actually the thought of just having a backup line is good one.. Though been doing this since last July with only a few connection issues along the way.

But not a bad idea for the future.

[Rik]

Even better if you could get fibre.

[JamesAllen]

Heh yeah, I wish.

Being in the middle of Nottingham you'd think you'd get that stuff first but we're always last.

[Adam]

Perhaps a silly question... but do you host the radio/streaming server on your local machine/network?

[Rik]

Being in the middle of Nottingham you'd think you'd get that stuff first but we're always last.

Oh no you're not.

[JamesAllen]

Ah not that stupid.

But no I stream to two radio stations on the net, so it's just a 30k/sec upstream link in total to stream to them.

[Adam]

Ah not that stupid.

But no I stream to two radio stations on the net, so it's just a 30k/sec upstream link in total to stream to them.

Ah, good. Do you know if you have Annex M (increased upload) or if you're using standard ADSL/ADSL2+?

[Lance]

I don't think BT offer annex M.

[Rik]

I'm fairly sure they don't, at least last time I asked.

[Adam]

According to the WBC end user charges price list Annex M is an option charged at £7.00 per month (wholesale pricing).

[JamesAllen]

Hi Adam,

I'm not on any additional upload package that I know of.

BTW, the problems seem to have cured themselves now. I know the inference seemed to be that it was probably my router but for it to suddenly repair itself seems a little odd - though it could of course still be the issue.

I do now wonder if something at the exchange could have been impacting my upstream though..

[JamesAllen]

Ah I think I spoke too fast. Back to going really slow again. 

May have to just buy another router, though be annoying if that doesn't fix it, but not much more I can do to diagnose this one I don't think..

[Technical Ben]

The upload you're pushing out daily is going to tax an asymmetric system. If any other machine on your LAN is trying to download, or someone is trying to download from you, it would account for the speeds you're seeing.

Hope you find out what it is. My 2 pence is to mention sometimes it can be PC related. A recent Windows update made my pc act weird. So if you can check via a second PC, or other software, it can help eliminate the computer as the problem. Also remember that any downloads (like windows update again  ) can slow down uploads.

So basically, windows causes loads of trouble. Though it will probably be something to do with the line. Any line stats?

[JamesAllen]

Hey there Ben,

Ah I've been doing a lot of tests today. I have lots of computers using the router, but I disconnected all of them and then tested my laptop via wifi. I also just tried with my desktop connected and the problem occurs each time.
Testing an FTP connection it will start fast, but then drop to something like 4k/sec. then up to 16k/sec then back down again. All over the place. Speed tests show upstream doesn't go past about 0.40mbs but is usually between 0.23 and 0.40mbs or so. It seems very unstable.

Here are my full line stats. I can't see anything that jumps out at me and the sync is all as expected:

/usr/sbin/adslctl: ADSL driver and PHY status
Status: ShowtimeRetrain Reason:   8000
Channel: FAST, Upstream rate = 1160 Kbps, Downstream rate = 13675 Kbps
Link Power State: L0
Mode:         ADSL2+
Channel:      Fast
Trellis:      U:ON /D:ON
Line Status:      No Defect
Training Status:   Showtime
      Down      Up
SNR (dB):   6.9      5.9
Attn(dB):   25.0      11.2
Pwr(dBm):   0.0      12.9
Max(Kbps):   16708      1164
Rate (Kbps):   13675      1160
         G.dmt framing
K:      214(0)      166
R:      16      0
S:      1      1
D:      64      1
         ADSL2 framing
MSGc:      59      10
B:      213      165
M:      1      1
T:      2      1
R:      16      0
S:      0.4995      4.5479
L:      3683      292
D:      64      1
         Counters
SF:      127993      115399
SFErr(CRCErr):   0      0
RS:      16639212      0
RSCorr:      569457      0
RSUnCorr:   0      0

HEC:      0      0
OCD:      0      0
LCD:      0      0
Total Cells:   67014710      1591852
Data Cells:   1709072      61213
Drop Cells:   776
Bit Errors:   0      0

ES:      164      0
SES:      1      0
UAS:      79      0
AS(Uptime):   2079

INP:      1.11      0.00
PER:      16.23      18.19
delay:      7.99      1.13
OR:      32.02      7.03

Bitswap:   86      1
Total uptime:   164917

Total time = 1 days 21 hours 50 min 36 sec
SF  = 10172432
CRC = 700
LOS = 1
LOF = 9
ES  = 164
Latest 1 day time = 21 hours 50 min 36 sec
SF  = 4847080
CRC = 550
LOS = 1
LOF = 9
ES  = 73
Latest 15 minutes time = 5 min 36 sec
SF  = 20694
CRC = 0
LOS = 0
LOF = 0
ES  = 0
Previous 15 minutes time = 15 min 0 sec
SF  = 55472
CRC = 0
LOS = 0
LOF = 0
ES  = 0
Previous 1 day time = 24 hours 0 sec
SF  = 5325352
CRC = 150
LOS = 0
LOF = 0
ES  = 91
15 minutes interval [-30 min to -15 min] time = 15 min 0 sec
SF  = 52136
CRC = 308
LOS = 0
LOF = 6
ES  = 0
15 minutes interval [-45 min to -30 min] time = 15 min 0 sec
SF  = 55498
CRC = 144
LOS = 1
LOF = 3
ES  = 2
15 minutes interval [-60 min to -45 min] time = 15 min 0 sec
SF  = 55559
CRC = 0
LOS = 0
LOF = 0
ES  = 0
Showtime Drop Reason:   8000
Last Retrain Reason:   8000

[Rik]

Pwr(dBm):   0.0      12.9

That power figure looks odd to me, James.