Ongoing network problems?

andrue · Sep 07, 2017, 19:06:47

Since Monday night my single-threaded speed tests have been poor whilst multi-threaded have been okay.

https://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/1504639205884797555

I'm also seeing visible packet loss and latency spikes on my TBBQM. Is anyone else seeing this?

https://www.thinkbroadband.com/broadband/monitoring/quality/view/abff744f8d25b04189bb012b293b1fa30463b756/07/09/2017

This is a line that is largely unused during the week day so it should look like this:

https://www.thinkbroadband.com/broadband/monitoring/quality/view/abff744f8d25b04189bb012b293b1fa30463b756/24/08/2017

I've reported it to Support on Monday but so far all they've done is run a pointless line test.

Exchange: 01280 (Brackley)

Simon · Sep 07, 2017, 20:20:52

Could it be connected to this?

http://www.idnetters.co.uk/forums/index.php/topic,33438

andrue · Sep 07, 2017, 21:04:38

I'm not sure. It started Monday which was before they changed the LNS and is ongoing tonight after they've supposedly finished. I lost my IPv6 connection at 1am Wednesday which I assume was when they made the change. I'm guessing they bounced my connection and the IPv6 side didn't come back up (it doesn't always if I bounce the connection).

Anyway I've had some more responses this evening which suggests the matter is being investigated. Time will tell but I'm a trifle miffed because I came back here from PN hoping the extra cost would improve the support. So far it doesn't look all that much better. The only difference is that PN have been through phases like this often enough that they know not to bother with line tests. I just hope IDNet can resolve it in a more timely fashion. You needed the patience of a saint and persistence working these things through with PN.

But I also remember the last time this happened and it took a week before IDNet discovered a mis-configured LNS. It took a fair bit of persistence from me then.

Gary · Sep 08, 2017, 08:33:04

Quote from: andrue on Sep 07, 2017, 19:06:47
I've reported it to Support on Monday but so far all they've done is run a pointless line test.

That pointless line test is something they have to do, battery faults always pop up when its wet but have no effect on single threaded speeds, or any speed issues tbh. HR faults on the other hand can. The first thing they have to check really is the metallic path, so until we all have FTTP that will no doubt continue. along with your own equipment and wiring of course. It also depends who your back haul is with, as IDNet use Zen and a few others. If there is a Zen pop in your exchange, or if you are a small satellite off the main exchange you may be connected to that pop. When I had single threaded issues which really only effect VoIP, torrents, gaming and video streaming really, it was a Zen issue and chatting with Brian sorted it out, after I found out who to talk to at Zen and the supporting information from TBB which IDNet were not aware of and I had no reason to expect them to be.

I have to say unless I see a issue I just leave it all alone these days, I'm not one for constant speed tests. Also the server that TBB uses for the test itself could be having issues, so many weak points in the chain. For myself its not worth worrying about. I will say though IDNet support has never given me issues they are always helpful and its better than the plusnet forum or hanging on the phone for 40 minutes at times. (My mother is with plusnet now and is having lots of issues and lots of very long calls!) Saying all that, I have no single threaded issues here (01243 area)

andrue · Sep 08, 2017, 09:17:44

They might have to do it because their script calls for it in every case but not for any technical reason. There is no kind of media fault that can only affect single threaded packet flow but leaves multi-threaded flow unaffected.

This is clearly a TCP/IP protocol issue and should be approached as such. Somewhere at least one segment in the network is not performing optimally. Most likely it's congestion but as I found out several years ago it can also be the result of misconfiguration.

http://www.idnetters.co.uk/forums/index.php/topic,29876.msg699749.html#msg699749

Anyway as long as it gets fixed in less than a month IDNet will be doing better than PN. I was with PN during the infamous single threaded download issues of '15. That took them six months to fix - and even then they admitted they weren't sure if they had fixed it completely.

Adrian · Sep 08, 2017, 13:51:14

Quote from: andrue on Sep 07, 2017, 19:06:47
Since Monday night my single-threaded speed tests have been poor whilst multi-threaded have been okay.

https://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/1504639205884797555

Your graph mirrors mine some months back. IDNet ultimately sorted it out, but I don't know exactly what they did other than it was done remotely rather than with any engineer involvement in the exchange. My connection has been very good since so hopefully you will have the same outcome, though in my case it took several weeks.

andrue · Sep 08, 2017, 17:24:25

Got home to find a message on my answering machine. Simon says he agrees that it doesn't look right and he's going to move me to a different backhaul provider. Now that's what I call good support.

karvala · Sep 13, 2017, 22:55:00

Any update? Did the different backhaul provider solve it in the end? I'm curious because I also had a similar problem, and that was solved by reconfiguring the backhaul circuit. It seems, from things mentioned in the TBB forums, that Zen have ongoing issues in their network which show up as slow single-threaded speed, and any ISP such as IDNet who use Zen for some backhaul provision are potentially at risk of this as well. I wonder if it's time for the ISPs to reconsider their contracts with Zen, given the failure of the latter to address or even properly acknowledge their ongoing problems?

andrue · Sep 14, 2017, 21:31:43

Backhaul change is still in progress. Will probably be late next week. I don't know which backhaul I was on but I agree that it's interesting to see the complaints in the TBB Zen forum. They started about the same time as my problems did.

It'll also be interesting to see if it increases my maximum speed. It shouldn't since that should be down to the sync speed and my connection must still be to the same DSLAM port but equally there seems little reason why moving from PN to IDNet caused my maximum speed to drop from 65 to 58 Mb/s. In fact it should have risen when freed from the PN profiling system. I don't need that speed so I haven't chased it with IDNet but if it goes back to where it was with PN that will also be suggestive.

Glenn · Sep 14, 2017, 22:16:05

I wonder if it is due to the 'deal' offered by Big Deal with Zen, the deal was offered about 6 to 8 weeks ago.

Adrian · Sep 15, 2017, 11:54:19

When IDNet fixed the issue for me the only downside was a doubling of latency to 20ms, but this isn't really a problem as I'm not a gamer. I was happy to have the single thread speed problem solved.

I have no idea which backhaul I was on, or what I am on now.

andrue · Sep 27, 2017, 07:47:56

Had the backhaul change and it's a lot better. I still haven't got back the headline speed I had before but that could be coincidence. But my laptop (wired) is not as good as my desktop still so I've got a bit of a mystery there. The laptop is newer and on paper should be a better performer.