Terrible speeds today

[Lance]

The fact that it appears to be back to normal, without anything being done by IDNet, suggests it was a BT fault with their core systems.

I'll add that in my experience, if IDNet have had a problem they have always been p front about it. Around this time last year, they were waiting on BT to install a new central and because of the massive lead time there was a small capacity problem. IDNet made it's customers aware of this and took action to prevent any users noticing any different service to normal. How many ISP's are honest enough to say we might have some capactity issues, before any users have even noticed? (in the end, the effect on the service was minimal, with a few users reporting slightly increased pings until BT did the work).

Michael - I notice you haven't recieved a welcome karma - you have now!

[AndyG]

Good morning all. 

My connection is back to normal this morning and is flying as usual, hopefully this will continue throughout the day.

While looking at this problem yesterday, I arranged to access the Internet using my neighbours f2s connection (with his permission!) and the difference in pings to my IDNET gateway is quite noticeable:

(These were carried out at around 8AM today.)

Traceroute to gateway using IDNET connection:

Tracing route to telehouse-gw2.idnet.net [212.69.63.55]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1     1 ms     1 ms     1 ms  my.router [192.168.0.1]
  2    43 ms    43 ms    49 ms  telehouse-gw2.idnet.net [212.69.63.55]

Trace complete.

Traceroute to gateway using f2s connection:

Tracing route to telehouse-gw2.idnet.net [212.69.63.55]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1     1 ms     1 ms     1 ms  192.168.1.1
  2    25 ms    24 ms    23 ms  l1.ar20.f2s.gs1.dsl.pipex.net [62.241.167.246]
  3    24 ms    34 ms    24 ms  ge-1-0-1.2.cr02.gs1.dsl.pipex.net [62.241.167.65]
  4    37 ms    51 ms    41 ms  pc9-104.cr05.tn5.bb.pipex.net [62.72.139.113]
  5    24 ms    24 ms    26 ms  telehouse-gw.idnet.net [195.66.224.181]
  6    26 ms    31 ms    25 ms  telehouse-gw2.idnet.net [212.69.63.55]

Trace complete.

Pings via f2s are almost half of those using IDNET.

I tested his connection mid evening last night when my IDNET connection was bad and his connection was flying (same exchange/telegraph pole).

Andy

[Adam]

Pings via f2s are almost half of those using IDNET.

Based on those results it looks like your line is interleaved, which would cause an increase in latency. I also get ~40ms due to interleaving, though I don't frequently use latency dependant applications.

[Najarak]

Mine is back to normal now 


Must have been a BT problem somewhere.

[Gramps]

My speed dropped yesterday afternoon from it's normal 1600 Kbps down to a low of 284 Kbps, I telephoned support and they told me I had Loss of synchronization and my profile had dropped and to wait for it to get back to normal.
Around about 18.00 hrs it was back up to normal.
I am in Morayshire.

[Rik]

Mine is the same as Adam's but no speed problems, which suggests it's outside IDNet.

[AndyG]

Based on those results it looks like your line is interleaved,...

Yep, I checked this morning and you were right, I should have realised that.   I'm quite surprised to find that interleaving has been turned on, my router normally trains and possibly retrains after dark and then stays synced to the exchange for months without a retrain.  It's currently been synced for over 1800 hrs since I last uploaded new router firmware

I don't frequently use latency dependant applications.

Same here so it's not a problem.

Anyway, I've just returned home after being out for most of the day and my connection is back to normal and flying. 

Thanks all - Andy.   

[Rik]

Wouldn't it be nice to know what BT did... 

[kerrso05]

Starting to get back to normal now. 

I'm also from Northern Ireland and I am about to move to IDNEt (if Eclipse would give me my MAC Code).
I seen you were having problems with speed, yesterday. Has that been sorted out now? and if it has, was it BT's fault and not IDNet?........just interested and curious to know.

[Rik]

As far as we can tell, Harry, just a handful of people were affected. Certainly, the phones didn't light up at IDNet, and nothing showed as awry on their own network. The probability, therefore, is that it was a BT issue. From reports I have seen, most affected people are back to normal, if not all.

[kerrso05]

Rik, I thought that but I was just interested what wrtpeeps (as he is from N.I.) experience was and that his line had returned to normal and that it wasn't IDNet's fault but BTs

I noticed that there was a rather heated debate going on in this thread about who's fault it was (BT's or IDNets)

As others have said, it looks as though it was BTs problem

[Rik]

I think that people take their broadband connections very personally these days, Harry. A bit like turning on the tap and expecting water to flow. When things go wrong, sometimes the sense of perspective goes out of the window.

I've been with IDNet for almost 15 months, I've had no complete downtime in that period, I've been without mail for a couple of hours when a server failed, and there's been a couple of incidents with router failures or upgrades. I've not counted, but I'd say I've probably had a total of 30 minutes where I've had some access problems, but never where I've had no access at all. Speed has always been spot on for me.

[Malc]

Hi there, I have finally got back to my PC a bit more this week after illness and very busy at work.

I have tried to download a few things tonight and noticed slow speeds.

But what is worrying me is when I start Limewire it is firewalled.
This has never happened before with Id, I've reinstalled and checked windows firewall.

Anyone else used it and had a problems recently?

Maybe it's connected to the work being carried out, or are ID starting to port block?

I can't believe that will happen...

[Rik]

Hi Malc

There is no work being carried out until tomorrow morning, and IDNet do not port block. If that policy were to change, I am sure they would tell us first.

I don't use Limewire, so can't make much in the way of useful suggestions, but have your checked your router isn't blocking it? What happens if you temporarily disable the Windows firewall?

[Philip]

nice to see everyones happy now got a teeny weeny bit heated last night, it was all rather exciting

[Malc]

This is strange, maybe something going on with BT in my area, just dropped the line and I rebooted and now it's connected to LW the second attempt

There has been some digging going on down the road. I'll watch my speeds over the weekend, and if the speed stays slow, I might give BT a ring see if it's them working down the road.

Then again it could be my PC on strike as I've been neglecting it the last few weeks, what with flu over new year then a weeks backlog when I get back to work.

BTW flu is good for the diet, I lost over half a stone, still fat though

[kerrso05]

Rik, that sounds like what I have been looking for. In the early days of Eclipse, I got what you are now getting......but unfortunately not now.

I totally agree with your comments on what people expect and what they get from broadband connections but what annoys me is when Service providers change the rules and introduce throttling without letting the customer have their say. Both Plusnet and now Eclipse have done it. They targeted P2P users......so I'm paying for a service that I didn't sign up to.....it's like going into a Car Dealers Showroom and asking to buy a BMW and the dealer saying OK, it' does this and that. So you take the BMW home and enjoy the comfort and ride for a couple of months. When you take it in for it's next Service the Dealer changes it for a....Robin Reliant.....you complain but they say it does everything the BMW does........so your complaints go unnoticed.

[RA-1972]

lol malc ..................................

BTW flu is good for the diet, I lost over half a stone, still fat though

[Sebby]

I totally agree with your comments on what people expect and what they get from broadband connections but what annoys me is when Service providers change the rules and introduce throttling without letting the customer have their say. Both Plusnet and now Eclipse have done it. They targeted P2P users......so I'm paying for a service that I didn't sign up to.....it's like going into a Car Dealers Showroom and asking to buy a BMW and the dealer saying OK, it' does this and that. So you take the BMW home and enjoy the comfort and ride for a couple of months. When you take it in for it's next Service the Dealer changes it for a....Robin Reliant.....you complain but they say it does everything the BMW does........so your complaints go unnoticed.

I absolutely agree. I just don't think IDNet are like that, though. We pay a bit more than PlusNet and Eclipse, and that's why they don't have to throttle.

[kerrso05]

Sebby............about a Pound more!!! I don't call that, a lot

[Rik]

And Simon and Tim know full well that their customer base is both discerning and demanding. They are aware that we are the sort of people who will just walk if the service goes downhill, so they work hard to make sure it doesn't - hence tomorrows upgrades (and those of two weeks ago), being made not because they are needed now, but because they will be in the future.

[Malc]

It's great to hear all the upgrades they make to keep ahead of the (poor) competition.

Now, line rental from them would be nice... no more BT.

I need my small BT box moving soon as we want to do some work in the kitchen, and its in the wrong place.

They want £120 call out and £50 for a new box.

[Den]

nice to see everyones happy now got a teeny weeny bit heated last night, it was all rather exciting

Glad you enjoyed it,  I just get annoyed that when something goes wrong, people come out of the woodwork and start slagging off without knowing whether it's BT or Idnets fault. It's not as if it's life or death to lose internet or have slow speeds for a short while. In my case it would or could effect my business but would not be great loss if it was effecting games for one night. I just felt that Idnet should be defended against comments that were unfounded. 

[Malc]

I can't believe what I came back to tonight, just glad I asked a question and carried on experimenting with my problems first.. now I'll blame BT

[Philip]

I agree Den, and I did say in an earlier post that it's not the end of the world. Just happy to see everything is sorted again.