slowdown

[golden]

Are Idnet pipes cloging up?

my speed has slowed to a crawl in the evenings this week.

[Lance]

I've not noticed any slowdown at all, and no one else seems to have mentioned it either. Have you check ed the status of your BT exchange? There could well be congestion there.

Have a look at the FAQ here to find out how to check it.

[Philip]

nothing wrong here, and my exchange has been showing red since December last year

[golden]

I have two lines coming in, one is on A&A which is perfoming ok,

the one on Idnet is slow

[Gary]

Everything is normal here as well, no slow downs

[Lance]

I've just run a BT speedtest and it looks fine to me...

Test1 comprises of Best Effort Test:  -provides background information.
    IP profile for your line is - 4000 kbps
    DSL connection rate: 448 kbps(UP-STREAM)  4736 kbps(DOWN-STREAM)
    Actual IP throughput achieved during the test was - 3787 kbps

[kinmel]

My speed is down too

Test1 comprises of Best Effort Test:  -provides background information.
    IP profile for your line is - 4000 kbps
    DSL connection rate: 448 kbps(UP-STREAM)  4608 kbps(DOWN-STREAM)
    Actual IP throughput achieved during the test was - 1827 kbps

[kinmel]

Yet Speedtest and others show my line's performance is spot on

[golden]

Test1 comprises of Best Effort Test:  -provides background information.
    IP profile for your line is - 2000 kbps
    DSL connection rate: 448 kbps(UP-STREAM)  2400 kbps(DOWN-STREAM)
    Actual IP throughput achieved during the test was - 251 kbps

If you wish to discuss these results please contact your ISP.

If you are experiencing problems with specific applications, servers or websites please contact your ISP for assistance.

Your test has completed please close this window to exit the performance tester.

 

[Simon]

I haven't managed to get the speedtester to work for ages, but I haven't noticed any slowdown here.

[Gary]

Test1 comprises of Best Effort Test:  -provides background information.
    IP profile for your line is - 4000 kbps
    DSL connection rate: 448 kbps(UP-STREAM)  5024 kbps(DOWN-STREAM)
    Actual IP throughput achieved during the test was - 3735 kbps

[Simon]

Let me just check something, when you guys get the speedtester to work, you're putting in xxxxx@idnet.gw5 (or varient of) as the user name, yes?

[Gary]

yep xxxxxx@idnet.gw5 using IE though

[Rik]

Test1 comprises of Best Effort Test:  -provides background information.
    IP profile for your line is - 2000 kbps
    DSL connection rate: 448 kbps(UP-STREAM)  2400 kbps(DOWN-STREAM)
    Actual IP throughput achieved during the test was - 251 kbps

Something's very wrong with that. Can you post line stats from the router, including errors?

[golden]

2008/02/22 00:18:38 GMT   1      2400   2408   2280   2280   6.0   8.0   59.7   17.0   583   258757   0.67   4.00      448   860   19.0   31.5   11.9   27   46      G.DMT Annex A   Alcatel   229/103   N/A   -19.0   -1.7   34.5   0

[Rik]

How long's the router been 'up'? You've had 258757 errors in that time, and the line rate has dropped below your initial sync speed (2280).

[golden]

Statistics
Collected for 9:20:02   Since Reset   Current 24-Hour Interval   Current 15-Minute Interval   Time Since Last Event
ATM Cell Header Errors:   494   494   4   0:02:00

ATM Loss of Cell Delineation:   109   109   0   0:11:24

DSL Link Retrains:   0   0   0   0:00:00

DSL Training Errors:   0   0   0   0:00:00

DSL Training Timeouts:   0   0   0   0:00:00

DSL Loss of Framing Failures:   0   0   0   0:00:00

DSL Loss of Signal Failures:   0   0   0   0:00:00

DSL Loss of Power Failures:   0   0   0   0:00:00

DSL Loss of Margin Failures:   0   0   0   0:00:00

DSL Cumulative Errored Seconds:   410   410   3   0:02:00

DSL Severely Errored Seconds:   0   0   0   0:00:00

DSL Corrected Blocks:   258754   258754   57   0:00:06

DSL Uncorrected Blocks:   583   583   4   0:02:00

ISP Connection Establishment:   1   1   1   0:00:52

[Rik]

400 errors a minute, that's pretty high and would cause a throughput slowdown.

[Simon]

Have to say, mine also appears to be on a go slow at the moment.  In fact, it's like wading through treacle just reading and posting on here. 

[Lance]

Mine, by contrast, is as quick as always!

[Rik]

Are you on GW5, Golden, ie does you IDNet login end in GW5?

[Inactive]

Mine is flying, it never does anything else.

[Rik]

But you, Lance and me are on DSL4.

[Simon]

GW5 does seem to need a good kicking at the moment!

[Rik]

BT again. Simon hadn't heard back from them when I spoke to him today.

[golden]

hi rik
yes im'on gw5.

those are fec errors. crc errors 500 in nearly 10 hrs

[Simon]

It's sped up again now - definitely intermittent.  Maybe they are actually working on it?

[Rik]

But the FEC errors will be having an impact on throughput, albeit mitigated by the interleaving. That said, it seems most likely that GW5 is having issues again. I'll let Simon know.

[golden]

cheers rik 

and goodnight from me

[Simon]

But the FEC errors will be having an impact on throughput, albeit mitigated by the interleaving. That said, it seems most likely that GW5 is having issues again. I'll let Simon know.

Well, I haven't a clue what that means, but I'm going to FEC off to bed, and hope it's better in the morning!

[Rik]

I've passed it on to Simon, and I'll report back anything I hear. Curiously, there are no reports over on TB.

FEC = forward error correction, used to resolve data errors before it reaches the router. A high number often indicates noise on the line.

[Niall]

Just to randomly chuck something into an irrelevant thread, I thought I'd mention that my line dropped once tonight, about an hour or so, ago.

[Lance]

Most likely due to noise, as noise is at its worse around that time of night. I assume you didn't see any stats on your router at the time of the drop?

[golden]

And this morning it's back to normal

Speed Test Results
Date   22/02/08 08:26:43
Speed Down   1915.19 Kbps ( 1.9 Mbps )
Speed Up   361.16 Kbps ( 0.4 Mbps )
Port   8095
Server   0.0.0.0

this is what it,s like with the errors rik pointed out 

[golden]

Test1 comprises of Best Effort Test:  -provides background information.
    IP profile for your line is - 2000 kbps
    DSL connection rate: 448 kbps(UP-STREAM)  2400 kbps(DOWN-STREAM)
    Actual IP throughput achieved during the test was - 1908 kbps

If you wish to discuss these results please contact your ISP.

If you are experiencing problems with specific applications, servers or websites please contact your ISP for assistance.

Your test has completed please close this window to exit the performance tester.

[Rik]

That's about as perfect a throughput as you can get for a 2k profile. I haven't heard back from Simon on the GW5 issue yet - I'm guessing he's busy banging heads at BT.

[Lance]

Lets hope he is doing it nice and hard! 

[Rik]

Very hard. 

[Rik]

OK, I've had a chat with Simon, nothing is showing up on GW5 as an issue at the moment, so could Golden and Simon please contact support so that IDNet can run tests on your lines please.

[Inactive]

Simon, have a word with Simon...simple really.. 

[Rik]

Too many Simon's - it does make conversations confusing.

[Si]

Did someone want me?

[Rik]

I think that's called muddying the waters.

[Si]

I can't help being a Mannish Boy...

[Rik]

Is that anything like Amish? 

[Si]

Now you see that little side track down the Muddy Waters/Mannish Boy route has got me all hankering for a quick toot on my harmonica. Might have to unplug the VPN and have a musical lunch-break now!

Anyhoo, to actually add something to the real discussion I'm on gw5 and haven't noticed any speed issues over the period in question. If anything my pings actually improved yesterday evening when I looked at them and that's still true now. Pinging BBC at an average of low teens, used to be mid 20s...

[Rik]

Thanks for that, Si, looks increasingly like line faults then.

[Simon]

I'm out now, but will do later, if time.

[Dopamine]

I'm GW5 too, and my line seems slow. BT speedtester just showed 2461 throughput for a 7150 profile:

Test1 comprises of Best Effort Test:  -provides background information.
    IP profile for your line is - 7150 kbps
    DSL connection rate: 448 kbps(UP-STREAM)  8128 kbps(DOWN-STREAM)
    Actual IP throughput achieved during the test was - 2461 kbps

This is quite common for me. I rarely get above 4mbps unless it's in the dead of night, yet my connection is rock solid.

[Rik]

What's your error count and noise margin like?

[Dopamine]

I'm not sure how to read error count, or what it is, but here's my router statistics. The last reconnection was when IDNet/BT had their blip a couple of days ago:

Port Status TxPkts   RxPkts  Collisions  Tx  B/s  Rx  B/s  Up Time
WAN PPPoA 776419 1150281   0         526         5029    65:13:46
LAN 10M/100M 5293982 3617332 0      1290       652     317:55:22
WLAN 11M/54M 220917 395637 0        49          151    317:55:19


ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 8128 kbps 448 kbps
Line Attenuation 28.0 db 16.0 db
Noise Margin 8.9 db 24.0 db

[Rik]

Full sync with some headroom on the noise margin, so no obvious reason for slow throughput.

To get the error stats from the Netgear, do the following:

Enter this in the browser address bar:

http://192.168.0.1/setup.cgi?todo=debug

which should result in a screen which just says 'Debug enable'.
(That's assuming that you haven't changed the router's IP address from the default).

Then exit from the web interface and open a command-line window. Type:

telnet 192.168.0.1

You should get a BusyBox welcome message to confirm that your telnet connection is established.

Now type:

cat proc/avalanche/avsar_modem_stats

The only thing I can think of, immediately, is that there's a high error count lowering your throughput. Other than that, what MTU/RWIN settings are you using?

[Dopamine]

Umm, not sure.

From a c prompt? I typed the telnet address and got a "busybox v1.00.." but the the cat proc/avalanche stuff just said directory doesn't exist, so I presume I'm not doing it right.

As for MTU/RWIN settings, no idea what or where they are.

I was previously with Pipex, and until the debacle with Tiscali and corresponding drop in speeds, which is why I moved to IDNet, my BT speedtests were always 6mbps plus, at any time of day or night. No hardware changes since then.

[Rik]

Mmm. Possibly I've got wrong instructions on file, let me check and get back to you. I don't have a Netgear connected any more to test on.

MTU= Maximum Transmission Unit, it determines the packet size you send. If it's sub-optimal, it can slow throughput.

RWIN= Receive Window, again, if it's sub-optimal, it can slow things.

Unless you're using Vista, take a look at:

http://www.idnetters.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=1904.msg31673#msg31673

[Rik]

Apologies, I missed a /...

cat /proc/avalanche/avsar_modem_stats

This will give you a stream of information about the ADSL connection. Scroll up and find a section something like this:

[Upstream (TX) Interleave path]
CRC: 0 FEC: 0 NCD: 1
LCD: 0 HEC: 0

[Downstream (RX) Interleave path]
CRC: 0 FEC: 0 NCD: 0
LCD: 0 HEC: 0

[Upstream (TX) Fast path]
CRC: 1 FEC: 68 NCD: 0
LCD: 0 HEC: 0

[Downstream (RX) Fast path]
CRC: 49 FEC: 0 NCD: 0
LCD: 0 HEC: 0

In this example the interleave figures are all zero, apart from the first NCD value, which always seems to be 1, so this router is in fast mode. If you see zeros in the fast path sections and other figures in the interleave sections, then interleave is on.

[Niall]

ADSL Link                  Downstream      Upstream
Connection Speed     7424 kbps           832 kbps
Line Attenuation       29.0 db              18.0 db
Noise Margin                8.3 db                11.0 db

Ah well, everything seems normal. That being said, it has for the last few days when things have been wonky too.

[Rik]

Just to randomly chuck something into an irrelevant thread, I thought I'd mention that my line dropped once tonight, about an hour or so, ago.

Just spotted this - it might the the announced BT engineering works if it was down for a while, up to 20 minutes.

[Rik]

Ah well, everything seems normal. That being said, it has for the last few days when things have been wonky too.

What realm are you on, Niall (the last few letters of your login, eg GW5 or DSL4 etc).

[Niall]

I wouldn't be surprised. My connection has only ever done that when BT are doing things. It's all been fine today, while I've been slumped in front of my PC.

I don't know the login, I'll go check now.

Ah ha, unsurprisingly, it's GW5

[outlaw]

Most of the evening my connection has been very slow, websites are very slow to respond. Checked bt speed tester and it gave the following output:

Test1 comprises of Best Effort Test:  -provides background information.
    IP profile for your line is - 7150 kbps
    DSL connection rate: 448 kbps(UP-STREAM)  8128 kbps(DOWN-STREAM)
    Actual IP throughput achieved during the test was - 6082 kbps

That above looks rather ok to me, I get some slowdown at peak times but not experienced anything like this before.

I'm on GW5 if that means anything.

Thanks muchly

Dave

[Lance]

Welcome to the forum, Dave! Have a welcome karma.

Your speedtest shows that your throughput is a little low, but this could just be due to exchange congestion. However, it is still a 6mb connection you have there and so no reason as to why web pages would be slow loading. To be honest, I dont really know what to suggest. Are your pings ok?

[Simon]

  Dave!  I was having a similar problem with slow loading web pages last night and this morning, but everything seems to be flying along now.

[outlaw]

Thanks for the welcome Lance and a quick Hi to all the other forum users.

My pings are averaging about 25ms to bbc.co.uk which seems about usual for my connection.
Some sites still seem to be slow to respond, others need 2 or 3 clicks to get them to load completely.
It 'feels' in my rather un-professional opinion like a dns problem.
Looked at my router (cisco 877w) and it's ok, tried without AV and Firewall software running but still same performance. Also tried different browsers, but still the same.
Also just had probs trying to load the forum.

Dave

[Rik]

Hi Dave

Could you try using OpenDNS, that would eliminate DNS as an issue (which I'd expect to hear more reports on as it would affect all users.)

OpenDNS servers are at: 208.67.222.222, 208.67.220.220

Your throughput is a little slow for your profile, have you optimised MTU/RWIN?

[outlaw]

Thanks for the reply Rik.

The problem seems to have gone away now and eveything seems as fast and responsive as it was. I didn't really touch anything so I think I'll put it down to local exchange congestion for now!
Thanks for your input guys.

Dave

[Rik]

NP, Dave. I hope it stays that way for you. If not, you know where we are...