Network problems Tonight ?
 

Getting very bad lag on browsing tonight to many sites - Traces seem to show why :(

Target Name: www.3dgamers.com
IP: 209.8.17.25
Date/Time: 04/08/2005 20:07:23
2 6 ms 7 ms 8 ms 13 ms 7 ms 6 ms wapk-t2cam1-a-ge-wan41-112.inet.ntl.com [80.1.170.57]
3 16 ms 7 ms 6 ms 7 ms 8 ms 15 ms popl-t2core-a-ge-wan62.inet.ntl.com [62.255.81.45]
4 7 ms 7 ms 12 ms 7 ms 7 ms 7 ms pop-bb-a-so-330-0.inet.ntl.com [213.105.174.113]
5 285 ms 270 ms 231 ms 271 ms 258 ms 266 ms tele-ic-2-so-010-0.inet.ntl.com [62.253.185.86]
6 8 ms 8 ms 10 ms 9 ms 23 ms 9 ms cr02.ldn01.pccwbtn.net [195.66.224.167]
7 108 ms 106 ms 106 ms 107 ms 109 ms 107 ms www6.3dgamers.com [209.8.17.25]


Target Name: www.ev1servers.net
IP: 207.218.223.142
Date/Time: 04/08/2005 20:12:20
2 5 ms 7 ms 6 ms 6 ms 6 ms wapk-t2cam1-a-ge-wan41-112.inet.ntl.com [80.1.170.57]
3 170 ms 6 ms 7 ms 8 ms 7 ms popl-t2core-a-ge-wan62.inet.ntl.com [62.255.81.45]
4 7 ms 7 ms 6 ms 7 ms 7 ms pop-bb-a-so-330-0.inet.ntl.com [213.105.174.113]
5 13 ms 8 ms 6 ms 8 ms 7 ms pop-bb-b-ae0-0.inet.ntl.com [213.105.172.77]
6 8 ms 9 ms 17 ms 9 ms 9 ms tele-ic-1-so-010-0.inet.ntl.com [62.253.185.82]
7 314 ms 326 ms 318 ms 321 ms 323 ms [212.250.14.62]
8 390 ms 386 ms 389 ms 393 ms 393 ms p10-0.core01.bos01.atlas.cogentco.com [130.117.0.46]
9 409 ms 407 ms 409 ms 417 ms 406 ms p5-0.core01.ord01.atlas.cogentco.com [66.28.4.110]
10 408 ms 407 ms 411 ms 413 ms 406 ms p15-0.core02.ord01.atlas.cogentco.com [66.28.4.62]
11 419 ms 415 ms 422 ms 426 ms 416 ms p12-0.core01.mci01.atlas.cogentco.com [66.28.4.33]
12 432 ms 430 ms 437 ms 438 ms 436 ms p12-0.core01.iah01.atlas.cogentco.com [66.28.4.105]
13 119 ms 122 ms 119 ms 120 ms 120 ms everyonesinternet.demarc.cogentco.com [38.112.12.178]
14 * * * * * [-]

Target Name: www.bbc.co.uk
IP: 212.58.224.81
Date/Time: 04/08/2005 20:12:51
2 9 ms 7 ms wapk-t2cam1-a-ge-wan41-112.inet.ntl.com [80.1.170.57]
3 11 ms 7 ms popl-t2core-a-ge-wan64.inet.ntl.com [62.255.81.65]
4 6 ms 6 ms pop-bb-a-so-330-0.inet.ntl.com [213.105.174.113]
5 232 ms 252 ms tele-ic-2-so-010-0.inet.ntl.com [62.253.185.86]
6 8 ms 8 ms ntl-ge2-8.prt0.thdo.bbc.co.uk [212.58.239.217]
7 13 ms 8 ms [212.58.238.153]
8 8 ms 9 ms www30.thdo.bbc.co.uk [212.58.224.81]


Every one has a massive spike as it leaves NTL it seems.

Anyone else seeing this ?

cheers

Ian

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

Browsing normally here N Manchester.

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

believe me, I am no expert, but IIRC the tele-ic routers favour 'normal' traffic over pings, so hop times will appear to vary with load. I was always told it is the final hop that shows the true speed - and from those traces the first two are poor, but the one to the BBC is spot-on.

But having said that, the BBC trace went through 'wan64.inet', rather than 'wan62.inet', so maybe there is a local routing problem?

like I say I'm a :dunce: at this ;)

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

Pingplotter is now showing up to 50% packet loss on those traces..others sites affected are:


Target Name: forum.eagames.co.uk
IP: 159.153.177.38
Date/Time: 04/08/2005 20:32:56
2 7 ms 7 ms 5 ms 9 ms 12 ms 8 ms 7 ms 8 ms 7 ms 6 ms wapk-t2cam1-a-ge-wan41-112.inet.ntl.com [80.1.170.57]
3 7 ms 6 ms 7 ms 7 ms 6 ms 11 ms 7 ms 8 ms 6 ms 6 ms popl-t2core-a-ge-wan64.inet.ntl.com [62.255.81.65]
4 7 ms 6 ms 6 ms 6 ms 7 ms 7 ms 6 ms 6 ms 6 ms 7 ms pop-bb-a-so-330-0.inet.ntl.com [213.105.174.113]
5 241 ms 230 ms 225 ms * 208 ms 240 ms * 248 ms 251 ms 270 ms tele-ic-2-so-010-0.inet.ntl.com [62.253.185.86]
6 * 9 ms 8 ms * 7 ms 8 ms 8 ms 9 ms 9 ms 8 ms [212.250.14.54]
7 10 ms 8 ms 8 ms 8 ms 224 ms 13 ms 8 ms 10 ms 8 ms 10 ms gi3-0-sar2.lon.router.colt.net [212.74.64.130]
8 9 ms 9 ms 9 ms 8 ms 9 ms 10 ms 9 ms 9 ms 9 ms 9 ms [80.169.175.2]
9 9 ms 9 ms 13 ms 13 ms 9 ms 13 ms 10 ms 16 ms 8 ms 11 ms [159.153.156.3]
10 8 ms 9 ms 17 ms 9 ms 9 ms 10 ms 10 ms 9 ms 9 ms 9 ms 4v4.easports.com [159.153.177.38]

Target Name: jolt.co.uk
IP: 82.133.85.65
Date/Time: 04/08/2005 20:36:13
2 7 ms 6 ms 6 ms wapk-t2cam1-b-ge-wan41-112.inet.ntl.com [80.1.170.185]
3 7 ms 7 ms 7 ms popl-t2core-b-ge-wan63.inet.ntl.com [62.255.81.189]
4 13 ms 8 ms 8 ms pop-bb-b-so-320-0.inet.ntl.com [62.253.185.69]
5 7 ms 7 ms 7 ms pop-bb-a-ae0-0.inet.ntl.com [213.105.172.78]
6 249 ms 250 ms 266 ms tele-ic-2-so-010-0.inet.ntl.com [62.253.185.86]
7 9 ms 10 ms 10 ms lon1-10.nildram.net [213.208.106.169]
8 9 ms 10 ms 16 ms [84.12.225.130]
9 9 ms 9 ms 9 ms jolt-gw.nildram.net [195.149.20.126]
10 9 ms 9 ms 10 ms [82.133.85.65]

Looks like a problem :(
__________________


Yeah, I agree, but in this case my web browsing to those sites is awful (any many others) and download speeds are terrible (sub 20k)

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

I just got the same spike on that tele-ic link

I have no other issues, when normally surfing, but if you are trying to game it may be a problem ????

can't offer any solutions, sorry ..

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

It is true icmp is normally low priority but it should only show maybe the odd jump not persistant high ms, that usually indicates some sort of problem on the hop.

there was 2 problems with my connection yesterday, the one on the first hop I got fixed by my contact in ntl was routing through a bad router, the other is on the edge of the ntl network.

1 7 ms 8 ms 7 ms 10.8.143.254
2 6 ms 6 ms 7 ms leic-t2cam1-b-ge914.inet.ntl.com [82.3.35.213]
3 6 ms 12 ms 6 ms leic-t2core-b-ge-220-0.inet.ntl.com [82.3.33.138
]
4 8 ms 11 ms 9 ms nth-bb-b-so-230-0.inet.ntl.com [62.253.188.114]

5 11 ms 14 ms 9 ms pop-bb-a-so-100-0.inet.ntl.com [213.105.172.14]

6 275 ms 264 ms 264 ms tele-ic-2-so-010-0.inet.ntl.com [62.253.185.86]

7 14 ms 15 ms 14 ms cr02.ldn01.pccwbtn.net [195.66.224.167]
8 193 ms 190 ms 189 ms 63.218.51.46
9 190 ms 191 ms 191 ms unknown.xeex.net [216.152.255.74]
10 191 ms 219 ms 190 ms 10.10.255.3

pccwtbn also has a problem which affected the rest of the route.

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

Its ok this morning, I wonder if its load related, we'll see tonight I guess ?

Thanks guys.

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

Wrong dude it depends on the model, make, and placement of the router, along with its' config. Foundry boxes especially are bad for it.

Anyway this has been done to death, the tele-ic routers have been upgraded and are now extremely meaty boxes indeed, and are running well within capacity.

So long as what's at the end of the trace is alright then all is fine, there was an issue but it appears to be outside the ntl network, no issues reported with the ntl core or edge last night.

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

Still bad tonight, seems NTL currently has a very bad connection to Cogent :(

Target Name: www.filefront.com
IP: 66.117.8.41
Date/Time: 05/08/2005 21:49:52
2 6 ms 7 ms wapk-t2cam1-b-ge-wan41-112.inet.ntl.com [80.1.170.185]
3 7 ms 8 ms popl-t2core-b-ge-wan64.inet.ntl.com [62.255.81.193]
4 7 ms 7 ms pop-bb-b-so-700-0.inet.ntl.com [213.105.174.117]
5 8 ms 11 ms tele-ic-1-so-010-0.inet.ntl.com [62.253.185.82]
6 121 ms 117 ms [212.250.14.62]
7 193 ms 188 ms p10-0.core01.bos01.atlas.cogentco.com [130.117.0.46]
8 209 ms 210 ms p5-0.core01.ord01.atlas.cogentco.com [66.28.4.110]
9 208 ms 210 ms p15-0.core02.ord01.atlas.cogentco.com [66.28.4.62]
10 222 ms 222 ms p12-0.core01.mci01.atlas.cogentco.com [66.28.4.33]
11 237 ms 245 ms p12-0.core01.iah01.atlas.cogentco.com [66.28.4.105]
12 268 ms 267 ms p14-0.core01.san01.atlas.cogentco.com [66.28.4.6]
13 269 ms 270 ms p4-0.core01.lax01.atlas.cogentco.com [66.28.4.77]
14 374 ms 373 ms filefront-allyance.dmarc.cogentco.com [38.112.29.134]
15 374 ms 373 ms node.www.la.ioerror.com [66.117.8.41]

Less than 20k speed yet again :(

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

Fair enough, as you said it doesnt cause any affect so all seems well. the other problem I mentioned wasnt on the trace I posted and was fixed by my contact and was affecting the rest of the trace.

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

No, filefront has been slow as of late and as of I just tried to dl something. Just because you are downloading slow/er then you want, doesn't always mean its in the ntl part of the chain.

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

I believe the cogent problem is linked to linx itself in london, unfortently all these us providers who use cogent in a supposedbly bgp mix tend to carry on using cogent even when routing problems persist, I would guess to save money, but in this case I think this isnt ntl's problem.

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

The first large hop (212.250.14.62) appears to belong to NTL (according to Neotrace).
Looks like a problem they need to deal with.

I've contacted EV1 servers and they are looking into it from their end as well, but I think the problem is with NTL and not them.

:(

Tons of sites are affected - Newshosting/Filefront/Newsreader and anything hosted at EV1

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

Well I am only forwarding what I know. There is a confirmed problem that the cogent link to linx is fubared possible at max load but nevertherless performing badly, since a lot of traffic goes through linx I put 2 and 2 together.

EV1 are the only ones who can solve this, they have a magnitude of providers they can use, should they wish to do so they can reroute uk traffic through a different provider but for cost reasons they are probably sticking to cogent. Cogent is america's fastest growing backbone and is by far the cheapest and more and more of their datacentre's are hooking up to it lured by the prices ($10 per mbit) but the cogent transatlantic link is congested to the hilt.

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

Hopefully you are right, this is the trace now:


Target Name: www.filefront.com
IP: 66.117.8.41
Date/Time: 07/08/2005 08:56:50
2 6 ms 6 ms [10.82.176.1]
3 8 ms 8 ms wapk-t2cam1-b-ge-wan41-112.inet.ntl.com [80.1.170.185]
4 7 ms 7 ms popl-t2core-b-ge-wan64.inet.ntl.com [62.255.81.193]
5 7 ms 7 ms pop-bb-b-so-700-0.inet.ntl.com [213.105.174.117]
6 9 ms 9 ms tele-ic-1-so-010-0.inet.ntl.com [62.253.185.82]
7 9 ms 9 ms [212.250.14.62]
8 79 ms 79 ms p10-0.core01.bos01.atlas.cogentco.com [130.117.0.46]
9 100 ms 100 ms p5-0.core01.ord01.atlas.cogentco.com [66.28.4.110]
10 100 ms 101 ms p15-0.core02.ord01.atlas.cogentco.com [66.28.4.62]
11 111 ms 111 ms p12-0.core01.mci01.atlas.cogentco.com [66.28.4.33]
12 125 ms 127 ms p12-0.core01.iah01.atlas.cogentco.com [66.28.4.105]
13 156 ms 157 ms p14-0.core01.san01.atlas.cogentco.com [66.28.4.6]
14 159 ms 159 ms p4-0.core01.lax01.atlas.cogentco.com [66.28.4.77]
15 159 ms 160 ms filefront-allyance.dmarc.cogentco.com [38.112.29.134]
16 160 ms 160 ms node.www.la.ioerror.com [66.117.8.41]

As you can see that hop is now low (9) and all is well.
I guess tonight it will be bad again :(

cheers

Ian

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

inetnum: 212.250.14.0 - 212.250.15.255
netname: NTL
descr: NTL Infrastructure - Private Peering

Looks like the direct private link between ntl and Cogentco was saturated or Cogentco were having problems, although it's using ntl IP addresses that IP address is actually the Cogentco side of the link.

Unlikely to be saturation though that would have caused some other entertainment as well.

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

I'd guess it is saturation, the day is moving along and the congestion is starting again:


Target Name: www.filefront.com
IP: 66.117.8.41
Date/Time: 07/08/2005 11:32:03
2 5 ms [10.82.176.1]
3 8 ms wapk-t2cam1-b-ge-wan41-112.inet.ntl.com [80.1.170.185]
4 7 ms popl-t2core-b-ge-wan64.inet.ntl.com [62.255.81.193]
5 16 ms pop-bb-b-so-700-0.inet.ntl.com [213.105.174.117]
6 10 ms tele-ic-1-so-010-0.inet.ntl.com [62.253.185.82]
7 47 ms [212.250.14.62]
8 119 ms p10-0.core01.bos01.atlas.cogentco.com [130.117.0.46]
9 145 ms p5-0.core01.ord01.atlas.cogentco.com [66.28.4.110]
10 140 ms p15-0.core02.ord01.atlas.cogentco.com [66.28.4.62]
11 151 ms p12-0.core01.mci01.atlas.cogentco.com [66.28.4.33]
12 163 ms p12-0.core01.iah01.atlas.cogentco.com [66.28.4.105]
13 195 ms p14-0.core01.san01.atlas.cogentco.com [66.28.4.6]
14 195 ms p4-0.core01.lax01.atlas.cogentco.com [66.28.4.77]
15 197 ms filefront-allyance.dmarc.cogentco.com [38.112.29.134]
16 199 ms node.www.la.ioerror.com [66.117.8.41]

Up to 47 on that hop now.

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

OK Have found fault, can't promise it'll be sorted today but things should seem better tomorrow :(

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

Thanks, your help is much appreciated.

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

I know you are already looking into this,but I thought this might help - I've had a response to my trouble ticket with EV1 - they seem to think its the Poplar Proxy.

Here is an extract from what they sent me:

---------
Testing to that proxy address was terrible.

telnet@240.125#ping 62.255.64.12 co 1000 size 1420 source 66.98.246.1
Sending 1000, 1420-byte ICMP Echo to 62.255.64.12, timeout 5000 msec, TTL 64
Success rate is 97 percent (974/1000), round-trip min/avg/max=180/203/220 ms.

(very bad packet loss - 3%)


The trace to that host:

240.125#trace 62.255.64.12
Type Control-c to abort
Tracing the route to IP node 62.255.64.12 from 1 to 30 hops

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms gphou-66-98-241-4.ev1.net [66.98.241.4]
2 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms gphou-66-98-240-10.ev1.net [66.98.240.10]
3 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms g0-3.na21.b015619-0.iah01.atlas.cogentco.com [38.112.25.21]
4 1 ms 1 ms 1 ms g10-3-0.core01.iah01.atlas.cogentco.com [66.28.64.65]
5 15 ms 15 ms 15 ms p13-0.core01.mci01.atlas.cogentco.com [66.28.4.106]
6 26 ms 26 ms 29 ms p5-0.core02.ord01.atlas.cogentco.com [66.28.4.34]
7 39 ms 26 ms 26 ms p15-0.core01.ord01.atlas.cogentco.com [66.28.4.61]
8 58 ms 56 ms 47 ms p14-0.core01.bos01.atlas.cogentco.com [66.28.4.109]
9 118 ms 117 ms 118 ms p3-0.core01.lon02.atlas.cogentco.com [130.117.0.45]
10 212 ms 209 ms 209 ms tele-ic-1-ge-001-217.inet.ntl.com [212.250.14.61]
11 211 ms 212 ms 218 ms pop-bb-b-so-430-0.inet.ntl.com [62.253.185.81]
12 210 ms 209 ms 214 ms popl-t2core-b-pos81.inet.ntl.com [213.105.174.118]
13 208 ms 203 ms 213 ms popl-cache-9.server.ntli.net [62.255.64.12]


The loss seems to be between hops 10 and 11 outbound. I would need an inbound trace from the proxy to the server to be sure.

good to hop 10:

240.125#ping 212.250.14.61 size 1420 co 1000
Sending 1000, 1420-byte ICMP Echo to 212.250.14.61, timeout 5000 msec, TTL 64
Success rate is 100 percent (1000/1000), round-trip min/avg/max=109/109/128 ms.

(1,000 pings in both directions, perfect, 109 ms avg latency)


bad to hop 11:

240.125#ping 62.253.185.81 size 1420 co 100
Sending 100, 1420-byte ICMP Echo to 62.253.185.81, timeout 5000 msec, TTL 64
Success rate is 98 percent (98/100), round-trip min/avg/max=204/214/250 ms.

(loss and higher latency and high jitter)
----------

I have to say that I'm using Swansea proxies again as the Poplar one is awful again currently :(

Thanks again for your help.

cheers

Ian

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

From Poplar core (the same that they show in their trace)

To: 62.253.185.81

Using pings of 1420 bytes as above:

Sending 1000, 1420-byte ICMP Echos to 62.253.185.81, timeout is 2 seconds:
Success rate is 100 percent (1000/1000), round-trip min/avg/max = 1/2/36 ms

To the hop 10 in the trace above:

Sending 1000, 1420-byte ICMP Echos to 212.250.14.61, timeout is 2 seconds:
Success rate is 100 percent (1000/1000), round-trip min/avg/max = 1/2/40 ms

To Cogent 1st hop, the peering router which tele-ic-1 connects to, in their trace this is 9 118 ms 117 ms 118 ms p3-0.core01.lon02.atlas.cogentco.com [130.117.0.45]

Sending 1000, 1420-byte ICMP Echos to 130.117.0.45, timeout is 2 seconds:
Success rate is 94 percent (940/1000), round-trip min/avg/max = 20/74/300 ms

Not much else to say really, they are wrong, worked ok at one point for them when they were testing however their traceroute shows where the fault lies:

9 118 ms 117 ms 118 ms p3-0.core01.lon02.atlas.cogentco.com [130.117.0.45]
10 212 ms 209 ms 209 ms tele-ic-1-ge-001-217.inet.ntl.com [212.250.14.61]

Ping response shown by them is normal for Netapps.

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

LOL, I'll let you techies battle it out between yourselves, most of that goes waaay over my head :)
__________________

That hop suddenly looks better.

Target Name: www.filefront.com
IP: 66.117.8.41
Date/Time: 07/08/2005 16:32:57

2 6 ms 6 ms [10.82.176.1]
3 7 ms 7 ms wapk-t2cam1-b-ge-wan41-112.inet.ntl.com [80.1.170.185]
4 7 ms 8 ms popl-t2core-b-ge-wan64.inet.ntl.com [62.255.81.193]
5 8 ms 8 ms pop-bb-b-so-700-0.inet.ntl.com [213.105.174.117]
6 8 ms 10 ms tele-ic-1-so-010-0.inet.ntl.com [62.253.185.82]
7 16 ms 15 ms [212.250.14.62]
8 84 ms 88 ms p10-0.core01.bos01.atlas.cogentco.com [130.117.0.46]
9 105 ms 107 ms p5-0.core01.ord01.atlas.cogentco.com [66.28.4.110]
10 107 ms 106 ms p15-0.core02.ord01.atlas.cogentco.com [66.28.4.62]
11 118 ms 118 ms p12-0.core01.mci01.atlas.cogentco.com [66.28.4.33]
12 133 ms 131 ms p12-0.core01.iah01.atlas.cogentco.com [66.28.4.105]
13 165 ms 163 ms p14-0.core01.san01.atlas.cogentco.com [66.28.4.6]
14 164 ms 165 ms p4-0.core01.lax01.atlas.cogentco.com [66.28.4.77]
15 213 ms 217 ms filefront-allyance.dmarc.cogentco.com [38.112.29.134]
16 215 ms 214 ms node.www.la.ioerror.com [66.117.8.41]

Downloads are still slow through NTL though (sub 20k)
Downloading through AOL gives full speed (375k)

Maybe this isn't a fix, just a blip ?
__________________

File Test

This file is on my server with EV1.

Target Name: www.froopter.com
IP: 66.98.246.48
Date/Time: 07/08/2005 16:50:10
2 7 ms 8 ms [10.82.176.1]
3 8 ms 8 ms wapk-t2cam1-a-ge-wan41-112.inet.ntl.com [80.1.170.57]
4 8 ms 8 ms popl-t2core-a-ge-wan64.inet.ntl.com [62.255.81.65]
5 9 ms 7 ms pop-bb-a-so-330-0.inet.ntl.com [213.105.174.113]
6 7 ms 12 ms pop-bb-b-ae0-0.inet.ntl.com [213.105.172.77]
7 8 ms 9 ms tele-ic-1-so-010-0.inet.ntl.com [62.253.185.82]
8 16 ms 25 ms [212.250.14.62]
9 85 ms 87 ms p10-0.core01.bos01.atlas.cogentco.com [130.117.0.46]
10 104 ms 108 ms p5-0.core01.ord01.atlas.cogentco.com [66.28.4.110]
11 105 ms 114 ms p15-0.core02.ord01.atlas.cogentco.com [66.28.4.62]
12 119 ms 118 ms p12-0.core01.mci01.atlas.cogentco.com [66.28.4.33]
13 130 ms 134 ms p12-0.core01.iah01.atlas.cogentco.com [66.28.4.105]
14 130 ms 131 ms g0-2.na21.b015619-0.iah01.atlas.cogentco.com [66.28.64.66]
15 132 ms 133 ms everyones_internet_2.demarc.cogentco.com [38.112.25.158]
16 117 ms 116 ms gphou-66-98-241-27.ev1.net [66.98.241.27]
17 114 ms 115 ms gphou-66-98-241-125.ev1.net [66.98.241.125]
18 117 ms 117 ms srv1.froopter.com [66.98.246.48]

I get about 80k max dropping to 20k most of the time, from a variety of NTL proxies, but get full speed (over 350k) from non NTL Proxies and an AOL connection - the poor hop appears to have been fixed but my speeds are still rubbish using NTL. I can now get full speed from collecting my mail from the server, but not from the web - which now makes me think its the proxies :(
FTP'ing also gives me full speed, I'm sorry but I tend to support EV1 here and say its the proxies that are at fault, direct connections seem to work fine - even with my little techy knowledge.

If anyone on a 3 meg connection has the time to test the speed by downloading this file using a web browser from my server thru NTL it would be much appreciated.

http://www.froopter.com/radeondriver.test

Its a renamed 10 meg exe file (a Radeon Driver) and completely harmless - I'm not asking you to run it, just download it then delete it, and see what speeds you get.

Many Thanks

Ian

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

Getting 365 kB here in Warrington

total

10.6meg in 27 sec

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

Thanks, can I ask which proxy you are using (so I can try it from here)
or PM me please if you don't want to publish it.

Thanks

Ian

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

Its easy to work out. I am in Warrington so i am on bagu-cache-4.server.ntli.net

hope that helps

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

Thanks, guess what - I get 370k with that Proxy too !!
I'd been getting slower speeds from lots of sites and put it down to the sites being busy, but that proxy gives me full speed everywhere again !

Looks like Poplar and Colchester and Swansea (the others I tried) are not giving full speeds again :(

I do wish instead of speed increases NTL would fix the proxies, I can't see me getting any benefit from 10mb when I can't even fill 3 meg without continual proxy swapping :(

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

Glad that helps you :)

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

Thanks again, that bad hop is building up again, so looks like no fix yet (that would have been quick!)

I'll shut up now until they have a chance to fix it !

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

How are you getting 3mbit on an AOL connection? Have I missed something :confused:

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

I'm not :)

I have a 3meg NTL connection, and use the AOL client in 'Bring your own access' mode on the top. Using that client routes all content through AOL's proxies rather than NTL's, all sites work at full speed through it, which is much better than the NTL Poplar Proxies which are quite frankly awful.

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

I believe the linx issue is resolved so if the problem still exists it could be something to do with ntl or another point of failure.
__________________

seems to be a problem with hop 16 tho

14 163 ms 168 ms 162 ms p14-0.core01.san01.atlas.cogentco.com [66.28.4.6
]
15 171 ms 166 ms 180 ms p4-0.core01.lax01.atlas.cogentco.com [66.28.4.77
]
16 273 ms 246 ms 258 ms filefront-allyance.dmarc.cogentco.com [38.112.29
.134]
17 248 ms 247 ms 276 ms node.www.la.ioerror.com [66.117.8.41]
__________________

Sounds interesting, what url is it to use that and do you need to be an aOL customer?

I did speedtests for you full speed on both ntl auto proxy and my own proxy.

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

Link looks good at the moment, but its too early to tell - fingers crossed !

I'm getting full speed from my own Proxy at the moment.

AOL BYOA is only available if you call them I think, its £6.99 a month and you get all their content. To be honest a lot of their content is available elsewhere, but the radio stations are cool, and I get full speed through their client pretty much everywhere - so their proxies must be better than NTL's.

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

The trace looks good still but suddenly my speeds through my default proxy are terrible again (sub 20k)

Target Name: www.froopter.com
IP: 66.98.246.48
Date/Time: 08/08/2005 11:44:55
2 5 ms 5 ms 6 ms 5 ms [10.82.176.1]
3 14 ms 7 ms 8 ms 8 ms wapk-t2cam1-a-ge-wan41-112.inet.ntl.com [80.1.170.57]
4 7 ms 7 ms 7 ms 7 ms popl-t2core-a-ge-wan64.inet.ntl.com [62.255.81.65]
5 7 ms 7 ms 12 ms 8 ms pop-bb-a-so-330-0.inet.ntl.com [213.105.174.113]
6 8 ms 8 ms 8 ms 8 ms pop-bb-b-ae0-0.inet.ntl.com [213.105.172.77]
7 9 ms 8 ms 8 ms 9 ms tele-ic-1-so-010-0.inet.ntl.com [62.253.185.82]
8 14 ms 13 ms 13 ms 15 ms [212.250.14.62]
9 85 ms 85 ms 85 ms 85 ms p10-0.core01.bos01.atlas.cogentco.com [130.117.0.46]
10 105 ms 105 ms 106 ms 105 ms p5-0.core01.ord01.atlas.cogentco.com [66.28.4.110]
11 104 ms 104 ms 110 ms 105 ms p15-0.core02.ord01.atlas.cogentco.com [66.28.4.62]
12 117 ms 116 ms 116 ms 118 ms p12-0.core01.mci01.atlas.cogentco.com [66.28.4.33]
13 130 ms 130 ms 130 ms 130 ms p12-0.core01.iah01.atlas.cogentco.com [66.28.4.105]
14 132 ms 130 ms 132 ms 133 ms g0-2.na21.b015619-0.iah01.atlas.cogentco.com [66.28.64.66]
15 131 ms 131 ms 131 ms 132 ms everyones_internet_2.demarc.cogentco.com [38.112.25.158]
16 115 ms 114 ms 115 ms 115 ms gphou-66-98-241-27.ev1.net [66.98.241.27]
17 115 ms 114 ms 120 ms 115 ms gphou-66-98-241-125.ev1.net [66.98.241.125]
18 115 ms 115 ms 115 ms 115 ms srv1.froopter.com [66.98.246.48]

The baguely Proxy gives me back full speed again, surely it must be the Proxy(ies) ??

I don't understand this :(

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

It is the proxies by the sounds of things, I wonder if this thread can be moved to the proxy section?

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

The problem hasn't been fixed with that hop unfortunately.

Downloads are still sub 20k :(

Target Name: www.froopter.com
IP: 66.98.246.48
Date/Time: 08/08/2005 20:43:20
2 6 ms [10.82.176.1]
3 14 ms wapk-t2cam1-a-ge-wan41-112.inet.ntl.com [80.1.170.57]
4 8 ms popl-t2core-a-ge-wan64.inet.ntl.com [62.255.81.65]
5 12 ms pop-bb-a-so-330-0.inet.ntl.com [213.105.174.113]
6 8 ms pop-bb-b-ae0-0.inet.ntl.com [213.105.172.77]
7 9 ms tele-ic-1-so-010-0.inet.ntl.com [62.253.185.82]
8 155 ms [212.250.14.62]
9 226 ms p10-0.core01.bos01.atlas.cogentco.com [130.117.0.46]
10 247 ms p5-0.core01.ord01.atlas.cogentco.com [66.28.4.110]
11 253 ms p15-0.core02.ord01.atlas.cogentco.com [66.28.4.62]
12 261 ms p12-0.core01.mci01.atlas.cogentco.com [66.28.4.33]
13 273 ms p12-0.core01.iah01.atlas.cogentco.com [66.28.4.105]
14 274 ms g0-2.na21.b015619-0.iah01.atlas.cogentco.com [66.28.64.66]
15 278 ms everyones_internet_2.demarc.cogentco.com [38.112.25.158]
16 118 ms gphou-66-98-241-27.ev1.net [66.98.241.27]
17 121 ms gphou-66-98-241-125.ev1.net [66.98.241.125]
18 116 ms srv1.froopter.com [66.98.246.48]

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

Even worse now :(
Less than 11k a sec


Target Name: www.froopter.com
IP: 66.98.246.48
Date/Time: 08/08/2005 23:30:47
2 7 ms 6 ms [10.82.176.1]
3 8 ms 7 ms wapk-t2cam1-a-ge-wan41-112.inet.ntl.com [80.1.170.57]
4 7 ms 8 ms popl-t2core-a-ge-wan64.inet.ntl.com [62.255.81.65]
5 6 ms 7 ms pop-bb-a-so-330-0.inet.ntl.com [213.105.174.113]
6 7 ms 8 ms pop-bb-b-ae0-0.inet.ntl.com [213.105.172.77]
7 9 ms 14 ms tele-ic-1-so-010-0.inet.ntl.com [62.253.185.82]
8 323 ms 318 ms [212.250.14.62]
9 388 ms 390 ms p10-0.core01.bos01.atlas.cogentco.com [130.117.0.46]
10 406 ms 412 ms p5-0.core01.ord01.atlas.cogentco.com [66.28.4.110]
11 407 ms 415 ms p15-0.core02.ord01.atlas.cogentco.com [66.28.4.62]
12 421 ms 421 ms p12-0.core01.mci01.atlas.cogentco.com [66.28.4.33]
13 434 ms 435 ms p12-0.core01.iah01.atlas.cogentco.com [66.28.4.105]
14 434 ms 434 ms g0-2.na21.b015619-0.iah01.atlas.cogentco.com [66.28.64.66]
15 433 ms 436 ms everyones_internet_2.demarc.cogentco.com [38.112.25.158]
16 115 ms 115 ms gphou-66-98-241-27.ev1.net [66.98.241.27]
17 115 ms 118 ms gphou-66-98-241-125.ev1.net [66.98.241.125]
18 123 ms 116 ms srv1.froopter.com [66.98.246.48]



Got an answer to my ticket with EV1 re: them changing the route:

-------
Dear Customer,

You will need to talk to your ISP about rerouting it other than that you'll
need to wait for them to fix the issue if they can't.

Thank you for choosing ev1servers

Hollie F.
Ev1servers Support.
-------

So I guess thats a no then...

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

Thats an absurb reply, I have server's in various datacentres and each one has been able to change routes for me in the past.

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

I'm piggy in the middle it seems, NTL don't seem to want to fix it (although a big thank you to ignition for trying to help) and EV1 are just pointing the finger at NTL.

Meanwhile its me stuck with sub 11k access to a server I pay for :(

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

This is an absolute nightmare to be honest, I'm a member of a board based in the states which has recently been running like a pig for certain members. Lo and behold it's the cogent link's that are killing access for me and others...


Im sure NTL should be doing something about this, but whether they will/are is a different matter entirely I suppose....

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

Well I still say its the fault of EV1 and other providers who have similiar setup's, they run a BGP setup which announces the ip's on these providers. As far as I am aware they just need to change the announce to exclude cogent then the traffic will not be routed using that provider, I have seen this done when I have asked for rerouting to be done in the past with other datacentres.

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

It would be nice to get a definative answer on this.

The route 'appears' to have been fixed, but I'm not so sure - speeds are better but I'm never sure if its the proxy or not.

At night speeds are still terrible, but the trace stays good.
But using the Bagaley proxy returns full speed, so it looks like an NTL proxy/routing problem - EV1 are adamant that it is an NTL problem.
They trace to my proxy and its awful, they trace to my ip and its good.

Come on guys, this has been going on for over a week now :(

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

Do both your ip and the proxy route the same way? You are talking about 2 different issues here I think.

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

I think its pretty clear that its a routing issue, my proxy presumably takes a different route to Cogent than the Bageley proxy, hence Bageley stays good 24 hours, the Poplar route gets congested after about 4pm, this seems to be verified by other posts complaining about Cogent connections both here (http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/sh...084#post548084) and elsewhere.


It seems another of those occasions where NTL are neglecting to maintain their proxy servers properly :(

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

I'm going through one of the Notts proxies, I've changed mine and unsurprisingly it now appears that it is working again although it's still slower than it used to be :dozey:

Why don't they just fix the boogers :td:

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

I've just had a response to my 'feedback' that I sent Ntl, asking for me to provide traceroute's etc to them so that they could investigate further just exactly what/when the problems are appearing...

Luckily for them, I've provided them with my saved ones from both my connection and from LINX where I used the looking glass tools.. ;-)

So, IMHO I'll give Ntl 9/10 for their resolution of the problem, if they fix it they can have a 10 ;)

They were also pointed across here so that they can have a looksee at whats been going on

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

Good stuff, hope it gets fixed soon :)

I'm tentatively hoping that its been fixed here, I'm getting full speed from Cogent now on the Poplar Proxy, so fingers crossed., I'll wait a couple of days to see if its actually fixed or just a fluke.

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

Scrap that, Poplar proxy still rubbish, port 119 connections to Cogent are fine, email connections to Cogent are fine and Bageley proxy connections are fine - Poplar proxy web connections are rubbish - I've started to see other sites suffering the same problem with the Poplar proxies as well now (3dgamers for one - 100k with Poplar - 370k with Bageley)

This needs to be fixed :(
There's no point in Poplar area users having 10 meg connections when the rubbish proxies can't even handle 3 mb :( :(

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

OK, so I used the Responsetek thing last week and have had no answer and the speeds are still terrible through Poplar proxies to many sites (fine through Baguley still) - what now ?

I repeat, what is the point of NTL crowing about 10mb speeds when those of us with poor proxies can't even reach 3 mb (and we had to moan about the proxies last time to get them changed to achieve that !!)

Why do NTL seem to go very quiet when the Proxies are mentioned ?
It seems they know some are substandard but they do nothing ?

Very disappointed :(

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

Getting serious problems myself at the moment having to click twice on every single link to every site on my default proxy.

This triggered me to ring simon duffy office and I told them feedback they should provide proxyless service for extra 1-2 pound a month since they wont do it for nothing.

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

They really need to sort them out, forget more speed, its absolutely useless when the proxies stop any web downloads getting above 100k a sec.
It can be done - AOL proxies are superb, full 3meg speeds from virtually all sites - mind you the baguley NTL ones seem pretty good too, but my default Poplar ones are rubbish, in fact they stop me getting my paid for speed :(

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

This is abit of a long shot but its not a recent MS security firewall patch which is causing you hassle is it?

My connection has been appalling the last week, both uploading files to friends over msn and downloading from newshosting. I checked my network settings and it appears a windows patch has activated the windows firewall on my network ports without me even knowing. Disabling it seems to have cured all my problems.

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

Hi Daniel,

I don't think thats the problem here, switching to other proxies fixes the problem completely, its just the Poplar ones which seem to be the problem for me.
Also things like direct pop3 access and ftp'ing are unaffected to the same domains, just the web browsing with Poplar proxies.
I'm pretty sure NTL know this, but for some reason (money ?) they seem to just ignore anything that is reported as wrong with a proxy server.

The proxies really are a pain, and cripple the web browsing on so many occasions its just not funny any more :(

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

I somehow don't think phoning the CEO's secretary / PA will get you very far.

You may want to consider other options, such as feeding back via the official means, and also take note that it's not possible to provide a proxyless service at the mo.

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

Hi I've just registered so be gentle.

I'm a PC technician in Woking and I've been doing this stuff for a while (I worked in the Lotus Development messenging support team for a time).

Deal mainly with home users and small companys now.

This week I have had so many customers with NTL problems that it is not true.

I spent 2.5 hours on the phone to India for a deaf customer this week and despite having got the same problem fixed for another customer last week by the changing of proxy server, this time the nice chaps in India didnt have a clue.

I was back to the "Its something on the PC" routine.

Despite having demonstrated the problem on a laptop as well and the fact that the customers PC connects to my network fine. I spoke to the supervisor et al and it was like a brick wall.

Every proof I threw at them was countered with "No it tests OK here its the PC" I only lost my rag once and ended the call politely but its bloody frustrating.

So what are the other options for broadband over cable? None I assume.

So my customers will have to go through the grief of cancelling and then paying for an additional phone line or ditching NTL (which seems to be a fair option, to be honest).

Cheers

Jon

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

I've just had a reply to my responsetek entry.

It says that someone from Technical Support will be looking into the matter and contacting me directly.

Fingers crossed !

I feel your pain jonholyfield, the proxies are a real problem here, just today I've had Gamespot,Expedia & Ebuyer all fail to work and needed a proxy switch - If I didn't know about the proxies then I would have probably thought those sites were down, or wasted my time (and theirs) ringing support, and when sites do work they are more often than not very slow.
Usually switching proxies fixes it - for a while, then its the proxy dance again, it was amusing at first, then an annoyance, now its just pathetic.

Oh and Welcome to the forum :)

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

The other proxies that I was asked to use when on customer support last week all pointed to the same f...Sorry server. So a complete waste of time. I am tempted to re-direct NTL customers to one of my servers but that is madness.
__________________

I feel very sorry for the support people in India.

It appears they have been given no information and no escalation system.

'kinhell, I've left places for less.

If you put aside the massive issues of outsourcing offshore then ffs give the staff there some ability to fix the problem.

Scripts.. Yeah OK fine, I've written them.

But bottom line when all else fails "it is your fault"

I think not.

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

It got me further then the official means, I have lost account the number of times I have used the responsetek form and had no response. But I spoke to someone on the phone who was in central office which gives me more satisfaction. How do you know its not low level staff who read responsetek?
and whats so bad about going high up the food chain.

Right now doing this post the smilies on the right had 7 failed icons, yet more proxy issues I couldnt refresh the page or anything thinking the site is down but I switched to my own proxy and it instantly loads.

It is possible to do proxyless connection, I have had it before when I signed up, it can be done on mass by turning of the proxy server which to be honest should be done until they work, or it can be done via acl lists.

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

Been on the phone to NTL at another customers house today. Spoke to Raj again (or another Raj). Tonight the story has changed from "No problem exists" to "We are fixing a problem in the Woking area, it should be fixed by 19.30".

Not holding my breath but at least its a step in the right direction.

I'll let you know the outcome next week when I am expecting responses from several customers.

Cheers everybody.

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

im so glad its not only me thats gettin hackoff with NTL
sayin theres no fault and sayin its my software thats the prob
i got 3mbit line and my downloads are about 100kbps each from some site its fine min 360k
reinstalled windows 3 times last week thinkin it was a leech or something like that but no still slow laggy

and i kno this prob is all over the UK and it started about 26 july
but i dont think that NTL knos there is a problem had 2 tecs round this week to sort my prob but they cant under stand it ether

so any help would be great

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

Where there are mass proxy issues they are turned off, as has happened in Nottingham, Luton and Manchester in the past. This was due to issues with the servers and resulting complaints.

I'm aware that it can be done with ACLs however I'm buggered if I'd want to administer it all manually. I'm guessing you had a chat with a network bod regarding WCCP. Nonetheless yes ACLs can be done exempting but as IPs aren't static, such a system would have to be administered manually for at least some time and masses of ACLs may induce performance issues it's not really a viable option.

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

Can Poplar be turned off then ?

Its awful at present :(

No one has contacted me yet from technical support either as promised 4 days ago...

I'm getting awful speeds from Telia in the USA now to the Poplar proxies, less than 40k a sec.

I'd post a trace but it would be from my ip - which is fine - put in the Poplar prox(ies) and its awful (as are speeds to Fileplanet & 3dgamers) as usual the proxy shuffle normally returns full speed after trying 2 or three different areas of the country.
__________________

Just got an answer to my ticket with my server.

They think the route is fine and it must be something at NTL:

Here is their reply with trace:

------------
I did an MTR run, it looks pretty alright from here actually:

1. 69-50-137-3.mach10hosting.com 0% 116 116 0 0 5 161
2. atl-bb1-geth1-3-0-0.telia.net 0% 116 116 9 0 2 54
3. ash-bb1-pos7-1-0-0.telia.net 3% 113 116 15 12 13 54
4. nyk-bb1-pos7-1-0.telia.net 0% 116 116 19 18 19 45
5. ldn-bb1-pos7-1-0.telia.net 12% 103 116 89 89 90 123
6. ldn-b2-pos9-0.telia.net 0% 115 116 89 89 89 89
7. ntl-110030-ldn-b2.c.telia.net 1% 114 115 89 89 90 139
8. bre-bb-b-so-510-0.inet.ntl.com 2% 113 115 90 89 92 137
9. bre-bb-a-ae0-0.inet.ntl.com 1% 114 115 90 89 92 164
10. win-bb-b-so-600-0.inet.ntl.com 1% 114 115 92 92 93 121
11. pop-bb-a-so-000-0.inet.ntl.com 0% 115 115 93 93 96 128
12. popl-t2core-a-pos31.inet.ntl.com 1% 114 115 91 90 96 265
13. popl-cache-9.server.ntli.net 1% 114 115 90 90 90 97

(ignore that Telia one, that's just them dropping too much icmp),

I figure that since the cache server is the last hop down the line in the run
that there's something odd at NTL between you and that machine.

------------

I just tried a download through Poplar and speeds are still sub 40k, other proxies are fine, I'm getting pretty pee'd off that this is taking NTL so long to respond to !

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

The problem is there is mass proxy problems already but NTL dont recognise this.

Static sites like news sites bbc.co.uk etc. are fine.
Dynamic sites like this site, other forums and webmail have problems.
Also like Ianuk has shown downloads get slowed down in many cases.
Sites have been known to ban proxies or not function properly eg. I cannot use the tweak tester on broadbandreports.com.

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

so how long til NTL recognise the problem

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

They wont recognise it as a problem unless the most basic of sites suddenly stop working. If bbc.co.uk and ntlworld.com work then its all good shape for them.

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

Perhaps someone from the team here could tell me how I can make someone at NTL aware of this really quite massive problem for those of us affected ?

I'm sure if you have a good proxy, and have full speed web browsing and downloads then you think we are just moaning, I assure you we are not, the proxy performance, at least for myself here on Poplar, is quite awful, I get less than 40k most of the times from a large number of sites.
The rest of the time I need to continally click links to get them to work, switching proxies brings them in instantly.

Switching proxies *always* fixes it, using NNTP and POP3 brings full speed - it *has* to be the proxies.

I've expended a great deal of time raising tickets with my hosts, and performing traces, I've wasted even more time switching proxies between almost every site I visit to get some kind of normal service, I have a 3 meg connection, yet through Poplar I get about 40-150k at max from many sites (other proxies give over 350k) - this cannot be right, I'm paying for a service I'm not getting :(

Forget 10mb, NTL's network here cannot even deliver 3mb (except it *can* - if the damn proxies are bypassed)

I've used official channels and been ignored.
I've raised the issue on here and given traces where necessary
I've proved that the same sites work on some proxies and not others.
I've had the 2 companies I host servers with both tell me that the speed problems lie with NTL and not them.

Yet No one from NTL will respond, this has been going on for ages, and I've been polite and patient, but there comes a time when perhaps more effort is needed - what point is the repsonsetek thing when no one bothers following up on problems raised using it ?? (I had a stock response about 6 days ago saying that someone from tech support would contact me - I've heard nothing)

Perhaps if I shout it from the rooftops:

NTL - THE NTL PROXIES AT POPLAR ARE FAULTY - PLEASE FIX THEM !!!

I don't think NTL even consider the proxies when they keep raising their speeds, the 3mb increase needed us to moan(http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/sh...ad.php?t=25562) that they were configured incorrectly (and they were) but now it seems they are sliding back into being crap again..

Put 'Proxy' or 'Proxies' in the search box on this forum, and LOOK at the results - this is a BIG BIG problem, yet its continually ignored (http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/sh...ad.php?t=19532)

Why on EARTH don't NTL fix these obviously flawed proxies ?
What is the point of continual speed increases, when they are impossible to achieve on web sites because of these stupid proxies ?

NTL cannot say they are not aware of these issues, enough of us have raised these issues (both officially and unofficially), I guess they don't have anyone that knows how to fix them - I suggest a trip to AOL, who despite their many faults are able to run proxies superbly that reach full speeds 99.9% of the time.

What a waste of everyones time this is :( :(

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

The ResponseTek system?

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

The system you provide, a direct link to NTL:

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/ntl.php

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

-=me tips my hat to IanUK=-
lol nicely put ;-)
do any NTL tec read this forum

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

I know what it is. That's why I was actually suggesting it..

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

Please read my post, I already did that....

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

Fair enough..

I personally don't have access to the execs at NTL, but I'll see if I can get one of the other mods to follow it up.

Also, have you tried running with no proxy set?

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

Thanks,

Yeah, with no proxy its default Poplar, thats the problem.

Other Proxies work but not my default one(s).
Also other Proxies are often just as bad, it seems the performance varies wildly.

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

Thanks from me as well, I have found specifying a proxy works in many cases, but the problem with that is opera sucks at using proxies, also one proxy never works very long so its a lot of juggling.

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

My main problem her lies at the feet of NTL. The support people try. They really do. But they dont appear to have the tools to do the job. "Ah so you ar MR ***" No I'm an It techician and there is a latency problem on this line "So you cannot access the internet".

Sigh here we go again. Script city.

Try bbc.co.uk

Nice try lets take the most well cached site in the world for trouble shooting.
How about trying http://www.zmag.org/ instead.

Relying on cached info to prove it is not a problem verges on criminal.

I DO have problems with outsourcing this support work but that is irrelevant.

If you do send it to India or wherever you have to give them the tools to fix it.

At least a decent escalation procedure that is transparent to the consumer.

Having to threaten court action to get NTL to admit there is even a problem should NOT be common practice.

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

yes ;)


Indeed, but it's certainly a start. You know what people are like, if I sent customers to that zmag site to test for HTTP connectivity, how on earth would we explain the usage of a site with the headline "the spirit of resistance lives"? The reason the BBC is generally chosen is because it's a popular neutral site with a short URL. However I can appreciate that the argument that "it's always up" is never a good argument due to the caching issue.

Unfortunatley, I see the issue with the "script city" style of conversation all the time. 99 times out of a 100, it's generally the result of agents not logging exactly what they've done, hence leaving it open for the following agents to repeat themselves.

I will agree though, going to court isn't good news at all.

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

just downloaded a 14meg file from guru3d.com on my 3mbit line

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y97...esGG/test2.jpg

some sites goood and some pooo

i still cant get over 100kb/s from ftp or dc++

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

Careful with the description of a latency issue on the line, browsing issues can't really be equated with latency issues.

BBC is a default choice because it's so well cached / mirrored, reduces the chances of a fault on a website's performance shiding a fault on the ntl network.

The rest of it I agree with though, proxy issues are something that's poorly dealt with not least because according to all metrics and readouts from the proxies they are performing well and are not overloaded in any way. (He says looking at the NetApp info).

Bet if you specify a proxy it resolves the issue?

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

I'd tend to agree with you, as *some* sites are full speed with the Poplar proxies and surely if they were overloaded everything would be slow, specifying a proxy works in the short term, and then a few days later that one is slow too (like my Telia USA site issue - I used the Bagely one and it was fine, but now that is slow too, so I switched to another one etc etc) - we the end users shouldn't have to do this - its time consuming and the whole point of proxies is to speed things up surely ?
The Telia proxy issue at least seems to be time related, Poplar is fast in the morning but slow from about lunchtime onwards, which *does* seem to suggest an overload somewhere, but other sites are slow all the time on certain proxies - the whole proxy issue needs an overhaul it seems to me, they plainly do not work well enough to provide a reliable service - maybe they were good before all these speed issues (they probably worked great when NTL was only dialup) but in these broadband days people want the speeds they pay for - currently 10mb is just a joke for web downloads in this area - which is a shame as NNTP & POP3 downloads show just how good the network behind the proxies is !

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

Yeah bad choice of url. I was just being lazy and looking for a url that would be unlikely to be widely cached. Using my business site might have looked a bit like self promotion. I should have picked something less controversial though.

Interestingly any google pages *always* seem to work, including searches for obscure items.

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

Ignition I think the problem is when it isnt cached, the proxy freaks out. Static sites like bbc are probably very high hit rate on the cache and perform fine on the proxies, things like this site and other forums which are dynamic sites will have a low cache hit ratio and these sites are the ones that have problems. Yes specifying a proxy usually is a workaround but not a fix, its somewhat a nuisance and the browser doesnt perform as well when it is using a proxy.

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

Again looking at todays replies (for which I am astonishingly grateful, thank you all).

I was doing what I blame people for all the time in not telling the full story.

There *was* a latency issue. I was in no way blaming the proxy issue on that, just trying to give as much relevant info to the poor guy at the end of the phone to try and help him fix the issue(s).

I took 5 calls today (which is pretty good for a dinky little one man band).

All local. All past customers with valid queries. 3 of them had been on to NTL 3 or more times in the last week. One of them is cancelling despite being on the full cable package.

I didn't fish for this information they were just "Oh by the way have you had anybody having problems with NTL broadband?" questions.

I've been self employed for 3 years in the same place and I have NEVER experienced this.

They should at the very least ackowledge a problem. I've worked with this stuff for years. Customers expect it to be like a TV. Rightly or wrongly. You turn it on and it works. If not you get a repair or new set.

On the positive side the status page appears to show stuff being knackered with no real fix date, which is honest enough. Not really obvious though is it?

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

No idea if its anything to do with the proxies problem but the network status shows:

'Network upgrades will result in a brief loss of service in the Leicester, Manchester, Poplar and Teeside areas.'

I guess I'll see tomorrow !

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

Wow still upgrades in Leics, been dozens since last year. another one scheduled 3 days after as well.

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

Looks like the Poplar network upgrade didn't affect the proxies, still useless here on the same sites as always.

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

just done some speed tests lol
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y97...speedtest1.jpg

:wtf:
on a 3mbit line

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

Less than 30k from Telia now, Bageley proxy giving 374k
Less than 100k from 3dGamers, Bageley gives less than 40k, Hersham gives 374k

*sigh*

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

Still terrible tonight, still no reply from anyone at NTL...

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

you are one voice out of 1.5mill and will be happily ignored :(

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

Looks that way, tomorrow it will be a fortnight since my official contact with NTL telling them about the poor Poplar Proxies, its obvious they know about the terrible proxies from the many many complaints people have made, but they have decided to ignore it - probably because they cannot do anything about it.

I've wasted a considerable amount of my time collecting traces and writing all these messages when I could be doing something better, NTL customer support really is awful, once they have your money they don't care it seems.

These are servers I own, I need good speeds to them or what is the point in paying for a 3mb connection, I have proved its the proxies, I have shown them traces, I've raised tickets with 2 of the biggest hosting companies in the USA - they have told me its the proxies, but *still* nothing is done.

As I have said many times (and proved when the 3mb increase came and the proxies were misconfigured) the proxies make 10mb useless, there is absolutely no point in anyone (in my area certainly) upgrading because they can't even reach 3mb most of the time let alone 10.

Pathetic

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

Don't understand why, but my connection dropped last night at about 2:30AM, and my modem refused to reboot. Just manually rebooted it, still didn't work, then it rebooted automatically :erm:

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

Ian I have said it numerous times now, they can do something about it. They can stop haveing them cumpolsary. But its a decision someone wont budge on. The cash they save I would guess is neglegible since browsers now days by default cache images. Browsing is so much faster and smoother on a broadband connection with no proxies, but so many of us here have got used to this. People go into robot mode when they specify a new proxy every day.

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

I see yet another proxy thread started today as well, this is surely a pretty big problem now, The team here have helped me a lot by trying to get someone at NTL to answer my Responsetek form and I thank them for it, and I shall continue to try and get an answer, but it looks like NTL know they are useless and don't care - so much for customer service (or indeed providing what we are paying for in those areas affected)

The NTL network when NOT using the proxies (FTP/NNTP/POP3) seems to be very good to me, when I don't use proxies I get very good speeds indeed, but web browsing takes several clicks on links to get anywhere and then it just crawls along, or gives an out of date page - or in a lot of cases refuses to load a site at all or until refreshed about 5 times.

All I can suggest at this stage is that everyone affected by this problem raise a Responsetek form, if we all do it then maybe they'll listen (although by the number of proxy problems reported on this forum over the last few years and still nothing is done I doubt it)

ho hum

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

this confuses me, i've never changed a proxy and never experienced a bad service, all my IE links work quickly as they should, why do people keep going on about NTL proxies, my service has been fine from ever since BB started years ago and i use it everyday?. Is it a Northern thing

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

I honestly think some people over hype these things, if it was a great a problem, there would of have been something done about it.

I only have to use a proxy to get to whatever site very rarely. I think the peeps who complain should state what proxy it is they are going through, if its *that* bad then I'm sure others who can try their proxy will agree.

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

Sorry but FFS.

I wouldn't be bothering to post here for fun.

How much plainer can I make it?

There are problems and NTL are useless at fixing them.

A customer signed up and was connected last week. I had to go back yesterday and was greatly relieved and, frankly, surprised to find it all working fine. This customer lives within 500 yards of two others who are having horrendous problems which I can't get fixed.

So yes some customers are currently having a good experience and well done for NTL for those. Getting some of them working fine idicates that the problems can be fixed.

Should be simple enough. Very basic but try looking at a happy customers setting on the same node and an unhappy one and figure out what is set up differently.

We are not over hyping this, we are incredibly frustrated.

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

Can I ask what type of sites you tend to visit? and where were you when the cableforum broke down under the ntl proxies over the last few days, I wonder if some people are soft and ignore problems like slow down of pages timeouts etc. Or it could be your proxy is one of few that work well and if so good for you.

There are actually 2 new threads I noticed, one is in the computers and IT forum where the user thought it was his pc, mods didnt move it for what reason they felt suitable.

I am in Leicester, east midlands. Colchester whereever that is their proxies suffer the same problems.
__________________

dnsreport has promoted me from a basic error to this"WARNING: You are using a web proxy that is currently being abused by malware. Please go here for more details. The web proxy IP is 82.3.32.76"

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

Lucky you, nope not a Northern thing, I'm in London - in fact the Northern proxies I try are better than Poplar.

LOL, I thought that too, but now that I've been trying since 12 August to get someone/anyone from NTL to respond through their official channels, I think not. Add to that the fact that *we* had to tell NTL when they brought in 3 meg that their proxies were wrongly configured for USA sites and you'll forgive me for not really agreeing with you there.

I've been quoting my proxy group all the way through this thread, I've been posting traces, I keep track of downloads to my servers at different times of the day, and some proxies work fine - think yourself lucky that you are using some that work ok, but please don't patronise those of us that are CLEARLY having problems and being ignored.

Maybe we are wrong, maybe its something all of us suffering have installed on our pc's, maybe we all use weird sites that no one else uses - maybe its space monkeys - unfortunately we won't know because no one from NTL will talk to me, it seems from reading proxy posts going back on this board for years that whenever proxies are mentioned that NTL clams up, and this seems to be the case again :(

I'm glad you can surf ok, I'm happy for you.
I shall console myself with that thought as I struggle to open my account in EBuyer for the 4th time....

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

Yeah I thought the same thing as you posted it, its contradicting when the saying is NTL will act upon it if people open their mouth's but the feedback channels I imagine are data going into oblivion.

When I spoke to simon duffy's PA the problem I had then was she hadnt the foggiest what I was on about as she had no technical knowledge, so whilst I got someone listening I had to explain to the best of my ability what was wrong.

Another problem is one day proxy A works well then goes bad after few hours so I switch to proxy B that works well for 10 minutes then I switch to proxy C that works well for 30 mins, I go back to proxy A which is all hunky dory again, I get the feeling there are dozens of people doing the exact same thing which is why we going around in circles on the proxy cycling, and there are the sites that just dont work well at all such as ebuyer and ebay, hotmail, dnsreport.

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

OK, whatever, carry on complaining but if it is your proxy, then why not just change and help the situation.

Try mine, 'if they all keep failing' - nott-cache-5.server.ntli.net:8080

Re: Network problems Tonight ?
 

Do be aware that ebuyer are desparately over their sever capacity at the moment. I buy a lot of kit from them and they are horiibly slow web wise.

A victim of their own success.


Anything after 11 am forget it.