Cable Forum - View Single Post - Connection dropping / packet loss

steve_smith · 30-08-2004, 16:01

Halleluja! Someone else in the Bournemouth/Poole area having the same problems as me for the past 3 months.

Packet loss on small packets (like the Windows default ping size of 32 bytes) isn't too severe, about 3 out of every 100 on a good day (mind you, should be zero). However, send bigger packets (such as 1000 bytes) and it shoots up to somewhere between 30 and 50%

What does this mean? FTP upload is a slow painful experience, as is sending large emails (both prone to total failure, and even when working, slower than dialup by some magnitude).

After much complaining, an NTL engineer (who I think was supposed to be a network specialist) came out last Monday and pulled my config to pieces (checked the cables, tried swapping out the modem), because NTL were not aware of any problems in my area and couldn't understand why I was having trouble... GRRRRRRR! Lo and behold he got a phone call half way through the visit from someone to tell him was he aware that there was a known area problem on our segment of the network.

He said he would go off an help them track it down and would be back in touch. For the next couple of days, the connection went up and down a lot as if someone was working on it. Since then, it settled back down in to the usual poor (but often consistent) level of service, and I haven't heard anything from NTL. So I guess they gave up trying to fix it.

When there is a known problem like this, for the sake of the customers, they should really be in a position to throw more manpower at it to get it fixed. I don't mind waiting a few weeks to get something working properly, but we're talking about problems since May!

Steve.

30-08-2004, 16:01	#8
steve_smith Inactive Join Date: May 2004 Location: Poole, Dorset Posts: 70	Re: Connection dropping / packet loss - 1MB cable through STB in Bournemouth Halleluja! Someone else in the Bournemouth/Poole area having the same problems as me for the past 3 months. Packet loss on small packets (like the Windows default ping size of 32 bytes) isn't too severe, about 3 out of every 100 on a good day (mind you, should be zero). However, send bigger packets (such as 1000 bytes) and it shoots up to somewhere between 30 and 50% What does this mean? FTP upload is a slow painful experience, as is sending large emails (both prone to total failure, and even when working, slower than dialup by some magnitude). After much complaining, an NTL engineer (who I think was supposed to be a network specialist) came out last Monday and pulled my config to pieces (checked the cables, tried swapping out the modem), because NTL were not aware of any problems in my area and couldn't understand why I was having trouble... GRRRRRRR! Lo and behold he got a phone call half way through the visit from someone to tell him was he aware that there was a known area problem on our segment of the network. He said he would go off an help them track it down and would be back in touch. For the next couple of days, the connection went up and down a lot as if someone was working on it. Since then, it settled back down in to the usual poor (but often consistent) level of service, and I haven't heard anything from NTL. So I guess they gave up trying to fix it. When there is a known problem like this, for the sake of the customers, they should really be in a position to throw more manpower at it to get it fixed. I don't mind waiting a few weeks to get something working properly, but we're talking about problems since May! Steve.