are ntl traffic shaping ports?

Chrysalis · 14-08-2005, 19:38

I have noticed some repeatable problems starting from I think is friday 12th august. At first I thought it was a technicable problem but it now seems like traffic shaping.

Here is some speed tests from ftp sites (they dont use port 21)

Speed from a .nl 10mbit dedicated server no one else downloading of it.

ME
Transferred: testfile.zip 50,000,000 bytes in 4 minutes 50 seconds (168.1 KB/s)

Nildram 2mbit
transferred 1 file(s) - Total: 14.3 M byte(s) in 01:04 (233.06 KBps)

Speed from an .de 100mbit dedicated server no one else downloading of it.

ME
Transferred: 015MB 15,000,000 bytes in 1 minute 47 seconds (135.7 KB/s)

Nildram 2mbit
transferred 1 file(s) - Total: 14.3 M byte(s) in 01:08 (221.61 KBps)

Speed from a .us 100mbit

ME
Transferred 1 file totaling 7,556,935 bytes in 34.39 seconds (218.4 KB/s)

Nildram 2mbit
testfile.zip 14.3 Mbytes/01:04(s)/232.84Kbps

Now with the .de server, there has never been any problems before like this apart from ages ago when my ubr got congested. So I decided to download a file of the http server, speed was flat 240kB/sec. File of ftp server up and down like a yoyo avg 125kB/sec. pasv port range set to 10100-10200.

I did some experiments on a few other servers using various port ranges and the result was the same every time, max speed over http but low speed on any high port. What could the explanation be other then traffic shaping? I did some traceroute's and there is nothing unusual in them.

Chrysalis · 14-08-2005, 20:12

Ok doing some more investigation the following seems to have happened.

NTL -> KPN port shaping.
NTL -> Telia normal no shaping
NTL -> Leaseweb port shaping
NTL -> Telehouse uk no shaping

Is this possible due to peering congestion in europe? or just something technical?

Chrysalis · 14-08-2005, 23:10

Well both leaseweb and kpn have hit full speed recovery at around 10.30pm onwards drifting a little at small periods, which suggests NTL peering congestion to those isp's.

The_real_dj · 14-08-2005, 23:58

dont think there is any traffic shaping going on to be honest! Ive just had a bit torrent hit over 300K per sec!

Chrysalis · 15-08-2005, 10:43

Doesnt look like it was NTL doing over the board shaping with it only affecting some isp's but rather either the isp's at the other end doing it or NTL doing it on specific congested routes.

simbr · 15-08-2005, 20:37

Bittorrent connects to multiple peers so you can't compare to downloading fom a single location.

Chrysalis · 16-08-2005, 16:18

luckily it seems to have recided and since monday morning things have been normal.

Chrysalis · 16-08-2005, 19:11

problem is back right now, I got someone on ukonline to test they get 8mbit in one thread so this is unique to ntl. Of couse port 80 is fine again.

Chrysalis · 19-08-2005, 14:03

Ok I apologise, but I think I was wrong.

I had some tweaks on this pc for tcpip stuff which were not tested beforehand and removed them and only left the rwin tweak in place which seems to have resolved it now, I did this after another ntl user confirmed his speeds were ok.

I got some new tweaks in place now which are performing very well, which I might post after I do lots of testing.

SOSAGES · 19-08-2005, 15:22

one thing i learnt - never tweak

Chrysalis · 19-08-2005, 17:21

If I left it on XP defaults, my downloading from most offshore locations would be abysmal a large rwin is needed.

21-08-2005, 14:45

i kno 3 swedish 100mbit users and iv downloaded test files from them with a number of ways to connect like ftp . dc++ before i could always get 369Kbs from anyone of them now it
tops out at 98Kbs !!!

ian@huth · 21-08-2005, 14:53

There is a lot of pipe between users, particularly if they are in different countries. What you can get depends not only on your connection and that of the system at the other end but on how the pipe between is used, who is using it and what speeds they have. Bottlenecks can sometimes occur which seriously affect not only the part of the networks where they are but on surrounding networks that have previously been troublefree.

Chrysalis · 21-08-2005, 21:36

I think with sweden isp bbb they cap traffic to most uk isp's, if you fxp to yourself on port 81 or port 444 then it should flow at max speed.

Chrysalis · 22-08-2005, 00:45

interesting speedtests. FTP.

ev1 to ntl per thread 120kB/sec
ev1 to nildram per thread 240kB/sec

orangefiber to ntl per thread 100kB/sec
orangefiber to nildram per thread 240kB/sec

Speeds are flatlined indicating a cap rather then congestion, opening 2nd thread allows 200kB.

both providers utilising cogent, do NTL have a peering problem with them?