Network problems Tonight ?

[JackJones-ÃÂÂÂÂ�ÃÂÂÂÂ�-ÃÃ]

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



some sites goood and some pooo

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

[Ignition]

Originally Posted by jonholyfield

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.

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?

[IanUK]

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).

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 !

[jonholyfield]

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.

[Chrysalis]

Originally Posted by Ignition

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?

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.

[jonholyfield]

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

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?

[IanUK]

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 !

[Chrysalis]

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

[IanUK]

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

[JackJones-ÃÂÂÂÂ�ÃÂÂÂÂ�-ÃÃ]

just done some speed tests lol



on a 3mbit line

[IanUK]

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

*sigh*

[IanUK]

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

[Chrysalis]

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

[IanUK]

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

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