Packet Loss In Cardiff

[IanGuy]

I would like to report that I am experiencing packet loss in the Danescourt area of Cardiff.

In games such as call of duty I experience connection interrupted messages and 999 pings.

Sometimes the RDY light goes off and sometimes it stays on but the US light doesn't flash.

Could anyone look in to this for me please? Has been like this since around 1st November. Have checked the levels using 192.168.100.1 and all seem fine. (though I can't check the upstream SNR obviously).

EDIT: Just did a tracert of www.cableforum.co.uk got these results:

Tracing route to cableforum.co.uk [66.199.235.18]
over a maximum of 30 hops:
1 6 ms 19 ms 7 ms 10.157.103.254
2 6 ms 6 ms 7 ms cdif-t2cam1-b-ge-wan34-112.inet.ntl.com [62.254.
254.181]
3 6 ms 8 ms 6 ms cdif-t2core-b-ge-wan61.inet.ntl.com [62.254.253.
161]
4 10 ms 8 ms 9 ms bre-bb-b-so-300-0.inet.ntl.com [213.105.172.49]
5 11 ms 12 ms 13 ms bre-bb-a-ae0-0.inet.ntl.com [213.105.172.86]
6 13 ms 13 ms 14 ms gfd-bb-b-so-700-0.inet.ntl.com [213.105.172.150]
7 58 ms 59 ms * tele-ic-2-so-100-0.inet.ntl.com [62.253.185.74]
8 21 ms 17 ms 19 ms linx.ge-0-0-0.gbr1.ltn.nac.net [195.66.224.94]
9 86 ms 88 ms 86 ms 0.ge-6-2-0.gbr2.nyc.nac.net [209.123.11.181]
10 92 ms 84 ms 85 ms 94.gi4-2.esd1.nyc.nac.net [64.21.102.14]
11 87 ms 85 ms 86 ms 10.gi1-1.esd1.tlw.nac.net [209.123.11.230]
12 86 ms 88 ms 86 ms ezzi-2.customer.tlw.nac.net [207.99.110.174]
13 89 ms 88 ms 87 ms 65.125.239.146
14 * * * Request timed out.
15 * * * Request timed out.
16 * * * Request timed out.
17 * * * Request timed out.
18 * * * Request timed out.
19 *


And another of www.itv.co.uk just to be sure:

Tracing route to vip1.carltononline.com [193.35.8.15]
over a maximum of 30 hops:
1 7 ms 6 ms 13 ms 10.157.103.254
2 7 ms 7 ms 13 ms cdif-t2cam1-a-ge-wan34-112.inet.ntl.com [62.254.
254.53]
3 8 ms 8 ms 7 ms cdif-t2core-a-ge-wan62.inet.ntl.com [62.254.253.
41]
4 10 ms 9 ms 11 ms bir-bb-a-so-220-0.inet.ntl.com [213.105.172.45]
5 8 ms 9 ms 10 ms bir-bb-b-ae0-0.inet.ntl.com [62.253.185.154]
6 10 ms 11 ms 9 ms nth-bb-a-so-300-0.inet.ntl.com [62.253.185.105]
7 13 ms 16 ms 11 ms nth-bb-b-ae0-0.inet.ntl.com [62.253.185.118]
8 * 1007 ms 235 ms lee-bb-a-so-600-0.inet.ntl.com [62.253.185.102]
9 19 ms 20 ms 19 ms pop-bb-b-so-100-0.inet.ntl.com [62.253.185.238]
10 20 ms 21 ms 23 ms tele-ic-1-so-000-0.inet.ntl.com [62.253.185.82]
11 21 ms 21 ms 20 ms ge0-2-0.cr0.ldn0.as8785.net [195.66.224.68]
12 23 ms 23 ms 21 ms 212.82.66.4
13 * * * Request timed out.
14 * * * Request timed out.
15 * *

also just did one for yahoo, just to triple back up my point. Yahoo.co.uk should be fine right? just look at my results :

Tracing route to www2.vip.ukl.yahoo.com [217.12.3.11]
over a maximum of 30 hops:
1 7 ms 7 ms 5 ms 10.157.103.254
2 6 ms 7 ms 6 ms cdif-t2cam1-a-ge-wan34-112.inet.ntl.com [62.254.
254.53]
3 8 ms 7 ms 5 ms cdif-t2core-a-ge-wan62.inet.ntl.com [62.254.253.
41]
4 8 ms 9 ms 10 ms bir-bb-a-so-220-0.inet.ntl.com [213.105.172.45]
5 724 ms * 2062 ms win-bb-b-so-700-0.inet.ntl.com [62.253.185.142]
6 15 ms 28 ms 15 ms pop-bb-a-so-000-0.inet.ntl.com [62.253.185.201]
7 62 ms 52 ms 67 ms tele-ic-2-so-000-0.inet.ntl.com [62.253.185.86]
8 17 ms 18 ms 17 ms bas2.73.the.yahoo.com [195.66.224.129]
9 18 ms 17 ms 18 ms bas1.101.the.yahoo.com [217.12.0.233]
10 22 ms 20 ms 19 ms bas1.4.ukl.yahoo.com [217.12.0.141]
11 1380 ms 3532 ms 720 ms www2.vip.ukl.yahoo.com [217.12.3.11]
Trace complete.


Notice the random spikes? What is causing this? I have tried different proxies but the problem is still present, would really like it if someone could help me with this issue.

[Ignition]

I can't see anything clearly wrong there to be honest with you sir.

No packet loss to the hop before the yahoo.co.uk box and good pings, ditto the other two addresses you traced.

13 89 ms 88 ms 87 ms 65.125.239.146 <<< Very good.
12 23 ms 23 ms 21 ms 212.82.66.4 << good
10 22 ms 20 ms 19 ms bas1.4.ukl.yahoo.com [217.12.0.141] << v good
11 1380 ms 3532 ms 720 ms www2.vip.ukl.yahoo.com [217.12.3.11] << cack but nothing to say it's an ntl issue.

[Chrysalis]

5 724 ms * 2062 ms win-bb-b-so-700-0.inet.ntl.com [62.253.185.142]

that looks a bit out of whack

[IanGuy]

Every time i run the tracert, different things have high pings, for example, the yahoo.co.uk tracert i did above the first hop got 7ms, 7ms, 5ms.

I just ran the test again and the first hop got: 235ms, 7ms, *.

It seems to do it at a random time, where the connection seems to slow right down.

EDIT: It seems to have resolved itself now :s, do you know of any work that may have been carried out in my area to cause this issue?

Just to compare to the tracert i got from yahoo.co.uk before, this is what i get now:

Tracing route to yahoo.co.uk [217.12.3.11]
over a maximum of 30 hops:
1 12 ms 7 ms 7 ms 10.157.103.254
2 9 ms 6 ms 6 ms cdif-t2cam1-a-ge-wan34-112.inet.ntl.com [62.254.
254.53]
3 12 ms 6 ms 5 ms cdif-t2core-a-ge-wan62.inet.ntl.com [62.254.253.
41]
4 13 ms 8 ms 9 ms bir-bb-a-so-220-0.inet.ntl.com [213.105.172.45]
5 14 ms 13 ms 13 ms win-bb-b-so-700-0.inet.ntl.com [62.253.185.142]
6 15 ms 16 ms 14 ms pop-bb-a-so-000-0.inet.ntl.com [62.253.185.201]
7 14 ms 15 ms 14 ms tele-ic-2-so-000-0.inet.ntl.com [62.253.185.86]
8 17 ms 16 ms 19 ms bas2.73.the.yahoo.com [195.66.224.129]
9 18 ms 18 ms 17 ms bas1.101.the.yahoo.com [217.12.0.233]
10 19 ms 18 ms 17 ms bas1.4.ukl.yahoo.com [217.12.0.141]
11 18 ms 30 ms 18 ms www2.vip.ukl.yahoo.com [217.12.3.11]
Trace complete.

There is a clear difference as not one of them is over 30ms, and not one of them timed out.

[IanGuy]

I knew something was going wrong. Around 10pm Saturday 6th November DTV and Broadband went down, no SNR signal and the return power reported -60.

Both services were down from 10pm Saturday until today, Monday 8th @ around 3pm.
This meant work i needed to do on the internet, football, films etc that I am paying good money for I was unable to watch. I couldn't ring customer services as they are stupidly closed on Sundays.

I will be ringing customer services ASAP in order to get a refund of some cash.

EDIT: Just rang customer services, first guy told me that the STB was faulty, I proceeded to tell him that a friend in the same area's service was off at exactly the same time and my SACM was unable to get a connection aswell, so he handed me over to the faults department.
Faults department admitted there was a fault in the area and when asked if I could have some sort of refund for the service that was paid for but not received, I was told that it was not NTL's policy to do so and was stubborn on this policy and would not give any kind of compensation. You don't subscribe to paper delivery for a month, don't receive 2 papers and still have to pay for them do you? Why should I do so with a cable service? He understood the situation and also stated that he thought it was stupid that they didn't have anyone to work Sundays. Basically he said it was tough luck.

Anyone have any views on this?

[shuffler]

I too live in the Danescourt area of Cardiff and suffered loss of broadband service all day Sunday to 10.30 this morning with just the D/S light flickering and the power light showing. When I eventually got through to tech support on Sunday I was told I had a faulty modem and an engineer would have to be summoned. I fortunately have a spare cable modem which I know is 100% OK and this confirmed what I thought, which was line signal loss.

Unfortunately here in Danescourt we are not "broadband enabled" due to the high NTL takeup so we are at the mercy of NTL re service and I am very impressed with NTL's ability to fix faulty modems without even phoning or calling in person, or could it possibly be that, heaven forbid, the fault was with NTL? Either way, why do they feel the need to lie? A simple "There's a fault at...." etc would go alot further than a blatant lie.

Since I was forced to return to NTL broadband due to the lack of ADSL I have not had one correct bill, no wonder customers leave in droves.

[ProfPete]

Originally Posted by Chrysalis

5 724 ms * 2062 ms win-bb-b-so-700-0.inet.ntl.com [62.253.185.142]

that looks a bit out of whack

Possibly, but it returned to normal the hop after, so its not affecting traffic _through_ that router. Wouldn't be particularly worried. tele-ic-2 is a big fat router, and often refuses to respond to pings, even though traffic going through it is fine - all hell would break loose if it wasn't, as that and ic-1 are probably the two most-used routes on the network when going to uk-based sites.

If you had packet loss being caused by your local HFC network, you'd see it on the 10.x.x.x address.

I suspect two separate issues here, one of which probably isn't an issue. Tracerouting stuff only helps layer 3 (IP). The ready light going off (especially in relations to problems with DTV) is a local HFC problem, and as is said above appears to have been fixed now.

Wouldn't be surprised at all if there was some sort of firework damage to things - I know in Newport fireworks have been fired ACROSS busy streets, its quite possible that one could have hit an ntl box the opposite side...

[IanGuy]

I really am annoyed at the fact that they said it was tough, and would not do anything to provide customer satisfaction, even when I stated I would change the DTV to Sky, they said good luck.

BTW: RDY and SYNC lights were off for all of the downtime.

[Neil]

Originally Posted by IanGuy

I really am annoyed at the fact that they said it was tough, and would not do anything to provide customer satisfaction, even when I stated I would change the DTV to Sky, they said good luck.

BTW: RDY and SYNC lights were off for all of the downtime.

<Devil's Advocate>The thing is, you signed up to a service (ntl) that states in it's Ts & Cs that they don't guarantee a fault free service, so any claims you feel you may have for compensation have no (legal) grounds.

Having said that, I hear you as you are obviously unhappy with the way the CSR handled your situation.

Section 10: http://www.home.ntl.com/page/termsresidential

</Devil's Advocate>

..and this is probably true of most residential suppliers.

[Neil]

Originally Posted by JohnHorb

..and this is probably true of most residential suppliers.

Absolutely

Unless you pay for a service that includes SLAs & dedicated fix times (I'm not so sure such things are offered by any ISP for home users?) then you have to put up with the service on offer, or find a better/more reliable one with better customer service (that's not aimed @ ntl-it applies to whatever company you are unhappy with)

[IanGuy]

I understand that I don't have any legal grounds, but I have read many stories on this forum and digital spy where people have had a refund for the service they have not received.

..yes, but usually(?) after poor service for weeks or months, not just a few days.

[IanGuy]

Just read my many posts on this forum about poor service with freezing pictures, RDY light dropping etc. Think you will see at least 5 topics.

I think I wouldn't have been annoyed about the situation if there would have been someone to get in contact with on Sunday, I really do think that it is stupid not to have CS on one of the main days of the week people will be using the service.

Point taken, but did CS rep know about previous problems?