Kitz Forum

Broadband Related => ISPs => Topic started by: testaccount on December 06, 2007, 08:11:25 PM

Title: Sky - High latency - & possible contention?
Post by: testaccount on December 06, 2007, 08:11:25 PM
Actually I just had another thought - this exchange has always been bad for contention.  That sky dslam seemed to fill up pretty quick... too damn quick!  I wonder if a pile of heavies went over there and thats partially why the BTw dslam is now behaving?

Quick notes for me to look at later

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/results/id/119697145356713323144.html

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/results/id/119697166264743923201.html

http://www.speedtest.bbmax.co.uk/results.php?t=1196972159&v=2971733

Tracing route to bbc.co.uk [212.58.224.131]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1     1 ms    <1 ms    <1 ms  myrouter.home [192.168.0.1]
  2    95 ms    79 ms    79 ms  cr0.lcflw.uk.easynet.net [87.87.250.215]
  3    79 ms    75 ms    74 ms  87.87.141.225
  4    91 ms    92 ms    91 ms  bundle-2.er10.thlon.ov.easynet.net [195.66.224.4
3]
  5   186 ms   220 ms   217 ms  bbc-gw0-linx.prt0.rbsov.bbc.co.uk [195.66.224.19
4]
  6   131 ms    93 ms    91 ms  212.58.238.149
  7    91 ms   112 ms    94 ms  rdirwww-vip.thdo.bbc.co.uk [212.58.224.131]

Trace complete.
Title: Re: Sky - High latency - & possible contention?
Post by: mr_chris on December 07, 2007, 12:53:12 AM
mm mmmmm... is that from your exchange? Betcha glad you didn't go with UKO then!
Title: Re: Sky - High latency - & possible contention?
Post by: kitz on December 07, 2007, 12:58:22 AM
Has anyone actually heard of contention on a sky/easynet exchange before now?

Yeah I know this exchange has its history and so I really cant help but have a familiar feel with this :(  but on top of that there's also something "not right" with the high latency either.

Speed at its lowest point @ around 8pm was circa 750kbps even upstream was a bit variable.
http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/results/id/119697145356713323144.html
http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/results/id/119697166264743923201.html
http://www.speedtest.bbmax.co.uk/results.php?t=1196972159&v=2971733

I do know that a month or so ago sky has stopped taking orders on the exchange is it was supposedly full despite only being enabled for about 6 months or so.  However if they are now taking orders again - one would have hoped that it was cause the kit had been upgraded?


Line stats 40dB atten. SNR Margin 22dB. on the base account. - Router Sagem F@st

Checked filters - took some of my spares.  Checked PC - No malware . Using NetMeter - confirmed no other traffic present.  Double checked wireless security and changed default login. Test Socket etc. Also checked using my lappy. Only piece of hardware not changed was the router - but that is going to be difficult since the login is locked into the sagem fast and as yet afaik no-ones managed to hack it.

Browsing seemed sluggish and slow - but that could be cause Im used to 8Mb.  Despite what some may say - I do and have visibly noticed when speeds start to drop anyhow.

Code: [Select]
Tracing route to bbc.co.uk [212.58.224.131]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1     1 ms    <1 ms    <1 ms  myrouter.home [192.168.0.1]
  2    95 ms    79 ms    79 ms  cr0.lcflw.uk.easynet.net [87.87.250.215]
  3    79 ms    75 ms    74 ms  87.87.141.225
  4    91 ms    92 ms    91 ms  bundle-2.er10.thlon.ov.easynet.net [195.66.224.43]
  5   186 ms   220 ms   217 ms  bbc-gw0-linx.prt0.rbsov.bbc.co.uk [195.66.224.194]
  6   131 ms    93 ms    91 ms  212.58.238.149
  7    91 ms   112 ms    94 ms  rdirwww-vip.thdo.bbc.co.uk [212.58.224.131]

Trace complete.

Line is obviously interleaved but thats some hellish increase in latency! - when mine is around 15ms to the Beeb.
Admittedly by the time I left @ 10ish speed had increased to just over 1700kbps.  Latency was still pretty carp though and hadnt changed - at 79ms to "first hop".

-----

Will contact someone else this w/e who I know's on sky and get him to do a tracert.
Jabns - any of your mates using sky seeing or saying anything similar?
Title: Re: Sky - High latency - & possible contention?
Post by: kitz on December 07, 2007, 01:00:14 AM
yeah just see my other post - was going to delete the one above 
and only posted those there quickly whilst at the premises... thinking I'd post properly when I got home.
Reason I logged in as the test account since I didnt want to muck up what Id read and hadnt.
Title: Re: Sky - High latency - & possible contention?
Post by: guest on December 07, 2007, 07:05:24 AM
Tracing route to bbc.co.uk [212.58.224.131]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1     1 ms    <1 ms    <1 ms  server-a.homelan.local [192.168.0.1]
  2     2 ms     2 ms     1 ms  192.168.10.2
  3    35 ms    32 ms    46 ms  dr3.bllon.uk.easynet.net [212.134.11.137]
  4    33 ms    35 ms    34 ms  ge-2-0-0.46.br1.bllon.uk.easynet.net [82.109.182.130]
  5    34 ms    33 ms    33 ms  ge0-1-0.er4.bllon.uk.easynet.net [212.135.12.45]
  6    34 ms    44 ms    33 ms  ge1-0-0.er3.tclon.uk.easynet.net [82.108.6.146]
  7    34 ms    34 ms    33 ms  ge0-0-0.er3.thlon.uk.easynet.net [82.108.6.150]
  8    36 ms    34 ms    33 ms  bbc-gw0-easynet.prt0.rbsov.bbc.co.uk [217.204.61.146]
  9    35 ms    33 ms    34 ms  212.58.238.133
 10    34 ms    34 ms    34 ms  rdirwww-vip.thdo.bbc.co.uk [212.58.224.131]

Trace complete.

Interesting differences in routing. The trace above is pretty much like that 24/7.

Was the connection you did the trace from a Sky or UKO connection? I've heard suggestions that UKO have their "own" ports and (virtual) backhaul from exchanges - no idea whether that's true or not.
Title: Re: Sky - High latency - & possible contention?
Post by: guest on December 07, 2007, 07:54:37 AM
That's contention. The backhaul is saturated IMHO.

It is what we all saw back in 2001 when the old BT managed home gateways got overloaded and it's the same as I saw on Zen in 2006 (old DSLAM remember kitz?). Uncontrolled contention = increased latency so I think we can safely assume that there's no significant QoS/management being applied on the backhaul.

Edit - the thought occurs that the connection could have been wrongly identified as going over the 40GB limit?
Title: Re: Sky - High latency - & possible contention?
Post by: kitz on December 07, 2007, 10:04:18 AM
>> the thought occurs that the connection could have been wrongly identified as going over the 40GB limit?

Unlikely - Its a new connection.
When I left at 10, speed was just over 1700 kbps so obviously the line is capable.  Its worst was at around 8pm.
The dslam only went in about 6 months or so ago.

That"first hop" latency never dropped to below 79ms though and it was fairly consistent at that... & seems to be a "feature" of the line
Title: Re: Sky - High latency - & possible contention?
Post by: kitz on December 07, 2007, 10:11:17 AM
Sky connection.

>> I've heard suggestions that UKO have their "own" ports and (virtual) backhaul from exchanges

mhmmm.  When I phoned UKO a month or so back the guy I spoke to said they definitely had their own allocation of ports and it was him that implied that they had their own VP too.  Entirely possible.

---

Edit I wish I knew someone on UKO on this exchange.

btw - just a thought rizla.... 
do you know anyone on your exchange that has a sky connection that you could compare tracerts with?

Title: Re: Sky - High latency - & possible contention?
Post by: guest on December 07, 2007, 12:40:33 PM
The guy across the road is on Sky - I pointed out he spent enough to get it free, but he went for the 16Mbps option for a tenner a month. He had the same latency as me last I checked.

However you're saying that line is on the base package so we're not comparing apples with apples are we? I wonder whether the throttling (down to 2Mbps) is the issue here. That account has a 2GB limit as well but what happens if you exceed that I don't know.

It still looks like contention to me but unless you test in the wee small hours its going to be difficult to prove one way or another.