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Author Topic: Are BT throttling connections?  (Read 36831 times)

burakkucat

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Re: Are BT throttling connections?
« Reply #30 on: December 13, 2014, 01:16:25 AM »

A bit more digging and Talktalk also use barefruit, they call it "DNS enhancing service".   Talktalk provide an opt out though - link

I have searched all through the TT "My Account" web page (logged into my account, of course  ;) ) and can find no mention of a "DNS enhancing service".  ???
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kitz

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Re: Are BT throttling connections?
« Reply #31 on: December 13, 2014, 01:57:08 AM »

It appears that Talktalk OCE's are aware of it (unlike BTs)!  This is from April this year

http://community.talktalk.co.uk/t5/Computers-Gaming/Barefruit-co-uk-DNS-enhancing-service-formerly-Tiscali/td-p/1237525

ETA 
a more up to date post a few weeks ago.
http://community.talktalk.co.uk/t5/Known-Service-Issues/Error-Replacement-Service/td-p/1535504

Quote
The ability to opt-out of the service isn't working as it should. Our engineers are working hard to fix the opt-out function and hope to have the issue resolved by the end of January.

« Last Edit: December 13, 2014, 01:59:56 AM by kitz »
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Chrysalis

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Re: Are BT throttling connections?
« Reply #32 on: December 13, 2014, 02:17:24 AM »

I am not savvy into the BB network after it leaves my household yes I can get my head around the DLM but this area network or backbone stuff is to complicated for me.

Lets see if I am understanding some stuff here  ??? the business customers on FTTC is effecting the residential customer ?

No..   BT are meddling with parts of the interwebs which IMHO they shouldnt be.   DNS (Domain Name System)  is what converts the webpage url you type in your browser into the correct machine readable address so that you end up where you want to go.  Think of it like a huge telephone directory for the internet.

They appear to be only doing so with the residential users and not the business accounts.   They are using a third party which can interfere with the results that get returned, and which seems to be slowing down their viewing of webpages etc.
What is wrong is that they are doing this in such a way that even if the EU wants to use another DNS service (such as google or openDNS) they cant :( 




is there a page for dummies one what BT are doing?

I am reading posts about poor upload speeds and now DNS redirecting?

What is actually happening?

If they are redirecting a "no reply" aka NX DNS requests to some redirect page then that is a big nono in my book, its one of the reasons I stopped using opendns years ago.
« Last Edit: December 13, 2014, 02:19:43 AM by Chrysalis »
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pedro492

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Re: Are BT throttling connections?
« Reply #33 on: December 13, 2014, 03:00:18 AM »

This has got to be more serious than 'just' DNS Hijacking.  On its own, even BT (a.k.a. Inept-R-Us) could have identified and remedied that problem; a problem dating back to Dec 2013 if not earlier, and entirely of its own making.

There must be more to this Massive Service Outage.   BT has had two weeks now of relentless complaints to work on.  It's not just an overnight outage, nor is it regionalised - it's affecting the whole country, and it long pre-dates the fleetingly poor weather conditions in the north of England which some have blamed.

It's strange too that BT is not really disclosing anything meaningful.  In fact the Beast of Newgate Street is trivialising it, and wasting everyone's time.   "Support" staff in Mumbai are still going through the motions in their mindless scripts. Still telling us to turn our routers off and on, and to re-boot our PCs, and such like.

Not just the usual BT incompetence, but something much more serious then? A malicious attack on its network maybe?  A sustained ambush it would prefer we never learnt about?  Is The Beast staying mum "to starve the terrorist / hijacker of the oxygen of publicity?"  (to quote the Wicked Witch herself.)

Without wishing to point fingers, but the Anglo-American economic warfare being waged today against the Russian Federation - viz the attack on the Rouble; the economic sanctions imposed over the contrived MH17 clap-trap; the wild anti-Kremlin, anti-Putin rhetoric, and the malicious sub-profitable pricing of Brent crude to damage Russia's (huge) oil interests - won't win us any friends.  Perhaps, in combination, those things might even have provoked a retaliation? In the form of a state-sponsored cyber-attack on our incumbent telco's network?  Pure speculation, of course.

On BT's forum, one thread started just four days ago (Dec 8th) now fills thirty thirty-one pages of complaints.  With, as far as I can see, just one official response. Some hapless BT representative (in Mumbai, no doubt) profusely thanked everyone for posting "very helpful" ping stats!

https://community.bt.com/t5/BT-Infinity-Speed-Connection/BT-Infinity-issues-for-the-last-few-days/td-p/1420828/page/31

God Help Us All if BT is relying on suggestions from its own support forums to solve the problem! ::)

Possibly unrelated but we haven't been able to log into "My BT" (account information) on the BT website for some days now.  Since December 1st (at the latest), it has reported the following error message:

"Sorry! We're not able to show your bill and usage details at the moment as the website is undergoing maintenance.  Please try again later."



Seams.  Creaking!

Now, where's that 4G dongle gone?  Time to blow the dust off it.  Superfast Broadband was a nice idea while it lasted!  8)
« Last Edit: December 13, 2014, 05:51:43 AM by pedro492 »
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kitz

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Re: Are BT throttling connections?
« Reply #35 on: December 13, 2014, 10:44:34 AM »

On the Community Care forums

Quote
The tech team have got back to us to say that the issue has been fixed after some faulty hardware was isolated and taken out of service. We are sorry for any issues that this caused.

So thats it for an explanation?  Quite strange that what ever it was has not been fixed, repaired or replaced, but 'taken out of service'
It would be interesting to see if anyone on BT can now change their DNS.
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simoncraddock

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Re: Are BT throttling connections?
« Reply #36 on: December 13, 2014, 11:06:42 AM »

Is there a way to test this as mine have always pointed to Google?

What's interesting is if it was on BT's network why were other ISP's unaffected?
This has to be something unique to BT customers only.
« Last Edit: December 13, 2014, 11:17:34 AM by simoncraddock »
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pooclah

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Re: Are BT throttling connections?
« Reply #37 on: December 13, 2014, 11:25:27 AM »

On the Community Care forums

Quote
The tech team have got back to us to say that the issue has been fixed after some faulty hardware was isolated and taken out of service. We are sorry for any issues that this caused.

So thats it for an explanation?  Quite strange that what ever it was has not been fixed, repaired or replaced, but 'taken out of service'
It would be interesting to see if anyone on BT can now change their DNS.

Just switched to OpenDNS and now get a server not found on a bad address.  BT dns still gives the suggestions page.
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simoncraddock

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Re: Are BT throttling connections?
« Reply #38 on: December 13, 2014, 11:32:44 AM »

ok this is what I get...



So it would appear I'm using OpenDNS for results.
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pooclah

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Re: Are BT throttling connections?
« Reply #39 on: December 13, 2014, 11:44:41 AM »

Not necessarily, it just means you are not using BT’s dns.
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kitz

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Re: Are BT throttling connections?
« Reply #40 on: December 13, 2014, 12:49:53 PM »


is there a page for dummies one what BT are doing?

I am reading posts about poor upload speeds and now DNS redirecting?

What is actually happening?

If they are redirecting a "no reply" aka NX DNS requests to some redirect page then that is a big nono in my book, its one of the reasons I stopped using opendns years ago.

Probably the best explanation can be found at the link I posted earlier in this thread.  Read the full post which explains it better, but the main bit is

Quote
When you make a DNS request through BT, BT intercepts the request at packet level, by this I mean it intercepts requests made on UDP port 53. It then services those requests using their own DNS servers, and returns the result to you, while pretending to be the nameserver you were wanting to or expecting to query.


http://linuxforums.org.uk/index.php?topic=11464.0
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kitz

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Re: Are BT throttling connections?
« Reply #41 on: December 13, 2014, 12:50:37 PM »

So this mornings fix appears to be that BT are still using Barefruit, but have turned off whatever 'system'  it was they were using that prevented customers being able to change DNS to their own preferences.

From what you guys (pooclah & simon) are seeing..  and also the post by 19nbg71 here on their forums, it would appear to be a pretty sure fire bet that it was their interception of DNS which was causing the main issue. 

Unfortunately the BT community forum thread is messy, which lots of 'me too' and tracerts which prove absolutely nothing.  Theres also a sprinkling of customers who are possibly affected by the MSO affecting the north of the UK. Theres also people suggesting other things such as DLM.   This particular issue is nothing to do with DLM or MSO's, its down to BT broadband messing with DNS.
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simoncraddock

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Re: Are BT throttling connections?
« Reply #42 on: December 13, 2014, 12:57:14 PM »

To be honest, the general attitude from most in there is "yay it's working, carry on regardless" without really questioning why it happened or what they have done to resolve it. The mods and so-called experts, seem to be very pro BT which doesn't help either, so you never really get anywhere.
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kitz

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Re: Are BT throttling connections?
« Reply #43 on: December 13, 2014, 01:05:58 PM »

What's interesting is if it was on BT's network why were other ISP's unaffected?
This has to be something unique to BT customers only.

This is specific to BT Broadband, and most likely just their residential customers.  DNS isnt done by BT Wholesale, they just provide the transport network and its the ISP who can perform such things as packet inspection and apply QoS & traffic shaping & blocking access to websites etc.  They can even set rules and apply different profiles depending upon the account type. 

What BT Broadband were doing was intercepting traffic on port 53 and redirecting this traffic to their own DNS servers.

Port 53 is specifically used for DNS requests.  We constantly use DNS every time we try to connect to any other server.  Its the part of the internet protocols which looks up kitz.co.uk and converts it into an IP address so you can connect to my server.  Without DNS the internet grinds to a halt and you cant connect to other websites.  If a DNS server becomes overloaded, then connection to a website becomes very slow, or times out and fails to connect.
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Chrysalis

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Re: Are BT throttling connections?
« Reply #44 on: December 13, 2014, 01:42:06 PM »


is there a page for dummies one what BT are doing?

I am reading posts about poor upload speeds and now DNS redirecting?

What is actually happening?

If they are redirecting a "no reply" aka NX DNS requests to some redirect page then that is a big nono in my book, its one of the reasons I stopped using opendns years ago.

Probably the best explanation can be found at the link I posted earlier in this thread.  Read the full post which explains it better, but the main bit is

Quote
When you make a DNS request through BT, BT intercepts the request at packet level, by this I mean it intercepts requests made on UDP port 53. It then services those requests using their own DNS servers, and returns the result to you, while pretending to be the nameserver you were wanting to or expecting to query.


http://linuxforums.org.uk/index.php?topic=11464.0


ok that indeed is very nasty, glad i am not on infinity now.
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