ADSL 1MB Line issues

K

K-VI

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So I have a 1MB line with Telkom. My internet since March has been horrible. In the evening i can't even browse on Google.co.za with no downloads in the background.

So I complained with MWEB(my isp), and they done a test with the Telkom Guest account to do a speed test on saix.net. The speed test did not even want to start up on multiple occasions. I called Telkom and told them that and they re-synced my line and it then worked. But speeds are at 0.6MB download max instead of 1MB & 0.1MB upload.

The issue is that my downloads are fine but browsing is horrible most of the time(even if I stop downloads). Is it a MWEB issue or Telkom? I think it might be congestion as it only happens in the evening or weekends. I'm based in Weltevreden Park.

How can I test it better and is the line with a Telkom account suppose to give me 1MB or close to it at least?
 
Assuming you're running some flavour of Windows, open a command prompt and type 'tracert www.google.com' and press Enter. You'll get an output similar to this:

tracert-command-utility.gif

Traceroute pings every stop data makes between yourself and a given site 3 times in succession. If your router handles your internet connection look at the second line, if you initiate a connection from your PC directly look at the first. If you do the test when it's slow, and you consistently see pings of near or over 100ms on those first hops you have yourself a congested exchange.

We also need to make sure that you're differentiating correctly between bits and bytes - there are 8 bits in a byte, and a properly performing 1mb line should give you around 100 to 110 kilobytes per second. You won't ever get full 1mb speeds as there are some networking overheads.
 
I understand the difference between bits and bytes. On downloads, I see between 30-50 kilobytes, instead of +-100kbps. And browsing is always horrible. On speed test thought, it shows in kilobits and the speed test on saix suppose to show the speed at 1mbps. Below is my trace route done on a busy evening.

tracert www.google.com

Tracing route to www.google.com [173.194.41.84]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 1 ms <1 ms <1 ms dsldevice.lan [192.168.10.1]
2 * 111 ms * 197-87-2-1.cpt.mweb.co.za [197.87.2.1]
3 49 ms 65 ms 50 ms 197-80-132-142.jhb.mweb.co.za [197.80.132.142]
4 48 ms 50 ms 148 ms vl-92.vic-hscore-1.mweb.co.za [196.22.189.2]
5 255 ms 255 ms 276 ms tengig0-0-0-2.11.vic-p-1.mweb.co.za [196.22.169.
225]
6 215 ms 243 ms 243 ms pos0-3-2-0.lon-up-1.mweb.co.za [197.80.5.7]
7 248 ms 254 ms 250 ms 176.67.177.131
8 250 ms 239 ms 254 ms 176.67.177.133
9 233 ms 236 ms 260 ms 176.67.177.255
10 244 ms 237 ms 285 ms 209.85.240.61
11 250 ms 243 ms 247 ms 72.14.238.51
12 235 ms 237 ms 241 ms lhr08s01-in-f20.1e100.net [173.194.41.84]

Trace complete.


tracert www.google.co.za

Tracing route to www.google.co.za [173.194.41.95]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 1 ms <1 ms <1 ms dsldevice.lan [192.168.10.1]
2 28 ms 31 ms 30 ms 197-87-2-1.cpt.mweb.co.za [197.87.2.1]
3 50 ms 50 ms 50 ms 197-80-4-94.jhb.mweb.co.za [197.80.4.94]
4 50 ms 47 ms 48 ms vl-92.vic-hscore-1.mweb.co.za [196.22.189.2]
5 237 ms 249 ms 265 ms tengig0-0-0-2.11.vic-p-1.mweb.co.za [196.22.169.
225]
6 226 ms 256 ms 238 ms pos0-3-2-0.lon-up-1.mweb.co.za [197.80.5.7]
7 253 ms 247 ms 246 ms 176.67.177.131
8 246 ms 254 ms 248 ms 176.67.177.133
9 * 240 ms 227 ms 176.67.177.255
10 250 ms * 249 ms 209.85.240.61
11 250 ms 248 ms 227 ms 72.14.238.51
12 235 ms 278 ms 238 ms lhr08s01-in-f31.1e100.net [173.194.41.95]

Trace complete.

Seems like its the exchange. Any way of finding out info if they plan to do an upgrade or fix the issue?
 
I'm not that clued up, but why would the 2nd hop go to Capetown or is that normal?
Isn't Weltevreden Park in Gauteng somewhere?
 
RoMark, you are correct. I am based in Gauteng. Not sure why it is going to Cape Town, but it might be automatically routed to the local google server. I will try again tonight with another international website and lets see the route it takes.
 
K-VI said:
RoMark, you are correct. I am based in Gauteng. Not sure why it is going to Cape Town, but it might be automatically routed to the local google server. I will try again tonight with another international website and lets see the route it takes.
Click to expand...
Ah okay. Like I said I don't know a lot about the network and routing.
:)

Are your trace routes both in the same time frame and is in or out of business hours?

Like Haptic said, that high 2nd hop does look like congestion.

I will say this though. I was told for many months that my exchange was congested and that was the root of my problem.
I basically got 0.5 avg upload on 4Mbps line and very high latency. I kept on their (Telkom) case and eventually my problem was sorted and I got full speed. About 2 weeks later I received a message that they were on their way to upgrade the congested exchange. I though what the hell? My line is already fixed and I get full speed.

After the upgrade my 2nd hop latency dropped from 67ms to 09ms and they told me that the exchange was 120% congested.

I'm not saying your exchange is not congested, but look further as well. Maybe something else is playing a role as well.
 
Yeah, It might be congestion. I spoke with Telkom and they claim it is all correct. So weird. I got a friend in the same area with the same issue. Guess the only thing I can do is push telkom and hope they upgrade the exchange soon.

I am currently questioning the fact that I connect from JHB, to CPT and then back. Hope that MWEB just have a routing issue and fix it and all my browsing issues get sorted out.
 
You using CPT DNS' reason why you routing through cape town so change the DNS' to JHB or PTA by using the saix website for info.
 
RoMark said:
Are you referring to this info?

http://www.saix.net/cgi-bin/saix_dns.pl
Click to expand...

Yes I use those on my line

Code: 
tbnb-ip-dns.saix.net 	196.43.50.190 	Pretoria 	Distributed Recursive Caching only DNS
ndn-ip-dns-4.saix.net 	196.43.53.190 	Durban 	Distributed Recursive Caching only DNS

Seeing as I am near Durban I use that and then Pretoria for International

Code: 
rndf-ip-dns.saix.net 	196.43.42.190 	Johannesburg 	Distributed Recursive Caching only DNS
tpr-ip-dns.saix.net 	196.43.45.190 	Pretoria 	Distributed Recursive Caching only DNS

More for JHB/Pretoria people

Just changing from the automatic CPT DNS to one closer to me made a huge difference with browsing and pings for me at least.
 
Last edited:
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