Afrihost CAPPED ADSL Feedback (MTN)

[caroper]

I am finding it very slow to initially open web sites this morning.
Once found they render fast but even this page took ages.

Is there a DNS issue?
Any alternative DNS I could try?

 

[AfriMan]

10%+ loss again...really now?

Where are you seeing packet loss?

Can you post an MTR test?

 

[AfriMan]

I am finding it very slow to initially open web sites this morning.
Once found they render fast but even this page took ages.

Is there a DNS issue?
Any alternative DNS I could try?

There is an issue posted on the website but the issue should either resolve itself, or a quick router reboot will do the trick.

 

[AfriMan]

There is packet loss again on my PPTP VPN, but not as bad as yesterday evening.

Here's my external trace route:

hpserver (0.0.0.0)                                                                     Tue Dec  2 21:26:50 2014
Keys:  Help   Display mode   Restart statistics   Order of fields   quit
                                                                       Packets               Pings
 Host                                                                Loss%   Snt   Last   Avg  Best  Wrst StDev
 1. mikrotik.tuis.local                                               0.0%   375    1.1   1.0   0.6   3.2   0.3
 2. 192.168.91.1                                                      0.0%   375    2.1   2.1   1.5   3.5   0.2
 3. 105-236-x-xxx-esr-lo.mtnbusiness.co.za                            0.0%   375   10.3  10.9   9.1 104.7   6.5
 4. 41.181.201.94                                                     0.0%   375   11.8  13.6  10.3 144.9  11.3
 5. tb-dca-2.za--qux-c.za.mtnbusiness.net                             0.3%   375   12.2  16.3  10.3 110.2  14.1
 6. unc-cpt-1.mtnns.net                                               0.0%   375   11.7  12.8  10.7  87.0   5.0
 7. 196.44.31.106                                                     0.0%   375   11.5  14.8  11.1 107.1   9.5
 8. nl-ha-2.za--rb-cr-1.za-a.mtnns.net                                0.0%   375   11.7  14.4  10.5  78.5   9.5
 9. 41-208-29-209.mtnns.net                                           0.0%   375   13.0  14.9  11.0 111.7   8.5
10. css2-ctn-gi0-1.ip.isnet.net                                       0.0%   375   15.4  14.0  11.5  94.1   7.2
11. mi-za-cpt-br1-gi0-3-108.ip.isnet.net                              0.0%   374   15.5  14.9  11.5  95.8   8.4
12. 197.96.154.190                                                    0.0%   374   11.9  14.4  11.2 185.8  11.9
13. 197.96.154.191                                                    0.0%   374   12.9  14.1  11.4 124.8   8.5
14. wnls-cer1-ge-0-0.wa.co.za                                         0.0%   374   12.7  13.8  11.6 108.5   8.2
15. wnls-gw-frogfoot.wa.co.za                                         0.0%   374   12.5  15.0  11.7  84.7   7.1
16. cpt-cor-sw1.frogfoot.net                                          0.0%   374   13.8  16.7  12.1 109.1   8.3
17. frogfoot-                                                         0.0%   374   12.0  13.3  11.5  75.6   5.2
18. frogfoot-                                                         0.0%   374   14.5  15.3  13.6  87.5   5.9
19. router.office.ext                                                 0.0%   374   14.9  15.9  13.3 115.5   8.1

And here's my internal trace route:

hpserver (0.0.0.0)                                                                     Tue Dec  2 21:26:52 2014
Keys:  Help   Display mode   Restart statistics   Order of fields   quit
                                                                       Packets               Pings
 Host                                                                Loss%   Snt   Last   Avg  Best  Wrst StDev
 1. mikrotik.tuis.local                                               0.0%   380    1.2   1.0   0.7   2.9   0.3
 2. router.office.local                                               5.8%   379   15.4  16.6  14.7  74.8   6.3

I don't know if I am misreading this. I don't think we'd be concerned with 0.3% loss, but the second test seems to suggest this is an internal network issue?

PM me if I'm not understanding what you're showing me

 

[AfriMan]

Live TV streaming totally sucks again.
Buffers and cuts every few mins on both Afrihost and Axxess.
Vox and OW perfect - can even type this with XBMC still streaming perfect in the background.
Must be MTN.

Tired of this. 3rd night in a row. Cancelling.
Rather pay double for something that works in CT.

I'm sorry that you are having this poor experience. In general performance in the South should be much better. Have you done any troubleshooting with our team?

If you are open to helping us improve, even if you still decide to move away, I would really appreciate your help

 

[caroper]

There is an issue posted on the website but the issue should either resolve itself, or a quick router reboot will do the trick.

Thanks, I didn't see the website as that was one of the pages that said "Waiting...."
Reboot fixed it though, thanks.

 

[AfriMan]

mtn is to blame

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/cellular/115061-mtn-network-problems-were-sorry.html

This article is specifically related to Mobile service, not at all for DSL. DSL network is not dependant on towers, it runs on fibre via data centres that have fully redundant power management - some even have their own power plants.

 

[AfriMan]

Thanks, I didn't see the website as that was one of the pages that said "Waiting...."
Reboot fixed it though, thanks.

Awesomeness

 

[AfriMan]

View attachment 172543

Care to enlighten me?

News server was up to carp as well. Down to 15k.

I can't see anything weird on your trace here. I haven't tested the news server recently, but I'll ask the team to check out whether everything is working as it should be.

 

[AfriMan]

As I indicated, this will become a daily thing.
Tested this evening, exact same issue.
What are you people gonna do about this? I am paying for a 4MB capped account and this is what I get...

http://www.speedtest.net/result/3955105463.png

In our PM, we discussed logging a line fault, because you were getting poor speeds on another ISP as well. Should we still go ahead with that?

 

[AfriMan]

Nice to see packetloss on your accounts still... so is this even remotely under consideration to get fixed?

I don't think we've seen a general packet loss issue, though some clients have reported this from time to time. I think it's important that we look at this on a case by case basis, so we can identify any trends here

 

[froot]

Haven't been able to use my account yet this month.... Telkom still haven't replaced our stolen cables

 

[AfriMan]

Having same problem in CT now.
AH tantalizingly give us a taste of what we should be getting and what we are paying for and then arrogantly snatch it away and expect us to roll-over and just accept this arrogant nonsense. Come on AH - get your act sorted out.
If we were in America I think you would be facing a massive class-action lawsuit by now!

Most of the tests we're seeing are showing pretty good throughput and latency, so we'll need to troubleshoot and see some test results before we make the assumption that the network is general bad.

Do you have any results I can look at?

 

[Worskos]

In our PM, we discussed logging a line fault, because you were getting poor speeds on another ISP as well. Should we still go ahead with that?

Sure
Help me understand something, why is it that in the morning, my speed is excellent, getting well over 400Kb/s but in the evening it's terrible?
Also, why is this issue only creeping up now, immediately after I switch to capped, I was on uncapped until Monday passed.

 

[AfriGuy]

Sure
Help me understand something, why is it that in the morning, my speed is excellent, getting well over 400Kb/s but in the evening it's terrible?
Also, why is this issue only creeping up now, immediately after I switch to capped, I was on uncapped until Monday passed.

The package change and seeing poor throughput can just be a coincidence. Neither package, or any ISP can control latency that spikes up at the exchange.
I can assume this is happening as you're mentioned times here. Depending on the area, latency will spike up - this is a classic sign of exchange congestion. Everyone comes home from work and starts using the net, causing an overall slow down.

 

[Worskos]

The package change and seeing poor throughput can just be a coincidence. Neither package, or any ISP can control latency that spikes up at the exchange.
I can assume this is happening as you're mentioned times here. Depending on the area, latency will spike up - this is a classic sign of exchange congestion. Everyone comes home from work and starts using the net, causing an overall slow down.

How can I test for exchange congestion?

 

[caroper]

How can I test for exchange congestion?

Grab a free account form another ISP, Web Africa have a 1GB+1GB account for example.
When Afrihost slows in the evening take some speed tests then switch to the Alternative ISP and repeat the speed tests.
If it is exchange congestion both ISP's will be effected, if only Afrihost is effected post the Speed tests results (Both ISP's) here so that the AfriGeeks can refer to them.

 

[AfriGuy]

How can I test for exchange congestion?

Usually a traceroute will show it pretty clearly, the latency will jump on the 2nd hop.
When that happens, you can test another account to see if the latency is replicated. caroper explains is quite well

 

[BrendanMc]

I took out a double data (20 + 20) package from axxess the other evening, as the packet loss was driving me insane. In game my latency was good and download speeds on my AH account were fine, was getting 30% avg packet loss, as being reported by Team Speak. Switched the Axxess account and packet loss was 0%

 

[Worskos]

Usually a traceroute will show it pretty clearly, the latency will jump on the 2nd hop.
When that happens, you can test another account to see if the latency is replicated. caroper explains is quite well

I captured these traces last night when experiencing the drop in speed

>tracert www.news24.co.za

 Tracing route to x.24.com [41.86.110.143]
 over a maximum of 30 hops:

 1 <1 ms 1 ms <1 ms 10.0.0.2
 2 11 ms 11 ms 11 ms 105-236-10-129-esr-lo.mtnbusiness.co.za [105.236
 .10.129]
 3 12 ms 11 ms 12 ms ipc-recieve-tb-2a.mtnbusiness.net [41.181.54.86]

 4 12 ms 40 ms 26 ms tb-dca-2.za--qux-c.za.mtnbusiness.net [41.181.19
 8.188]
 5 14 ms 12 ms 24 ms compj-cpt-1.mtnns.net [196.44.18.2]
 6 14 ms 19 ms 14 ms ct-cr-2.za--tb-cr-1.za.mtnns.net [196.44.31.134]

 7 39 ms 12 ms 14 ms 196.44.0.74
 8 22 ms 21 ms 18 ms 196-28-178-141.adsl.mweb.co.za [196.28.178.141]

 9 50 ms 50 ms 49 ms tengig-0-0-0-1-cpt-p-1.mweb.co.za [197.84.7.1]
 10 15 ms 15 ms 13 ms vl-12-cpt-hscore-2.mweb.co.za [197.84.5.254]
 11 61 ms 67 ms 70 ms vp-02-14.bb.ctn.c27.za.net [196.28.178.70]
 12 64 ms 60 ms 61 ms gig5-2-cpt-opt-65-1.optinet.net [196.41.133.166]

 13 46 ms 40 ms 51 ms OPTI-CPT-N1-Hosting.optinet.net [197.84.196.6]
 14 15 ms 15 ms 20 ms 197-84-208-146.cpt.mweb.co.za [197.84.208.146]
 15 15 ms 15 ms 16 ms www.news24.co.za [41.86.110.143]

 Trace complete.

 >tracert www.bbc.co.uk

 Tracing route to www.bbc.net.uk [212.58.244.71]
 over a maximum of 30 hops:

 1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms 10.0.0.2
 2 11 ms 10 ms 9 ms 105-236-10-129-esr-lo.mtnbusiness.co.za [105.236
 .10.129]
 3 60 ms 58 ms 54 ms 41.181.201.94
 4 52 ms 46 ms 37 ms tb-dca-2.za--qux-a.za.mtnbusiness.net [41.181.18
 4.28]
 5 43 ms 47 ms 79 ms compj-cpt-1.mtnns.net [196.44.18.2]
 6 232 ms 196 ms 194 ms ls-cr-2.uk--tb-cr-1.za.mtnns.net [196.44.31.113]

 7 183 ms 197 ms 191 ms ls-pr-1.uk--ls-cr-2.uk-a.mtn.net [209.212.111.20
 1]
 8 217 ms 225 ms 236 ms bbc-linx.pr01.thdow.bbc.co.uk [195.66.224.103]
 9 * * * Request timed out.
 10 * * * Request timed out.
 11 182 ms 181 ms 180 ms ae0.er01.telhc.bbc.co.uk [132.185.254.109]
 12 157 ms 156 ms 156 ms 132.185.255.149
 13 155 ms 156 ms 155 ms www.bbc.co.uk [212.58.244.71]

 Trace complete.