Frogfoot Gpon FTTH Fibre Performance

[Frogfoot Fibre]

I have learnt that 4 things.

1.)

The internet today is as full of BS as when I signed up for my first dial-up account with CompuServe in 1996 and had to learn about tcp/ip and renaming winsock.dll's in order to get windows to connect. Old confusing stuff has just been replaced with new confusing stuff. Yet I love it.


2.)

Fibre Network Operators are going to run their networks and ports into the 90th percentile to turn a profit.
Bad things happen when they fall asleep @ the wheel and 90% turns to 100%.

3.)

It is easier to get a camel passed through the eye of a needle than getting a FNO to admit error.

4.)

Now I remember why I used to love forums.

Hi Lightpixel, we would like to get in touch with you directly to resolve this with our Core Engineers. Please inbox your details so that we can assist as soon as possible.

 

[Frogfoot Fibre]

It seems Afrihost clients are still having major issues. Is there a problem with the interconnect?

Hi Chris, the team were troubleshooting with Afrihost and there is an issue with their upstream provider: https://www.afrihost.com/site/network_status/#fibre-broadband

 

[skybounder]

Not only Afrihost but Axxess too. The below update alert still active on their site.

Subject: Frogfoot Fibre - Issues in PE & Cape Town
Updated: Tue, Aug 27, 2019 at 10:26 AM
Message: The initial issue has since been resolved by Frogfoot. We are still getting reports of clients experiencing some issues with latency and slow speeds. We are working with our engineers to monitor and resolve the issue. We apologize for the inconvenience caused.

 

[Frogfoot Fibre]

Obviously they have no visualization or trending! (And only graphing util on cacti does not cut it!)

Hi r00igev@@r, if you are having any issues on the network, please inbox your details and we will be happy to assist.

 

[Biscuit1018]

I wonder whether the problem is the interconnects between Frogfoot and their ISPs..... Perhaps these links are maxed out. The problem with this whole saga is that not once has Frogfoot provided a detailed explanation of what's happened.

I doubt the problem is at the interconnect

Non Openserve NOPs backhaul back to a peering centre... in this case it is Great Westerforf
The fibre is bulked back to the peering point.

So my best guess would be congestion of the backhaul fibre... which is the NOPs responsibility

 

[Biscuit1018]

If I'm only getting 50% of the advertised speed, then I'd like to pay 50% of the asking price.
Why pay 100% for 50% of the advertised service? Boils down to the principle of it.

If I paid the full asking price for a Porsche, I'd be angry if the dealer delivered a Polo with a Porsche badge glued on it. I'll probably never do 300Km\h in the Porsche, but I paid for a Porsche nonetheless.

Ps. I drive a Polo, so no shade thrown. Promise

I agree that I would be unhappy with 50% but you arent paying for 100%.
It is best effort.
If best effort is 50% that sucks but one cant gripe if it dips a bit during peak.

If you want 100% all the time then one has to buy a guaranteed package which costs an arm and a leg

 

[bumbledore]

Hi, can you please inbox your details to us so that we can investigate?

PMed

 

[Frogfoot Fibre]

PMed

Thanks bumbledore, got your message and have passed it on to the team to assist.

 

[lightpixel]

Hi Lightpixel, we would like to get in touch with you directly to resolve this with our Core Engineers. Please inbox your details so that we can assist as soon as possible.

Howzit Frogs, I am up and running thanks.

 

[Frogfoot Fibre]

Howzit Frogs, I am up and running thanks.

Fantastic, Lightpixel! Please let us know if there are any further issues, our team are happy to assist.

 

[Frogfoot Fibre]

Dear Customers

This is an official response from Frogfoot.

During the past week, Frogfoot experienced a multitude of issues and worked in the background with all Internet Service Providers in order to resolve them.

Frogfoot currently feels confident that the issues are resolved, and we encourage users to test again where they feel the service is not performing as expected.

Please keep the following in mind when testing:

• Do not test using the speedtest.net web page. Please download their application and use that to test. We’ve found that results produced via some web browsers are not reliable.
• Do not test over Wifi. Connect a computer or laptop directly to the router using an internet cable. Testing via wifi can not always produce reliable results, specifically with regards to high speed services.

Should you still have any issues, please post below, and Frogfoot will try to assist.

In the interest of transparency and for those who are interested in a technical explanation, herewith some details and events of what transpired.

Firstly, some details about the Frogfoot network itself. Frogfoot uses GPON for service provisioning - a standard used by all the large providers, due to the efficiency of fibre use. This ultimately drives costs down for the consumer.

There are regularly concerns regarding splitters that share bandwidth between 64 houses. This is a valid concern, which Frogfoot addresses by only employing 16 way splitters in the field complemented by 4 way splitters in the nodes. This allows Frogfoot to upgrade any port should it be necessary. Something Frogfoot is committed to do if and when required.

In addition, Frogfoot currently has a 40G backbone running towards the Parklands Area. This backbone only runs at about 30% capacity. Frogfoot is committed to upgrade this, when needed. Frogfoot is currently testing 100G-600G capable equipment for our next phase of upgrades to our backhaul network. This will ensure that Frogfoot can deliver a world class service to any user serviced by the Frogfoot network.

On Friday 23 August a problem on a 40G port for traffic arriving at the Teraco Rondebosch Data Centre was discovered. The port was showing errors when receiving traffic. This was fixed by Friday evening at 18h00. The decision was made to monitor and get feedback from the Internet Service Providers. On Friday evening Frogfoot received confirmations that problems were resolved for the group of clients which were impacted by this path.

This however did not explain problems reported in other areas, and Frogfoot kept on monitoring the network. On Sunday a congested port was discovered on the Frogfoot network in the Teraco Data Centre. This was an oversight on the Frogfoot side, which Frogfoot apologises for. This port was also mistakenly not added to the Frogfoot Monitoring systems. This congested port was upgraded at 05h00 on Monday morning.

The removal of the congestion fixed most issues, but there were still some complaints about slow speeds, especially uploads. A minor problem in our Fibre to the Home bandwidth profiles were discovered on Monday morning. This was fixed at around 17h00 on Monday.

Frogfoot have engaged directly with quite a few end users after the fixes were applied and all responses have been positive.

Frogfoot will endeavour in future to provide proactive updates of issues when they are happening on a larger scale. We are committed to be the fibre provider of choice.

Regards,
Frogfoot Networks Team

 

[daneza]

Dear Customers

This is an official response from Frogfoot.

Thank you very much.

I can't even tell you how appreciated this is.

 

[bumbledore]

FYI for everyone reading this thread: FF completed their testing with me, very helpful and quickly diagnosed the problem as being with CISP.

There is apparently some issue with this ISP and their speeds, as evidenced by the speedtest results with the router bypass, and plugged directly into the ONT via ethernet:

Not great, Cool Ideas, not great at all.

 

[PBCool]

FYI for everyone reading this thread: FF completed their testing with me, very helpful and quickly diagnosed the problem as being with CISP.

There is apparently some issue with this ISP and their speeds, as evidenced by the speedtest results with the router bypass, and plugged directly into the ONT via ethernet:

Not great, Cool Ideas, not great at all.

As per our PM this is after FF reprovisioned your line to their network, this doesn't mean it's an issue on our network. Please continue your chat via PM.

 

[daneza]

There is apparently some issue with this ISP and their speeds, as evidenced by the speedtest results with the router bypass, and plugged directly into the ONT via ethernet:

This doesn't mean anything. And the whole reason this thread exists is because of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. PBCool will do his best to help you figure it out.

 

[bumbledore]

As per our PM this is after FF reprovisioned your line to their network, this doesn't mean it's an issue on our network. Please continue your chat via PM.

They told me, clearly, while on the line with me, during the testing, that this shows the issue is NOT with Frogfoot, but rather with CISP.

Seriously, this game of tennis and passing the buck and forth is extremely frustrating.

What is the explanation, then, for this scenario:

Connect PC to ONT via ethernet.
Use Frogfoot Test account.
Speedtest: full speed using Vox and Rain servers.
Speedtest: 30% download speed using CISP servers.

Because that is the scenario which happened 30 minutes ago, the only variable which has changed between the speedtests is the server that was used. Only the CISP server had sub-satisfactory speeds. The others didn't. So how can this be an issue with Frogfoot? That makes zero sense.

 

[abudabi]

Because the paths to the 3 servers could be completely different?

N1 highway to PTA is blocked but N3 to durban is freeflowing!

 

[bumbledore]

Because the paths to the 3 servers could be completely different?

N1 highway to PTA is blocked but N3 to durban is freeflowing!

Fair enough, but all servers in Cape Town, so more like N1 to CPT, N2 to CPT and M3 to CPT.
Even still, that asides, whose problem is this to rectify?
Frogfoot says CISP.
CISP says Frogfoot.
I'm in the middle saying, "Woe is me."

 

[PBCool]

Fair enough, but all servers in Cape Town, so more like N1 to CPT, N2 to CPT and M3 to CPT.
Even still, that asides, whose problem is this to rectify?
Frogfoot says CISP.
CISP says Frogfoot.
I'm in the middle saying, "Woe is me."

Please check your PM, it is a provisioning issue.

 

[bumbledore]

Please check your PM, it is a provisioning issue.

Appreciated Thank you.