Help Understand Trace Route figures

[Deluxxe Legend]

I'm still fairly new in this ADSL game and last night, after purchasing my WA 5G Home Pro I had a first state of frustrating connection issues.

I've used Afrihost capped before with no issues, and even had a great experience with the WA trial option. But last night my internet connection was near impossible. Even speedtest would not even work.

I tried to run trace route to understand my issue and although I understand the second hop to be Telkom's (and getting feedback from WA telling me my ADSL line is the issue), I'm still surprised that nothing is being said about hop 6 which at times seems to be performing the worst.

Just need some help understanding these numbers and what they mean. Although this has been somewhat resolved as my connection is performing better, I would like to understand where the problem was so that I can try and prevent it from happening again.

1 3 ms 1 ms 1 ms 192.168.1.1
2 638 ms 820 ms 510 ms rhwh-ip-esr-2.ipnet.wa.co.za [41.185.70.1]
3 49 ms 72 ms 47 ms wnls-ipc1-vl-108.wa.co.za [196.220.59.238]
4 48 ms 52 ms 80 ms wnls-cr1-vl-801.wa.co.za [41.185.0.67]
5 716 ms 820 ms 1738 ms 41.185.1.18
6 2354 ms 1742 ms 1943 ms wa-acc1.wadns.net [196.220.39.253]
7 * 1191 ms 228 ms 196.220.58.66

1 3 ms 1 ms 1 ms 192.168.1.1
2 710 ms 695 ms 775 ms rhwh-ip-esr-2.ipnet.wa.co.za [41.185.70.1]
3 53 ms 47 ms 84 ms wnls-ipc1-vl-108.wa.co.za [196.220.59.238]
4 837 ms 901 ms 352 ms wnls-cr1-vl-801.wa.co.za [41.185.0.67]
5 636 ms 817 ms 1433 ms 41.185.1.18
6 1022 ms 877 ms 248 ms wa-acc1.wadns.net [196.220.39.253]
7 595 ms 187 ms 54 ms 196.220.58.66

1 3 ms 1 ms 1 ms 192.168.1.1
2 1490 ms 205 ms 203 ms rhwh-ip-esr-2.ipnet.wa.co.za [41.185.70.1]
3 74 ms 252 ms 306 ms wnls-ipc1-vl-108.wa.co.za [196.220.59.238]
4 533 ms 514 ms 408 ms wnls-cr1-vl-801.wa.co.za [41.185.0.67]
5 1861 ms 789 ms 338 ms 41.185.1.18
6 63 ms 51 ms 53 ms wa-acc1.wadns.net [196.220.39.253]
7 618 ms 1023 ms 1742 ms 196.220.58.66

1 3 ms 1 ms 1 ms 192.168.1.1
2 1639 ms 1497 ms 393 ms rhwh-ip-esr-2.ipnet.wa.co.za [41.185.70.1]
3 1021 ms 1056 ms 1825 ms wnls-ipc1-vl-108.wa.co.za [196.220.59.238]
4 960 ms 583 ms 1535 ms wnls-cr1-vl-801.wa.co.za [41.185.0.67]
5 998 ms 1662 ms 925 ms 41.185.1.18
6 596 ms 654 ms 671 ms wa-acc1.wadns.net [196.220.39.253]
7 678 ms 1837 ms 967 ms 196.220.58.66

 

[Gtx Gaming]

1 3 ms 1 ms 1 ms 192.168.1.1
2 638 ms 820 ms 510 ms rhwh-ip-esr-2.ipnet.wa.co.za [41.185.70.1]

630ms to reach the WA network , then it is a telkom problem

 

[WAJeff]

Hi Deluxxe Legend,

Looking at your traceroutes, this points to a Telkom Exchange issue unfortunately.
To explain, hop 1 is identified as your router, hop 2 being the packets sent/ received between your router and Telkom exchange.

1 3 ms 1 ms 1 ms 192.168.1.1
2 1639 ms 1497 ms 393 ms rhwh-ip-esr-2.ipnet.wa.co.za [41.185.70.1]
3 1021 ms 1056 ms 1825 ms wnls-ipc1-vl-108.wa.co.za [196.220.59.238]
4 960 ms 583 ms 1535 ms wnls-cr1-vl-801.wa.co.za [41.185.0.67]
5 998 ms 1662 ms 925 ms 41.185.1.18
6 596 ms 654 ms 671 ms wa-acc1.wadns.net [196.220.39.253]
7 678 ms 1837 ms 967 ms 196.220.58.66

Drop me a PM with your client code and I'll have a look see what I can get done. Is your ADSL Line with us?

 

[Tinuva]

1 3 ms 1 ms 1 ms 192.168.1.1
2 638 ms 820 ms 510 ms rhwh-ip-esr-2.ipnet.wa.co.za [41.185.70.1]

630ms to reach the WA network , then it is a telkom problem

Actually to be more correct, that 2nd hop is not yet on the WA network, that is the IP assigned to the Telkom BRAS on which the PPPoE session is terminating. From there on to hop 3 is a MPLS-VPN (Called IP-Connect) that then transports the traffic to the WA network, which is at hop 3.

RHWH stands for Randburg-Halfway-House where WA doesn't have a point of presence.

Just need some help understanding these numbers and what they mean. Although this has been somewhat resolved as my connection is performing better, I would like to understand where the problem was so that I can try and prevent it from happening again.

1 3 ms 1 ms 1 ms 192.168.1.1
2 638 ms 820 ms 510 ms rhwh-ip-esr-2.ipnet.wa.co.za [41.185.70.1]
3 49 ms 72 ms 47 ms wnls-ipc1-vl-108.wa.co.za [196.220.59.238]
4 48 ms 52 ms 80 ms wnls-cr1-vl-801.wa.co.za [41.185.0.67]
5 716 ms 820 ms 1738 ms 41.185.1.18
6 2354 ms 1742 ms 1943 ms wa-acc1.wadns.net [196.220.39.253]
7 * 1191 ms 228 ms 196.220.58.66

1 3 ms 1 ms 1 ms 192.168.1.1
2 710 ms 695 ms 775 ms rhwh-ip-esr-2.ipnet.wa.co.za [41.185.70.1]
3 53 ms 47 ms 84 ms wnls-ipc1-vl-108.wa.co.za [196.220.59.238]
4 837 ms 901 ms 352 ms wnls-cr1-vl-801.wa.co.za [41.185.0.67]
5 636 ms 817 ms 1433 ms 41.185.1.18
6 1022 ms 877 ms 248 ms wa-acc1.wadns.net [196.220.39.253]
7 595 ms 187 ms 54 ms 196.220.58.66

1 3 ms 1 ms 1 ms 192.168.1.1
2 1490 ms 205 ms 203 ms rhwh-ip-esr-2.ipnet.wa.co.za [41.185.70.1]
3 74 ms 252 ms 306 ms wnls-ipc1-vl-108.wa.co.za [196.220.59.238]
4 533 ms 514 ms 408 ms wnls-cr1-vl-801.wa.co.za [41.185.0.67]
5 1861 ms 789 ms 338 ms 41.185.1.18
6 63 ms 51 ms 53 ms wa-acc1.wadns.net [196.220.39.253]
7 618 ms 1023 ms 1742 ms 196.220.58.66

1 3 ms 1 ms 1 ms 192.168.1.1
2 1639 ms 1497 ms 393 ms rhwh-ip-esr-2.ipnet.wa.co.za [41.185.70.1]
3 1021 ms 1056 ms 1825 ms wnls-ipc1-vl-108.wa.co.za [196.220.59.238]
4 960 ms 583 ms 1535 ms wnls-cr1-vl-801.wa.co.za [41.185.0.67]
5 998 ms 1662 ms 925 ms 41.185.1.18
6 596 ms 654 ms 671 ms wa-acc1.wadns.net [196.220.39.253]
7 678 ms 1837 ms 967 ms 196.220.58.66

Looks like your DSLAM is congested, or you are downloading and that is why your latency is high to the 1st hop.

 

[Deluxxe Legend]

By the way, these were the results after the "problem" went away. I think someone was using my bandwidth to download. Can someone send me a link on information regarding securing an ADSL router?

1 2 ms 1 ms 2 ms 192.168.1.1
2 25 ms 25 ms 23 ms rhwh-ip-esr-2.ipnet.wa.co.za [41.185.70.1]
3 48 ms 48 ms 46 ms wnls-ipc1-vl-108.wa.co.za [196.220.59.238]
4 53 ms 50 ms 47 ms wnls-cr1-vl-801.wa.co.za [41.185.0.67]
5 52 ms 52 ms 52 ms 41.185.1.18
6 53 ms 51 ms 58 ms wa-acc1.wadns.net [196.220.39.253]
7 52 ms 49 ms 53 ms 196.220.58.66

 

[GoofySmurf]

Hello

Hmmm I had the same problem during the weekend. It started at 3:00 on saturday and was better the evening and then sunday most of the morning. I was getting a sinking feeling that they finally oversubscribed our exchange but then sunday afternoon it was fine.

This was the tableview area

(Tested with Mweb Uncapped, Saix, IS, Web Africa)

 

[WAJeff]

Thanks for the PM Deluxxe Legend.
There definitely aren't any issues on our side. If this is happening on an intermittent basis - it could very well be related to a congested DSLAM or Exchange

I've asked for your telephone number via PM, hopefully I'll be able to see something on my end for you to confirm this.

With regards to securing your router, you can enable DSL Secure under your account.
Otherwise, my recommended security settings are as follows:

• Change your router username and password

• Disable WiFi is it isn't being used

• If WiFi is on, ensure that WPA encryption is on, otherwise WEP but don't broadcast your SSID