ISP issues on DFA

D

Disparagus

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Hi

The company I work for has connectivity with two ISPs over DFA fibre. As far as I can tell DFA have patched 12 pairs into our datacentre, although we are only using 2 pairs. One of these pairs is used by "Competent" ISP for internet services, the other is used by "Incompetent" ISP to connect us to our DR site. This fibre runs to Teraco via a DFA node.

Currently "Competent" ISP is up and "Incompetent" ISP is down (again) and claiming a DFA line outage (again). If anyone has any experience of this, can you advise if there is a scenario where this is possible? I don't have direct access to "Incompetent" ISP as this line is managed by a third party.

Thanks for any responses.
 
There is a scenario where this is possible, let's break it down.
DFA, unlike Vumatel, Metrofibre, Openserve etc allows ISPs to build their own networks on top of their infrastructure. This means that while DFA runs a lit service, an ISP can also run their own lit service on top of a DFA fibre route. This means that two DFA links from separate ISPs can be completely different products.

An ISP that chooses to do this will have to lease a link between you, the client and the DFA pop. There may be two routes to the pop from your premises, or you may be connected to two different pops if you are somewhere between two. At the pop, the ISP needs to operate active equipment and then lease a backhaul link (either to another pop or directly to teraco). This means there can be multiple routes back to Teraco from a pop, and breaks can happen along those routes.

Please let me know if you need more clarification.
 
@websquadza

Was going to ask if you guys are also having issues with octotel in cape town, but then checked your website which states "coming soon".

Maybe you guys are waiting for their network to work first?
 
wingnut771 said:
@websquadza

Was going to ask if you guys are also having issues with octotel in cape town, but then checked your website which states "coming soon".

Maybe you guys are waiting for their network to work first?
Click to expand...

@wingnut771 Thanks for the mention. We're getting closer to going live on their network - for us it's just a few crossed Ts and dotted Is with their commercials.. However, we're going to avoid a go live until technical issues are resolved (as confirmed by MyBB forum members and not their technical dept.) We are passionate about our network - a lot of hard work has gone, and continues to go into it, so we don't want to deliver sub-par performance. Especially when it's completely out of our hands. We support the move by other ISPs on this forum to begin a name and shame strategy to get the FNOs networks up to scratch.
 
Websquad? are you another ISP.... like Cool Ideas that sells products in the FTTH space?
If so, I'd love to see how you're going to deal with Octotel and their shyte. I am willing to bet you won't offer access on their crap.
 
websquadza said:
@wingnut771 Thanks for the mention. We're getting closer to going live on their network - for us it's just a few crossed Ts and dotted Is with their commercials.. However, we're going to avoid a go live until technical issues are resolved (as confirmed by MyBB forum members and not their technical dept.) We are passionate about our network - a lot of hard work has gone, and continues to go into it, so we don't want to deliver sub-par performance. Especially when it's completely out of our hands. We support the move by other ISPs on this forum to begin a name and shame strategy to get the FNOs networks up to scratch.
Click to expand...


I would love to see what people have to say about Websquad in regards to gaming, streaming etc on Vuma...
 
websquadza said:
@wingnut771 Thanks for the mention. We're getting closer to going live on their network - for us it's just a few crossed Ts and dotted Is with their commercials.. However, we're going to avoid a go live until technical issues are resolved (as confirmed by MyBB forum members and not their technical dept.) We are passionate about our network - a lot of hard work has gone, and continues to go into it, so we don't want to deliver sub-par performance. Especially when it's completely out of our hands. We support the move by other ISPs on this forum to begin a name and shame strategy to get the FNOs networks up to scratch.
Click to expand...

No prob, I see you're pretty active here on these forums helping out where you can, you seem to care. Keep it up.
 
ArtyLoop said:
Websquad? are you another ISP.... like Cool Ideas that sells products in the FTTH space?
If so, I'd love to see how you're going to deal with Octotel and their shyte. I am willing to bet you won't offer access on their crap.
Click to expand...

We'll wait and see how the crowdsourced problem resolution gets Octotel (and hopefully a few others) to better their ways. Let's hope this gets them to understand their network and make the necessary improvements.

L2 is complex in its simplicity, which is why these networks can be problematic. It is complex in that you need to know a little more than just spinning up a switch and deploying clients (this extends to PON too). Issues ranging from port saturation, to the way certain optics handle high packet volume, the packet volume limitations of switches, Q-inQ effect on CPU / Hardware load of various components, broadcast packet volumes and so on and so forth can lead to bottlenecks, hence the retransmits which are giving you the headaches you are experiencing. Furthermore, these situations only arise under stress (peak hours) - which is a tough time to run tests. Furthermore, backhaul could be a factor too (we saw something similar with Vuma in a few regions last year, although everything usually just ground to a halt at peak times(local traffic included)). But I think with the right pressure (this forum being one and the crowdsourced initiative started by one of our peers), the networks will be forced to pony up for decent kit (read: carrier grade kit), more backhaul and figure out how to use them better.
 
I suggest opening a Websquad thread and let people post some feedback in there. Might just make the move in the coming month or so.
 
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