Latencies to Mauritus

[LittlePea]

Hi

I am a gamer from Mauritius and often play online on Xbox Live. I always lag when I play with people from SA. When I pinged almost all the ISPs from SA, eg, Telkom/Mweb/Neotel/WebAfrica/Afrihost etc, I typically get a ping of 450ms. When I did a traceroute about 6 months ago, I saw that data went to Europe then back to SA, resulting the high ping. Did SA ISPs stop using the SAFE Cable? I get a ping of 80ms to Malaysia and 110ms to Hong Kong via the SAFE Cable. I get a ping of 200ms to Europeans Countries.

Can you guys please do a tracert to www.mauritiustelecom.com, with Telkom, MWEB, Neotel, Webafrica etc? I tried to do a tracert again but unfortunately my ISP blocked tracert.

Thanks

 

[buyeye]

It could be your ISP.

 

[xumwun]

I think it's going via Europe.
Most likely this is because there is no cable between Mauritius and SA.

3 2 ms 2 ms 2 ms ge3-41.hr8.jnb6.za.mtnbusiness.net [196.30.144.6
5]
4 2 ms 2 ms 2 ms tengigabitethernet1-2.gw21.jnb6.za.mtnbusiness.n
et [196.31.63.141]
5 190 ms 185 ms 186 ms xe-4-1-0.edge5.Amsterdam1.Level3.net [212.72.41.
89]
6 185 ms 185 ms 185 ms CABLE-WIREL.edge5.Amsterdam1.Level3.net [212.72.
41.238]
7 212 ms 212 ms 212 ms ae3-xcr1.bru.cw.net [195.2.9.202]
8 213 ms 239 ms 212 ms ae1-xcr2.bru.cw.net [195.2.25.238]
9 212 ms 212 ms 212 ms ae6-xcr1.par.cw.net [195.2.9.153]
10 224 ms 201 ms 202 ms ae0-xcr1.prp.cw.net [195.2.9.186]
11 213 ms 214 ms 213 ms ae1-xcr1.mar.cw.net [195.2.10.54]
12 375 ms 375 ms 375 ms 195.10.54.74
13 * * * Request timed out.
14 416 ms 416 ms 416 ms 58.27.14.158
15 417 ms 417 ms 417 ms tengig4-4-ph.telecomplus.net [196.20.254.170]
16 418 ms 497 ms 417 ms or-g1-0-50.telecomplus.net [196.192.102.10]
17 418 ms 418 ms 418 ms new2.mauritiustelecom.com [202.123.27.143]
18 418 ms 418 ms 418 ms new2.mauritiustelecom.com [202.123.27.143]

Trace complete.

 

[nerf]

Your ISP must peer with a South African ISP

 

[Khodi]

Using Mweb

traceroute to www.mauritiustelecom.com (202.123.27.143), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets
1 10.0.0.2 (10.0.0.2) 3.533 ms 3.999 ms 6.044 ms
2 41-135-105-1.dsl.mweb.co.za (41.135.105.1) 21.694 ms 22.112 ms 22.602 ms
3 tengig-0-0-0-110.vic-ipc-1.mweb.co.za (196.22.169.170) 24.063 ms 26.501 ms 28.708 ms
4 197-80-2-1.jhb.mweb.co.za (197.80.2.1) 31.413 ms 197-80-2-2.jhb.mweb.co.za (197.80.2.2) 33.859 ms 36.550 ms
5 197-80-5-226.jhb.mweb.co.za (197.80.5.226) 232.674 ms 197-80-5-225.jhb.mweb.co.za (197.80.5.225) 237.219 ms 238.137 ms
6 pos0-3-0-0.lon-up-1.mweb.co.za (197.80.5.9) 236.658 ms 291.548 ms pos0-3-2-0.lon-up-1.mweb.co.za (197.80.5.7) 207.303 ms
7 176.67.177.227 (176.67.177.227) 208.507 ms 212.311 ms 212.723 ms
8 ldn-b5-link.telia.net (62.115.13.13) 214.392 ms 218.477 ms 218.921 ms
9 ldn-bb1-link.telia.net (80.91.247.91) 220.947 ms 224.104 ms ldn-bb1-link.telia.net (80.91.246.144) 226.787 ms
10 adm-bb4-link.telia.net (213.155.136.97) 233.708 ms adm-bb4-link.telia.net (213.155.136.85) 236.252 ms adm-bb3-link.telia.net (213.155.136.107) 242.848 ms
11 adm-b4-link.telia.net (80.91.247.67) 241.369 ms adm-b4-link.telia.net (213.155.134.167) 243.974 ms adm-b4-link.telia.net (213.155.132.173) 208.796 ms
12 telekommalaysia-ic-149786-adm-b4.c.telia.net (213.248.99.146) 209.673 ms 211.232 ms 212.192 ms
13 * * *
14 58.27.14.158 (58.27.14.158) 464.850 ms 467.747 ms 452.955 ms
15 tengig4-4-ph.telecomplus.net (196.20.254.170) 453.167 ms 457.658 ms 460.979 ms
16 or-g1-0-50.telecomplus.net (196.192.102.10) 465.611 ms 468.585 ms 469.384 ms
17 * * *

 

[Prof.Merlin]

Yeah, with no direct cable to Mauritus, you can probably expect that.

This is from Neotel:
4 41.160.24.13 (41.160.24.13) 4.815 ms 4.771 ms 4.725 ms
5 * * *
6 41.160.0.243 (41.160.0.243) 4.484 ms 4.976 ms 4.876 ms
7 41.160.0.242 (41.160.0.242) 5.807 ms 5.748 ms 6.702 ms
8 ix-0-3-0-0.tcore1.JSO-Johannesburg.as6453.net (216.6.55.37) 6.666 ms 7.661 ms 5.649 ms
9 if-4-2.tcore1.KLT-CapeTown.as6453.net (41.206.178.2) 179.098 ms if-2-2.tcore2.JSO-Johannesburg.as6453.net (216.6.55.86) 171.440 ms 171.348 ms
10 if-0-3-0-0.tcore2.KLT-CapeTown.as6453.net (41.206.165.37) 175.050 ms 174.989 ms 175.137 ms
11 195.219.129.25 (195.219.129.25) 146.314 ms 80.231.158.1 (80.231.158.1) 174.939 ms 195.219.129.25 (195.219.129.25) 146.500 ms
12 195.219.129.2 (195.219.129.2) 173.840 ms 80.231.158.30 (80.231.158.30) 173.492 ms 175.522 ms
13 if-19-2.tcore2.L78-London.as6453.net (80.231.138.22) 175.502 ms 175.466 ms 216.286 ms
14 if-15-2.tcore2.LDN-London.as6453.net (80.231.131.118) 171.903 ms 173.813 ms 172.438 ms
15 62.157.249.237 (62.157.249.237) 176.570 ms 182.754 ms 181.354 ms
16 lax-sb2-i.LAX.US.NET.DTAG.DE (62.154.14.110) 303.350 ms 305.509 ms 304.751 ms
17 80.150.171.118 (80.150.171.118) 368.533 ms 362.051 ms 362.005 ms
18 10.55.37.37 (10.55.37.37) 430.969 ms 355.660 ms 355.030 ms
19 58.27.14.158 (58.27.14.158) 470.514 ms 469.792 ms 468.772 ms
20 tengig4-4-ph.telecomplus.net (196.20.254.170) 474.292 ms 475.033 ms 473.705 ms
21 or-g1-0-50.telecomplus.net (196.192.102.10) 481.246 ms 478.784 ms 477.895 ms

 

[Rocket-Boy]

afaik SAFE goes past Mauritius.
I dont think it is heavily utilized by ZA isp's though.

 

[LittlePea]

Thanks for the quick replies guys

But wait why wouldn't my ISP want to peer with SA ISPs? Is is that SA stopped using the SAFE Cable because of its low capacity? Or is it too expensive? If my ISP wants to peer with, for example, Telkom, Telkom must also agree to peer right? I heard that Telkom still uses the SAFE Cable but it's very rare. I heard that some people who are near Mtunzini, Kwazulu-Natal still utilise the SAFE Cable. Correct me if I'm wrong.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAFE_(cable_system)

 

[Tinuva]

There is some sort of contract re SAFE and how it's capacity is sold in SA. Something along the lines of Telkom is not selling SAFE capacity in a standalone capacity or something along those lines, though I may be wrong and the information was through bunch of people.

That said, I know IS for example as capacity on it, but only peer with a select few ISPs in HongKong over it.

Most ISPs buy capacity over SEACOM/WACS/SAT3/EASSY streight to London, and only break out from there, with Neotel as the exception using Seacom to Mumbai.

 

[Tinuva]

Looks like your best latency will be to SAIX/Telkom who has the best latency to Mauritus that I can find:

tpr-route-server>traceroute 202.123.27.143

Type escape sequence to abort.
Tracing the route to new2.mauritiustelecom.com (202.123.27.143)

  1 tpr-ip-esr-1-fe-1-0-3.telkom-ipnet.co.za (196.25.9.45) 0 msec 200 msec 4 msec
  2 nngy-ip-hsll-1-gig-4-0-0.telkom-ipnet.co.za (196.43.51.254) 204 msec 200 msec 200 msec
  3 1.9.241.133 400 msec 444 msec 440 msec
  4 58.27.14.158 [AS 4788] 440 msec 272 msec 272 msec
  5 tengig4-4-ph.telecomplus.net (196.20.254.170) [AS 23889] 276 msec 272 msec 272 msec
  6 or-g1-0-50.telecomplus.net (196.192.102.10) [AS 23889] 272 msec 396 msec 272 msec
  7  *  *  * 
  8  *  *  * 
  9  *  *  *

 

[LittlePea]

Oh thanks. But it really sucks. Even though Mauritius is geographically closest to Africa, it is not directly connected to it. The best pings for me are from Asia (around 80ms - 100ms). I was always expecting a ping of 40ms to SA. But you can't get everything in live

Hopefully when SA and Mauritius get the BRICS Cable, we will be directly connected in 2015.

 

[LittlePea]

Nice. I think data is travelling to Malaysia, then coming back to Mauritus. But it's weird you have a ping of 200ms locally. Was your internet unstable?

Looks like your best latency will be to SAIX/Telkom who has the best latency to Mauritus that I can find:

tpr-route-server>traceroute 202.123.27.143

Type escape sequence to abort.
Tracing the route to new2.mauritiustelecom.com (202.123.27.143)

  1 tpr-ip-esr-1-fe-1-0-3.telkom-ipnet.co.za (196.25.9.45) 0 msec 200 msec 4 msec
  2 nngy-ip-hsll-1-gig-4-0-0.telkom-ipnet.co.za (196.43.51.254) 204 msec 200 msec 200 msec
  3 1.9.241.133 400 msec 444 msec 440 msec
  4 58.27.14.158 [AS 4788] 440 msec 272 msec 272 msec
  5 tengig4-4-ph.telecomplus.net (196.20.254.170) [AS 23889] 276 msec 272 msec 272 msec
  6 or-g1-0-50.telecomplus.net (196.192.102.10) [AS 23889] 272 msec 396 msec 272 msec
  7  *  *  * 
  8  *  *  * 
  9  *  *  *

 

[sgs]

An IS trace goes via Malaysia (SAFE). But still 500ms pings at the last hop.

I suspect its a case of peering agreements between SA and Mauritius. Most Mauritius traffic will be going to Europe / States, so they will likely peer in Hong Kong or Malaysia, or even in Europe. They won't peer in South Africa, as there is very little traffic going this direction, I'd imagine.

 

[Tinuva]

Nice. I think data is travelling to Malaysia, then coming back to Mauritus. But it's weird you have a ping of 200ms locally. Was your internet unstable?

Naw that is the SAIX looking glass, it has high latencies sometimes because of it's CPU. They not my ISP, but I can use the looking glass for testing.

An IS trace goes via Malaysia (SAFE). But still 500ms pings at the last hop.

I suspect its a case of peering agreements between SA and Mauritius. Most Mauritius traffic will be going to Europe / States, so they will likely peer in Hong Kong or Malaysia, or even in Europe. They won't peer in South Africa, as there is very little traffic going this direction, I'd imagine.

A trace on IS from SA shows it going via LINX in London.

 

[LittlePea]

Tinuva, yes please do the looking glass for testing. There's still some hope

Naw that is the SAIX looking glass, it has high latencies sometimes because of it's CPU. They not my ISP, but I can use the looking glass for testing.


A trace on IS from SA shows it going via LINX in London.

 

[sgs]

A trace on IS from SA shows it going via LINX in London.

Let me rephrase that - a WebAfrica trace this morning at 5:45 am went via Malaysia

 

[Tinuva]

Using the IS looking glass (Web Africa ADSL goes via IS):

local-route-server>traceroute www.mauritiustelecom.com
Translating "www.mauritiustelecom.com"...domain server (168.210.2.2)

Translating "www.mauritiustelecom.com"...domain server (168.210.2.2) [OK]

Type escape sequence to abort.
Tracing the route to www.mauritiustelecom.com (202.123.27.143)

  1 196.4.160.1 [AS 3741] 0 msec 0 msec 0 msec
  2 ar2-rba-tnr-gi0-3-11.ip.isnet.net (196.34.7.195) [AS 3741] 8 msec 4 msec 0 msec
  3 core2b-pkl-te0-0-0-0.ip.isnet.net (196.26.0.63) [AS 3741] 4 msec 4 msec 4 msec
  4 core2b-dock-tenge-0-3-0-0-126.ip.isnet.net (168.209.201.81) [AS 3741] 184 msec 180 msec 184 msec
  5 168.209.246.1 [AS 3741] 180 msec 180 msec 180 msec
  6 linx-igw01.ltc.tm.net.my (195.66.224.47) 248 msec 188 msec 192 msec
  7  *  *  * 
  8 58.27.14.158 512 msec 508 msec 508 msec
  9 tengig4-4-ph.telecomplus.net (196.20.254.170) 444 msec 444 msec 444 msec
 10 or-g1-0-50.telecomplus.net (196.192.102.10) 460 msec 448 msec 460 msec
 11  *  *  * 
 12  *  *

Looks like LINX @ hop 6 which is in London. It may be a Malaysian network peering there at LINX, but that is London before it goes to Malaysia.

 

[Chevron]

SAFE does land in Mauritius:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAFE_(cable_system)

 

[sgs]

Thanks Tuniva - apologies. I obviously shouldn't try and think that early in the morning
(58.27 is Malaysia - so its London -> Malaysia -> Mauritius.)

 

[ponder]

Mauritius is connected to SAFE but all traffic is routed via Malaysia from the looks of things so the only part of SAFE/SAT3 you guys use is that last stretch from Mauritius to Malaysia and then via other cable systems to the rest of the world.

If I do a traceroute from Telkom ISP my first hop outside of the country is in Malaysia (1.9.241.133) after which there are two more hops before reaching Mauritius.

I suggest you contact Mauritius Telecom or whatever ISP you use to query this with them and ask them if the can't implement better routing/peering for you guys. But I suspect they do what they do probably for financial reasons, previous contracts etc.

You can do a visual traceroute from the US/EU/Asia (not Africa) from here http://traceroute.monitis.com/ and you will see everything gets routed via a roundabout way to you guys.