List of congested exchanges?

I have a 4Mbps line for many years. Over the past two months it started to degrade to such an extent that I'm often unable to do a speedtest. Afterhours the line is unusable and I get worse than dialup speed. I have logged several calls with Telkom and currently have one open (17ATK270811) and povided them with the speedtest results from various days and times. Sadly they are not doing anything to resolve the problem.

I guess the only thing is to get enough of us to make our results public and then if we're lucky we might get them to do something. My modem sync speed and quality is excellent. Latency is good and I have no line errors or packet loss, but download throughput is shocking most of the time (below 300kps). Upload speed is not a problem and test at 0.4Mbps most of the time
 
Just to paint a pretty picture of what happens on the Bellville North 4 DSLAM (wblv-esr-3 BRAS router).

Last night, we did very little on the ADSL line, including no downloads after midnight.

Traffic:
daily1.gif


Worst Latency problems start at 7pm, but any time after 5:30pm is not 100% perfect.
adsl-hop1-bras_last_10800.png


This graph shows how it settles down at midnight and will be fine for the next day until 5:30pm.
adsl-hop1-bras_last_108000.png


The latency graphs are created by Smokeping, pinging the 1st public ip on a traceroute:
(ie. hop #2 in this trace)
Code: 
C:\Users\Tinuva>tracert www.mweb.co.za

Tracing route to www.mweb.co.za [196.2.63.110]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1    <1 ms    <1 ms    <1 ms  router.heaven.za.net [10.0.0.1]
  2     7 ms     7 ms     7 ms  wblv-ip-esr-3.ipnet.wa.co.za [41.185.83.1]
  3     9 ms     9 ms     8 ms  wnls-ipc1-vl-105.wa.co.za [196.220.59.250]
  4     8 ms     9 ms     8 ms  wnls-cr1-vl-801.wa.co.za [41.185.0.67]
  5    85 ms    19 ms   143 ms  wbrs-csw1-vl-140.wa.co.za [41.185.1.5]
  6     9 ms     9 ms     8 ms  mweb.cinx.net.za [196.223.22.32]
  7    13 ms    13 ms    10 ms  gigabitethernet0-2-1-4.cpt-up-1.mweb.co.za [196.
28.178.138]
  8    14 ms    16 ms    16 ms  vlan11.cpt-hscore-1.mweb.co.za [196.28.178.99]
  9    13 ms    10 ms    12 ms  196-28-178-34.adsl.mweb.co.za [196.28.178.34]
 10    10 ms    10 ms    10 ms  www.mweb.co.za [196.2.63.110]

Trace complete.

ps. This happens on ALL ISP accounts, not just the Web Africa one. That ip sits on a Telkom Exchange router.
 
Last edited:
What app did you use to get these statistics?

Am seriously pissed at my exchange as well and want to see if there is a trend.
 
The traffic graph is generated by my Mikrotik router (adsl modem is in bridge mode, with pppoe session on the Mikrotik).

The latency graphs are generated by an app called Smokeping, run it on a Linux box at home, but I guess with some work you can get that on a Windows box.
 
I am also on that Bellville north exchange and I can pretty much say its totally buggered for online gaming now...

Here is some traceroutes from last night :

Tracing route to lowerping.24.com [109.169.49.32]
over a maximum of 30 hops:
1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms Cisco-E4200 [192.168.1.1]
2 608 ms 645 ms 649 ms wblv-ip-bb-1.ipnet.wa.co.za [41.185.100.1]
3 549 ms 429 ms 344 ms wnls-ipc1-vl-105.wa.co.za [196.220.59.250]
4 316 ms 320 ms 332 ms wnls-cr1-vl-801.wa.co.za [41.185.0.67]
5 444 ms 440 ms 488 ms 41-66-150-41-29.available.africainx.net [41.66.150.41]
6 685 ms 723 ms 730 ms LD-GS-MSC-M-to-CT-RO-MSC-M-SAT3-core-p2p.africainx.net [41.66.132.49]
7 746 ms 760 ms 777 ms te8-4.core1.thn.as20860.net [195.66.224.207]
8 731 ms 750 ms 751 ms 62-233-127-174.as20860.net [62.233.127.174]
9 747 ms 720 ms 795 ms 87.117.211.33
10 555 ms 456 ms 444 ms lowerping.24.com [109.169.49.32]

From my exhange to Web Africa - 608 ms and thats even before I jump onto the international pipeline...
The latencies are normally around 10 ms from my exchange up to Web Africa / Mweb... around 6 / 7 PM... it just goes flat into the ground... How I managed to get Rhyolith Heroic down last night at 5500 Ms in World of Warcraft, should be documented under Riply's Believe it or not ....

I can safely say my online gaming days are over.
 
Last edited:
Rondebosch!! Local ping ranges between 300-1200ms. Its ridiculous! And there doesnt even seem to be 'good times', its almost always bad!
 
Pornolio...indeed. Sad truth. Lucky for me, my guild stopped raiding the very week these problems started. However...I can't do ANY gaming in normal after work hours.

Today asked a inside person, and I then had to listen what a massive story it is to get moved to another DSLAM..from changing tellephone number ect ect. I just said "I don't care what massive long procedure I need to go through, if you give me the whole procedure, I will walk through it every step of the way, as long as I get off that damned oversubscribed DSLAM".

Last message was "I will get back to you".
 
Yeah the Rondebosch exchange is feeling it apparently. Since like 2007 I had never had any problems and then suddenly in May I started get horrible pings of between 800 and 1200 during the evening. It's perfect at every other time during the day. And nobody at Telkom can do anything to fix it I have been told. So I guess no gaming until they decide to upgrade the exchange :(
 
Same here! Things deteriorated horribly earlier this year! I used to game perfectly before, and then in march my pc got destroyed (geyser burst). When I got my new pc in june and started gaming again, pings were horrible and has been crap ever since.

Sent from my GT-I9000 using MyBroadband Android App
 
The exchange in nearest to Edgemead, Cape Town has recently gone to sh**. In this past week my pings have shot up from 10-30 all the way to 300+ (Peaks at around 600 sometimes).

My line speed is also diminished, but that could just be me being throttled. I'm more worried about ping anyways. :(
 
I work in Bellville South. For the past week the speeds have been terrible, could this be a congested exchange or is it just IS that is causing problems?
 
nicop said:
I have a 4Mbps line for many years. Over the past two months it started to degrade to such an extent that I'm often unable to do a speedtest. Afterhours the line is unusable and I get worse than dialup speed. I have logged several calls with Telkom and currently have one open (17ATK270811) and povided them with the speedtest results from various days and times. Sadly they are not doing anything to resolve the problem.

I guess the only thing is to get enough of us to make our results public and then if we're lucky we might get them to do something. My modem sync speed and quality is excellent. Latency is good and I have no line errors or packet loss, but download throughput is shocking most of the time (below 300kps). Upload speed is not a problem and test at 0.4Mbps most of the time
Click to expand...

Sounds exactly like my ADSL. Vierlanden, Durbanville. Currently getting 7KB/s...on a 4Mb line. Uploads at full speed. Couple of calls to Telkom, 4 times to the shop, 3 escalations (first two very friendly, 3rd one full of **** **** **** ****s), stopped a techie on the road. End result? NO RESPONSE.

Currently fantasizing about C4 and the exchange...
 
to0kenZA said:
You can add the Somerset West exchange to the list. Think it might just be our DSLAM in our neighbourhood though. There seems to be a load of congested DSLAMs all over the place as well. (Too small a link to handle the traffic back to the exchange). The thing is congested as fsck! Getting 1000ms on average after hours and it starts claming down to about 500ms later at night and only returns to normal at about 11:30 - 12:00pm. I'm sick of this ****. Thinking about cancelling my ADSL, but only after giving them a little bit of uphill.
Click to expand...

Are you 851, 850, 852 or 855?
 
Yep Bothasig Exchange has gone to s.it in the last 2 weeks, local ping times that was 50ms is now 500ms during the evenings. Need to start cutting random phone lines... :twisted:
 
pietmuis said:
Yep Bothasig Exchange has gone to s.it in the last 2 weeks, local ping times that was 50ms is now 500ms during the evenings. Need to start cutting random phone lines... :twisted:
Click to expand...
On the same exchange.

Mine (558) on 2048Kbps:
Tracing route to www.webafrica.co.za [196.220.58.66]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 613 ms 631 ms 616 ms wtvw-ip-bb-1.ipnet.wa.co.za [41.185.97.1]
2 600 ms 589 ms 625 ms wnls-ipc1-vl-108.wa.co.za [196.220.59.238]
3 633 ms * 625 ms wnls-cr1-vl-801.wa.co.za [41.185.0.67]
4 630 ms 606 ms 627 ms 41.185.1.18
5 628 ms 622 ms 612 ms wa-acc1.wadns.net [196.220.39.253]
6 631 ms 638 ms 616 ms 196.220.58.66

Trace complete.

Went next door earlier and theirs (558) on 384Kbps:
Tracing route to www.webafrica.co.za [196.220.58.66]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 20 ms 18 ms 20 ms wtvw-ip-bb-1.ipnet.wa.co.za [41.185.97.1]
2 23 ms 22 ms 22 ms wnls-ipc1-vl-105.wa.co.za [196.220.59.250]
3 21 ms 24 ms 22 ms wnls-cr1-vl-801.wa.co.za [41.185.0.67]
4 27 ms 25 ms 25 ms 41.185.1.22
5 24 ms 27 ms 23 ms wa-acc1.wadns.net [196.220.39.253]
6 27 ms 27 ms 24 ms 196.220.58.66

Trace complete.
Sent at 9:20 PM on Tuesday

How the... do you explain that one?
 
I am in Bothasig... have the same issues as of around lastweek sometime... here is my tracert...

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Windows\system32>tracert www.mweb.co.za

Tracing route to www.mweb.co.za [196.2.63.110]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms 192.168.2.1
2 687 ms 692 ms 694 ms 41-132-66-1.dsl.mweb.co.za [41.132.66.1]
3 686 ms 693 ms 694 ms Te1-1-0.511.cpt-ipc-1.mweb.co.za [196.28.178.202
]
4 689 ms 687 ms * Vlan92.cpt-hscore-1.mweb.co.za [196.28.179.11]
5 662 ms 682 ms 692 ms 196-28-178-34.adsl.mweb.co.za [196.28.178.34]
6 694 ms 676 ms 694 ms www.mweb.co.za [196.2.63.110]

Trace complete.

Can't do anyting on the internet... my speeds i get is 0.15mbps down and 0.14mbps up.
http://www.speedtest.net/result/1493415969.png
My line stats are:

Data Rate(Kbps)
6141 635
Noise Margin
23.6 19.9
Attenuation
30.4 11.9

And this is at 11:50 pm....
 
VindicatoR said:
On the same exchange.

Mine (558) on 2048Kbps:
Tracing route to www.webafrica.co.za [196.220.58.66]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 613 ms 631 ms 616 ms wtvw-ip-bb-1.ipnet.wa.co.za [41.185.97.1]
2 600 ms 589 ms 625 ms wnls-ipc1-vl-108.wa.co.za [196.220.59.238]
3 633 ms * 625 ms wnls-cr1-vl-801.wa.co.za [41.185.0.67]
4 630 ms 606 ms 627 ms 41.185.1.18
5 628 ms 622 ms 612 ms wa-acc1.wadns.net [196.220.39.253]
6 631 ms 638 ms 616 ms 196.220.58.66

Trace complete.

Went next door earlier and theirs (558) on 384Kbps:
Tracing route to www.webafrica.co.za [196.220.58.66]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 20 ms 18 ms 20 ms wtvw-ip-bb-1.ipnet.wa.co.za [41.185.97.1]
2 23 ms 22 ms 22 ms wnls-ipc1-vl-105.wa.co.za [196.220.59.250]
3 21 ms 24 ms 22 ms wnls-cr1-vl-801.wa.co.za [41.185.0.67]
4 27 ms 25 ms 25 ms 41.185.1.22
5 24 ms 27 ms 23 ms wa-acc1.wadns.net [196.220.39.253]
6 27 ms 27 ms 24 ms 196.220.58.66

Trace complete.
Sent at 9:20 PM on Tuesday

How the... do you explain that one?
Click to expand...
Easy. They on the same BRAS as you, but on a different DSLAM. Each DSLAM has it's own uplink to the BRAS. A single DSLAM can only take between 100-1000 ports. If its a dslam on the street then its gonna be closer to 50-100 ports.
 
to0kenZA said:
You can add the Somerset West exchange to the list. Think it might just be our DSLAM in our neighbourhood though. There seems to be a load of congested DSLAMs all over the place as well. (Too small a link to handle the traffic back to the exchange). The thing is congested as fsck! Getting 1000ms on average after hours and it starts claming down to about 500ms later at night and only returns to normal at about 11:30 - 12:00pm. I'm sick of this ****. Thinking about cancelling my ADSL, but only after giving them a little bit of uphill.
Click to expand...

wtf are you talking about. I'm on mweb 4mb uncapped, and live near beaumont primary

international ping - hetzner.de = 179ms
local pings - 196.25.1.1 = 11ms
google.co.za = 11ms

maybe its your ISP rather than your DSLAM
 
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