Unshaped ADSL tests - shocking

sybawoods

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Can someone more tech-literate tell me what tests I can run to ensure that I am in fact on an unshaped network? My main reason for upgrading was for improving international latency (as promised in the ad). Thus far, all test’s I’ve performed indicate <b>identical results</b> on my normal ADSL account (shaped), and the new upgraded one.

<b>Upgraded Unshaped Account:</b>

Tracing route to clarity.jolt.co.uk [195.149.21.11]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 14 ms 15 ms 15 ms wbs-192-01.telkomadsl.co.za [165.165.192.1]
2 15 ms 15 ms 12 ms wbs-ip-er-1-fe-12-0-0-1.telkom-ipnet.co.za [196.43.10.46]
3 437 ms 405 ms 437 ms london-dir-telecity-pos-8-0-0.telkom-ipnet.co.za [196.43.9.50]
4 437 ms 451 ms 421 ms pos2-1.cr02.ldn01.pccwbtn.net [63.218.52.17]
5 452 ms 406 ms 468 ms pos5-2.br01.ldn01.pccwbtn.net [63.218.12.94]
6 406 ms 468 ms 452 ms lon1-10.nildram.net [195.66.226.59]
7 406 ms 405 ms 437 ms lon1-9.nildram.net [195.149.20.130]
8 421 ms 468 ms 452 ms jolt-gw.nildram.net [195.149.20.126]
9 452 ms 437 ms 452 ms clarity.jolt.co.uk [195.149.21.11]

Trace complete.

<b>Normal shaped account</b>

Tracing route to clarity.jolt.co.uk [195.149.21.11]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 9 ms 9 ms 10 ms wbs-192-01.telkomadsl.co.za [165.165.192.1]
2 9 ms 9 ms 9 ms wbs-ip-er-1-fe-12-0-0-1.telkom-ipnet.co.za [196.43.10.46]
3 585 ms 596 ms 628 ms london-dir-telecity-pos-8-0-0.telkom-ipnet.co.za [196.43.9.50]
4 410 ms 437 ms 428 ms pos2-1.cr02.ldn01.pccwbtn.net [63.218.52.17]
5 448 ms 426 ms 449 ms pos5-0.br01.ldn01.pccwbtn.net [63.218.12.90]
6 435 ms 450 ms 417 ms lon1-10.nildram.net [195.66.226.59]
7 452 ms 420 ms 422 ms lon1-9.nildram.net [195.149.20.130]
8 481 ms 432 ms 444 ms jolt-gw.nildram.net [195.149.20.126]
9 437 ms 452 ms 439 ms clarity.jolt.co.uk [195.149.21.11]

Trace complete.

<b>ISDN dialup</b>

Tracing route to clarity.jolt.co.uk [195.149.21.11]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 29 ms 28 ms 28 ms pm3dial.ct.stormnet.co.za [196.22.220.114]
2 29 ms 30 ms 29 ms ct3640.ct.stormnet.co.za [196.22.220.1]
3 33 ms 33 ms 33 ms cbs-access1-wan.wc.saix.net [196.25.3.197]
4 343 ms 344 ms 342 ms london-dir-telecity-pos-8-0-0.telkom-ipnet.co.za [196.43.9.50]
5 448 ms 437 ms 436 ms pos2-1.cr02.ldn01.pccwbtn.net [63.218.52.17]
6 439 ms 436 ms 437 ms pos5-1.br01.ldn01.pccwbtn.net [63.218.12.130]
7 438 ms 447 ms 561 ms lon1-10.nildram.net [195.66.226.59]
8 439 ms 438 ms 438 ms lon1-9.nildram.net [195.149.20.130]
9 455 ms 439 ms 437 ms jolt-gw.nildram.net [195.149.20.126]
10 520 ms * 443 ms clarity.jolt.co.uk [195.149.21.11]
polish citizenship
Trace complete.

The IP allocated for the unshaped account is 165.165.222.xxx
The IP allocated for the shaped account is 165.165.200.xxx

Both connect to 1st hop server 165.165.192.1

I’m not a heavy p2p user, but fired up Kazaa Lite, downloaded a popular MP3, and got identical (slow) performance on both accounts (in the region of 2-3K/s)

I logged call with the helpdesk earlier and they couldn’t help much with the latency issue. When I logged the call latency was in the 1000+ range. Currently it’s in the 450-500ms range, which is still way higher than it should be for unshaped ADSL i.m.o. I have experienced pings as low as 160-180ms to the UK on ADSL and just over 200ms on ISDN.

I need some ammo to take to the helpdesk – these guys seem to have no clue what “unshaped” means. From what I can tell I’m on an identical network as a normal shaped ADSL account.

As it currently stands - there is no perceptive benefit that I can see after having "upgraded".
 
Last edited:
You could try using ping some.foreign.server.net to test latency, that sends a small (usually 64 bytes) ICMP packet to the server and waits for the same packet to come back.

From the results above, it seems your unshaped account probably isn't correctly set up on Telkom's side. 165.165.200.0/24 and 165.165.222.0/24 seem to be the same subnet, actually, they are the same subnet if your packets are traveling through the same router.

That's the only real ammo I can give you as far as going to the help desk is concerned.

Since Telkom impelement capping and shaping based on the subnet you are in and you are still in the same subnet with your unshaped account as with the standard shaped account, it would appear that the unshaped account is being perceived by Telkom's PPPoE or Radius servers to be a shaped account.

My guess is the unshaped accounts have not yet been configured, or nobody knows how to assign one.

You won't really find the help desk very helpful. Call them, tell them about the subnet issue, wait for the standard "Eh, I don't know..." response, then ask for the supervisor. Wait for the supervisor to tell you he doesn't know either, then ask him for his name and the reference number for your call.

With your reference number in hand, wait until office hours tomorrow and check the phone book for the number of your regional complaints manager, it will be hidden in between large volumes of text somewhere in the first ten pages, look for "Logging a complaint."

Once you have phoned the complaints manager, things usually start to happen very quickly.

Be sure to follow those instructions though, the complaints manager won't even speak to you unless you have a reference number and can quote the name of the supervisor who couldn't help you.

Good luck.

Willie Viljoen
Web Developer

Adaptive Web Development
 
Thanks. On a 30min call with the helpdesk as we speak. They refuse to assign a reference number - tried to make me send an email etc - as well as trying to make me call my ISP (already done that 3 times)! Currently I'm on hold...
 
As soon as they come back on the line, demand to speak to a supervisor immediately, if they say he's busy, tell them you will wait as long as you need to.

I once waited for over 40 minutes, but I did get the supervisor. He couldn't help me, but he did give me a reference number and that got the ball rolling to allow me to call the complaints guy...

After phoning the complaints guy, I actually got sorted out in less than an hour...

(I waited over two months for my ADSL connection because after compliance testing, nobody told me I had to "phone the ADSL department to confirm", the complaints guy sorted them out, big time...)

Willie Viljoen
Web Developer

Adaptive Web Development
 
Cheers - playing exactly that game now!
Edit: and just got a reference #. New product and all - nobody available to help - getting escalated to SAIX.
 
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by podo</i>
<br />You could try using ping some.foreign.server.net to test latency, that sends a small (usually 64 bytes) ICMP packet to the server and waits for the same packet to come back.

From the results above, it seems your unshaped account probably isn't correctly set up on Telkom's side. 165.165.200.0/24 and 165.165.222.0/24 seem to be the same subnet, actually, they are the same subnet if your packets are traveling through the same router.

That's the only real ammo I can give you as far as going to the help desk is concerned.

Since Telkom impelement capping and shaping based on the subnet you are in and you are still in the same subnet with your unshaped account as with the standard shaped account, it would appear that the unshaped account is being perceived by Telkom's PPPoE or Radius servers to be a shaped account.

My guess is the unshaped accounts have not yet been configured, or nobody knows how to assign one.

You won't really find the help desk very helpful. Call them, tell them about the subnet issue, wait for the standard "Eh, I don't know..." response, then ask for the supervisor. Wait for the supervisor to tell you he doesn't know either, then ask him for his name and the reference number for your call.

With your reference number in hand, wait until office hours tomorrow and check the phone book for the number of your regional complaints manager, it will be hidden in between large volumes of text somewhere in the first ten pages, look for "Logging a complaint."

Once you have phoned the complaints manager, things usually start to happen very quickly.

Be sure to follow those instructions though, the complaints manager won't even speak to you unless you have a reference number and can quote the name of the supervisor who couldn't help you.

Good luck.

Willie Viljoen
Web Developer

Adaptive Web Development
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

You da man, Podo! Finally got contacted by a SAIX engineer who seemed to know exactly what he was talking about - and it seems your theory is spot on. He basically said what you said above "the unshaped account is being perceived by Telkom's PPPoE or Radius servers to be a shaped account." The sub nets are incorrect for an unshaped account. They are having their network engineers do some more configuring, and all should be good muuuch later tonight, or early in the morning.

Gave some interesting insights though... SAT-3 is currently giving lots of errors so all international traffic is going via SAFE so there is generally higher latencies for everyone until SAT-3 is repaired. In terms of priority, leased line accounts will still get the best network service, followed closely by unshaped ADSL, then everyone else will compete for what is left as a "best effort" service - or so the theory goes.
 
Mmm - no expert - but according to http://www.mybroadband.co.za/news/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=153 - the table which shows the difference between shapev vs unshaped, p2p is only allocated 7% in the shaped account, and ICMP 1% - so my understanding is that there <b>should</b> be noticable differences in those two areas. A moot debate though, since SAIX appears to be ackowledging that the unshaped account appears to be on the shaped network. Hopefully when they fix, I'll be able to post some actual differences between the two.
 
I think you may have misunderstood what Unshaped means. Unshaped won't neccesarily mean less latency for things like Ping, or UDP. That is all up to the routers and links that Telkom uses.

I'm running an iperf (http://dast.nlanr.net/Projects/Iperf/) server on a north american backbone. It is pretty much as good as testing goes (much more accurate and reliable than these web-based thingies).

I'm running the iperf service on 2 ports: 443 (SSL) and 5001 (arbitrary port).
According to Telkom, SSL receives higher priority than other ports on the shaped package, and my tests indicates this to be true.

You can download the iperf.exe client executable from http://rodent.za.net/files/iperf.exe

Then, run the test in the following fashion:
C:\downloads&gt;<b>iperf -w 130k -t 20 -c legends.tribes2.za.net -p 5001</b>
Code:
Client connecting to legends.tribes2.za.net, TCP port 5001
TCP window size:  130 KByte
------------------------------------------------------------
[1928] local 192.168.0.10 port 1361 connected with 66.45.227.171 port 5001
[ ID] Interval       Transfer     Bandwidth
[1928]  0.0-31.3 sec   672 KBytes   176 Kbits/sec

And on the SSL port:

C:\downloads&gt;<b>iperf -w 130k -t 20 -c legends.tribes2.za.net -p 443</b>
Code:
------------------------------------------------------------
Client connecting to legends.tribes2.za.net, TCP port 443
TCP window size:  130 KByte
------------------------------------------------------------
[1928] local 192.168.0.10 port 1360 connected with 66.45.227.171 port 443
[ ID] Interval       Transfer     Bandwidth
[1928]  0.0-22.2 sec  1.02 MBytes   387 Kbits/sec

That is what my stats look like, on a normal Shaped account...

Do the same, and we'll see if your account is really unshaped. If it is unshaped, then you should get the same transfer rate on port 5001 as on port 443.


<center><h6> MyWireless <s>Hacks</s> Tweaks & Tech Info || Have you checked the fawking FAQ? <br /> <font color="red">Tired of bad Service? Want to compare speeds? We at least listen...</font id="red"></h6></center>
 
<b>Unshaped account</b>

D:\&gt;iperf -w 130k -t 20 -c legends.tribes2.za.net -p 5001
------------------------------------------------------------
Client connecting to legends.tribes2.za.net, TCP port 5001
TCP window size: 130 KByte
------------------------------------------------------------
[1892] local 165.165.205.xxx port 2367 connected with 66.45.227.171 port 5001
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth
[1892] 0.0-22.8 sec 1.13 MBytes 414 Kbits/sec


D:\&gt;iperf -w 130k -t 20 -c legends.tribes2.za.net -p 443
------------------------------------------------------------
Client connecting to legends.tribes2.za.net, TCP port 443
TCP window size: 130 KByte
------------------------------------------------------------
[1892] local 165.165.205.xxx port 2368 connected with 66.45.227.171 port 443
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth
[1892] 0.0-22.8 sec 1.13 MBytes 414 Kbits/sec

... then disconnected

<b>shaped account</b>
D:\&gt;iperf -w 130k -t 20 -c legends.tribes2.za.net -p 5001
------------------------------------------------------------
Client connecting to legends.tribes2.za.net, TCP port 5001
TCP window size: 130 KByte
------------------------------------------------------------
[1892] local 165.165.199.xxx port 2378 connected with 66.45.227.171 port 5001
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth
[1892] 0.0-22.8 sec 1.13 MBytes 417 Kbits/sec

D:\&gt;iperf -w 130k -t 20 -c legends.tribes2.za.net -p 443
------------------------------------------------------------
Client connecting to legends.tribes2.za.net, TCP port 443
TCP window size: 130 KByte
------------------------------------------------------------
[1892] local 165.165.199.xxx port 2379 connected with 66.45.227.171 port 443
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth
[1892] 0.0-22.8 sec 1.13 MBytes 417 Kbits/sec

So - what does this all mean? Seem to be getting identical results on all tests...
 
sybawoods, at 2:00am in the morning there is probably enough bandwidth available on the Telkom backbone to not show the results of portshaping. Typically port shaping will only happen if there is other higher priority traffic.

I'd suggest the same test at say, 9:00pm tonight to see if there's any difference.

<center><h6> MyWireless <s>Hacks</s> Tweaks & Tech Info || Have you checked the fawking FAQ? <br /> <font color="red">Tired of bad Service? Want to compare speeds? We at least listen...</font id="red"></h6></center>
 
Ok - yep - at 2am this morning I was getting sub 300ms latency to Europe on both ADSL accounts - seems like SAT-3 also came back up just after midnight last night.
 
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by sybawoods</i>
<br /><b>Unshaped account</b>
So - what does this all mean? Seem to be getting identical results on all tests...
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

Hi sybawoods,

As the only person to upgrade to unshaped you may have done us all a favor. They couldn't get your account right so they unshaped the whole subnet. [:D][:D][:D]
 
Syba.....I LOVE YOU! Think we should give you some kind of medal for testing the unshaped package [:D]

And with all your phonecalls I'm sure the telkom techies got a call from head office to get their asses in gear and fix the sat-3!!! [:D]


Syba for president!
 
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by SoulMyst</i>
<br />Syba.....I LOVE YOU! Think we should give you some kind of medal for testing the unshaped package [:D]

And with all your phonecalls I'm sure the telkom techies got a call from head office to get their asses in gear and fix the sat-3!!! [:D]

Syba for president!

<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

Hey, I can get used to this whole "crusader for the masses" image [:D]. Actually, last night late I sent a very angry letter, complete with times of telephone calls, trace-routes etc to as many telkom addresses I could find. I addressed it as "Attention Mr White" - complained of my frustrations trying to upgrade to the unshaped account, as well as all the problems last night just trying to find someone who could confirm whether or not I was in fact on an unshaped network. I described the lack of product knowledge amongst all the call centre agents, the technical support desk etc - together with the call reference number I eventually got (thanks Podo for that tip), the times and duration of my various tel calls etc.

I expected it to disppear in the big black hole - but did get an official call back this morning assuring me that my letter was received, and that they are officially investigating both the technical questions, and the customer service issues. I have been given a direct contact name and tel # of the person investigating the incident - and was assured it's being taken seriously. Apparently the product knowledge issues were being dealt with as a matter of urgency "as we spoke".

May simply be corporate PR or damage control - but it did make me feel <b>slightly</b> better by getting an offical reply c/o Mr White. My ticket is still open - hopefully they come back with more feedback on the technical issues before the week-end. At work at the moment, but will post a copy of the letter later when home.
 
Okay, here's some more feedback for anyone interested in unshaped ADSL, and my current squabble with SAIX / TELKOM over the matter.

Firstly, some interesting info:

- Unshaped usernames are in the format: [email protected]
- IP address range: 165.165.xx.x where xx is in the range 1-32
(they have finally been able to put me on the correct i.p. range)
- First hop server is in format 165.165.20.x - (was 165.165.192.x)

I have to concede that since complaining very loudly on the forum and elsewhere my complaint has received attention, and I have had more than 1 engineer call me during the course of the day to deal with my complaint. The fault is still regarded as open and is currently under investigation. The main of these is that - at least wrt international latency which is the reason I upgraded - there is no perceived difference in performance between shaped vs unshaped.

Latency is implied to be greatly enhanced in Mr White's press release advertsing the new product:

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">This service has been designed for a niche market including for example a typical foreign exchange trader...while gamers will be able to connect to any gaming server anywhere in the world<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">I fall squarely within this niche, since on-line gaming is by it's nature dependent on low latency (so is forex trading btw).

Below is a copy of my formal letter of complaint:

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">

Dear Mr White

I applied for the upgraded, unshaped ADSL prologue account on 2 June, the day it was advertised as being available on the TELKOM web-page, and after reading a press-release. Despite a number of frustrating telephone calls to the official numbers posted on the Telkomsa ADSL page, nobody seemed able to provide me with an upgrade.

I was passed on from Telkomsa accounts section to the ADSL helpdesk, to TELKOM Business Services. More than one person promised to call me back, and never did. By the end of the day, after having initiated my first call at 9.30am, and the last at about 6pm, nobody was able to confirm whether I had been upgraded, and nobody was able to provide me with a username and password for the new service.

Eventually at about 10.30am the next day 3 June, I was contacted by someone who was able to upgrade my account, and provide me with a “unshaped” user-name and password. After testing the login I discovered that email passwords and user-names had also been reset, and I needed to make another phone call to confirm new email user-names and passwords. Minor problem in the scheme of things, though, since I was able to retain the same email addresses.

Eventually, when I got everything set up, I compared the performance of the new unshaped account with an additional shaped prologue ADSL account which I still have. Latency on both accounts was excessively high (1000+ms to most international servers), with high packet loss. Trace routes and ping tests were identical on both accounts. I.P. addresses allocated to both accounts were virtually identical, indicating that they were both on the same sub-net. I tested with a p2p application and got identical results on both. For all intents and purposes, the two accounts appear identical in terms of performance. There is no perceptive difference, other than the obvious extra gig of bandwidth.

What followed was an even bigger nightmare. I spent most of the first evening with my new account (3 June) being passed around from the Telkomsa helpdesk to the ADSL helpdesk, with neither appearing to understand my problem, let alone wanting to deal with it. Telkomsa insisted that it was a problem that should be investigated by the ADSL helpdesk. The helpdesk insisted that it sold accounts to ISP’s in bulk, and that it was an ISP problem and not theirs. After my 4th telephone call to the ADSL helpdesk, they insisted that I explain my problem in an email. They refused to allocate me a reference number. I insisted that I would not send an email. I was asked the previous day, 2 June, (after nobody could help me with upgrading my account) to send an email to [email protected] to request an upgrade – I had still received no reply! I was not going to be placed in the same position.

Eventually, someone at the ADSL helpdesk agreed to do some tests. They asked me for i.p. addressed to test and trace – I would be placed on hold for between 5 and 10 minutes at a time – then they would come back and ask for additional info… usernames, ADSL telephone number, I.P. address allocated to me, and so forth, and so forth. Eventually, after making no progress, and after about another 10minute period “on hold” while the helpdesk person went to go ask “someone for help” – I was again asked to send an email to my ISP. I refused. They volunteered to call the ISP on my behalf and promised a call back. Eventually, I agreed, after having taken down the name of the person I was dealing with. Eventually I got the call back, and got transferred to Telkomsa’s helpdesk, to someone who was prepared to allocate me a reference number, but only after I was prepared to put the information in an email. After much frustration, and close to 7 hours after initiating my first call I have eventually received a reference number. My new upgraded unshaped ADSL account is still unusable for my needs – international latency is far in excess of the minimum required for gaming purposes, and which I am able to obtain with an R80 ISDN account. It is also no better than my normal R260 shaped ADSL account.

The entire experience has left me completely frustrated. I have been an ADSL user since the day it was available. I was amongst the first to sign-up, I completed the application form shortly after mid-night on the night that it became available! For the first 2 months the service satisfied all my needs, always available access and low-latency connections to both local and international game servers. Since shaping was introduced, I have lost access to the low latency international connections, and was forced to re-install my ISDN line to make up for this.

Finally, an unshaped ADSL product is released which promises “connections to game servers anywhere in the world”. Again, I’m amongst the first to apply and am prepared to pay a premium of more than R600 simply to get the service I had when I first signed up. What do I get? Incompetent call centre agents who have no clue how to upgrade my account. I was prepared to forsake this, just to be able to get the ADSL service I thought was advertised. All I end up with is performance identical to my shaped account, and nobody prepared to investigate or take the time to understand my complaint.

I am one of those silly patriotic South Africans who still gives TELKOM the benefit of the doubt despite mountains of complaints from frustrated users. Right now TELKOM for me represents the worst example of customer service and abuse of loyalty. If I had any choice, I would leave for the competition tomorrow.

Please do-not parade shiny new ADSL offerings promising features and performance that is either not available, not ready yet, and when your staff have no clue how to service basic customer queries regarding it – like “how do I sign up?” or “how do I confirm that I have an unshaped account?”.

I’m afraid that under the circumstances I find the new service you advertise to be completely misleading and hope someone is able to resolve my query – why am I getting identical international latency on both a shaped and unshaped account? <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

Since sending the letter, my complaint has been assigned a formal fault reference, which is still open, and I have been contacted to send copies of trace routes and other relevant data.

The most significant of these i.m.o., is a comparison between my <b>unshaped ADSL</b> (on the new i.p range) vs <b>shaped ADSL</b> vs <b>ISDN dialup</b>. The cheapest of these options (+/- R100 p/m) - ISDN - provides the best performance.

I have used http://www.pingplotter.com to build samples of data which I have sent to them as the basis for my complaint. I'm not able to post images in these forums, but you can find them here to see the gist of my complaint:

<b>Shiny new unshaped ADSL</b> ISP cost R870+
http://home.telkomsa.net/myhome/images/unshaped.jpg

- max latency 890ms
- high packet loss
- impossible for gaming


<b>old shaped ADSL</b> ISP cost R260+
http://home.telkomsa.net/myhome/images/shaped.jpg

- max latency 835ms
- high packet loss
- impossible for gaming


<b>ISDN dialup via popular Cape Town ISP</b> ISP cost R100 +/-
http://home.telkomsa.net/myhome/images/isdn.jpg

- max latency 299ms
- zero packet loss
- suitable for gaming

Based on the above I would say that there is no benefit upgrading from shaped ADSL to unshaped, at a premium of over R600. For my needs, there is absolutely no improvement and I seriously question Mr White's claim that the new product will enable gamers "... to connect to any gaming server anywhere in the world". Any gamer will tell you that those pings will get you disconnected from any game server within seconds, if you were able to establish a connection at all.

Those samples were made at about 2pm this afternoon. Currently - 7.35pm Friday - I am getting much better latencies on both ADSL accounts (sub 400ms), but still nowhere near what I am able to get with my ISDN line.
 
Man, u must b so pissed off, though at least they're taking up your complaint.
I can't believe those adsl v isdn comparisons. Once again i feel that for gaming, isdn is still the best option. You lose out on the local servers, but you score on the Int ones. Having said that, you can hardly be competative with a 300ping if we're talking FPS.


Telkom - South Africa's Handbrake to progress.
 
don't waste the unshapness! get kazaa lite and get a whole got of bit torrents near the end of the month make sure u get ur R900's worth of stuff

..- dot dot dash ;)
 
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by freeek</i>
<br />don't waste the unshapness! get kazaa lite and get a whole got of bit torrents near the end of the month make sure u get ur R900's worth of stuff

..- dot dot dash ;)
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

Hehe - for what it's worth I just ran some tests using Kazaa lite. On almost everything I tried (mostly mp3's) the unshaped account maxed out at 450kbps, while the shaped account was consistently at about 50-60kbps, sometimes flirting with 100kbps for a few seconds.
 
Interesting.. both ISDN and ADSL hopped to the exact same Telkom link to London. Now why do the ADSL connections have a 800ms latency for that one hop? Surely shaping cant hit a trace/ping that bad? They must be routing their ADSL international traffic over some suspicious link somewhere.
 
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