Vodacom Problems: Slow Throughput, trying to Connect, DNS, High Latency

[rabbiddog]

Something must have broken. This is the first time I have been able to connect since around 12:00, and this morning I had about 6 disconnects whereas I normally get mabe 1 a day

 

[rabbiddog]

Just run some checks on the router. and I intermittent errors when connecting.

1. At times no network bearer. (blue and red LED's flashing)
2. Cannot obtain IP address.

Edit: just got connected

Pinging smtp.vodacom.co.za [196.11.146.149] with 32 bytes of data:

Request timed out.
Reply from 196.11.146.149: bytes=32 time=232ms TTL=121
Reply from 196.11.146.149: bytes=32 time=312ms TTL=121
Reply from 196.11.146.149: bytes=32 time=1757ms TTL=121

Ping statistics for 196.11.146.149:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 3, Lost = 1 (25% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 232ms, Maximum = 1757ms, Average = 767ms


vodacom speed test

Download Speed: 370 kbps (46.3 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 24 kbps (3 KB/sec transfer rate)

 

[Bedford]

what is the cause of the request time outs?

 

[CodeMaster]

Seem to be back on HSDPA. Speeds are reasonable for month-end, and at least there is no packet loss. Upload speeds seem to have impoved a bit.
I am just glad to be back on HSDPA after the last couple days on GPRS

PING smtp.vodacom.co.za (196.11.146.149): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 196.11.146.149: icmp_seq=0 ttl=122 time=118.1 ms
64 bytes from 196.11.146.149: icmp_seq=1 ttl=122 time=116.6 ms
64 bytes from 196.11.146.149: icmp_seq=2 ttl=122 time=126.1 ms
64 bytes from 196.11.146.149: icmp_seq=3 ttl=122 time=115.6 ms
64 bytes from 196.11.146.149: icmp_seq=4 ttl=122 time=115.1 ms
64 bytes from 196.11.146.149: icmp_seq=5 ttl=122 time=114.6 ms
64 bytes from 196.11.146.149: icmp_seq=6 ttl=122 time=114.1 ms
64 bytes from 196.11.146.149: icmp_seq=7 ttl=122 time=113.4 ms
64 bytes from 196.11.146.149: icmp_seq=8 ttl=122 time=112.9 ms
64 bytes from 196.11.146.149: icmp_seq=9 ttl=122 time=112.4 ms
--- smtp.vodacom.co.za ping statistics ---
10 packets transmitted, 10 packets received, 0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max = 112.4/115.8/126.1 ms


PING www.l.google.com (74.125.39.99): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 74.125.39.99: icmp_seq=0 ttl=241 time=327.8 ms
64 bytes from 74.125.39.99: icmp_seq=1 ttl=241 time=313.0 ms
64 bytes from 74.125.39.99: icmp_seq=2 ttl=241 time=302.5 ms
64 bytes from 74.125.39.99: icmp_seq=3 ttl=241 time=299.3 ms
64 bytes from 74.125.39.99: icmp_seq=4 ttl=241 time=580.8 ms
64 bytes from 74.125.39.99: icmp_seq=5 ttl=241 time=300.5 ms
64 bytes from 74.125.39.99: icmp_seq=6 ttl=241 time=300.0 ms
64 bytes from 74.125.39.99: icmp_seq=7 ttl=241 time=319.4 ms
64 bytes from 74.125.39.99: icmp_seq=8 ttl=241 time=299.0 ms
64 bytes from 74.125.39.99: icmp_seq=9 ttl=241 time=298.5 ms
--- www.l.google.com ping statistics ---
10 packets transmitted, 10 packets received, 0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max = 298.5/334.0/580.8 ms


Vodacom SpeedTest 1
Download Speed: 727 kbps (90.9 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 229 kbps (28.6 KB/sec transfer rate)

Vodacom SpeedTest 2
Download Speed: 695 kbps (86.9 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 229 kbps (28.6 KB/sec transfer rate)

Speedtest.net - New York
Download Speed: 687 kbps
Upload Speed: 140 kbps
Ping: 789 ms

 

[rabbiddog]

Looks like things are back to normal again. Connecting fine and speeds are back again

 

[HowTo]

Browsing

Hi all,

What is happening now you can browse the next minute you cant.
I live int east rand area.
Anybody else is experiance this problem.

Regards

 

[Xbox 360 Agent Weed]

What is up with hsdpa latency tonight. I'm averaging 450ms to local servers. Normal average 180ms. Anyone else experiencing this in cape town and more specifically n1 city region

 

[threegee]

I have been noticing some strange browsing and DNS problems since late this afternoon. Browsing problems particularly related to forum based sites I frequent and DNS problems on certain well known sites ie. not returning the DNS query and therefore cannot view those sites. I suspect something has gone a little bit screwy with the caching appliance.

Two sites I cannot reach since 5pm are http://forum.vodafone.co.uk/ and http://www.photobucket.com/ ... can anyone else in Gauteng reach those??

 

[jenn]

Can something be done about the HORRIBLE latency issues that we have to suffer with at the end of each month. I understand that demand is high at the end of the month because people want to reach the saved up part of their cap, myself included. It is b/w we have already paid for, but I have been unable to get my last few hundred megs every month end since I got this contract.
I could even live with losing that left over b/w, IF I JUST HAD A DECENT PING ON WOW!!! And by decent I mean 600-700ms - which is ridiculous IMO but preferable to an average of 2000ms with frequent spiking thrown in due to packet loss. One second my latency is fine, the next my ping has multiplied tenfold. I run a quick ping to google and what do I see? Request timed out, Request timed out, Request timed out, Request timed out, PING REPLY, Request timed out. Unless you play wow and have experienced this, you cannot understand the frustration.
Wow is the reason I took this contract, if it does not enable me to play, WHAT AM I PAYING FOR?! I am sick and tired of being too scared of potential (read probable, no inevitable) latency issues, to attend raids and enjoy the game I'm paying to play.

The worst part is that I know that Vodacom can't afford to fix this problem by acquiring sufficient bandwidth, and so will continue to provide the kind of substandard service that we South Africans are so used to, and we will carry on paying outrageous amounts for it.
Since I have no alternative options in this town (and the alternatives in other parts are no better), I am forced to live with it. At least until June 17 2009. Right.
In the meantime, how about prioritising gaming traffic to some extent ? Gaming does not require huge amounts of data throughput, I would guess that gaming traffic does not influence browsing and downloading nearly as much as the reverse. I am not asking for faster speeds, more b/w or even lower prices, all I want is 0% packet loss, at least most of the time.
It is SAD that we have to "lek en smeek" for services that people in other countries take for granted. Oh wait, what am I complaining about, we have no electricity, and are soon to be witout water too - who needs the internet.

 

[morkhans]

Seeing throughput issues this evening. Left my router connected went out for 2hours came back, router shows connected, but I can't resolve or ping anything. Disconnect/reconnect, everything works again.

 

[pkid]

Was very, very slow in Durban last night too...

 

[Steinie]

I experienced slow or no throughput yesterday around midday for a couple of hours.

Judging by reports from friends around the country, it seems that Telkom ADSL users were suffering from the same problems, so I assume that it was not a VC problem?

 

[Iam3G]

Had up and down latency spikes for at least 2 hours last night. Shooting up to 5000ms to a local server, and going down and up. Couldn't play at all. Getting really ridiculous.

 

[morkhans]

My goodness things are crawling this evening....

 

[UtianG]

Same here, i've given up long time ago...
If it works it works, if not, so be it.

_______________________________________
AREA: Brackenfell (Vredekloof)
APN: Internet
PACKAGE: PPDB
DEVICE: Novatel MC950D USB Stick

 

[Pilgrim]

Can something be done about the HORRIBLE latency issues that we have to suffer with at the end of each month. I understand that demand is high at the end of the month because people want to reach the saved up part of their cap, myself included. It is b/w we have already paid for, but I have been unable to get my last few hundred megs every month end since I got this contract.
I could even live with losing that left over b/w, IF I JUST HAD A DECENT PING ON WOW!!! And by decent I mean 600-700ms - which is ridiculous IMO but preferable to an average of 2000ms with frequent spiking thrown in due to packet loss. One second my latency is fine, the next my ping has multiplied tenfold. I run a quick ping to google and what do I see? Request timed out, Request timed out, Request timed out, Request timed out, PING REPLY, Request timed out. Unless you play wow and have experienced this, you cannot understand the frustration.
Wow is the reason I took this contract, if it does not enable me to play, WHAT AM I PAYING FOR?! I am sick and tired of being too scared of potential (read probable, no inevitable) latency issues, to attend raids and enjoy the game I'm paying to play.

The worst part is that I know that Vodacom can't afford to fix this problem by acquiring sufficient bandwidth, and so will continue to provide the kind of substandard service that we South Africans are so used to, and we will carry on paying outrageous amounts for it.
Since I have no alternative options in this town (and the alternatives in other parts are no better), I am forced to live with it. At least until June 17 2009. Right.
In the meantime, how about prioritising gaming traffic to some extent ? Gaming does not require huge amounts of data throughput, I would guess that gaming traffic does not influence browsing and downloading nearly as much as the reverse. I am not asking for faster speeds, more b/w or even lower prices, all I want is 0% packet loss, at least most of the time.
It is SAD that we have to "lek en smeek" for services that people in other countries take for granted. Oh wait, what am I complaining about, we have no electricity, and are soon to be witout water too - who needs the internet.

I feel you pain. Even though we may not see eye to eye as I used to play Guild Wars

Take note of the used to. It used to be relaxing to sit down and do a few quests, but no. I refuse to strip my moer again when I am 90% done with a pretty fracking difficult run only to die thanks to vodacom.

I had two options: Stop playing, or keep seeing red every other day

Thankfully Guild Wars does not have a monthly subscription so who knows, once I get ADSL or Wimax I will give it a try again.

But not on 3G unless something changes at vodacom.

Vodacom3g, is it at all possible for vodacom to give any type of QoS to users that request it?

Perhaps a Gaming APN?

How many users must request this before vodacom will give it any thought? What can we do other than drop our 3g contracts when they expire?

 

[dex_10]

My goodness things are crawling this evening....

I thought it was just me! The whole Internet seems to be coming to a halt. I wonder if everybody's downloading Google's new Chrome browser

No seriously, does anybody know what's up

 

[Hosehead]

My goodness things are crawling this evening....

Talk about an understatement...

 

[dex_10]

My goodness things are crawling this evening....

When I do a VC speed test everything seems normal, but at speedtest.net it's a different story:

Johannesburg
Down: 459kb/s
Up: 42kb/s
Ping: 879ms

Wonder if this is a VC problem mmm...

 

[Iam3G]

Talk about an understatement...

I wonder if you can call pings up to 18000ms and understatement...

This was between 7pm and 10pm. Round about 11ish everything seemed to stabilize.