Cell C WhatsApp and push e-mail problems explained
Summary: Cell C are aware of a problem on their network that is causing delays in delivery of push messages affecting services such as WhatsApp and e-mail. Their supplier has promised a permanent fix by the end of September.
A number of Cell C subscribers have reported experiencing problems with services like WhatsApp and push e-mail on their smartphones.
It affected Android, iPhone, and Symbian users alike. This problem mostly seemed to manifest as delayed message delivery, but MyBroadband forum members traced the problem to connections to servers that were stalling or being closed.
Cell C have confirmed that a piece of equipment on their network is causing a problem, with Cell C’s executive head of networks Steve Boiles offering an in-depth explanation of what is causing the problem.
It boils down to a single device on the network which clears out old connections it sees as stale to prevent them from using resources unnecessarily. Boiles’ full explanation is reproduced below for the more technically inclined.
It became apparent a few weeks ago that complaints were surfacing regarding user experience on Android Apps that require something pushed to the handset such as a WhatsApp session. In investigating this we found a problem on one of our devices in the network that performs deep packet inspection of traffic passing through the network for billing purposes.
There are certain timers within the system that prevent stale sessions utilizing resources and clears out older sessions. This is necessary and is not noticeable to a user performing many data usage sessions such as browsing, downloading etc where the session is either constantly used or where a session being killed will simply be re-established by the system in a transparent mode to the user.
Unfortunately when a user is using an app that requires to receive data after a long pause the system will have killed the session and the sub is not reachable until initiating another session, hence the feeling that the message is late.
Boiles explained that they tried to prevent the device causing the problem from affecting apps, but said that some users using certain apps would still be affected.
Cell C’s supplier has promised a permanent fix within two weeks (end September 2011) delivered in the form of a software patch, Boiles said, adding that they did implement another workaround early last week that would hopefully provide “a better level of fix” than before.
TCP connections stalling / Gmail, Gtalk, WhatsApp issues – forum tread
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