Cell-C LTE: Intermittent periods of packet loss and high ping

ginggs

ginggs

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Hi Cell_C

I have been using Cell-C LTE since September last year. I currently have a Giga 200 package that generally works very well. According to speedtests, I often get 20+ Mbps download and upload.

However, there are times when it becomes unusable; 20% packet loss and ping times increase dramatically. Rebooting the router in this situation often helps.

Over the last two months, I have been monitoring the problem and have tested with a different router with its own built-in LTE modem, its own external antenna which also happens to connect to a different base station, and the problem occurs there too.

When things are good, I often see an IP address starting 41.48 at the third hop:
Code: 
$ traceroute google.com
traceroute to google.com (216.58.223.46), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets
 1  mikrotik (192.168.88.1)  0.416 ms  0.548 ms  0.894 ms
 2  * * *
 3  [b]41.48.22.42[/b] (41.48.22.42)  50.775 ms  50.779 ms  50.806 ms
 4  * * *
 5  10.228.233.193 (10.228.233.193)  50.565 ms  50.689 ms  50.687 ms
 6  41.48.16.1 (41.48.16.1)  50.439 ms  43.385 ms  43.384 ms
 7  41.48.0.2 (41.48.0.2)  43.476 ms  58.969 ms  58.963 ms
 8  google.ixp.joburg (196.60.8.166)  39.053 ms  49.091 ms  49.029 ms
 9  72.14.239.129 (72.14.239.129)  49.151 ms  49.179 ms  49.134 ms
10  jnb01s08-in-f14.1e100.net (216.58.223.46)  [b]49.168 ms  49.121 ms  39.662 ms[/b]

When things are bad, I often see 41.50 there:
Code: 
$ traceroute google.com
traceroute to google.com (216.58.223.46), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets
 1  mikrotik (192.168.88.1)  0.427 ms  0.566 ms  0.648 ms
 2  * * *
 3  [b]41.50.7.234[/b] (41.50.7.234)  60.252 ms  60.255 ms  60.259 ms
 4  * * *
 5  10.220.232.193 (10.220.232.193)  50.357 ms  50.306 ms  50.333 ms
 6  41.50.16.1 (41.50.16.1)  50.136 ms  43.069 ms  42.969 ms
 7  41.50.0.2 (41.50.0.2)  42.982 ms  39.570 ms  339.613 ms
 8  41.48.253.70 (41.48.253.70)  39.655 ms  39.603 ms  39.639 ms
 9  72.14.197.146 (72.14.197.146)  49.303 ms  49.312 ms  39.662 ms
10  72.14.239.129 (72.14.239.129)  39.675 ms  279.750 ms  189.834 ms
11  jnb01s08-in-f14.1e100.net (216.58.223.46)  [b]159.641 ms  249.897 ms  139.829 ms[/b]

The workaround seems to be to reboot the router until the third hop shows a 41.48 address. Is this a known problem?
 
morkhans said:
Could be congested link/backhaul.
Click to expand...

I live in the northern cape. I see the same issue as gings 41.50 IP range I get packet loss at night, 41.48 range I get 0% packetloss

Something it might be is that when you roam on vodacom you only get the 41.50 range, it might be that routers or switches on that range is congested at night
 
I upgraded the firmware on my router, which required a reboot, and then:
Code: 
$ traceroute mybroadband.co.za
traceroute to mybroadband.co.za (104.20.9.169), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets
 1  mikrotik (192.168.88.1)  0.520 ms  0.676 ms  0.789 ms
 2  * * *
 3  [b]41.50.7.238[/b] (41.50.7.238)  64.232 ms  74.069 ms  74.077 ms
 4  * * *
 5  10.220.232.193 (10.220.232.193)  74.054 ms  74.076 ms  74.022 ms
 6  41.50.16.1 (41.50.16.1)  183.755 ms  132.498 ms  202.133 ms
 7  41.50.0.2 (41.50.0.2)  262.346 ms  259.433 ms  199.682 ms
 8  cloudflare.ixp.joburg (196.60.8.198)  229.546 ms  239.601 ms *
 9  104.20.9.169 (104.20.9.169)  [b]279.447 ms  219.779 ms  199.763 ms[/b]

Code: 
$ traceroute google.com
traceroute to google.com (216.58.223.46), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets
 1  mikrotik (192.168.88.1)  0.491 ms  0.582 ms  0.682 ms
 2  * * *
 3  [b]41.50.7.234[/b] (41.50.7.234)  55.336 ms  55.352 ms  55.356 ms
 4  * * *
 5  10.220.232.193 (10.220.232.193)  55.284 ms  55.288 ms  55.291 ms
 6  41.50.16.1 (41.50.16.1)  45.380 ms  173.695 ms  43.701 ms
 7  * 41.50.0.2 (41.50.0.2)  49.613 ms *
 8  * * *
 9  * * *
10  * * 72.14.239.129 (72.14.239.129)  313.291 ms
11  jnb01s08-in-f14.1e100.net (216.58.223.46)  [b]123.362 ms  303.610 ms  113.757 ms[/b]
I rebooted and got:
Code: 
$ traceroute mybroadband.co.za
traceroute to mybroadband.co.za (104.20.9.169), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets
 1  mikrotik (192.168.88.1)  0.584 ms  0.753 ms  0.855 ms
 2  * * *
 3  [b]41.50.7.234[/b] (41.50.7.234)  52.092 ms  61.896 ms  61.897 ms
 4  * * *
 5  10.220.232.193 (10.220.232.193)  51.862 ms  61.824 ms  61.837 ms
 6  41.50.16.1 (41.50.16.1)  51.826 ms  60.065 ms  119.814 ms
 7  41.50.0.2 (41.50.0.2)  60.110 ms  389.537 ms  399.520 ms
 8  cloudflare.ixp.joburg (196.60.8.198)  329.475 ms  319.654 ms  270.129 ms
 9  104.20.9.169 (104.20.9.169)  [b]319.585 ms  309.501 ms *[/b]

Code: 
$ traceroute google.com
traceroute to google.com (216.58.223.46), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets
 1  mikrotik (192.168.88.1)  0.540 ms  0.699 ms  0.901 ms
 2  * * *
 3  [b]41.50.7.238[/b] (41.50.7.238)  51.743 ms  51.773 ms  61.377 ms
 4  * * *
 5  10.220.232.193 (10.220.232.193)  61.331 ms  61.337 ms  61.342 ms
 6  41.50.16.1 (41.50.16.1)  241.276 ms  140.549 ms  190.254 ms
 7  * 41.50.0.2 (41.50.0.2)  319.529 ms  239.631 ms
 8  41.48.253.70 (41.48.253.70)  249.919 ms  369.760 ms  249.814 ms
 9  72.14.197.146 (72.14.197.146)  289.874 ms  309.652 ms  179.884 ms
10  72.14.239.129 (72.14.239.129)  129.900 ms  89.678 ms  99.846 ms
11  jnb01s08-in-f46.1e100.net (216.58.223.46)  [b]129.861 ms  149.745 ms  129.913 ms[/b]

After rebooting again, I ended up with:
Code: 
$ traceroute mybroadband.co.za
traceroute to mybroadband.co.za (104.20.10.169), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets
 1  mikrotik (192.168.88.1)  0.470 ms  0.596 ms  0.737 ms
 2  * * *
 3  [b]41.48.22.38[/b] (41.48.22.38)  89.843 ms  89.852 ms  89.862 ms
 4  * * *
 5  10.228.233.193 (10.228.233.193)  89.985 ms  89.921 ms  89.943 ms
 6  41.48.16.1 (41.48.16.1)  79.872 ms  205.611 ms  78.376 ms
 7  41.48.0.2 (41.48.0.2)  78.552 ms  40.564 ms  40.502 ms
 8  cloudflare.ixp.joburg (196.60.8.198)  127.282 ms  159.520 ms  139.716 ms
 9  104.20.10.169 (104.20.10.169)  [b]117.097 ms  149.221 ms  117.006 ms[/b]

Code: 
$ traceroute google.com
traceroute to google.com (216.58.223.46), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets
 1  mikrotik (192.168.88.1)  0.393 ms  0.524 ms  0.617 ms
 2  * * *
 3  [b]41.48.22.38[/b] (41.48.22.38)  55.515 ms  55.518 ms  65.089 ms
 4  * * *
 5  10.228.233.193 (10.228.233.193)  65.024 ms  64.994 ms  65.015 ms
 6  41.48.16.1 (41.48.16.1)  55.231 ms  53.971 ms  63.557 ms
 7  41.48.0.2 (41.48.0.2)  53.839 ms  39.498 ms  39.483 ms
 8  41.48.253.81 (41.48.253.81)  39.533 ms  79.237 ms  39.511 ms
 9  209.85.149.148 (209.85.149.148)  89.629 ms  79.986 ms  79.992 ms
10  72.14.239.129 (72.14.239.129)  59.482 ms  39.576 ms  39.719 ms
11  jnb01s08-in-f46.1e100.net (216.58.223.46)  [b]39.681 ms  50.014 ms  49.962 ms[/b]
@Cell_C: can you tell me if this is a known problem, or can you assist me with logging the fault?
 
Cell_C PM'd me for my contact details. This morning I received an email from one of Cell-C's Social Media Consultants letting me know my query has been escalated to their networks department.
 
ginggs said:
Cell_C PM'd me for my contact details. This morning I received an email from one of Cell-C's Social Media Consultants letting me know my query has been escalated to their networks department.
Click to expand...

Thanks man. Just tested last night. Had about 22% packet loss at peak times. I went back to 41.48 and it was gone again.
 
On the morning of February 1 I received a call from some from Cell-C's networks department. There was confusion as he had not been given my email address or even a link to this thread. :wtf:

Eventually we were able to get on the same page and a network query was logged.

Sometimes this problem occurs two or three times in one evening, and other times it can go a week before occurring again.
 
@Cell_C: This has been with your network department for a week now, can you give me any feedback please?
 
Hi ginggs

We will follow us with our Network team and revert back.

^NT
 
No change on my side. On Sunday I was having problems and it took several attempts throughout the day to get back onto a 41.48 address, but once I did, all was good for the next couple of days.
 
ginggs said:
No change on my side. On Sunday I was having problems and it took several attempts throughout the day to get back onto a 41.48 address, but once I did, all was good for the next couple of days.
Click to expand...

Hi ginggs

Are you currently experiencing issues?

^SM
 
@Cell_C: Any news? This has been with your networks department for three weeks now.
 
Hi ginggs

We are following up with the Network Team and will revert with feedback.

^NS
 
@ ginggs
Have they been in contact with you
 
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