Getting Poor Routing to West Coast USA

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Getting Poor Routing to West Coast USA

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KiwiTT

122 posts

Master Geek

#2144576 13-Dec-2018 06:23

OK explain me this.

We have 2 links out of NZ - 1 via AUS and 1 via Hawaii. Sometimes my connection goes via Hawaii and sometimes it goes via Australia.

What it more looks like, is the link via Hawaii goes down sometimes, and then they route via Australia. Yes we have an internet service to the rest of the world maintained, but at the loss of fast connectivity to USA and beyond.

For the last few days, I had a ping of 270ms to my gaming server and now after a possible unreported outage of the NZ - Hawaii link, my ping has gone up to 340ms.

… and yes I understand other high bandwidth services might have different quality of service/costs.

… as for buying a quality service, I thought I do that with my connection which I now supplement with a VPN.

sbiddle

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#2144589 13-Dec-2018 07:26

KiwiTT:

OK explain me this.

We have 2 links out of NZ - 1 via AUS and 1 via Hawaii. Sometimes my connection goes via Hawaii and sometimes it goes via Australia.

What it more looks like, is the link via Hawaii goes down sometimes, and then they route via Australia. Yes we have an internet service to the rest of the world maintained, but at the loss of fast connectivity to USA and beyond.

For the last few days, I had a ping of 270ms to my gaming server and now after a possible unreported outage of the NZ - Hawaii link, my ping has gone up to 340ms.

… and yes I understand other high bandwidth services might have different quality of service/costs.

… as for buying a quality service, I thought I do that with my connection which I now supplement with a VPN.

Who said there has been an "outage" of the SXC between NZ and Hawaii?

Your definition of "fast" also differs to what most people would use. Fast is a measure of speed - latency is not speed. Speeds to the US will be largely unchanged regardless of how traffic routes.

If a provider purchases protected capacity on SXC and had equal capacity routing direct and via Australia then the direct link went down and traffic routed via Australia using the protected capacity it would not materially impact speed. It would increase latency, but latency is not speed.

KiwiTT

122 posts

Master Geek

#2144595 13-Dec-2018 07:37

Then tell me why my routing has changed from one via the USA to now one via Australia. Something has changed to the international links, because I have made no changes to my home setup.

Some days I go via the USA and others via AUS.

… and latency is my problem, not speed as you say. If you play games you'll understand that.

Linux

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#2144597 13-Dec-2018 07:40

KiwiTT:
Then tell me why my routing has changed from one via the USA to now one via Australia. Something has changed to the international links, because I have made no changes to my home setup.

Some days I go via the USA and others via AUS.

As mentioned many times on geekzone routing of traffic is not static

John

KiwiTT

122 posts

Master Geek

#2144602 13-Dec-2018 07:51

Linux:As mentioned many times on geekzone routing of traffic is not static

John

OK - so some days I can play and some days I can't - this will have to be one day where I can't.

BarTender

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#2144649 13-Dec-2018 09:26

KiwiTT:

Linux:As mentioned many times on geekzone routing of traffic is not static

John

OK - so some days I can play and some days I can't - this will have to be one day where I can't.

And quite possibly it has nothing to do with Spark, and everything to do with their upstream providers or even the game provider themselves routing or hosting services in different locations.

If your gaming latency is so important then I highly recommend you purchase a dedicated connection directly into their hosting location with attached SLAs to ensure low latency and there would be penalties attached should they exceed the agreed to SLA. But don't be surprised if it costs a little bit more than your current mass market broadband offering.

Jase2985

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#2144652 13-Dec-2018 09:29

if the level of service is unacceptable to you then change providers

heaps more out there

Quic Broadband

Move to New Zealand's best fibre broadband service (affiliate link). Free setup code: R587125ERQ6VE. Note that to use Quic Broadband you must be comfortable with configuring your own router.

Linux

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#2144656 13-Dec-2018 09:34

KiwiTT:
Linux:As mentioned many times on geekzone routing of traffic is not static

John

OK - so some days I can play and some days I can't - this will have to be one day where I can't.

On the days you can't play go and find something else to do like goto the beach

John

hio77

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#2144772 13-Dec-2018 13:00

KiwiTT:

Some days I go via the USA and others via AUS.

… and latency is my problem, not speed as you say. If you play games you'll understand that.

I'd highly suspect your simply not seeing it go through AUS. Could be all the routing there was Layer 2 rather than landing so you won't see it on a traceroute for example..

#include <std_disclaimer>

Any comments made are personal opinion and do not reflect directly on the position my current or past employers may have.

SpartanVXL

1316 posts

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#2144800 13-Dec-2018 13:48

Honestly anything over half your reaction time and you'll start noticing gameplay symptoms of latency. Most gamers will have 200-250ms (or just under 200ms) reaction speed which leaves max acceptable delay around the 100-140ms mark. Once it goes over your reaction time it gets hard because you're now faster than what the game registers. You have to compensate in tactics to account for it.

(nb: 200ms is not really just a random number, there is a reason websites target sub 500ms for responsiveness tests as this is the time the majority of people can react to change. Gamers, like sports/althlete people, who are good at what they do will be faster than the average person.)

KiwiTT

122 posts

Master Geek

#2144802 13-Dec-2018 13:55

sbiddle:

Who said there has been an "outage" of the SXC between NZ and Hawaii?

I contacted Spark, who has informed me that the link via Hawaii is down and will be up again tonight after 5pm.

SpartanVXL: Honestly anything over half your reaction time and you'll start noticing gameplay symptoms of latency. Most gamers will have 200-250ms (or just under 200ms) reaction speed which leaves max acceptable delay around the 100-140ms mark. Once it goes over your reaction time it gets hard because you're now faster than what the game registers. You have to compensate in tactics to account for it. (nb: 200ms is not really just a random number, there is a reason websites target sub 500ms for responsiveness tests as this is the time the majority of people can react to change. Gamers, like sports/althlete people, who are good at what they do will be faster than the average person.)

That is very helpful … thanks!

noroad

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#2144804 13-Dec-2018 13:57

sbiddle:

Who said there has been an "outage" of the SXC between NZ and Hawaii?

Your definition of "fast" also differs to what most people would use. Fast is a measure of speed - latency is not speed. Speeds to the US will be largely unchanged regardless of how traffic routes.

If a provider purchases protected capacity on SXC and had equal capacity routing direct and via Australia then the direct link went down and traffic routed via Australia using the protected capacity it would not materially impact speed. It would increase latency, but latency is not speed.

Funny enough, right now there actually is an outage on the "short" path-

*Urgent Planned Maintenance - Segment C Fibre Repair UTC 12th to 13th December 2018*
[This event is in progress - Apologies for the late notice]

*Event*:

Segment C (Spencer Beach to Takapuna) suffered an unprovoked fibre break on fibre pair 3 on UTC 7th December, and a temporary repair was carried out at Spencer Beach to restore service. It is now necessary to carry out a permanent repair which means that the segment needs to be powered down for a period of approximately 13 hours, taking the segment out of service.

This activity is programmed in the following window:

UTC 1500 hrs on Wednesday 12th December to UTC 0400 hrs on 13th December 2018

hio77

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#2144807 13-Dec-2018 14:04

KiwiTT:

sbiddle:

Who said there has been an "outage" of the SXC between NZ and Hawaii?
I contacted Spark, who has informed me that the link via Hawaii is down and will be up again tonight after 5pm.

Interesting, I'd love to privately be passed the details of this contact..

#include <std_disclaimer>

Any comments made are personal opinion and do not reflect directly on the position my current or past employers may have.

KiwiTT

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Master Geek

#2144872 13-Dec-2018 16:44

Seems as if the Auckland Hawaii link is back now.

noroad

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#2145194 14-Dec-2018 09:49

KiwiTT:

Seems as if the Auckland Hawaii link is back now.

Yes, it came back just after 16:00.

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