Orcon - Frequent Disconnections each evening

Forums › 2degrees (including Slingshot, Orcon, Flip, Stuff Fibre, MyRepublic, 2talk and Vocus) › Orcon - Frequent Disconnections each evening - Gaming

Wing5wong

17 posts

Geek

#307091 18-Sep-2023 23:56

Hey there... first time posting here after having no real luck via email/call center support

I recently went through email support/call centre after experiencing significant disruption to service EVERY night, multiple times a night.

They key issue - Online games disconnecting for short periods, before being able to connect again. I play mostly World of Warcraft and Dead by Daylight when i experience this issue, and when these games disconnect, other services and apps continue to function

Things like discord voice chats continue working

Streaming to twitch.tv with OBS works without issue.

Watching content on twitch.tv appeared to always work fine.

Pings (ping -t 8.8.8.8) timeout (usually) when this happens, looking like below

Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time=32ms TTL=119
Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time=32ms TTL=119
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time=32ms TTL=119
Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time=32ms TTL=119
Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time=32ms TTL=119

First off, i must say email service when reporting this was not great, offering a textbook response without listening or understanding the problem, on top of being slow.

Eventually after being passed to the technical team i got this response, and then radio silence. "I have had a look at your Account and can see that the line seems to be okay, no frequent disconnections noted on our end, do you mind trying another ethernet cable /device?"

Needless to say i was not impressed with this.

Regardless, after a MONTH of radio silence, and me providing exact timestamps of when disconencts happened (with no further response), i finally called the call center and explained the issue. We went through a firmware upgrade, factory reset, and eventually this resulted in me being sent a new Orbi Modem within the week (i was using an NF18). I was actually impressed with the call center person.

After that time, i noticed the issues with the connection were reduced (but not eliminated).

Now, the issues are back, and im disconnecting from gaming sessions MULTIPLE times per night.

What is going on?! I have never had issues like this before, at any address (including this one), until when i first reported this issue (may 2023).

The issue is not a bandwidth issue - it seems to be that certain connections just get dropped for a short period (although even speed tests seem to perform poorly for me at certain times - with a max of 200Mbps conections outside of NZ?)
Heres a result to sydney as i type this DOWNLOAD 115.95 UPLOAD 540.23 (https://www.speedtest.net/result/15263999468)

And some additional tests - first to 2degrees auckland then to Sydney Telstra right after

https://www.speedtest.net/result/15264137388 (877/541)

https://www.speedtest.net/result/15264130714 (124/96)

Is this forum somewhere i can find actual support or information about what can be going on here that isnt just "reboot the modem"?
I have a packet capture from tonight while playing the game "dead by daylight" if that can help - it captures me starting the game, playing for a while, and then being disconnected (and consequently banned from playing for 5 hours due to the significant number of disconnects i have had over the last few days)
It looks like UDP packets between 3.26.112.176 (aws) and myself mostly for the duration of the game, until there is a 15 second period of no UDP packets from the AWS source, and me being disconnected.

Any assistance is appreciated in returning back to a STABLE connection is appreciated, as currently online gaming with this connection is unfeasible - not knowing when i will be connected or not means i cannot play in any competitive environment, and being timed out for hours at a time just kills any use of other games.

Cheers, Sean

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meow
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#3129209 19-Sep-2023 00:37

Eventually after being passed to the technical team i got this response, and then radio silence. "I have had a look at your Account and can see that the line seems to be okay, no frequent disconnections noted on our end, do you mind trying another ethernet cable /device?"

That is standard. 2degrees can't see any disconnections and to be honest I don't think it is a 2degrees fault either. This actually sounds like an end user fault to me.

You have not actually mentioned how you're connecting and if you've tried another device here? Are you using Ethernet or WiFi? What other devices are connected? Have you actually replaced Ethernet cables as part of troubleshooting?

You really need to actually go through their troubleshooting steps (rebooting the ONT / Router, testing different cables etc) as they need to see you've done this. Honestly the amount of times from my tech support days where a simple reboot solves the issue is insane and you can understand how frustrating to a technical support person when a person doesn't do this (they can see the logs proving if you've done it or not).

This is not an official support forum. Really, their official support is via phone support with 2degrees. Sure, there may be volunteers on this forum who may help some individuals out but this isn't at all guaranteed and I think instead it is better to troubleshoot here a little further.

If you can also, especially since you've managed to replicate the problem with a ping test perhaps try booting into Linux (Ubuntu Linux) and just seeing if you can replicate the problem under that. If you've got VPN software or anything running on your computer then this can also cause networking issues.

Michael Murphy | https://murfy.nz
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Wing5wong

17 posts

Geek

#3129223 19-Sep-2023 08:03

Good morning Michael, thanks for responding.

michaelmurfy:

You have not actually mentioned how you're connecting and if you've tried another device here? Are you using Ethernet or WiFi? What other devices are connected? Have you actually replaced Ethernet cables as part of troubleshooting?

This is not an official support forum. Really, their official support is via phone support with 2degrees. Sure, there may be volunteers on this forum who may help some individuals out but this isn't at all guaranteed and I think instead it is better to troubleshoot here a little further.

If you can also, especially since you've managed to replicate the problem with a ping test perhaps try booting into Linux (Ubuntu Linux) and just seeing if you can replicate the problem under that. If you've got VPN software or anything running on your computer then this can also cause networking issues.

My apologies, im sure i wrote this but looks like i deleted it while forming the post.

I have 2 desktops, connected with Dynamix Cat6 3m cables. The cables actually were replaced as part of the troubleshooting, and the modem and ONT were of course all rebooted before attempting the initial support calls.
This should have been visible to support, as you say.

I totally understand this - Im looking for a cause (and ultimately a solution) - im more than happy to try what i can.
The issue appears related to particular types of traffic only (and possibly to specific destinations - AWS?)
Il be trying to capture World of Warcraft today to see if they have similar issues ( i believe they too utilise AWS services) - both of these games disconnect at the same time when the issue has occurred in the past.

No VPN/networking software (just wireshark from last night), and no hardware changes across either of my machines since they have been built.
I wont be able to get a linux box though...

The fact that this issue occurs on multiple machines (which i did not mention at first as you point out) to me points to the issue lying somewhere else, so personally i think time is better invested somewhere else first when diagnosing this.

pwner

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#3129275 19-Sep-2023 09:40

Can you please provide a traceroute to the services you are using when it is good and when it is bad. then we can have a look at what is happening with your traffic path.

Any posts are personal comments and not that of my employer

Wing5wong

17 posts

Geek

#3129281 19-Sep-2023 09:54

Sure - i can get these tonight.

I'll grab one immediately before i start anything, and then immediately after i experience a disconnect (noting that the connection will be working again within about 30 seconds).

Wing5wong

17 posts

Geek

#3129410 19-Sep-2023 13:44

Just ran a couple of these while home for lunch - not exactly which IPs to trace to but these are ones that are visible in a wireshark trace while running the game.

Hopefully this is helpful

❯ tracert 34.116.70.10

Tracing route to 10.70.116.34.bc.googleusercontent.com [34.116.70.10]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms OpenWrt [192.168.1.1]
2 7 ms 7 ms 7 ms default-rdns.vocus.co.nz [60.234.8.50]
3 31 ms 31 ms 31 ms default-rdns.vocus.co.nz [101.98.5.174]
4 32 ms 31 ms 32 ms default-rdns.vocus.co.nz [101.98.5.175]
5 * * * Request timed out.
6 * * * Request timed out.
7 * * * Request timed out.
8 * * * Request timed out.
9 * * * Request timed out.
10 * * * Request timed out.
11 * * * Request timed out.
12 * * * Request timed out.
13 * * * Request timed out.
14 * * * Request timed out.
15 * * * Request timed out.
16 * * * Request timed out.
17 * * * Request timed out.
18 * * * Request timed out.
19 * * * Request timed out.
20 * * * Request timed out.
21 * * * Request timed out.
22 * * * Request timed out.
23 * * * Request timed out.
24 * * * Request timed out.
25 * * * Request timed out.
26 * * * Request timed out.
27 * * * Request timed out.
28 * * * Request timed out.
29 * * * Request timed out.
30 * * * Request timed out.

❯ tracert 34.117.122.6

Tracing route to 6.122.117.34.bc.googleusercontent.com [34.117.122.6]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms OpenWrt [192.168.1.1]
2 8 ms 7 ms 7 ms default-rdns.vocus.co.nz [60.234.8.50]
3 31 ms 31 ms 32 ms default-rdns.vocus.co.nz [101.98.5.174]
4 31 ms 32 ms 32 ms default-rdns.vocus.co.nz [101.98.5.175]
5 33 ms 32 ms 32 ms 74.125.37.151
6 33 ms 33 ms 40 ms 142.250.224.185
7 32 ms 32 ms 32 ms 6.122.117.34.bc.googleusercontent.com [34.117.122.6]

❯ tracert 37.244.42.159

Tracing route to 37.244.42.159 over a maximum of 30 hops

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms OpenWrt [192.168.1.1]
2 7 ms 7 ms 7 ms default-rdns.vocus.co.nz [60.234.8.50]
3 10 ms 10 ms 10 ms as9790.bdr01.akl05.akl.nz.vocus.network [175.45.102.234]
4 * * 10 ms be1000.bdr01.akl05.akl.nz.vocus.network [175.45.102.233]
5 39 ms 38 ms 44 ms be204.cor02.syd04.nsw.vocus.network [114.31.202.58]
6 * * * Request timed out.
7 39 ms 38 ms 40 ms 57976.syd.equinix.com [45.127.173.41]
8 40 ms 40 ms 40 ms et-0-0-49-br02-eqsy4.as57976.net [137.221.85.49]
9 40 ms 40 ms 40 ms et-0-0-0-pe04-eqsy4.as57976.net [137.221.85.73]
10 41 ms 40 ms 40 ms 137.221.66.139
11 39 ms 38 ms 39 ms 37.244.40.29
12 * * * Request timed out.
13 * * * Request timed out.
14 * * * Request timed out.
15 * * * Request timed out.
16 * * * Request timed out.
17 * * * Request timed out.
18 * * * Request timed out.
19 * * * Request timed out.
20 * * * Request timed out.
21 * * * Request timed out.
22 * * * Request timed out.
23 * * * Request timed out.
24 * * * Request timed out.
25 * * * Request timed out.
26 * * * Request timed out.
27 * * * Request timed out.
28 * * * Request timed out.
29 * * * Request timed out.
30 * * * Request timed out.

networkn

Networkn
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#3129412 19-Sep-2023 13:48

Basic troubleshooting is to determine where the communication is falling over.

Break the situation down into the smallest and most simple environment you can.

One Desktop, wired, to the router, which is wired to the ONT. (if possible, ideal to turn off the WIFI altogether on the router whilst you conduct your test).

Ping 8.8.8.8 -t in one window, and ping the internal address of your Router (looks to be 192.168.1.1).

If you see time outs to 8.8.8.8 at the same time as your 192.168.1.1 you have an internal communication issue.

You could also ping your ISP's DNS Server or something 'local in NZ' at the same time. (121.98.0.2)

michaelmurfy

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#3129419 19-Sep-2023 14:12

Hmm, OpenWRT? What router are you using here?

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Wing5wong

17 posts

Geek

#3129431 19-Sep-2023 15:18

michaelmurfy:

Hmm, OpenWRT? What router are you using here?

Its an orcon supplied Orbi.

Wing5wong

17 posts

Geek

#3129433 19-Sep-2023 15:21

networkn:

Basic troubleshooting is to determine where the communication is falling over.

Break the situation down into the smallest and most simple environment you can.

One Desktop, wired, to the router, which is wired to the ONT. (if possible, ideal to turn off the WIFI altogether on the router whilst you conduct your test).

Ping 8.8.8.8 -t in one window, and ping the internal address of your Router (looks to be 192.168.1.1).

If you see time outs to 8.8.8.8 at the same time as your 192.168.1.1 you have an internal communication issue.

You could also ping your ISP's DNS Server or something 'local in NZ' at the same time. (121.98.0.2)

Already have performed all this testing and supplied to orcon support team.

My understanding from tests i was doing is that all internal comms is fine. There is something going on external that is influencing the connection. Of course, i am happy to be corrected if that is not the case, but pings to my 2nd PC and router all came back as expected.

Unfortunately on the orbi router, wifi can not be disabled (but these PCs do not have wireless connections)

Heres an example of what i was seeing

michaelmurfy

meow
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#3129436 19-Sep-2023 15:38

Wing5wong: Its an orcon supplied Orbi.

Interesting how it is identifying as OpenWRT. You don't have anything else hooked up to your network (eg, Samknows box), a VPN or anything on your PC either that may interfere with traffic?

Wing5wong

17 posts

Geek

#3129439 19-Sep-2023 15:59

michaelmurfy:

Wing5wong: Its an orcon supplied Orbi.

Interesting how it is identifying as OpenWRT. You don't have anything else hooked up to your network (eg, Samknows box), a VPN or anything on your PC either that may interfere with traffic?

Yea, not sure what its meant to start as. I havent made any major setup on the unit other than giving my 2 devices reserved IPs.

Perhaps entering the advanced area of the webUI for this makes some change to its identifier, of that im not sure. I could factory reset the unit and configure this again without any issue and see if the name changes.

Nothing of interest comes to mind in terms of other devices... certainly i have nothing "new" in the last few years where i didnt have issues prior.

We have a couple of cellphones, a couple of chromecasts, a printer (wifi) and a Freeview smartVU box (wifi). No VPN software, no samknows box.

I can easily rule those out by banning the family from TV/netflix for the evening :P

cddt

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#3129445 19-Sep-2023 16:10

Wing5wong:

Heres an example of what i was seeing

Just to be exhaustive can you repeat this test this with a different OS (e.g. boot into a linux distro via a liveUSB or similar)?

yitz

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#3129556 19-Sep-2023 23:51

Did your latest round of issues only begin happening after 5am last Thursday (14 September 2023), from what I can see they made some big international connectivity changes including trans-Tasman changes around that time that affect how traffic was routed between the various submarine cables.

Also do you host any servers on your connection that could be getting attacked? Not 100% sure but I think 60.234.8.50 first hop means you are on static IP on Orcon/Vocus?

Wing5wong

17 posts

Geek

#3129681 20-Sep-2023 10:58

yitz:

Did your latest round of issues only begin happening after 5am last Thursday (14 September 2023), from what I can see they made some big international connectivity changes including trans-Tasman changes around that time that affect how traffic was routed between the various submarine cables.

Also do you host any servers on your connection that could be getting attacked? Not 100% sure but I think 60.234.8.50 first hop means you are on static IP on Orcon/Vocus?

I certainly wasnt online at 5am playing but the resurgence of the issue definitely (to the point that it wasnt just one random disconnect) occurred at least over the weekend (prompting this forum post!)

If it was routing changes though, I would imagine that those changes should surely should be stable by now...

I dont specifically have a static IP but i do believe i have one - i have had the same IP since the connection went in. I also had the same setup at my previous property (although with a different IP).

I do have a port 443 forward set up. Theres no abnormal access there from what i can tell though. Orcon should be able to tell me if I'm receiving excess (DDOS) style) traffic to my IP correct? Also if that were happening, id expect the bulk of services to be non functional (i.e. Streaming to twitch should be interrupted - it is not)

Last night i ran several tests - pings, tracerts, and pathping to various IPs. (Router, orcon dns,Google dns, game servers) - i'l need to upload them to a drive folder or something similar - im not really sure what is useful or not - at a glance everything looks ok in them.

I played for a couple of hours and experienced disconnections 6 times in that period. I didnt capture these all as i had to determine the game server IPs first- but was testing while 2 happened.

For the first time ive noticed, Discord voice chat was also affected - when it was reconnecting it showed the error "No Route" temporarily, then reconnected.

Wing5wong

17 posts

Geek

#3129757 20-Sep-2023 13:32

Heres a drive link with various tests and the results.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1JqeJqgk8QQAslNE1B1buz8RMwIaxngvU?usp=sharing

Folder 2 was running when i disconnected, unfortunately the other disconnects were between me setting up the test.

Im really not sure how to interpret all of this well, but i noted that hop 9 here is significant (although it seems it is consistently high, even when not disconnecting. im not sure this particular hop is actually a problem)

tracert 66.40.178.51 at Tue 19/09/2023, 23:04:45.00

Tracing route to 66.40.178.51 over a maximum of 30 hops

1 <1 ms <1 ms * OpenWrt [192.168.1.1]
2 8 ms 7 ms 7 ms default-rdns.vocus.co.nz [60.234.8.50]
3 10 ms 14 ms 10 ms as9790.bdr01.akl05.akl.nz.vocus.network [175.45.102.234]
4 10 ms 11 ms 10 ms be1000.bdr01.akl05.akl.nz.vocus.network [175.45.102.233]
5 134 ms 134 ms 134 ms be200.bdr03.lax01.ca.us.vocus.network [114.31.199.74]
6 133 ms 133 ms 133 ms 206.72.211.247.any2ix.coresite.com [206.72.211.247]
7 175 ms 175 ms 176 ms ae1-br02-csla1.as57976.net [137.221.89.35]
8 175 ms 174 ms 174 ms 137.221.65.235
9 3055 ms 3575 ms 2923 ms 137.221.65.122
10 * * * Request timed out.
11 174 ms 174 ms 174 ms et-0-0-0-pe02-eqch2.as57976.net [137.221.69.49]
12 176 ms 176 ms 176 ms chi-eqch2-ia-bons-02.as57976.net [137.221.66.11]
13 * * * Request timed out.
14 * * * Request timed out.
15 * * * Request timed out.
16 176 ms 176 ms 176 ms 66.40.178.51

Trace complete.

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