Overseas traffic failing, local is fine

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Overseas traffic failing, local is fine

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58 posts

Master Geek

#1416211 29-Oct-2015 16:08

Modem is a Telecom HG630b (Huawei). Pings for me are good, eg the AK speedtest server is 6ms, ping to 219.88.188.4 is 5ms, trademe is 35ms average. Other overseas also return decent (well, acceptable) ping times, bbc is 277ms, cnn 194ms and smtp.gmail.com is 164ms.

The issue is normal web TCP and game UDP traffic gets nailed. Cnn website is a good test, a lot of elements and crap to load, so ~5s or so to connect to it from web browser, another 5s or so for content to begin to show, and then 15s+ while it sits there loading up its adverts etc. One bonus is I don't need adblock now, doubleclick.net stuff rarely loads (pings 29ms for that btw).

Time of day does not seem to affect it much, its just as broken off peak as it is during peak times.

dmcr

10 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1416222 29-Oct-2015 16:20

Again, this behaviour seems very similar to what I see. Loading a complex site, which pulls elements from all over the place, results in the browser "stuck" and and reporting "Connecting" and the page never fully loading. After (sometimes several) refreshes the page may finally load fully, but not always.

Reply from my logged issue with Spark -

"As per investigation, we have recorded events that the service is dropping in and out intermittently. Possible causes might be a fault on your modem (mostly wireless interference-see link below if issue is related about Wi-Fi) or the broadband line."

It isnt a wifi issue - I see the same behaviour over wired connections

dmcr

10 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1417563 31-Oct-2015 10:09

Following a Chorus visit to the local exchange, my issue appears resolved. Not quite sure what he did, but I think he mentioned 'reterminating?" my connection

Duane

58 posts

Master Geek

#1417650 31-Oct-2015 12:05

No change here for me, I will chase up Spark helpdesk next week.

dmcr

10 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1417685 31-Oct-2015 13:22

I spoke too soon..

Problem has returned :(

Chorus technician coming back

Duane

58 posts

Master Geek

#1417689 31-Oct-2015 13:37

Out of interest, may I ask what exchange your connected to? I'm connected to roadside box in beachhaven area then apparently route to the birkenhead exchange. I got briefly hopeful yesterday when I tested and everything was great, but it only lasted about 5 minutes then was back to misbehaving. That one five minute burst was the only time it worked properly all week.

dmcr

10 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1417690 31-Oct-2015 13:39

im in Devonport

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.

dmcr

10 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1418172 1-Nov-2015 16:14

I dont want to court fate, but as of 7pm last night I have had no further issues.

Ive had no further contact with either Spark or Chorus so I dont know what other work, if anything, was done specifically on my issue, or whether the problem went away for some other reason

Duane

58 posts

Master Geek

#1418265 1-Nov-2015 19:27

Currently, its borderline unusable for me. I sent an email to the Spark L2 email address who had been looking into it but got an auto reply they're out till Wednesday, so not terribly useful there. Will need to phone them again, probably tomorrow will I have time to wait for call backs or the usual two hour wait time...

PRH

8 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1418464 2-Nov-2015 07:24

Hi , i am having the same problem, as of 3 days ago. Browsing overseas sites, or trying to use netflix etc, is no go. Some local site4s load fine, such as nzherald. Also, when i am connected to my work through a VPN, everything is fine.
I spoke to the helpdesk yesterday, but they just had me reset everything (again), and monitor for 24 hours.
I guess i'll be calling them today.
They are intalling fibre in my steeet at the mo, but as previously mentioned, i can't see how that would be related.
I am also on the north shore in Belmont. Seem a bit of a coincidence!

Talkiet

4793 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#1418624 2-Nov-2015 10:30

HI guys - Sorry I haven't had a chance to respond to this specific issue yet... A few questions before I look at escalating internally... Apologies if these have been answered or implied in answers so far...

- What plan are you on? (Note this shouldn't make a difference because we don't do any traffic shaping on any plans - but if you are on a metered plan then I am going to ask about your up and download usage to see if it's higher than expected)
- Do you use adblockers on all your machines? Can you try using an alternate default browser (I imagine you don't use IE, so could you try using that with no plugins enabled)
- Have you detected any IP level dropouts? I see you picked up on pinging 219.88.188.4 (one of our Auckland based Google caches). Have you ever detected connectivity issues to that?
- You mention that this can occur at any time of day - have you noticed that it's more frequent or more severe at peak times? This is a really important issue as the answer directs us down very different troubleshooting paths
- Do you have a static IP address?
- Do you host any services on your home connection (webserver, FTP, game servers, RDP, etc)?
- When did the issue first become apparent? Was it sudden onset or did it seem to get worse over days or weeks?
- From your VDSL connect speeds, clearly you have a decent line - but have you noticed any disconnects? What is a typical DSL uptime?

Cheers - N

Please note all comments are from my own brain and don't necessarily represent the position or opinions of my employer, previous employers, colleagues, friends or pets.

PRH

8 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1418633 2-Nov-2015 10:40

Hi there, answers below. It is still pretty much unusable now for international , and local sites. However, i am working from home today, and been connected to work through a VPN all morning. This is absoloutly fine, no problems at all.
Thanksd a lot for investigating

- What plan are you on? (Note this shouldn't make a difference because we don't do any traffic shaping on any plans - Am on unlimited VDSL

- but if you are on a metered plan then I am going to ask about your up and download usage to see if it's higher than expected) As above

- Do you use adblockers on all your machines? Can you try using an alternate default browser (I imagine you don't use IE, so could you try using that with no plugins enabled)
Not all. Problem persists using Firefox, Chrome, and Safari. It all effects apps such as facebook, twitter etc.

- Have you detected any IP level dropouts? I see you picked up on pinging 219.88.188.4 (one of our Auckland based Google caches). Have you ever detected connectivity issues to that?
No

- You mention that this can occur at any time of day - have you noticed that it's more frequent or more severe at peak times? This is a really important issue as the answer directs us down very different troubleshooting paths
At the moment, pretty constant for me.

- Do you have a static IP address?
No

- Do you host any services on your home connection (webserver, FTP, game servers, RDP, etc)?
No

- When did the issue first become apparent? Was it sudden onset or did it seem to get worse over days or weeks?
For me, Friday afternoon

- From your VDSL connect speeds, clearly you have a decent line - but have you noticed any disconnects? What is a typical DSL uptime?
Until this weekend, my router had been up since early September

Talkiet

4793 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#1418643 2-Nov-2015 10:48

PRH: Hi there, answers below. It is still pretty much unusable now for international , and local sites. However, i am working from home today, and been connected to work through a VPN all morning. This is absoloutly fine, no problems at all.
Thanksd a lot for investigating

OP, is this you?

So, at the moment if you weren't to use a VPN, the problem could be reliably reproduced with a few minutes of browsing? If that's the case, please PM me - I'd like to remote into your machine and observe if you're ok with that.

Cheers - N

Please note all comments are from my own brain and don't necessarily represent the position or opinions of my employer, previous employers, colleagues, friends or pets.

Talkiet

4793 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#1418648 2-Nov-2015 10:55

In reviewing this thread I see you have made sure your DNS is set correctly... For the purposes of troubleshooting could you please configure your PC to use Google DNS (8.8.8.8) as primary, and NOT SET a secondary DNS server please. This isn't the recommended setup, I just want to see if that changes behaviour.

Cheers - N

Please note all comments are from my own brain and don't necessarily represent the position or opinions of my employer, previous employers, colleagues, friends or pets.

PRH

8 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1418662 2-Nov-2015 11:35

PM sent. I am now using google for DNS. Doesn't seemed to have improved the situation

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