Telecom Big Time plan trouble thread

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1907 posts

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#311289 25-Mar-2010 14:21

Talkiet:
Sorry, I personally can't comment on specifics related to the traffic shaping policies, including what traffic is shaped, and whether there's any difference between shaping different destinations.

Wish I was able to give more detail.

Cheers - N

The CSRs I got when I was asking questions were more than happy to tell me what was and wasn't, including ports that were not shaped. (I know that now to be faulse) They even said they could un-shape a port/type of traffic specificly for me, which I don't beleive. Of course I understand your position.

You won't get bombarded with so many questions if you don't tell us what you can't share....lol.

Talkiet

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#311290 25-Mar-2010 14:25

DravidDavid:
Talkiet:
Sorry, I personally can't comment on specifics related to the traffic shaping policies, including what traffic is shaped, and whether there's any difference between shaping different destinations.

Wish I was able to give more detail.

Cheers - N

The CSRs I got when I was asking questions were more than happy to tell me what was and wasn't, including ports that were not shaped. (I know that now to be faulse) They even said they could un-shape a port/type of traffic specificly for me, which I don't beleive. Of course I understand your position.

You won't get bombarded with so many questions if you don't tell us what you can't share....lol.

Chuckle :-) Although in jest you do highlight that some CSRs seem to be in need of a little more training... I'll pass that on since I agree it's a terrible look to have patently wrong info coming from the helpdesk...

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.

DravidDavid

1907 posts

Uber Geek

#311323 25-Mar-2010 15:53

Talkiet:
Chuckle :-) Although in jest you do highlight that some CSRs seem to be in need of a little more training... I'll pass that on since I agree it's a terrible look to have patently wrong info coming from the helpdesk...

Cheers -N

One of them did not know what a command promt was. Interleaving was a big one too.

Me: "Hi, I want interleaving turned off..."
CSR: "Do we do that on BigTime...Let me put you on hold to check..."
Me: "WAIT! Yes you do, you do I tell you!"
CSR: "Oh, you know more than me..."

Lias

5581 posts

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#311357 25-Mar-2010 17:02

Talkiet:

Chuckle :-) Although in jest you do highlight that some CSRs seem to be in need of a little more training... I'll pass that on since I agree it's a terrible look to have patently wrong info coming from the helpdesk...

Cheers -N

One of the issues I have is that the CSR's are bascially non IT people with basic or minimal training given some scripts and maybe a solutions database. It can be an incrediably frustrating experience to be an intelligent, knowledgeable IT professional trying to deal with a problem and getting endlessly told to reboot my router, that the issue is at my end, there is no issue, reboot my router, etc etc ad nauseaum. At times it's seriously made me want to fly a plane into the side of an exchange (I can make jokes like that here right, or is geekzone an airport?)

What's really needed is a change to the automated voice system, that asks a serious of increasingly difficult questions relating to DSL issues, and if you answer enough correctly puts you straight through to compelx technical support ;-)

Also it's early days being 5pm, but so far so good on performance for me tonight.

I'm a geek, a gamer, a dad, a Quic user, and an IT Professional. I have a full rack home lab, size 15 feet, an epic beard and Asperger's. I'm a bit of a Cypherpunk, who believes information wants to be free and the Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it. If you use my Quic signup you can also use the code R570394EKGIZ8 for free setup.

Finch

2849 posts

Uber Geek

#311377 25-Mar-2010 18:01

Heya. I just done a pingtest and I got the following

Line Quality: B, MOS:4.37
Ping: 72ms
Jitter: 1ms
Packet Loss: 0%
Server: Chch, Distance: ~200mi

Are these results good or no? ^

I Play an online game (Runescape) and have been suffering extremely bad lag for about the past 5 days. I have been on bigtime since when they cut the other plan (Go Large I think it was). I have never had any problems with anything up until a few days ago.

Thanks for all the help.

Flashcards

95 posts

Master Geek

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flashcards.co.nz

#311381 25-Mar-2010 18:06

M_I_C_H_A_E_L: Heya. I just done a pingtest and I got the following

Line Quality: B, MOS:4.37
Ping: 72ms
Jitter: 1ms
Packet Loss: 0%
Server: Chch, Distance: ~200mi

Are these results good or no? ^

I Play an online game (Runescape) and have been suffering extremely bad lag for about the past 5 days. I have been on bigtime since when they cut the other plan (Go Large I think it was). I have never had any problems with anything up until a few days ago.

Thanks for all the help.

The problem is that at a specific point in time your pings might be GREAT and so might your 'speedtest' but overall, the BT plan is pathetic. Intermittent broadand doesn't help anyone.

I had the odd page load VERY fast under BT but MOST of the time pages and IMAP email was timing out before loading. As for streaming media, not a chance. Gaming? I'm not a 'gamer' as such but I do play backgammon online via a Java Applet and it was so slow I couldn't play it. And it's not a complex 3D game like most online games are. It's just a simple 2D flat board game!

BT is useless for those that need 'real' broadband (except for those people with the 'privileged' BT lines which are apparently fast - again, luck of the draw here). For those that need dial up without tying up a phone line it might be ok.

ArranH

161 posts

Master Geek

#311383 25-Mar-2010 18:11

To defend BT, up until about 10 days ago I have been nothing but impressed with BT, it has been outstanding in every way, faster than most of the ISPs I have been with which was exceptional for an unlimited plan.

I hope that service returns and soon, though it has been good for me the past 24 hours.

Wise

Send money globally for less with Wise - one free transfer up to NZ$900 (affiliate link).

Flashcards

95 posts

Master Geek

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flashcards.co.nz

#311385 25-Mar-2010 18:14

ArranH: To defend BT, up until about 10 days ago I have been nothing but impressed with BT, it has been outstanding in every way, faster than most of the ISPs I have been with which was exceptional for an unlimited plan.

I hope that service returns and soon, though it has been good for me the past 24 hours.

That is great for those getting it. As stated previously, I have tried BT several times before and it's always the same (at my address). This last time I think I had it for about 2 weeks. TERRIBLE the entire time. After a few support calls to Xtra, I decided to can it yet again - for good this time. Life's too short for slow Broadband. LOL. I wanted to like BT, I really did, but alas, it's not meant to be. Now Go Large was great, never had an issue with it (iirc). Too bad Telecom could not handle it...

Talkiet

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#311404 25-Mar-2010 19:09

Flashcards: The problem is that at a specific point in time your pings might be GREAT and so might your 'speedtest' but overall, the BT plan is pathetic. Intermittent broadand doesn't help anyone.

I had the odd page load VERY fast under BT but MOST of the time pages and IMAP email was timing out before loading. As for streaming media, not a chance. Gaming? I'm not a 'gamer' as such but I do play backgammon online via a Java Applet and it was so slow I couldn't play it. And it's not a complex 3D game like most online games are. It's just a simple 2D flat board game!

BT is useless for those that need 'real' broadband (except for those people with the 'privileged' BT lines which are apparently fast - again, luck of the draw here). For those that need dial up without tying up a phone line it might be ok.

Jason, your experience with Big Time is not typical. There is an acknowledged problem with the network at the moment which will be causing degradation of performance during busy times, and when that's fixed, the usual traffic management will still apply.

In the normal state of affairs the traffic management is designed not to affect general use as much as possible - but remember that gaming is a case which generally requires low latency. We can't just whitelist some ports because approximately 20 minutes after we do that someone will start running a server on those ports and bam - problem. Our staff are trying to add some of the more popular games but they require signature files to identify the game traffic and this isn't always easy or fast.

To draw a comparison you may understand better, I once bought a offbrand battery from flashcards and it was faulty... I certainly don't think that all of your offbrand batteries are faulty (and in fact your handling of the situation was exemplary) but I certainly don't judge the quality of your products by the experience I had when something was actually wrong.

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.

Flashcards

95 posts

Master Geek

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flashcards.co.nz

#311409 25-Mar-2010 19:18

Talkiet:
Flashcards: The problem is that at a specific point in time your pings might be GREAT and so might your 'speedtest' but overall, the BT plan is pathetic. Intermittent broadand doesn't help anyone.

I had the odd page load VERY fast under BT but MOST of the time pages and IMAP email was timing out before loading. As for streaming media, not a chance. Gaming? I'm not a 'gamer' as such but I do play backgammon online via a Java Applet and it was so slow I couldn't play it. And it's not a complex 3D game like most online games are. It's just a simple 2D flat board game!

BT is useless for those that need 'real' broadband (except for those people with the 'privileged' BT lines which are apparently fast - again, luck of the draw here). For those that need dial up without tying up a phone line it might be ok.

Jason, your experience with Big Time is not typical. There is an acknowledged problem with the network at the moment which will be causing degradation of performance during busy times, and when that's fixed, the usual traffic management will still apply.

In the normal state of affairs the traffic management is designed not to affect general use as much as possible - but remember that gaming is a case which generally requires low latency. We can't just whitelist some ports because approximately 20 minutes after we do that someone will start running a server on those ports and bam - problem. Our staff are trying to add some of the more popular games but they require signature files to identify the game traffic and this isn't always easy or fast.

To draw a comparison you may understand better, I once bought a offbrand battery from flashcards and it was faulty... I certainly don't think that all of your offbrand batteries are faulty (and in fact your handling of the situation was exemplary) but I certainly don't judge the quality of your products by the experience I had when something was actually wrong.

Cheers - N

Fair enough and I understand your points but how is it that on at least 3 separate occasions when I have moved to BT I have had similar experiences? I certainly understand out of the ordinary issues but of the different CSR's I have spoken to about it this last time around NONE have mentioned there being any out of the ordinary problems at the moment. In fact the last CSR I spoke to today was apparently some sort of special technical expert (I was referred to him by the original CSR that took my call) and he was not aware of any specific issues affecting BT at the moment.

My normal Xtra Adventure plan is fast and consistent but it is just on BT I have problems so I know it is not a bad connection to the exchange. In addition, when I reboot my router I get decent speeds for about 5 minutes before the connection either dies altogether (has happened at least 4 times today) or is so slow as to be unusable.

Finch

2849 posts

Uber Geek

#311414 25-Mar-2010 19:39

Jason, your experience with Big Time is not typical. There is an acknowledged problem with the network at the moment which will be causing degradation of performance during busy times, and when that's fixed, the usual traffic management will still apply.

I have only joined the thread since yesterday. Is there a link to the telecom website explaining about this? Also, have they mentioned when it should be fixed?

Thanks

CrushKill

130 posts

Master Geek

#311416 25-Mar-2010 19:42

M_I_C_H_A_E_L:

Jason, your experience with Big Time is not typical. There is an acknowledged problem with the network at the moment which will be causing degradation of performance during busy times, and when that's fixed, the usual traffic management will still apply.

I have only joined the thread since yesterday. Is there a link to the telecom website explaining about this? Also, have they mentioned when it should be fixed?

Thanks

They have thier status page on the Telecom website, but under broadband it is listed as fine - http://www.telecom.co.nz/help/content/0,10709,205864-1000,00.html

As for being fixed:

Norpsely: its not jsut the big time plans

Norpsely: After a lenghty chat with a T2 support person at xtra they told me what the problem is .

The issue :

There is a Fault in one of the Cards in A router at Global gateway

What is being done :

Global Gateway replaced the card which they thought had a memory leak last wednesday and had beleived this had resolved the problem

However the fault re occured 3 day later on Sunday the 21st

Currently GlobalGateway are investigating the cause of this fault there also is no ETA but are hopefull to have the fault resolved as soon as possible

Furthere actions to get this resolved :

The Best thing for anyone with this fault (High MS/Ping ) and slow interenational traffic, to do is

Log a fault with Xtra (i know its a pain ) get the refrence Number and provide tracert's this will help the more people who advise there is a problem the higher priority that this will get)

They'll fix it when they fix it I guess.

Finch

2849 posts

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#311424 25-Mar-2010 19:59

Thanks :)

Talkiet

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#311437 25-Mar-2010 20:41

M_I_C_H_A_E_L:

Jason, your experience with Big Time is not typical. There is an acknowledged problem with the network at the moment which will be causing degradation of performance during busy times, and when that's fixed, the usual traffic management will still apply.

I have only joined the thread since yesterday. Is there a link to the telecom website explaining about this? Also, have they mentioned when it should be fixed?

Thanks

A couple of days ago, Doozy posted this:

Apologies I've delayed posting on this matter, I haven't been in the office at all this week.

Yes, there is an issue affecting some international traffic, this problem would be slight degradation for those not on Big Time traversing a certain 'side' of the network, the problem would be worse for those on Big Time, the issue is a certain type of traffic that has caused a significant buffer to occur and cause memory/cpu issues in a device. The reason it is taking a while to fix is it is only present during peak traffic. Changes are being made and some traffic has been 'shifted' to try and alleviate it but, we only know whether its worked or not until peak time. I'm confident by proxy that a change made today should see better performance during peak tonight.

Feel free to pm me should you think there is something specific I should know about the issues you are having and I will do my best to get back to you.

This hasn't made it to the official status page, but Doozy is an authoritative source.

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.

ziph

25 posts

Geek

#311439 25-Mar-2010 20:43

ziph: So if they admit there is a fault with Global Gateway, why is this not listed on their network status page?

Doesn't seem like such a big ask. It would stop a lot of the same questions being asked here constantly too.

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