[TelstraClear] TelstraClear New customers please come here.

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#638338 9-Jun-2012 21:13

AllenG:

I only left Xnet because my data needs are growing and they didn't have anything to compete with the current TCL and Slingshot bundle offers. I am regretting making that decision now. I didn't need the modem but didn't think about trading it for no contract term :(

I don't know how the contract would work without a fixed term because the 40GB free data per month is only for the term of the contract?

Regards Allen.

Interesting that your bandwith issues appear not to be international capacity related if they are to the speedtest server at WxC [unless TCL are routing off shore and back...], maybe your problem is localised to the backhaul from your local exchange or cabinet

I agree, Xnet are no longer competitive for my needs either. With Telecom [TCNZ] $85 homeplan one gets 30GB but without the 12 month contract I don't get the 2 months free or the modem. It appears no one complains of TCNZ's peak speeds. The Telstra deal is better by $10 a month and 10GB more data. Without the contract and its 2 months free I am still $150 off better per annum with TCNZ than Xnet

Can anyone advise of TCL Wgtn ADSL performance issues ? [in fact it should be good in Wgtn since most of their Wgtn customers will on the TCL cable DOCIS network ?]

AllenG

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#638346 9-Jun-2012 21:32

xlinknz:

Interesting that your bandwith issues appear not to be international capacity related if they are to the speedtest server at WxC [unless TCL are routing off shore and back...], maybe your problem is localised to the backhaul from your local exchange or cabinet.

I am directly connected to the Spotswood Exchange in New Plymouth. I assume TCL have their own equipment and backhaul. Xnet were using Telecom. I havn't tried any international speedtests at this point. 99% of my speed tests have been to the WxC speedtest server in Auckland.

xlinknz:
I agree, Xnet are no longer competitive for my needs either. With Telecom [TCNZ] $85 homeplan one gets 30GB but without the 12 month contract I don't get the 2 months free or the modem. It appears no one complains of TCNZ's peak speeds. The Telstra deal is better by $10 a month and 10GB more data. Without the contract and its 2 months free I am still $150 off better per annum with TCNZ than Xnet

I'm not sure about the TCNZ bundle but be aware with the TCL promotion and also with Slingshot I think? that the free data and bundle price are only for 12 months. after that full pricing resumes.

Regards Allen.

xlinknz

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#638349 9-Jun-2012 21:40

AllenG: 99% of my speed tests have been to the WxC speedtest server in Auckland.

Do some traceroutes [ideally using http] from your PC to the WxC server and see if if TCL are routing off shore or not, I doubt they are doing that but it may explain your poor performance.

quickymart

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#638352 9-Jun-2012 21:42

It seems New Plymouth is an unbundled exchange, but I don't know about Spotswood.

AllenG

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#638357 9-Jun-2012 22:03

xlinknz:
AllenG: 99% of my speed tests have been to the WxC speedtest server in Auckland.

Do some traceroutes [ideally using http] from your PC to the WxC server and see if if TCL are routing off shore or not, I doubt they are doing that but it may explain your poor performance.

Not sure which server the WxC speedtest is hosted on. Here is Winmeter to xnet.co.nz

Regards Allen.

xlinknz

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#638739 11-Jun-2012 09:28

Allen

It doesn't appear they [TCL] are routing off shore [then again it is possible for them to 'surpress' trace route results at particular points] FYI I have started a new thread to ascertain whether there are any TCL ADSL customers in Wgtn and whether they have performance issues

What is the best performance you get ?

Good idea tracking your speedtest results I'll do the same prior to changing [to whoever that will be]

TelstraClear

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#638745 11-Jun-2012 09:45

PhantomNZ: I'm a new customer on their cable network in Christchurch. Jumped ship from Slingshot only because of the 10Mbit upload speeds available on their 100/10 cable plan. I don't use a lot of data, March on my ADSL was only 12GB.

There are good and bad points with the service.

I'll start with good:
Throughput is great. I can pull 80Mbps to one of my servers in the Netherlands and can push my full 10Mbps to anything I've tried.
Pings are a bit better than my ADSL, not that it worried me too much as I'm not a gamer.
I can RDP over SSH into machines at home now and have an experience almost equivalent to being physically connected. Likewise I can stream data out (reason why I wanted the fast upload) and it works flawlessly.
Youtube and other such sites buffer quicker than previously on ADSL.
With Slingshot, peak times really do bog down for anything considered unattended. Doesn't seem to happen with the cable connection so far.

However:
Browsing is significantly worse than my Slingshot ADSL connection. Longer page load times (it's not huge, e.g. facebook may take 1.5 seconds to fully load on TCL, but worked in < 1 second on my ADSL). I've certainly noticed that it is slower.
I know I shouldn't mention iSky, but I will. It doesn't work.
I have resorted to setting up a VPN link from my home router (Juniper) to my work one (also Juniper) and setting up static routes for national traffic. Work is on an FX fibre connection and peered with Snap. Seems to make national traffic work as I'd like to, but shouldn't be required.
Outages. I seem to have 10 or so mini outages of 1 - 15 minutes per week. I lose virtually all connectivity during them. Generally happens during peak. Has been annoying as I use a VoIP phone for calling and twice I've had it cut out on me, making me switch to my cell. Never had this kind of problem on my ADSL.

Basically, with ADSL, unattended traffic was far worse, but attended was great. Seems to be the opposite on cable.

Overall, I'm happy enough with the service to stay, but only because I really want the fast upload speed. If another option was available to me though, I'd jump ship in a heartbeat.

Hi PhantomNZ.

Are you still having the issues you mentioned here? If so, can you please email me your account number and a contact name and number and I'll ask one of the team to look into this for you.

Cheers, Gary

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TelstraClear

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#638754 11-Jun-2012 10:00

Hi all, as I posted in another thread:

A few weeks ago TelstraClear bought substantial extra international capacity for its network and most customers are noticing an improved Internet experience. Please remember that there are many factors that can impact on Internet speeds and you may not always notice a difference. Consumer NZ has a good backgrounder to this here: http://www.consumerspeedtest.org.nz/about.php

Some customers, particularly those in the Bay of Plenty and parts of Waikato, Taranaki and Manawatu, were also being affected by congestion. Most of these have been addressed, although there is still work being done in some places.

If you are in other parts of the country and are experiencing slower speeds than you usually get please log this so that we can investigate. We cannot track a problem and resolve it if you do not provide us with good information. Please let us know what websites you are finding slow to load and what time you tried accessing them. The information we need includes:

The website and whether it’s HTTP or HTTPS
Day and time you tried accessing the website
The behaviour you observed (eg, very slow loading, only some parts loading etc)
Error messages your browser returned
Traceroute data if possible, or anything else that you think might help us find and resolve your issue
Result of the TelstraClear speed test at http://www.telstraclear.co.nz/customer-zone/speedtest/

You can log an issue by calling us on 0508 888 800 or online at https://telstraclear.custhelp.com/app/residential/ask/p/383 (Under ‘Topic’ choose ‘Residential’, ‘HighSpeed Internet’, ‘HighSpeed Internet Fault’. You can attach documents from the form, so you can send us screenshots, logs etc. If you use this facility to log something you will then be able to log in to your account on Customer Zone and see your support history, associated reference numbers, your messages to us and the TelstraClear responses.

Please also keep a note of your ticket number and update us with other sites that you find are slow to load or do not load at all, or other behaviour that could help us isolate the issue. When you log an issue you will be given an email address that you can send this extra information to.

Note that the results of other speed test sites do not help us identify problems. This is because there are too many variables involved (as noted in the Consumer NZ backgrounder) for the results to have any meaning. For example, how many others are accessing that test site when you are, and the different servers and networks routes that can be causing bottlenecks between your machine and the speed test site.

Please note:

Not everyone is seeing what some here are reporting. Our network has been extensively checked and tested and it is working to specification, so we need more information to try and work out what you're reporting.

You need to log any issues if you want them investigated, either by calling or using the online form.

This is important: without an issue logged, and without good information on that issue, we cannot properly investigate and resolve it.

Trying to pinpoint Internet issues without good information is like expecting a taxi to pick you up from your house when all you've told the driver is what suburb you live in.

Please log the issue and provide the information. We take network performance very seriously, but cannot look into reported issues without good data.

Hope this is useful. Gary

AllenG - please email me your account number, and a name and contact number and I'll ask the team to look into your issue. Please note though that the information asked for above will likely be needed as well.

Cheers, Gary

AllenG

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#639250 11-Jun-2012 20:09

xlinknz: Allen
What is the best performance you get ?

10.55 down, 0.80 up, 53mS ping at 6:05 pm on 16/5/12. This was the first day with TCL. I tested 3 more trimes that evening with the last test at 8:15 pm. The lowest of the three tests was 9.54MB Down. These tests were all with my IP address in the 203.97.228.xxx range

I tested again on 24/5 after they fixed an error with my profile that was stopping my usage from being registered. My connection was reset and My IP address is now 121.75.xxx.xxx and evening performance has been appalling ever since.

I'll try another reset and see what IP address range I get.
Edit. Got another 121.75.XXX.XXX address.

Was there something special with the 203.97 address range? Why did my performance crash when my profile was "fixed"?

Edit: googling telstra clear 203.97 gets hits about telstra clear ON3 network of unmetered sites & Clearnet Deluxe game servers? Stranger & Stranger.

Regards Allen

AllenG

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Ultimate Geek

#643390 19-Jun-2012 19:25

(abridged) TelstraClear: Hi all, as I posted in another thread:

Some customers, particularly those in the Bay of Plenty and parts of Waikato, Taranaki and Manawatu, were also being affected by congestion. Most of these have been addressed, although there is still work being done in some places....

....Please note:

Not everyone is seeing what some here are reporting. Our network has been extensively checked and tested and it is working to specification, so we need more information to try and work out what you're reporting....

.....Cheers, Gary

Hi.

Telstra Clear are not telling the whole truth here.

I sent Gary details of my account and some examples of the issues I am having IE slow speeds and high Latency. I also wrote to Steve Jackson, Head of Consumer Markets after he invited customers with problems to email him on Fairgo. I also wrote to Fairgo.

I had a phonecall from someone at TCL last night with a technical background (didn't catch his name) and they said that they are aware that there are performance issues in some regions, but denied that it was related to congestion or the flood of new customers. He was adamant that there is a fault affecting some regions and that there is still ongoing work trying to fix it. so..

Gary says there were congestion issues that have been addressed, the Tech says there is a fault that they are still trying to identify and rectify.
Gary says that "Not everyone is seeing what some are reporting" the Tech says that the problems are not localised and there are whole regions are affected. IE a lot of people are having issues but not all are reporting them.

I appreciate the personal attention but come on Telstra please come clean on what is going on. It's obviously a larger problem than you are admitting.

Regards Allen

AllenG

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Ultimate Geek

#643499 19-Jun-2012 22:02

Hi All.
FYI Pingplotter graph of all the hops to facebook.com over 24 hours from 10am saturday from Whalers Gate, New Plymouth.

Graphs at the bottom are 24 hours of first hop outside my network and last hop (facebook) ping times. each pixel is the average of 19 x 5 second samples.
The numbers speak for themselves

Average of 197mS to TCL Global Gateway & 280ms to facebook.

Link to full resolution image
https://cdn.geekzone.co.nz/imagessubs/18958fca2d2e0a8f27eae79bd7b8073f.jpg

Regards Allen.

xlinknz

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#644690 22-Jun-2012 12:41

Allen

Did your latency issue get sorted ?

BTW get my PM ?

AllenG

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#644756 22-Jun-2012 13:54

xlinknz: Allen

Did your latency issue get sorted ?

BTW get my PM ?

There was a big improvement on wednesday night I'll update tonight and reply to your pm. cheers Allen

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#644822 22-Jun-2012 15:48

I feel bad posting negative in a postive themed thread, so I'll start with good stuff.

Up until recently TelstraCable has always been very reliable and often exceeded my expectations.

However lately..... I have two FTP servers, one in Germany, one in Sweden. Speeds varied between 200-800KB/s which I was fine with. However now it's 30KB/s (and I tested 200+ on Xtra DSL) - up to 60 if I am lucky.

On Wednesday night, my server in Germany jumped up to 220KB/s.
But Thursday night, we were back to 30KB/s.

I've been told that there is a problem, and they'll be working on it over the coming weeks. I asked for an ETA and it's apparently "several weeks". I asked if moving to the 100Mbit pool would help, but it was maybe, no guarantees. No decision has been made on compensation apparently either, so it's only out of loyalty that I'm not jumping ship right now (I've been a cable customer for a long time now).

I am happy with the prompt and polite online customer service, but I hope my problem goes away quickly because watching files come down at 30KB/s makes me want to tear my hair out.

Edit: apologies if this is the wrong thread, I posted it here because I noticed the increase on Wednesday as mentioned above too - but only to my German FTP server, connection to the Netherlands remained at 30-40KB/s.

AllenG

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#644882 22-Jun-2012 18:48

AllenG: Hi All.
FYI Pingplotter graph of all the hops to facebook.com over 24 hours from 10am saturday from Whalers Gate, New Plymouth.

Graphs at the bottom are 24 hours of first hop outside my network and last hop (facebook) ping times. each pixel is the average of 19 x 5 second samples.
The numbers speak for themselves Average of 197mS to TCL Global Gateway & 280ms to facebook.

Link to full resolution image
https://cdn.geekzone.co.nz/imagessubs/18958fca2d2e0a8f27eae79bd7b8073f.jpg

Regards Allen.

Update:

Wednesday night I noticed that my ping time to clear.net.nz was back down in to 50-60ms range over the peak hours. There were some spikes in latency but the average was in the mid 50mS. I ran speedtest.net to WXC speedtest server in Auckland a few times and got between 8 & 10 mbits. I didn't get a chance to do any real-world tests to TVNZ or Youtube wednesday night.

I was told by a TCL rep a couple of days ago that work was occurring this week. He assured my it wasn’t a congestion issue but a "Fault" that TCL were still trying to identify.

A colleague of mine was contacted earlier in the week by a rep from TCL and told that some work was occurring in Taranaki wednesday to "replace some cards that wern't cutting the mustard". Obviously that work was done.

"Replacing cards that wern't cutting the mustard" sounds like congestion at a core switch or server to me, IE a part of the network with insufficient bandwidth for the increased loading from all the new customers. If an upgrade to a card has resolved it then it’s congestion plain and simple.

I PMed Gary from TCL on this forum "Can you please tell me without dumbing it down or spin what the fault/issue was? and was it faulty or just overloaded (ie congested). How large an area was affected?"

He said "As previously stated, we are working on network issues that are affecting some customers. We do not make public comment on details of our network or other aspects of our business."

Good on you Telstra for trying to fix things, Shame for not telling your customers whats going on :(

My colleague has told me that Youtube was working again for him without buffering wednesday night.

I tried TVNZ om demand at 9:20 pm last night and played it at the highest quality without buffering. HD Youtube had a small amount of buffering. Latency to local sites was around 50-60mS. Speedtests were betweeen 5 & 10.5 Mbits.

The evening local latency is greatly improved with no evening hump but there are still some spikes and the maximums are still pretty high.

Link to full resolution image
https://cdn.geekzone.co.nz/imagessubs/07358e4f9896bf5938e3b3f271f2678b.jpg

Regards Allen.

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