How to get VF to help

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MrAlan

98 posts

Master Geek

Topic # 198621 16-Jul-2016 17:39

Hi all,

I have a friend whose VF internet runs at erratic speeds. They asked me to look at it initially because they had problems with not getting email, which I discovered was because the connection would go so slow it couldn't even establish a stable IMAP connection. Wireshark showed packets timing out trying to establish a connection with the VF mail servers. One minute it would connect and start downloading emails, a few minutes later it would not be able to establish a connection to the mail servers - affects all the computers in the house both Win10 and OSX, iPhones and Android. They've being able to browse the internet albeit slowly as that is much more forgiving.

Repeated vodafone.speedtest.net results go from 80ms ping to with 10Mbps download to pings upwards of 735ms and downloads of 1.08Mbps.

They've called Vodafone several times asking to have someone come and investigate but they get getting fobbed off, being told things like 'call Microsoft it's their problem, not ours' and 'It's your fault your using lots of data someone in your houses is probably using torrents'.

What do you need to say to them to get them to send a someone out to resolve the problem?

Edit: Further details

ADSL2+ connection, Carlisle Rd, AKL.

VF router doesn't supply sync rate, attenuation and noise margin so replaced it with a Dynalink ADSL2+ router and got:

Noise Margin: 12db
Attenuation: 9db

Done all the usual isolation tests.

PeterReader

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Reply # 1593604 16-Jul-2016 17:39

Hello... Our robot found some keywords in your post, so here is an automated reply with some important things to note regarding broadband speeds.

If you are posting regarding DSL speeds please check that

you have reset your modem and router
your PC (or other PCs in your LAN) is not downloading large files when you are testing - you are not being throttled by your ISP due to going over the monthly cap
your tests are always done on an ethernet connection to the router - do not use wireless for testing
you read this topic and follow the instructions there.

Make sure you provide information for other users to help you. If you have not already done it, please EDIT your post and add this now:

Your ISP and plan
Type of connection (ADSL, ADSL2, VDSL)
Your modem DSL stats (do not worry about posting Speedtest, we need sync rate, attenuation and noise margin)
Your general location (or street)
If you are rural or urban
If you know your connection is to an exchange, cabinet or conklin
If your connection is to a ULL or wholesale service
If you have done an isolation test as per the link above

Most of the problems with speed are likely to be related to internal wiring issues. Read this discussion to find out more about this. Your ISP is not intentionally slowing you down today (unless you are on a managed plan). Also if this is the school holidays it's likely you will notice slower than usual speed due to more users online.

A master splitter is required for VDSL2 and in most cases will improve speeds on DSL connections. Regular disconnections can be a monitored alarm or a set top box trying to connect. If there's an alarm connected to your line even if you don't have an alarm contract it may still try to connect so it's worth checking.

I recommend you read these two blog posts:

I am the Geekzone Robot and I am here to help. I am from the Internet. I do not interact. Do not expect other replies from me.

RunningMan

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Reply # 1593618 16-Jul-2016 17:50

1) Can you post the line stats, including sync rates.

2) Unless the sync rates are way off, Vodafone are quite right - most probable cause is something saturating the upstream connection, be it a torrent, iCloud, Onedrive etc... uploading.

3) Check firewall settings on the router - open DNS responder etc.

MrAlan

98 posts

Master Geek

Reply # 1593627 16-Jul-2016 18:02

RunningMan:

1) Can you post the line stats, including sync rates.

2) Unless the sync rates are way off, Vodafone are quite right - most probable cause is something saturating the upstream connection, be it a torrent, iCloud, Onedrive etc... uploading.

3) Check firewall settings on the router - open DNS responder etc.

Thanks for the reply,

1) I was in a rush today when putting in the replacement router and forget to grab a screenshot, will get the details tomorrow.

2) Definitely not a saturation issue, did all my isolation tests with my test laptop which has nothing on it besides wireshark and a few other tools. Nothing else connected to the network, just me > router > internet.

3) The firewall settings haven't been altered from the way VF initialling configured them, nothing looked out of the ordinary. Router is an HG159 I think. Set to block all incoming and allow all outgoing.

sbiddle

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Reply # 1593634 16-Jul-2016 18:29

It's pretty hard to believe something such as this is anything but upstream saturation.

Did you see any variance in speed or latency while you were connected directly with every other device disconnected from the network?

MrAlan

98 posts

Master Geek

Reply # 1593639 16-Jul-2016 18:41

sbiddle:
It's pretty hard to believe something such as this is anything but upstream saturation.

Did you see any variance in speed or latency while you were connected directly with every other device disconnected from the network?

Yeah it has me perplexed. I experienced the exact same issue on my laptop when connected. The speedtest results quoted above were done during my testing. I thought it was the router at first so I replaced it, but it still occurs with the new one.

In the meantime they are just using wireless hotspots with their phones to download mail and having no problems over 3G.

RunningMan

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Reply # 1593642 16-Jul-2016 18:53

Really need the DSL line stats then - 9dB attenuation should have pretty good sync rates.

Can you check the line stats with time - see if they are varying at all, especially when the symptoms are there?

The other thing is to run a continuous ping to the next hop after the router, and see what happens when running a continuous single http / ftp download of a large file from a local (ish) server. Seen a couple of cases of a faulty DSLAM port causing a sawtooth type throughput graph, dropping almost to zero every minute or so, even with the DSL sync itself rock solid. An old example here http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=39&topicid=108800

MrAlan

98 posts

Master Geek

Reply # 1594436 18-Jul-2016 12:26

Thanks for responses so far. Looks like the router was the culprit in the end. I'd forgotten to rerun my isolation tests when I swapped the routers. Friend said things were running better since I had made the swap and I re-ran my isolation tests this morning and all seemed good.

sbiddle

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Reply # 1594492 18-Jul-2016 14:06

One person supports this post

MrAlan:

Thanks for responses so far. Looks like the router was the culprit in the end. I'd forgotten to rerun my isolation tests when I swapped the routers. Friend said things were running better since I had made the swap and I re-ran my isolation tests this morning and all seemed good.

What router were they using? If swapping the router fixes it my first pick would be a router with firewall disabled that was the subject of a DNS amplification attack and saturating the upstream.