Slow connection to Exchange Online for Office 365

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kemp

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#113398 15-Jan-2013 23:09

I use Exchange Online from Microsoft's Office 365 for work, but have slow speeds when sending email. I didn't think much of it until I used Gmail for the first time and the difference was astonishing. I'm on Telstraclear 100 Mb/s down, 10Mb/s up.

To test, I created a new test message in OWA and timed the upload for a 7 MB file attachment. Upload took 95 seconds, which I figure is about 0.6 Mb/s. I then logged into Gmail and did the same thing. The upload took 9 seconds, which I think it about 6.4 Mbit/s. I see the same thing when using a client like Outlook or Apple Mail.

Is it normal for Exchange Online on Office 365 to be that slow? What connection speed should I expect from them? Does anyone know if Microsoft has NZ servers I can connect to see if it speeds things up?

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Snowflake

#745398 15-Jan-2013 23:40

Check the thread linked below about office 365 issues of late. It seems that the latest issue is that the main Perth-Singapore cable is broken causing re-routing to occur.

There are no Office 365 servers in NZ, but you can choose a local hosting company to provide you with similar product. Companies such as Appserv, MHA, OneNet, for example.

http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=39&topicid=113151

Edit changed "OneNote" to "OneNet" :"P

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kemp

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#745418 16-Jan-2013 00:45

Thanks for the link. I think my Exchange server is based in Singapore (sinprd0610.outlook.com), but I don't think my issue is related to the Perth cable, at least not the recent problems. I've had this slow speed issue since I signed up to the service over a year ago, it just didn't occur to me to look into until now. Downloading email also works at full speed.

I'll check out those hosting companies you suggested. I used to host locally, but switched to 365 because the local service was expensive and less than reliable.

Regs

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Snowflake

#745564 16-Jan-2013 11:04

I ran a couple of tests, using a mailbox in hong kong (hknprd0211.outlook.com) and got about 70 secs for a 8MB zip file to OWA and about 25 secs for the same file to gmail.

The speed will definately be affected right now with the cable issues - latency is up from 120ms to 200ms and throughput will be affected by the alternate, longer, route.

I wouldnt normally notice the upload speed with o365 however, as I use Outlook in cached mode so the send is from the 'outbox' rather than 'inline' as with OWA or Gmail.

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freitasm

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#745574 16-Jan-2013 11:09

The Perth to Singapore cable problem WILL affect speeds for all major ISPs routes to Asia. Telecom issued a warning yesterday about this.

I use Office 365 on TelstraClear as well and have not noticed slow speeds. We're different though in the sense that after I hit SEND I don't worry for the time the message takes to send as I start doing something else (I know it can be annoying though if you want a message out of the way so you can turn off your PC for example).

kemp

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#746328 17-Jan-2013 13:10

I do tend to watch my sent mail closely, but mostly so I can make sure clients receive stuff on time. Our network is all Mac and Outlook for Mac 2011 does not have an option to turn cached Exchange mode off, that is, it's always enabled, but you can still watch it upload in the background.

It's probably bad timing on my part to raise this issue while the Perth cable outage is causing so many problems. I think I'll renew our 365 subscription and wait a couple of months before I raise the issue again. Btw, good to see the sub price per mailbox has dropped a few dollars over the past year.

paulb001

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#746484 17-Jan-2013 17:22

Hi all, I look after Microsoft public cloud services for SMB here in NZ which includes Office365.

As noted there some current issues with the Seemewe cable from Perth to Singapore, this also carries much of our traffic and users may also experience some service degradation due to this. This can be seen with trace routes to mail.office365.com

That being said Microsoft has been working for some time now on product functionality and datacentre improvement and with carriers to optimise Microsoft cloud services traffic to our regional datacentres. This work is on-going and we are currently working on extending our own network to improve service performance overall.

We value this feedback however if you experience any service issues, please always log them with our support team via: https://portal.microsoftonline.com/Support/ServiceRequests.aspx

If you aren’t getting any response, or need to speak with us locally, you can reach me and our team via nzcloud@microsoft.com

Paul Bowkett
Microsoft New Zealand
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Zeon

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#746796 18-Jan-2013 12:38

I just saw this on NZNOG:

After following several recent threads on this list and other forums regarding Microsoft performance issues in New Zealand, I am pleased to now be in a position to solicit peering sessions at both APE and WIX (details below.) We are also peering with the route servers at both exchanges. Please feel free to email me directly with any related questions and also be on the look out for a Microsoft network engineer at NZNOG next week.

I wonder if they will advertise office365 at these locations?

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kemp

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#746800 18-Jan-2013 12:48

I just called Microsoft New Zealand's 0800 number to try to renew our Exchange subscription. I was treated like an idiot for calling the wrong number and was transferred to an operator in an overseas call centre. He could not find my business, domain or account. It was a pretty unpleasant experience and I'm rethinking the decision to renew.

For what it's worth, I raised a support ticket with Microsoft for the slow upload issue a few days ago. Nothing helpful so far.

ubergeeknz

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#746802 18-Jan-2013 12:49

Zeon: I just saw this on NZNOG:

After following several recent threads on this list and other forums regarding Microsoft performance issues in New Zealand, I am pleased to now be in a position to solicit peering sessions at both APE and WIX (details below.) We are also peering with the route servers at both exchanges. Please feel free to email me directly with any related questions and also be on the look out for a Microsoft network engineer at NZNOG next week.

I wonder if they will advertise office365 at these locations?

From reading it, I'd say it is exactly to address office365 issues. This thread is probably one referred to.

CYaBro

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#746825 18-Jan-2013 13:22

kemp: I just called Microsoft New Zealand's 0800 number to try to renew our Exchange subscription. I was treated like an idiot for calling the wrong number and was transferred to an operator in an overseas call centre. He could not find my business, domain or account. It was a pretty unpleasant experience and I'm rethinking the decision to renew.

For what it's worth, I raised a support ticket with Microsoft for the slow upload issue a few days ago. Nothing helpful so far.

Why did you ring them?
You can do all the subscription stuff, like renewals etc, online in the Office 365 Admin section.

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

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Snowflake

#746846 18-Jan-2013 13:29

ubergeeknz:
Zeon: I just saw this on NZNOG:

After following several recent threads on this list and other forums regarding Microsoft performance issues in New Zealand, I am pleased to now be in a position to solicit peering sessions at both APE and WIX (details below.) We are also peering with the route servers at both exchanges. Please feel free to email me directly with any related questions and also be on the look out for a Microsoft network engineer at NZNOG next week.

I wonder if they will advertise office365 at these locations?

From reading it, I'd say it is exactly to address office365 issues. This thread is probably one referred to.

i made some comments on this on the other o365 thread: http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=113&topicid=113151&page_no=8#746778

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paulb001

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#746847 18-Jan-2013 13:31

hi all, we have been working on enhancements for some time, with some recent offnet network issues we have been able to expedite the local point of presence - this will allow ISP's to route Microsoft destined traffic to us and we then carry it to our regional datacentres. However we wont realise the full benefit of this until the seamewe cable from Perth to Singapore is repaired - something that is outside our control and affects most internet traffic out of Australia to Singapore.

More on this thread
http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=113&topicid=113151&page_no=8#746600

Paul Bowkett
Microsoft New Zealand
http://microsoft365.com
http://twitter.com/paulbowkett
http://linkedin.com/in/paulbowkett

paulb001

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#746848 18-Jan-2013 13:34

@kemp - have direct messaged you on your issues, I can help you sort this out.

Paul Bowkett
Microsoft New Zealand
http://microsoft365.com
http://twitter.com/paulbowkett
http://linkedin.com/in/paulbowkett

kemp

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#756176 5-Feb-2013 16:48

After following several recent threads on this list and other forums regarding Microsoft performance issues in New Zealand, I am pleased to now be in a position to solicit peering sessions at both APE and WIX (details below.) We are also peering with the route servers at both exchanges. Please feel free to email me directly with any related questions and also be on the look out for a Microsoft network engineer at NZNOG next week.

Please excuse my ignorance, but could someone explain what this means from a user's point of view? I guess it means improved performance, but is there anything I should do to my setup to realise the benefits?

thnx

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#756191 5-Feb-2013 17:14

It means connections to Office 365 will probably be shorter than before, thanks to ISPs "peering" (connecting directly) with Microsoft's network provider.

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