Updated - 02 October 2018 - Including Building a bootable USB stick to eliminate driver/OS issues (for the more tech savvy) section.

Updated - 15 May 2019 - Added Table of Contents, broke into sections, added Peering section, comments about testing over wifi, added link to troubleshooting ICMP/Trace route guide, added Content Distribution Networks (CDN) / Caches and IPv6 overview.

Updated - 20 June 2019 - Added downloadable document for building a bootable USB stick for performance testing.

Table of Contents

1. Speedtest

2. NPerf

3. Fritzbox Router Configuration

4. Customer Computing Devices

5. Building a bootable USB stick to eliminate driver/OS issues

6. Troubleshooting

7. Peering

8. Content Distribution Networks (CDN) / Caches

9. IPv6 overview - How we do it

10. Calling Customer Care

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Hi All,

Over the past few months we have seen several threads pop up on Geekzone highlighting concerns around performance on the faster plans and the perceived experience you are having. I thought I’d pull together a bunch of information and reference items to assist others who may be asking or having similar types of issues.

1. Speedtest

2degrees has recently deployed the latest version of the speed test server application to all of our servers in New Zealand. We have also deployed servers in Los Angeles and Sydney to assist with concerns raised with International connectivity for validation and troubleshooting.

We have seen some ‘interesting’ results on the Speedtest application where latency is introduced (International testing) which can skew results and may not necessarily represent reality. Speedtest is a really useful application for testing and highlighting the obvious, however it isn’t the only way of testing nor in my experience is it 100% correct all the time. Where possible use the Speedtest application available vs. the browser as we have again seen different results depending on the browser/version.

You can use speedtest by visiting http://www.speedtest.net, by default a server to test against is offered to you, you can also change this - NB: Please make sure you are testing over ethernet as there are some real limitations with testing over wifi (throughput, construction of house, location of wifi access point etc).

Speedtest applications are available here - https://www.speedtest.net/apps

2. NPerf

On our Speedtest servers we also have the nperf application installed which can be used for testing. To access nperf, please visit http://www.nperf.com. By default a server is to test against is offered to you, you can also change this.

Our test servers come equipped with 10gb interfaces connected to them, with a network rate limit of up to 5gb at a time.

3. Fritzbox Router Configuration

For Fritzboxes there a few things to check if you have upgraded recently from a 100mb to a faster plan.

Make sure you have sure your downstream and upstream settings are set to 999999 kbit/s, this can be done by logging into your Fritzbox and adjusting the following settings (Internet/Account Information/Connection Settings). Equally if you need help with this, call Customer Care (0800 022 022) and they can help.

The other item worth checking is that your LAN settings are set to Power mode (Home Network/Network Settings/Lan Speed).

Lastly when you increase the speed of your service, there are a few things that have to happen on our backend systems. We request a new profile to be applied to your connection from our upstream provider, then on the anniversary date of your billing cycle, the billing change happens. Both of these need to occur in order for your connection speed to be increased.

We have deployed some additional automation recently to ensure the second part of this occurs in case of process failure.

4. Customer Computing Devices

Customer configuration, network drivers, OS version/patch levels, wifi drivers, wifi kit etc. can all be contributing factors to poor performance. In some extreme cases we send out mini PC’s to assist and provide clarification on performance issues.

Please make sure your computers/devices are fully patched with the latest drivers installed. This may mean not relying on Windows update and visiting the Network Card vendor page for the latest drivers. If you are unsure, please seek technical advice from your PC supplier/store.

5. Building a bootable USB stick to eliminate driver/OS issues (for the more tech savvy)

1) Find yourself a USB Flash drive with at least 4gb of capacity -This process will format it and wipe everything on the stick, so please make sure you have a backup of anything you wish to keep.
2) Download this document and follow the instructions.

6. Troubleshooting

In order to ensure we can validate what's being seen, test things from multiple angles as well as where needed, grab packet captures (To work with hardware vendors and upstream providers), we have sent out a mini PC to troubleshoot. We send these types of devices out infrequently (I can count on one hand for the last 12 months), this also provides us the ability to connect via out of band (4g) to test elements as well. This is a last resort for us, based on the recent extensive testing with a bunch of geekzoners, we are in good shape.

If you're using Windows open up the Command Prompt or Powershell under Administrator mode and type the following:

netsh int tcp set global autotuninglevel=normal

Then reboot - see if this improves your speed.

Please also check out the post titled  2degrees - A Practical Guide to (Correctly) - Troubleshooting with Traceroute & ICMP (ping)

Here are some results of recent testing from customers experiencing issues and what was identified as the root cause.

* https://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=85&topicid=239663&page_no=4#2069626

* https://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=85&topicid=233510&page_no=3#2041281

* https://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=85&topicid=239663&page_no=4#2069626

* https://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=85&topicid=236439&page_no=5#2042056

* https://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=85&topicid=236439&page_no=6#2049148

7. Peering

Network peering is when one internet network connects to another directly, enabling a faster throughput and exchange of information. 

There are 4 types of peering connections.

a. Public Peering

Setting up public peering via an Internet exchange or exchange points - using one or more Ethernet switches that are collocated. This option is the most popular and tends to be more efficient.

b. Private Peering

Private peering, involves 2 networks with routers in the same building, and a direct point-to-point cable between them. This is an alternative to public peering. This setup is advantageous when a large quantity of data needs to be exchanged. Most of today’s private peering arrangements occur at colocation facilities independent of a particular carrier. Private peering interconnections make up most of the traffic on the Internet, especially between the largest networks.

c. Partial Peering

Setting up partial or regional peering so that network traffic is only exchanged in one area of the globe.

d. Paid Peering

Paid peering (partial transit) entails arranging for one network to pay the other network to participate in the arrangement.

2degrees Public and Private peering points are available here - https://www.peeringdb.com/net/2695

8. Content Distribution Networks (CDN) / Caches

A content delivery network or content distribution network (CDN) is a geographically distributed network of proxy servers. The goal is to provide high availability and high performance by distributing the service spatially relative to end-users. CDNs serve a large portion of the Internet content today, including web objects (text, graphics and scripts), downloadable objects (media files, software, documents), applications (e-commerce, portals), live streaming media, on-demand streaming media, and social media sites.

CDN is an umbrella term spanning different types of content delivery services: video streaming, software downloads, web and mobile content acceleration, licensed/managed CDN, transparent caching, and services to measure CDN performance, load balancing, multi-CDN switching and analytics and cloud intelligence.

2degrees has the following caches located across the country to ensure we can serve up content locally and quickly.

• Akamai - https://www.akamai.com
• Facebook - https://research.fb.com/the-evolution-of-advanced-caching-in-the-facebook-cdn/
• Netflix - https://openconnect.netflix.com/en/
• China Cache - https://www.akamai.com/uk/en/products/performance/china-content-delivery-network.jsp
• Google - https://cloud.google.com/cdn/

9. IPv6 overview - How we do it

Check out the guide on how 2degrees does IPv6 - https://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=85&topicid=240157

10. Calling Customer Care

Lastly, if you have concerns with your 2degrees experience, please call Customer Care on 0800 022 022 Option 9 for assistance.

Nick.