Slow speeds - TSV CBD exchange

[IMSancho]

I've been getting some very noticeable speed issues at peak times on my DSL2+ connection attached to the Townsville CBD exchange. I am still able to achieve speeds comparable to my sync rate (~9mbps) on a muti-threaded download such as a well seeded torrent or using a download manager, but single connections are dropping down to 1mbps or less, so I'm suspecting a lack of capacity perhaps at the exchange?

Have performed an isolation test, tested from multiple machines and OS's, shut off the modem for >15 mins to reset the port, and the problem persists. My connection does have very high downstream attenuation but it always has, and if this was the issue I would think it would affect multi-threaded downloads as well as single threads. Anything more I should do to test, or is there some way to get the backhaul to Townsville exchange tested?

Some speed test results:
http://www.exetel.com.au/speed
6:44PM Your current bandwidth reading is: 1.08 Mbps
6:53PM Your current bandwidth reading is: 1.29 Mbps
6:57PM Your current bandwidth reading is: 1.28 Mbps

ftp://ftp.jcu.edu.au/pub/jcu-network-test-3mb.file
2011-08-20 18:53:03 (116 KB/s)
2011-08-20 18:57:34 (111 KB/s)
2011-08-20 19:00:05 (125 KB/s)

http://download.microsoft.com/download/ ... grator.msi
2011-08-20 19:06:01 (172 KB/s)
2011-08-20 19:07:06 (229 KB/s)
2011-08-20 19:08:39 (188 KB/s)

[shoner]

I've been getting some very noticeable speed issues at peak times on my DSL2+ connection attached to the Townsville CBD exchange. I am still able to achieve speeds comparable to my sync rate (~9mbps) on a muti-threaded download such as a well seeded torrent or using a download manager, but single connections are dropping down to 1mbps or less, so I'm suspecting a lack of capacity perhaps at the exchange?

Have performed an isolation test, tested from multiple machines and OS's, shut off the modem for >15 mins to reset the port, and the problem persists. My connection does have very high downstream attenuation but it always has, and if this was the issue I would think it would affect multi-threaded downloads as well as single threads. Anything more I should do to test, or is there some way to get the backhaul to Townsville exchange tested?

Some speed test results:
http://www.exetel.com.au/speed
6:44PM Your current bandwidth reading is: 1.08 Mbps
6:53PM Your current bandwidth reading is: 1.29 Mbps
6:57PM Your current bandwidth reading is: 1.28 Mbps

ftp://ftp.jcu.edu.au/pub/jcu-network-test-3mb.file
2011-08-20 18:53:03 (116 KB/s)
2011-08-20 18:57:34 (111 KB/s)
2011-08-20 19:00:05 (125 KB/s)

http://download.microsoft.com/download/ ... grator.msi
2011-08-20 19:06:01 (172 KB/s)
2011-08-20 19:07:06 (229 KB/s)
2011-08-20 19:08:39 (188 KB/s)

Speed tests alone cannot determine if there are any issue taht needs fixing. I suggest that you log a service issue with us and let one of our engineers diagnose the issue and fix if any issue exists.

[IMSancho]

Thanks Shoner, I'll collect a bit more data and then log a fault, will post again once I have.

[IMSancho]

Ticket# 4355125 logged.

Speedtest results for the last 48 hours can be found at http://home.exetel.com.au/imsancho/speedresults.html showing especially international speeds dropping at peak times.

[Dazzled]

IMSancho, another user raised the notion of restricted single thread downloads (Shoner replied No), and there was an indirect reference to your speed graph. I was curious and repeated the test using high speed British newspaper servers instead of the ones you are using - use a downloader that can follow internal image links to get 3 or more MB. The speeds I got then, in the morning, were very good.

[IMSancho]

Have you got an example URL for one of these test images?

[Dazzled]

There was nothing remotely scientific about what I did, but the Whirlpool thread test seemed a bit one-dimensional. Rather than use the suggested international browser test, I did a few recursive downloads from pages on the following quickish servers that have many image links to follow: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/, http://www.guardian.co.uk/, and http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/index.html. The last has lots of "fat" images. Either visually monitor the running download size or script a size for the process to stop, lest you finish up with all of the newspaper.

[IMSancho]

I can't find anything on there over 300KB, not really suitable for a test. Are you sure your test wasn't doing multiple concurrent downloads?

Anyway I don't think the source of the files is an issue here, I've had a user on Internode run the same test, and aside from the odd dip when downloading large file, his is quite flat:

http://home.exetel.com.au/imsancho/spee ... sNode.html

[Dazzled]

Recursion is needed to get quantity. Try, for example, wget -r -H -O xxxx -Dwww.dailymail.co.uk http://www.dailymail.co.uk/. Monitor the file xxxx or you'll get more than is decent.

For an explanation, see "Limit spanning" at http://www.gnu.org/software/wget/manual/wget.html. My result a couple of minutes ago was 700 kB/s, quite good for my place.

PS Tried again, for <800 kB/s for a rough and ready test.

[Dazzled]

Mmmm. Second graph. Different DSLAM and backhaul. Something local?

[IMSancho]

It would seem that http://www.dailymail.co.uk is akamai'd, hence that data is coming from Australia:

Code: Select all

ping www.dailymail.co.uk
PING a1613.g.akamai.net (220.233.2.209) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 209.2.233.220.static.exetel.com.au (220.233.2.209): icmp_seq=1 ttl=60 time=60.3 ms

Their press kit however, isn't: ( http://www.mailconnected.co.uk/uploads/ ... -Sizes.pdf )

Code: Select all

2011-08-23 22:32:38 (21.5 KB/s) - “Daily-Mail-Ad-Sizes.pdf” saved

[Dazzled]

You are right. Careless of me not to traceroute it. I'll poke around for another test site.

[IMSancho]

Recently the system indicates that your modem achieving the speeds at a acceptable rates. If you experience the slow speeds in different time frames please check as below for further investigation.

* 3 random speed tests during the time you have slow speeds using www.exetel.com.au/speed and mentioned the exact time frame of the slow speed. (Also the sync speed of the modem)

* 3 random speed tests during the time you have better speeds using www.exetel.com.au/speed and mentioned the exact time frame of the better speed. ( (Also the sync speed of the modem)

What an absolutely pathetic response to receive after providing 96 x 3 speed test results from ozspeedtest, who exetel ask you to use when submitting your ticket, in a convenient graph. I can only assume he didn't even read the ticket...

[Musicinbed]

Recently the system indicates that your modem achieving the speeds at a acceptable rates. If you experience the slow speeds in different time frames please check as below for further investigation.

* 3 random speed tests during the time you have slow speeds using http://www.exetel.com.au/speed and mentioned the exact time frame of the slow speed. (Also the sync speed of the modem)

* 3 random speed tests during the time you have better speeds using http://www.exetel.com.au/speed and mentioned the exact time frame of the better speed. ( (Also the sync speed of the modem)

What an absolutely pathetic response to receive after providing 96 x 3 speed test results from ozspeedtest, who exetel ask you to use when submitting your ticket, in a convenient graph. I can only assume he didn't even read the ticket...

I agree, pathetic, that's why I didn't want to open a ticket myself. Apparently another user was told to downgrade to ADSL1 to achieve a more stable connection, wtf???

I experience the same issues as IMSancho above.
Also, IMSancho, don't let exetel send a telstra technician to your house. If they don't find a problem then they'll charge you, and they won't find a problem.
Here's that whirlpool thread by the way. http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-re ... ?t=1759317
Everyone who has tested so far has similar international issues except for Newcrest.

I'm not trying to hate on exetel at all, I simply want to get to the bottom of what is going on. So far all signs point to throttling or "bandwidth management" of sorts.

[thejeg]

Everyone who has tested so far has similar international issues except for Newcrest.

In order to help you resolve you issue and to determine what you are explaining here; I would like the following test results from you.

1. Netstat
2. Ping test to http://www.dailymail.co.uk
3. Provide a snap shot of your modem status page

I will work with you in identifying / resolving this issue