Zen - Packetloss Issues

Hi Guys,

Unsure if this is the right place for this post as it is technical in nature - but here goes:

I signed up for Zen FTTC Unlimited 1. Initially I didn't have any issues, the connection was ultra solid and reliable. The reason for using Zen was I had used them at a previous address for my ADSL connection and it was utterly flawless. I am an online gamer, so the reliability of my connection is paramount.

After around a month with Zen, I started to experience horrific packetloss. I felt this immediately (being an online gamer). It happens most of the time, but feels like it could be worse at peak times. I also lose the connection completely on some occasions, but this is rarer.

I would say my setup is more elaborate than the average users, with my house wired with cat6 cabling and a 1gb cisco switch.

Being fairly tech savvy, I immediately disabled all wireless devices and plugged a 20m cat6 cable directly between my Fritzbox modem/router and my PC. The packetloss persisted. In my mind this was how I would prove the connection wasn't saturated and the packetloss being caused by something else on the network.

Next step was to get in touch with Zen tech support. They were reasonable, but it took 3 or 4 long calls and a permanent quality test being on my line for over a week for my issue to be escalated and a BT Engineer was sent out to investigate yesterday. Unfortunately I couldn't be there to talk to the chap, but the general feedback was that he hadn't found any issues, but he had replaced my master socket with a new type. The packetloss continues, with nothing connected to my router (as shown on the graphs)

I have had the think broadband quality monitor running for the last week and have attached some of the graphs which actually show the packetloss worsened after the BT Engineer visited.

I am unsure where this will go when Zen get back in touch... but would any of you be able to advise me? This packetloss may not have been noticed by people just browsing the internet or watching Netflix, but it literally is making gaming and using real time applications impossible. As far as I am concerned the primary use for my connection is gaming - and in its current state that is not possible.

Any advice would be appreciated guys - this is an utter frustration for me.

BT Visit Day Graph

Day with Drops

Edited by deleted (Thu 29-Jun-17 10:39:22)

Do traceroutes give any indication of where things might be going wrong?

It is possible issue is nothing to do with the FTTC and to do with a backhaul network link, and if its just affecting a link in your area very few customers may be seeing it.

Thanks for replying!

I haven't tried any traceroutes. Would you mind pointing me to a FAQ that might show me how to do this?

For inbound https://www.thinkbroadband.com/tools/traceroute

that page will actually run the trace for you, and to do outbound https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/314868/how-...

I might be barking up the wrong tree completely, but me (and another user) several months ago had a similar sort of TBBQM with a FritzBox 7490 Router. In both cases the packet loss and latency issues (with daily overnight dropouts and a reducing sync speed over time, as a result of which I lost a third of my sync speed) were completely cured by using the Fritz option to roll-back the modem's DSL firmware (under the last tab on the Internet option on the Advanced settings). It doesn't affect the rest of the firmware or, it seems subsequent firmware upgrades, as the modem firmware "sticks". We assumed an incompatibility with BT's DLM.

Good luck.

Edited by deleted (Thu 29-Jun-17 12:58:54)

Great - thanks for this info. Do I have an option of which firmware to rollback to or does it just rollback to the last firmware? I have that specific Router and will give it a crack when I get in tonight.

Thanks again guys.

I had a lot of issues with my Fritz.box (although a different model to yours) following a firmware upgrade. After a lot of messing about I managed to fix it.

Basically what worked for me was to back up the configuration, then do a factory reset, then restore the backed-up configuration except for the DSL connection details, which I re-entered by hand.

Problem solved!

In reply to a post by alexsiwft:

Great - thanks for this info. Do I have an option of which firmware to rollback to or does it just rollback to the last firmware? I have that specific Router and will give it a crack when I get in tonight.

Thanks again guys.

The option is just to roll back the previous DSL element of the firmware (not the whole router firmare). Easier than a factory reset, though I did do a backup using the router facility first, just in case! But I've never needed it.

PS for info it's not the backup tab, but on the Advanced Interface the Internet/DSL Info/Line Settings and scroll to the bottom of the page to see the option to roll back just the DSL firmware. The router will reboot but all your other settings remain unaffected. so no need for any reconfiguration.

Edited by deleted (Thu 29-Jun-17 14:56:47)

1 thinkbroadband-gw2.core-rs2.thdo.ncuk.net 15 15 0ms 1ms 2ms
2 po4-31.bdr-rt3.thdo.ncuk.net 15 15 0ms 0ms 0ms
3 ge-0-0-8-51.cr1.th-lon.zen.net.uk 15 15 0ms 4ms 35ms
4 ae4-0.cr1.wh-man.zen.net.uk 15 15 6ms 12ms 61ms
7 82-69-62-2.dsl.in-addr.zen.co.uk 3 3 26ms 26ms 26ms
-7 ms ms ms
-6 ms ms ms
5 82-69-62-2.dsl.in-addr.zen.co.uk 9 15 26ms 26ms 27ms

That was my tracreroute result.

Just rolled back the router firmware and am trying again...

Hi again guys. Im still dead in the water with the packetloss continuing. I rolled back the DSL firmware of the Fritzbox as suggested, but I am still having issues. This is my most recent traceroute, if someone wouldnt mind helping me interpret it?

# Host Sent Recvd Best Avg Worst
1 thinkbroadband-gw2.core-rs2.thdo.ncuk.net 15 15 0ms 1ms 2ms
2 po4-31.bdr-rt3.thdo.ncuk.net 15 15 0ms 1ms 12ms
3 ge-0-0-8-51.cr1.th-lon.zen.net.uk 15 15 0ms 1ms 13ms
4 ae4-0.cr1.wh-man.zen.net.uk 15 15 6ms 9ms 38ms
8 82-69-62-2.dsl.in-addr.zen.co.uk 2 14 27ms 27ms 27ms
-8 ms ms ms
-7 ms ms ms
-6 ms ms ms
5 82-69-62-2.dsl.in-addr.zen.co.uk 1 15 273ms 273ms 273ms


Here is my latest BQM:

My Broadband Ping