Zen Customer Service

I just wanted to give a big thumbs up to Zen customer service this afternoon. I noticed that the Net seemed a bit sluggish, so i did a speed test here. I normally get about 63 Mbps down, but this afternoon it had pummeted to 32 Mbps. I rang Zen and went through lots of different things, like re setting my network, nothing worked. The chap i was speaking to said that i was downloading, he could see it at his end, i wasn't as only my computer was connected
Finally he asked me to plug the router into the test socket via a filter, which i did. As soon as the router came up again i did another speed test, hey presto, full speed. It looks like the built in filter in the BT faceplate had given up after all the years lol.
Anyway, just a big thanks to that guy (i didn't get his name). Peeps are quick to moan about bad service, but vary rarely praise good service.

The filter packing up in the faceplate I would expect only to make the phone unusable. The combined broadband and phone signal is always passed through to the modem/router which only looks at the frequencies expected by the protocol in use.

It is the phone that needs the broadband frequencies removing from the signal. Unless the person using it wants to risk damage to their hearing .

When you reset your network, what did you actually do?

It may well not be the filter but it was defo something within the face plate, that's for sure. Taking the face plate off and using a filter in the test socket has done the job of getting full speed again.
I reset the network from the Windows control panel network reset option at the bottom of the page in Win10. It made no difference though, download speed was still 32 Mbps.

The Zen network is [censored] at the moment and has been now for several weeks.
I think you will find that be connecting to test socket the gateway will have changed.
Like you I have had reduced speedtests and rebooting the router cured it by connecting to a different gateway. I have also had bouts of packet loss of up to 40% and rebooting cured it for a while. I am useing a Draytek Vigor 2860.

https://www.thinkbroadband.com/broadband/monitoring/...

Dave

As it happens, i was connected through London before the router reboot and still am connected through London after the reboot.

In reply to a post by kitfit1:

As it happens, i was connected through London before the router reboot and still am connected through London after the reboot.

So am I but there are several gateways in London.
C:\Users\g6crv>tracert bbc.com

Tracing route to bbc.com [151.101.0.81]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 2 ms 2 ms 1 ms VIGORG6CRV [192.168.1.1]
2 15 ms 15 ms 15 ms vt1.cor1.lond1.ptn.zen.net.uk [51.148.72.21]
3 16 ms 17 ms 16 ms lag-8.p2.thn-lon.zen.net.uk [51.148.73.172]
4 17 ms 16 ms 17 ms lag-2.br1.thn-lon.zen.net.uk [51.148.73.167]
5 17 ms 16 ms 16 ms ip81-59.fastly-gw1.lonap.net [5.57.81.59]
6 15 ms 15 ms 15 ms 151.101.0.81

Trace complete.

C:\Users\g6crv>
Note the gateway is 51.148.72.21 at the moment but I have noticed the gateway change to 51.148.72.22 and the subsequent route to bbc.com changes and sometimes i get slow speeds and packet loss. My guess is that there is a dodgy gateway that is occasionally playing up, but I am not an expert.

Dave

In reply to a post by kitfit1:

As it happens, i was connected through London before the router reboot and still am connected through London after the reboot.

The router reboot might have worked, unless you had already tried that.

I'd be prepared to bet that the faceplate is fine. Though disconnecting to re-install it could put you on a clogged gateway. It depends how they allocate a new connection.

Edited by pluralist (Wed 05-Jan-22 21:12:28)

My trace confirms what Dave said:

C:\Users\John>tracert /4 bbc.com

Tracing route to bbc.com [151.101.0.81]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 3 ms 3 ms 3 ms fritz.box [192.168.1.1]
2 13 ms 13 ms 13 ms vt1.cor2.lond2.ptn.zen.net.uk [51.148.72.24]
3 13 ms 13 ms 13 ms lag-8.p1.ixn-lon.zen.net.uk [51.148.73.188]
4 13 ms 13 ms 13 ms lag-1.br1.ixn-lon.zen.net.uk [51.148.73.181]
5 13 ms 13 ms 13 ms 195.66.225.91
6 13 ms 13 ms 14 ms 151.101.0.81

Trace complete.

A rather different route.

My gateway ends .24, Dave's .21; what's the betting that there are .22 and .23 gateways at least!

I'm on same .24 gateway as you currently, but yes as I understand Zen have .21-.24 (and I think I've been through all of them at some point). I have also noted poor perfomance/packet loss on certain gateways.

Tracing route to bbc.com [151.101.192.81]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms OPNsense.*retracted*.net [10.20.30.1]
2 3 ms 3 ms 3 ms vt1.cor2.lond2.ptn.zen.net.uk [51.148.72.24]
3 4 ms 3 ms 3 ms lag-8.p1.ixn-lon.zen.net.uk [51.148.73.188]
4 2 ms 3 ms 3 ms lag-1.br1.ixn-lon.zen.net.uk [51.148.73.181]
5 3 ms 3 ms 3 ms 195.66.225.91
6 3 ms 3 ms 2 ms 151.101.192.81

Trace complete.

Edited by Spudster (Fri 07-Jan-22 09:38:23)

Why do I get timeouts? ISTR someting about using a Mac? Anyways, am I on 22 and are folk saying thats a Bad Thing?

Last login: Wed Jan 5 09:14:49 on console
woolwich@SE18 ~ % traceroute bbc.co.uk
traceroute: Warning: bbc.co.uk has multiple addresses; using 151.101.0.81
traceroute to bbc.co.uk (151.101.0.81), 64 hops max, 52 byte packets
1 fritz.box (192.168.1.1) 0.732 ms 0.447 ms 0.407 ms
2 vt1.cor2.lond1.ptn.zen.net.uk (51.148.72.22) 18.349 ms 17.994 ms 17.723 ms
3 lag-9.p2.thn-lon.zen.net.uk (51.148.73.174) 18.032 ms
lag-9.p1.thn-lon.zen.net.uk (51.148.73.160) 18.058 ms 18.123 ms
4 lag-1.br1.thn-lon.zen.net.uk (51.148.73.153) 18.176 ms 18.146 ms 17.808 ms
5 * * *
6 * * *
7 * * *
8 * * *
9 * * *
10 * * *

Its still running BTW!

In reply to a post by Woolwich:

Why do I get timeouts? ISTR someting about using a Mac? Anyways, am I on 22 and are folk saying thats a Bad Thing?

Last login: Wed Jan 5 09:14:49 on console
woolwich@SE18 ~ % traceroute bbc.co.uk
Its still running BTW!

If your from SE18 then yes, Also check if your on Fast path or interleaving as you should be near 5ms-9ms at most, However i have problem with IXN gateways thats on the .23 / .24 even thought im in Edgware, HA8 (north london

Im also connected via BTw WBC

Tracing route to pingbox1.thinkbroadband.com [80.249.99.164]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms fritz,box [192.168.178.1]
2 19 ms 18 ms 19 ms vt1.cor1.lond2.ptn.zen.net.uk [51.148.72.24]
3 19 ms 19 ms 21 ms lag-7.p1.ixn-lon.zen.net.uk [51.148.73.186]
4 21 ms 19 ms 19 ms lag-2.p1.thn-lon.zen.net.uk [51.148.73.132]
5 20 ms 19 ms 19 ms lag-1.br1.thn-lon.zen.net.uk [51.148.73.153]
6 19 ms 19 ms 24 ms netconnex-gw.zen.net.uk [82.71.254.2]
7 19 ms 18 ms 19 ms po11-13.bdr-rt3.thdo.ncuk.net [80.249.97.22]
8 19 ms 19 ms 19 ms po4-31.core-rs4.thdo.ncuk.net [80.249.97.85]
9 18 ms 18 ms 18 ms pingbox1.thinkbroadband.com [80.249.99.164]

Seems like .21 is having pocket loss or has for a few weeks so now on .22 what seems fine but ping to .22 is up and down but still under 9ms

[francis@linux ~]$ traceroute www.bbc.co.uk
traceroute to www.bbc.co.uk (212.58.233.251), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets
1 _gateway (192.168.178.1) 0.332 ms 0.567 ms 0.557 ms
2 vt1.cor2.lond1.ptn.zen.net.uk (51.148.72.22) 36.814 ms 36.944 ms 37.223 ms
3 lag-9.p2.thn-lon.zen.net.uk (51.148.73.174) 9.799 ms lag-9.p1.thn-lon.zen.net.uk (51.148.73.160) 9.532 ms lag-9.p2.thn-lon.zen.net.uk (51.148.73.174) 9.710 ms
4 lag-2.br1.thn-lon.zen.net.uk (51.148.73.167) 9.690 ms 9.819 ms lag-1.br1.thn-lon.zen.net.uk (51.148.73.153) 9.849 ms
5 82.71.254.134 (82.71.254.134) 19.961 ms 20.493 ms 20.473 ms
6 132.185.248.51 (132.185.248.51) 9.571 ms 9.345 ms 10.186 ms
7 ae11.cr02.thdow.bbc.co.uk (132.185.254.166) 9.716 ms 8.237 ms 8.731 ms
8 * * *
9 ae2.er01.lbh.bbc.co.uk (132.185.249.7) 9.730 ms 9.444 ms 9.644 ms
10 132.185.252.126 (132.185.252.126) 27.468 ms 26.768 ms 19.875 ms

Edited by francisuk25 (Sun 06-Feb-22 20:41:31)

It all sounds like Plusnet gateways about ten years ago, when they started replacing their old gateways with better, faster more modern ones. The new ones frequently creating just such a problem.

The new ones didn't even support IPv6, whereas the old ones did! (As several of us on their pathetic IPv6 trial discovered).

In reply to a post by francisuk25:

If your from SE18

No, that's an old joke but well done for spotting. Regular listeners will know I moved north of the river.

I can answer my own question about traceroute, Mac punters need the -I flag.

So:

traceroute -I bbc.co.uk
traceroute: Warning: bbc.co.uk has multiple addresses; using 151.101.192.81
traceroute to bbc.co.uk (151.101.192.81), 64 hops max, 72 byte packets
1 fritz.box (192.168.178.1) 0.986 ms 0.457 ms 0.425 ms
2 vt1.cor1.lond1.ptn.zen.net.uk (51.148.72.21) 22.788 ms 16.726 ms 16.547 ms
3 lag-8.p2.thn-lon.zen.net.uk (51.148.73.172) 16.589 ms 16.776 ms 19.365 ms
4 lag-2.br1.thn-lon.zen.net.uk (51.148.73.167) 19.543 ms 17.111 ms 16.786 ms
5 ip81-59.fastly-gw1.lonap.net (5.57.81.59) 17.116 ms 16.699 ms 16.574 ms
6 151.101.192.81 (151.101.192.81) 16.816 ms 16.309 ms 15.768 ms

and

traceroute -I pingbox1.thinkbroadband.com
traceroute to pingbox1.thinkbroadband.com (80.249.99.164), 64 hops max, 72 byte packets
1 fritz.box (192.168.178.1) 1.149 ms 0.460 ms 0.425 ms
2 vt1.cor1.lond1.ptn.zen.net.uk (51.148.72.21) 16.811 ms 16.579 ms 16.231 ms
3 lag-8.p1.thn-lon.zen.net.uk (51.148.73.158) 17.275 ms 16.475 ms 16.628 ms
4 lag-1.br1.thn-lon.zen.net.uk (51.148.73.153) 17.089 ms 16.520 ms 16.485 ms
5 netconnex-gw.zen.net.uk (82.71.254.2) 19.283 ms 16.605 ms 16.349 ms
6 po11-13.bdr-rt3.thdo.ncuk.net (80.249.97.22) 16.608 ms 16.314 ms 16.159 ms
7 po4-31.core-rs4.thdo.ncuk.net (80.249.97.85) 17.726 ms 17.464 ms 16.035 ms
8 pingbox1.thinkbroadband.com (80.249.99.164) 17.144 ms 18.059 ms 16.497 ms

What does that say?