Pings

Just moved to Zen, with nildram pings were <30 to a game server i use a lot. Now with Zen they are


1 <1 ms <1 ms
2 34 ms 35 ms 36 ms gandhi-dsl1.wh.zen.net.uk [62.3.83.5]
3 52 ms 35 ms 35 ms gandhi-dsl1.wh.zen.net.uk [62.3.80.229]
4 35 ms 35 ms 35 ms 193.189.130.26
5 114 ms 112 ms 112 ms 194.117.136.217
6 113 ms 111 ms 114 ms 194.117.136.178
7 117 ms 116 ms 119 ms 194.117.136.150
8 130 ms 121 ms 119 ms 194.117.136.166
9 126 ms 125 ms 123 ms tele2-gw4.telewest.net [194.117.136.197]
10 119 ms 119 ms 116 ms telewest.transit.as25369.net [194.117.147.66]
11 120 ms 121 ms 121 ms sov-r1-rtr1.4u.net.uk [217.146.81.254]
12 126 ms 128 ms 130 ms Service.alpha-networks.co.uk [217.146.93.31]

Trace complete.

????????

Same sort of times here :

traceroute to 217.146.93.31 (217.146.93.31), 30 hops max, 38 byte packets
1 speedtouch.lan (192.168.1.254) 56.051 ms 98.348 ms 99.967 ms
2 gauthier-dsl1.hq.zen.net.uk (62.3.82.17) 17.085 ms 16.103 ms 16.525 ms
3 lotze-ge-0-0-1-136.hq.zen.net.uk (62.3.80.137) 56.374 ms 17.573 ms 16.015 ms
4 spinoza-ae1-0.hq.zen.net.uk (62.3.80.65) 16.021 ms 17.550 ms 16.432 ms
5 bolzano-ae2-0.wh.zen.net.uk (62.3.80.53) 16.515 ms 30.656 ms 16.043 ms
6 193.189.130.26 (193.189.130.26) 15.965 ms 17.112 ms 16.557 ms
7 pc-62-30-249-153-ha.blueyonder.co.uk (62.30.249.153) 136.977 ms 137.902 ms 138.369 ms
8 194.117.136.178 (194.117.136.178) 136.569 ms 139.599 ms 133.544 ms
9 tele1-know-rab.telewest.net (194.117.136.158) 133.515 ms 132.157 ms 133.298 ms
10 194.117.136.146 (194.117.136.146) 131.556 ms 131.708 ms 143.370 ms
11 194.117.136.162 (194.117.136.162) 138.528 ms 131.690 ms 132.551 ms
12 telewest.transit.as25369.net (194.117.147.66) 134.043 ms 132.052 ms 130.832 ms
13 sov-r1-rtr1.4u.net.uk (217.146.81.254) 131.083 ms 130.096 ms 131.543 ms
14 Service.alpha-networks.co.uk (217.146.93.31) 131.628 ms 130.170 ms 130.301 ms

I notice it slows down when it hits Blueyonder (Virgin) - essentially they are the cause of the high ping rate as Zens' servers respond in the correct manner.

Perhaps the flooding has effected Blueyonder or it could be a part of Virgins general troubles getting a decent service for end users (see the Virgin ADSL forum here and also the (Cable) one).

For reference, my router is on 'fast path' and not interleaved as an interleaved connection will raise pings anyway.

This is mine WITH interleave.

Tracing route to Service.alpha-networks.co.uk [217.146.93.31] with TTL of 32:



 1  42ms   88ms   89ms   speedtouch.lan [192.168.1.254]

 2  33ms   32ms   32ms   gandhi-dsl1.wh.zen.net.uk [62.3.83.5]

 3  33ms   32ms   33ms   bolzano-ge-0-0-1-3.wh.zen.net.uk [62.3.80.229]

 4  33ms   33ms   33ms   193.189.130.26

 5  43ms   41ms   41ms   194.117.136.221

 6  42ms   41ms   41ms   tele1-know-rab.telewest.net [194.117.136.158]

 7  41ms   41ms   42ms   194.117.136.174

 8  42ms   41ms   41ms   tele2-gw4.telewest.net [194.117.136.197]

 9  39ms   40ms   41ms   telewest.transit.as25369.net [194.117.147.66]

10  41ms   39ms   39ms   sov-r1-rtr1.4u.net.uk [217.146.81.254]

11  40ms   39ms   39ms   Service.alpha-networks.co.uk [217.146.93.31]



Traceroute complete.

mine are very good non interleaved.

C:\Documents and Settings\Blackmesa8>tracert 217.146.93.31

Tracing route to Service.alpha-networks.co.uk [217.146.93.31]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 15 ms 15 ms 14 ms gauthier-dsl1.hq.zen.net.uk [62.3.82.17]
2 16 ms 20 ms 17 ms lotze-ge-0-0-1-136.hq.zen.net.uk [62.3.80.137]
3 15 ms 16 ms 17 ms spinoza-ae1-0.hq.zen.net.uk [62.3.80.65]
4 15 ms 16 ms 26 ms bolzano-ae2-0.wh.zen.net.uk [62.3.80.53]
5 16 ms 17 ms 16 ms 193.189.130.26
6 25 ms 27 ms 25 ms 194.117.136.217
7 26 ms 26 ms 25 ms 194.117.136.178
8 26 ms 26 ms 26 ms tele1-know-rab.telewest.net [194.117.136.158]
9 26 ms 31 ms 24 ms 194.117.136.146
10 24 ms 26 ms 24 ms 194.117.136.162
11 24 ms 24 ms 23 ms telewest.transit.as25369.net [194.117.147.66]
12 25 ms 23 ms 23 ms sov-r1-rtr1.4u.net.uk [217.146.81.254]
13 23 ms 23 ms 23 ms Service.alpha-networks.co.uk [217.146.93.31]

Trace complete.

It might be worth shooting the server admins an email. Zen and 4u Networks both peer at Linx and Lonap and would benefit from connecting more directly.

TT

I noticed the same problem for the past 2 weeks., since the 13/06/2007, which is the date of my first Traceroute when I noticed the problem.

I play a lot of Call of Duty 2 online in various servers, of which during this time I have noticed that several of my favorites have had increased pings usually between the hours of 8:00pm and 9:30pm. (But could be anytime between 7:30pm and 10:30pm).
If you look at the times of the results already posted here, you'll see the affected fall within this range.

Here's a few more similarly affected Game Server IP's:
195.20.109.109
81.19.219.45
81.19.223.60

I have done some traces using WinMTR before, after and during the affected times.

The one thing in common is that they all appear to be hosted within or pass through the TeleWest / BlueYonder network which seems to me to be the cause.
Particularly - 194.117.136.217 or 62.30.249.153

Theory 1
From what I could tell, the routing of the servers don't tend to change, just the pings during these times. Obviously this is the main Peak time which most people will use the internet, which could mean that it's due to the Load on the TW network or due to some sort of Traffic Shaping or Load Balancing during Peak times.

Theory 2
I have a friend who is still connected with TeleWest Broadband, he has told me that they are doing server / network upgrading across the backbone of their network. From what I've been told, this may not be finished for another month.

Unless anyone else has any resolutions or feedback or opinions on this.

Either way. I hope the problem is only temporary and get resolved.


PS.
I'm using a Speedtouch 585iv6, usually around the 4000kbits range @9dB SNR (prefer stability to speed), Forced 'Fast Path', Wireless Turned off, Master Socket Filtered with ADSL Nation XTE-2005 Faceplate. PC is Spyware and Virus free.

I'm not an expert as this sort of thing, so feel free to point out any errors or correct anything that I have said above.


Sorry for this Post being a bit long.... er.

OK here!

Pinging 217.146.93.31 with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 217.146.93.31: bytes=32 time=21ms TTL=118
Reply from 217.146.93.31: bytes=32 time=20ms TTL=118
Reply from 217.146.93.31: bytes=32 time=20ms TTL=118
Reply from 217.146.93.31: bytes=32 time=20ms TTL=118

Ping statistics for 217.146.93.31:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 20ms, Maximum = 21ms, Average = 20ms



Tracing route to Service.alpha-networks.co.uk [217.146.93.31]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 64 ms 99 ms 100 ms dsldevice.lan [192.168.1.254]
2 13 ms 14 ms 13 ms gauthier-dsl1.hq.zen.net.uk [62.3.82.17]
3 14 ms 14 ms 14 ms lotze-ge-0-0-1-136.hq.zen.net.uk [62.3.80.137]
4 14 ms 13 ms 13 ms spinoza-ae1-0.hq.zen.net.uk [62.3.80.65]
5 23 ms 14 ms 14 ms bolzano-ae2-0.wh.zen.net.uk [62.3.80.53]
6 14 ms 14 ms 14 ms 193.189.130.26
7 24 ms 23 ms 23 ms 194.117.136.217
8 23 ms 23 ms 24 ms 194.117.136.178
9 22 ms 23 ms 22 ms tele1-know-rab.telewest.net [194.117.136.158]
10 23 ms 22 ms 23 ms 194.117.136.146
11 23 ms 24 ms 23 ms 194.117.136.162
12 22 ms 22 ms 21 ms telewest.transit.as25369.net [194.117.147.66]
13 21 ms 21 ms 23 ms sov-r1-rtr1.4u.net.uk [217.146.81.254]
14 22 ms 21 ms 21 ms Service.alpha-networks.co.uk [217.146.93.31]

Trace complete.

Looking good here from A&A - no virgin media involved!!

C:\Users\Jon>tracert 217.146.93.31



Tracing route to Service.alpha-networks.co.uk [217.146.93.31]

over a maximum of 30 hops:



  1    <1 ms    <1 ms    <1 ms  aaisp-gw.barnsley.jongreen.co.uk [90.155.84.1]

  2    17 ms    18 ms    18 ms  careless.aaisp.net.uk [81.187.81.72]

  3    17 ms    17 ms    17 ms  aimless.aaisp.net.uk [217.169.20.3]

  4    17 ms    18 ms    18 ms  lipex.thn-1.as25369.net [193.109.219.38]

  5    19 ms    18 ms    19 ms  sov-r1-rtr1.4u.net.uk [217.146.81.254]

  6    19 ms    18 ms    18 ms  Service.alpha-networks.co.uk [217.146.93.31]



Trace complete.



C:\Users\Jon>

Entanet:
Tracing route to Service.alpha-networks.co.uk [217.146.93.31]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms 10.0.0.1
2 17 ms 17 ms 16 ms larch.dsl.enta.net [87.127.229.36]
3 16 ms 16 ms 16 ms vlan4003.telehouse-east2.dsl.enta.net [87.127.229.33]
4 16 ms 16 ms 16 ms gi2-8.telehouse-east.dsl.enta.net [84.45.242.53]
5 24 ms 39 ms 16 ms te5-2.telehouse-east.core.enta.net [62.249.192.121]
6 16 ms 16 ms 19 ms te5-1.telehouse-east2.core.enta.net [87.127.236.98]
7 16 ms 15 ms 16 ms te4-1.telehouse-north.core.enta.net [87.127.236.38]
8 45 ms 15 ms 15 ms 62-249-255-186.no-dns-yet.enta.net [62.249.255.186]
9 17 ms 16 ms 16 ms sov-r1-rtr1.4u.net.uk [217.146.81.254]
10 16 ms 34 ms 16 ms Service.alpha-networks.co.uk [217.146.93.31]

Trace complete.

guys wtf all of the people who just said "yeah everythings fine for me etc"

you have done the tracer route at either first thing in the morning or gone 12 at night! Sorry but it's just no reliable to do it then. Re-do the test at around 8.30pm for a true result.

I had solid pings with Nildram of 30-40 with nildram constant no matter what time of the day; i hope i haven't just migrated to zen to be greeted with [censored] pings in the evenings else i'll be out and cancel the service asap