Connection to Dallas

[Hot Carl]

John,

I know this isn't something that is under your control but I was really looking for some help with a connection problem. For some reason my connection over the past two weeks has been crap to my VDS and any game servers I play on and it doesn't start until I hit the cogent switches in Dallas. This is a copy of my tracert excluding my ip and my servers ip:

Code: Select all

  2     4 ms     3 ms     3 ms  nts-xx.xx-xx.xx.static.nts-online.net 
  3     3 ms     3 ms     3 ms  nts-xx.xx-xx.xx.static.nts-online.net 
  4     4 ms     3 ms     3 ms  gig-6-2-lbb-edge-b.nts-online.net [65.182.79.9]

  5    21 ms    24 ms    22 ms  gi2-21.na41.b000326-1.dfw05.atlas.cogentco.com [38.122.56.53]
  6    37 ms    40 ms    38 ms  te4-4.3570.ccr01.dfw05.atlas.cogentco.com [38.20.38.33]
  7    43 ms    45 ms    51 ms  te0-0-0-8.ccr22.dfw03.atlas.cogentco.com [154.54.6.77]
  8    33 ms    34 ms    35 ms  38.104.204.74
  9    12 ms    12 ms    12 ms  border1.ge1-1-bbnet1.ext1a.dal.pnap.net [216.52.191.24]

This is a good tracert, most of them are in the 60s and 70s after the 4th hop.

I've already pitched a fit with my ISP and they have forwarded it to somebody (Translation : They aren't doing anything about it.). Is there somebody I could call on my end to find out why everything has gone to crap the past two weeks?

I'm not sure if E-Mail would be a better place for this conversation, if so the email on my profile works best.

Best Regards,
Hot Carl

[kraze]

Hi,

What issues are you seeing? The end point there shows a nice ending ping of 12ms. Individual hops showing an increased latency doesn't always represent an issue.

An email with this traceroute, your IP and the issue you are seeing to support@nfoservers.com would allow us to take a deeper look.

However, I'd be interested in hearing about what is going on and what you are seeing specifically with your connection.

[Hot Carl]

Well like I previously mentioned, that was a good one. Most of the time they are between 60 and 70 ms for all hops.

I didn't really want to open a support ticket because this isn't an issue on your end. It happens to every server I play on whether hosted by NFO or not, I was just using my VDS as an example. My main intentions was to get some feedback as to where a good starting point might be to get this resolved since my ISP most likely isn't going to do anything about it.

I've been with this ISP for a year and a half and never had issues. For the past two weeks it has been on and off with crazy spikes and its pretty annoying.

Also that 12 ms isn't to my VDS that is to Internap in Dallas. I'm going to include a picture of one I sent to my ISP earlier, but would like it deleted eventually.

[Edge100x]

That does suggest that your ISP may be overloading its connection to Cogent. ISPs don't like to admit when they're overloading their connections, likely because it leads to questions about when it will be fixed and what they owe the customer for his or her trouble, so it makes sense that they would not want to officially acknowledge this or provide any details.

[kraze]

Sorry about that, I missed that part about it being a good trace.

It is possible your ISP has been overloading a link causing issues for their clients. It is also possible an NSP has been having issues or doing maintenance causing for issues.

Chances are it will resolve itself in a little while. Getting your ISP to take a deeper look into personal routing or trace routes is extremely hard. It is something that has to be taken to there NOC which is extremely hard to do(I was only able to get it done once with Comcast).

[Hot Carl]

So I guess the obvious question here is how can I prove they are overloading that connection? Another question would be how do I know it's not on cogent's end?

I've called and chewed on some tail because I am paying them for a "True" fiber connection. If they aren't going to provide that I may have to look elsewhere.

Thanks,
Hot Carl

[kraze]

So I guess the obvious question here is how can I prove they are overloading that connection? Another question would be how do I know it's not on cogent's end?

I've called and chewed on some tail because I am paying them for a "True" fiber connection. If they aren't going to provide that I may have to look elsewhere.

Thanks,
Hot Carl

From a client perspective you really can't :/ Even if you could it wouldn't mean much since they don't have to act on it and most likely wouldn't. In most cases they will upgrade their connection there, it normally just takes a few weeks.

Your best bet at reaching the people who know what they are doing would be to have a tech at your house and getting their supervisors number. They can work directly with the NOC or another department which handles that. Even still, the issue will most likely go away in a few weeks.

If you do end up pursuing the issue with a tech's supervisor I would suggest you don't get angry with them or demand things. If there is anyone at an ISP to be nice to it would be them, IMO.

[Hot Carl]

So I kind of took a different route here. I ended up calling Cogent last night and I also emailed them with my tracert to see if they were seeing the same issues. I was shocked to open my email up this morning and see this response:

We noticed a potential issue and have sent an email to the engineers at NTS Communications in order to assist. This is likely something their customer service reps would not be aware of. We will keep you posted on our progress.

This gives me a little hope that my ISP gets this issue resolved since I was on their back about it and now Cogent is also telling them the same thing. When I initially called the support desk at my ISP they had me run a ping test and told me it was nothing on their end, I couldn't help but laugh at him. When he continued to tell me it was nothing, I continued to get frustrated that he wouldn't transfer me to L2 support. However everything is good now that they are aware of the issue.

I appreciate your help Kraze/EdgeX!

Best Regards,
Hot Carl

[Edge100x]

That is surprising indeed -- usually NSPs won't speak to anyone who's not a customer, so it was a real stroke of luck! I hope that the ISP follows up and gets this taken care of.