Clear Net broadband performance (not hifi but general)

[TonyD]

Not sure if I'm allowed to post this here but will try ...
I have a Clear home broadband connection - 3Mb per month with 1Mb topups. In September I got an email from Clear increasing the monthly allowance to 10Mb, with no additional charge, from 1st October, which was fine by me! However, from about the same time I have noticed a fairly significant drop in performance, particularly when connecting to a site, with the 'Connecting' icon regularly appearing for several to many seconds. I was wondering if any other members who might be Clear users also have experienced similar degradation?

[AgrAde]

I'm assuming it's a DNS issue. Telstra/Clear are fools and for some reason I can't get good performance from any DNS servers through their cable network, whether I use their own ones or others. I know a lot of others with the same issue on both cable and DSL.

A DNS server is basically the telephone book for computers. Your computer asks "where can I find www.google.com?" to which it replies "at the address blahblahblah".

[TonyD]

I understand what you are saying. What I'm wondering is whether Clear has made changes to their site config that they know will probably throttle performance, and have then offered the additional usage to the users that would be affected to allay their inevitable complaints. Or am I just being unreasonably cynical!?

[AgrAde]

Well the slow DNS issues don't affect throughput or total usage, just give you a bit of lag. Traffic shaping (slowing) is usually made to throttle the p2p file sharing in order to give the people pootling around on the internet a bigger slice of the bandwidth pie.

But knowing NZ internet providers, you could still be right. Hah.

[Ross F]

I'm actually a Paradise account holder but on cable as well. I've noticed extremely variable performance (speed) even at low volume times e.g. 7 am weekdays. According to the Consumer speed measuring thing I'm getting up to 10 Mhz sometimes but the sort of problem I've had is using Skype where the other party (UK) has a perfect image of us but the image of them becomes pixilated after about ten minutes duration. Is that a speed thing?

[Neal]

I'd ask Paradise if they where still only running a 100 M/bit uplink to clearnet for international traffic. It's been a while now , but we moved a bunch of work ADSl's off this service onto TCL's mainstream internet due to variable and eratic performance.

In terms of TonyD's issue, I'd look at doing a "traceroute" to the fav web site to work out the internet path is . I'd then use something like a meshed traceroute http://tr.meta.net.nz/tr.php to compare performance from other ISP's.

BTW, Slow DNS goes not cause lag once the address has been looked up.

Packet loss , Packet shaping , QOS , Rate shapping , Oversubscribing links and distance does.

[TonyD]

I first noticed the problem when accessing SNA (www.stereo.net.au), frequently failing to connect, and initially assumed it was a site problem. However I have noticed the connection delays increasingly on other sites subsequently ... including AudioEnz. Not show-stopping but irritating. Would be interested to hear if other SNA users have noticed connection problems.

[Ross F]

I first noticed the problem when accessing SNA (www.stereo.net.au), frequently failing to connect, and initially assumed it was a site problem. However I have noticed the connection delays increasingly on other sites subsequently ... including AudioEnz. Not show-stopping but irritating. Would be interested to hear if other SNA users have noticed connection problems.

Yes. Audioenz was very bad but seems to have improved. Youtube has been very slow to load. If I'm accessing the web via a URL in an e-mail the page takes forever and I often give up and load the page from my browser (Firefox) - but that might be a software issue here.

[Ross F]

I've actually just complained to Telstra. I'll post their reply - if I get one.

[Ross F]

The reply from Telstra was helpful to the extent that they thought I needed a home visit from a techy. But just before I got the e-mail I phoned them and spoke to a technician. At that point the download speed (according to Consumer's speed measuring device) had fallen to about 2 Mbps. He reckoned it was my router causing the problem (go figure!) so I did reset both router and modem. Some time later, miraculously the speed went up dramatically to 10-14 Mbps. I've left the visit in place but suddenly everything has started loading quickly. What are these people up to?

[coleus]

The reply from Telstra was helpful to the extent that they thought I needed a home visit from a techy. But just before I got the e-mail I phoned them and spoke to a technician. At that point the download speed (according to Consumer's speed measuring device) had fallen to about 2 Mbps. He reckoned it was my router causing the problem (go figure!) so I did reset both router and modem. Some time later, miraculously the speed went up dramatically to 10-14 Mbps. I've left the visit in place but suddenly everything has started loading quickly. What are these people up to?

They are up to nothing , quite simply the first part of any trouble shoot is to turn the thing off and then back on again. In theory leaving a router/modem on at all times should be fine , in practise these devices require a re-boot just like a computer to improve performance , nothing sinister here.

[jcooze]

So much so that, as a matter of course, I fortnightly (or so) restart my router. And if I get any sort of performance drop on Broadband speeds the first thing I do is to reboot it. And wait a while! :D

Same with my PCs, especially at work where I'll leave on all week and as I go home on Friday I will reboot them. Nice and fresh for monday. It's the nature of electronics.

Working in the IT field, I know it is sometimes the case that when we finally persuade the client to reboot and then their performance improves the first statement out of their mouths is "So what did you do at your end"?

Then sometimes we get these ones:
http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/1999-08-04/

[Ross F]

OK. I would never have suspected the router. I'd already rebooted the modem. Will be interested in some feedback from the OP.

[Neal]

I think I've had 20 + years of WAN / Network issues clearing after logging faults without power reseting gear. If it was your router / modem causing issues the speed would have returned straight away after power reset. It's not like audio gear that improves performance the longer it's been running.

Sometimes I've found that the line test has been enough to clear error conditions, other times techs have found issues and fixed. Trouble shooting INTERNET connectivity from circuit end to INTERNET site can be some of the hardest to sort. So many variables to consider. Someone found something in my book. Performance shouldn't have increased by that kind of factor otherwise.

[jcooze]

Hmmm Cisco versus D-Link? Industrial strength Industry Standard versus get 'em with your BB connection 2 for a $1?

[Neal]

Jcooze , Not talking about $600k + Cisco Data Centre routers here with 10 gig wide area connections , I'm relating to ADSL connectivity we have across 60 + remote style sites which were running basic adsl devices. I can also related the experence with the major telcos I've used.

If you rebooting your router regulary then something is up. I have consumer based BB devices of which some have 18 months uptime. Could pay to check you line stats before your next reboot. Otherwise check for firmware updates if that is clean.

[jcooze]

Except I'm not rebooting for a problem. I'm just rebooting proactively (and truth be told it's when I remember). I haven't been aware of any issues since we got an upgraded "cabinet" a year or two ago.