Horrible Internet performance...HELP!!!

XMEN Iceman · Post by **XMEN Iceman** » Mon May 23, 2005 11:22 pm

Can anyone tell me what I might be having issues with by looking at this Trace Route?

C:\Documents and Settings\Iceman>tracert www.xmenclan.org

Tracing route to www.xmenclan.org [216.12.202.23]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms 192.168.1.1
2 * 62 ms 7 ms 208.33.73.225
3 11 ms 11 ms 7 ms 208.33.73.129
4 11 ms 7 ms 7 ms 204.96.167.249
5 45 ms 57 ms 236 ms sl-gw29-fw-6-0-0-TS11.sprintlink.net [144.228.20
3.85]
6 * 83 ms 144 ms sl-bb22-fw-2-0.sprintlink.net [144.232.12.162]
7 * * 58 ms sl-gw40-fw-9-0.sprintlink.net [144.232.8.250]
8 29 ms 43 ms 32 ms sl-timewarner-7-0.sprintlink.net [160.81.227.106
]
9 * 69 ms 80 ms core-01-ge-3-1-2-1.dlfw.twtelecom.net [66.192.24
6.36]
10 57 ms 27 ms 21 ms dist-01-so-0-0-0-0.hsto.twtelecom.net [66.192.24
6.1]
11 41 ms 30 ms 26 ms hagg-02-ge-2-3-0-506.hsto.twtelecom.net [66.192.
246.127]
12 * 125 ms 90 ms 216-54-253-2.gen.twtelecom.net [216.54.253.2]
13 130 ms 128 ms 101 ms ivhou-207-218-245-27.ev1.net [207.218.245.27]
14 46 ms 38 ms * ivhou-207-218-245-114.ev1.net [207.218.245.114]

15 * * * Request timed out.
16 * 119 ms 26 ms serv01.dnsreg.org [216.12.202.23]

Trace complete.

This is driving me bonkers...I wonder if some trees that bloomed out are blocking my signal...or if my wireless router is getting flakey.

Thanks for any advice.

XMEN Ashaman DTM · Post by **XMEN Ashaman DTM** » Tue May 24, 2005 3:29 am

Well, with this block here:

Code: Select all

 1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms 192.168.1.1
2 * 62 ms 7 ms 208.33.73.225
3 11 ms 11 ms 7 ms 208.33.73.129
4 11 ms 7 ms 7 ms 204.96.167.249
5 45 ms 57 ms 236 ms sl-gw29-fw-6-0-0-TS11.sprintlink.net &#91;144.228.20
3.85&#93;

you appear to be connecting just fine to sprint's infrastructure. You're even connecting over several hops with an average that's below 100 ms. Two problems though.

The first is that your connection between the box with 192.168.1.1 (your router, I assume) and the next box upstream (your service provider's server or router, I assume), is good enough to hold a connection. Maybe there are some issues with trees getting in the way of your antenna and that of the host's. Or the weather was flaky, or your server on the host end of things had a timing issue, or something. You only have three data points there, but it looks like things got better as time went on. Even though there are only three data points, which means you can't infer much in the way of causes, you can still see that it gets better. There are quite a bit of things that could be happening with your wireless network. Anything from clutter (scattering of the signal from trees, rocks, animals, etc), to weather effects (slightly more humid, changes in air currents, temperature variations, etc.), to signal reflections from rocks, trees, the ground, buildings, cars, etc. Signal relfections can definitely trick your wireless stuff into thinking that the packets that they have are not the ones that it should have; and scattering can cause one string of bits to be read incorrectly. I know that there are supposed to be methods of checking the packet integrity, and ensuring that the bit order is correct, but if you've got two signals coming in that are slightly offset in terms of time, then one signal can overlap another and confuse the software algorithms in the boxes. Even if the boxes are designed for such things, it's still difficult to account for all situations.

Second, it would seem that the cause of your problem is more related to this section:

Code: Select all

 12 * 125 ms 90 ms 216-54-253-2.gen.twtelecom.net &#91;216.54.253.2&#93;
13 130 ms 128 ms 101 ms ivhou-207-218-245-27.ev1.net &#91;207.218.245.27&#93;
14 46 ms 38 ms * ivhou-207-218-245-114.ev1.net &#91;207.218.245.114&#93;

15 * * * Request timed out.
16 * 119 ms 26 ms serv01.dnsreg.org &#91;216.12.202.23&#93;

Note the change in network companies (twice in those four lines). The response times are higher here too. Things may not be all that peachy between these folks.

Post by **XMEN Gambit** » Tue May 24, 2005 7:57 am

What he said.

All the acutal connetion times appear good, but those timeouts will kill you. One thing you can do when you see them is to continuously ping ("ping -t" and CRTL-C to stop) a node for which you got a timeout and see if there's any pattern or recurring problem. If the location of the problem is hop #3 or beyond, it's the ISP's problem and you complain to them. Won't do much good unless they can catch it while it's happening. On hop 2 it could be your end or theirs or in-between signal problems as described. Hop 1 of course is all yours.

At least your traceroute works. Running a traceroute from my connection has been near-useless for some time. A bunch of internal routers at Comcast are apparently set up not to respond to ping packets, and waiting for all of them to time out so I can "see" past them takes forever.

XMEN Iceman · Post by **XMEN Iceman** » Tue May 24, 2005 11:04 pm

Ok...don't laugh....it appears as though the antenna screw in connection to my wireless receiver was barely on. I was moving it and noticed how loose it was....tightened it up and my problem appears to be gone.

I am such a dweeb.

TimberWolf · Post by **TimberWolf** » Wed May 25, 2005 12:18 pm

I have a question related to wireless network.

In my house my Dad's computer is wireless and about half way across the house from the router which is hooked directly to the modem. His connection drops out at random and the system has to re-establish a connection with the router. We have bought $5 recievers (that are 4 times the size of the originals) which has helped get a stronger signal to the computer (originally the signal was hovering about 2 or 3 bars but now it hovers at 4 or 5 bars, which is near max) but the problem is still there. I can look at the router from my computer, which is hard lined to it, and watch the routers logs and see the disconnections as timed out.

My question: What are possible sources of this problem and what are some solutions to correct this (sort of running a line through the house)? If you need more info than this then it will have to wait till I get home.

Thanks in advance.

Post by **XMEN Gambit** » Wed May 25, 2005 2:07 pm

Does his computer run XP? If so, do you have the wireless configuration set to "allow XP to manage your wireless connection?" There is/was a known issue with XP dropping the connection every few minutes given this configuration.

TimberWolf · Post by **TimberWolf** » Wed May 25, 2005 4:28 pm

This is the first time I have been told this. Can you tell me where the option is or how to find it? Also would this option help out with non-wireless connections such as my own? The reason I ask is because the internet seems slow and non-responsive some times on my computer, and I have been thinking it was just the area.

Post by **XMEN Gambit** » Wed May 25, 2005 6:08 pm

Follow the linky - seems to be a lot of info on the subject here.

http://www.tek-tips.com/viewthread.cfm? ... 981&page=1

Short answer is:

Right click the My Network Places icon, then go to properties.

Right click the wireless connection, then properties

Select the wireless networks tab and uncheck "Use Windows to configure Wireless Network setting"

No, it would not help a non-wireless connection. Do a traceroute to a popular site to produce a result that looks like Iceman's in order to find the chokepoint, by

Start->Run->cmd<ENTER>

Then
tracert somedomain.com<ENTER>

TimberWolf · Post by **TimberWolf** » Wed May 25, 2005 8:18 pm

Ok, my Dads computer does have "allow windows to configure" but when I turned it off then I lost connection with the network when I restarted.

As for the tracert, on my computer I get the first line and the last line with the rest being timed out.

C:\Documents and Settings\TimberWolf>tracert www.xmenclan.org

Tracing route to www.xmenclan.org [216.12.202.23]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms 192.168.1.1
2 * * * Request timed out.
3 * * * Request timed out.
4 * * * Request timed out.
5 * * * Request timed out.
6 * * * Request timed out.
7 * * * Request timed out.
8 * * * Request timed out.
9 * * * Request timed out.
10 * * * Request timed out.
11 * * * Request timed out.
12 * * * Request timed out.
13 * * * Request timed out.
14 * * * Request timed out.
15 * * * Request timed out.
16 * * * Request timed out.
17 * * * Request timed out.
18 51 ms 58 ms 50 ms serv01.dnsreg.org [216.12.202.23]

Trace complete.

C:\Documents and Settings\TimberWolf>tracert www.xmenclan.org

Tracing route to www.xmenclan.org [216.12.202.23]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms 192.168.1.1
2 * * * Request timed out.
3 * * * Request timed out.
4 * * * Request timed out.
5 * * * Request timed out.
6 * * * Request timed out.
7 * * * Request timed out.
8 * * * Request timed out.
9 * * * Request timed out.
10 * * * Request timed out.
11 * * * Request timed out.
12 * * * Request timed out.
13 * * * Request timed out.
14 * * * Request timed out.
15 * * * Request timed out.
16 * * * Request timed out.
17 * * * Request timed out.
18 50 ms 49 ms 50 ms serv01.dnsreg.org [216.12.202.23]

Trace complete.

What does all that mean?

Post by **XMEN Gambit** » Wed May 25, 2005 9:22 pm

For your Dad's computer, what that means is that you need to load the network card drivers and/or reconfigure your connection after you disable the Windows management.

For your traceroute, it means you have the same problem I do (stuff in the middle that don't reply to pings - I think). Though the three pings to xmenclan.org seem to have got there and back in good time.

I don't suppose anyone knows how to resolve our gutted traceroute problem?

TimberWolf · Post by **TimberWolf** » Fri May 27, 2005 8:15 am

Update: After spending about 3 hours working on my Dads computer, looking for drivers online only to find out they have not changed since we bought the card, reloading the drivers more than once, and tweeking the placement of the computer and router to maxamize the signal, we finally got it done. He know has the most consistent connection he has ever had on wireless. While we were doing this we updated the security on the router.

Thank you for the help.

Post by **XMEN Gambit** » Fri May 27, 2005 8:39 am

Great! Thanks for the followup.