ADSL problems and BT fuckwits

[Rubber Bullets]

For a couple of weeks I have not been able to play CS properly. My pings have been spiking to 600-700 every few seconds resulting in freezing and usually death.

I phoned BT broadband tech help today, and some young twat could not have been less helpful. He was convinced that it was the way I was connected and couldn't get his head around my setup.

How difficult is it?

Phone line into house> Box with ADSL written on it, with 2 sockets> Socket with computer symbol on it cable to upstairs socket> Upstairs socket with ADSL modem plugged into it.

Somehow he thinks I've got a loop going on I really wish I'd taped the conversation I would have posted it here. At one point we even got into a slightly heated debate about which side of the downstairs box is the ADSL socket!! Apparently mine was in the wrong side.

None of this setup has changed since a BT engineer installed it 9 months ago. i have had 1 or 2 small problems since but mostly it has been faultless. Now he is telling me that I shouldn't even be able to connect with my setup!!

Finally he gives me the number of BT online gaming helpline, he is sure they'll help.

So I phone gamesdomain, explain my problem, and get told they can only help people who are having problems connecting to gamesdomain.

I don't use gamesdomain I say, so he says he can't help me!

The only thing that came out of these conversations that was even half useful was the possibility that something else on my PC could be using bandwidth. I can't remember exactly when this problem started nor what I may have just installed when it did, but is this a real possibility? I have disabled my anti virus, even though I have always been able to play with it on quite happily.

My line speed test results are fine by the way, so I don't think it is that.

Any ideas gratefully received

s

 

[S-Gray]

I remember when i had Kazaa running, my connection would go to about 300-400, but once i closed it, it went back to 60-90.

C+A+D and see if there is any Programs using your bandwidth, and just close em to do a test

 

[Rubber Bullets]

Yeah tried that Super,

Nothing else running in programs, except my sound card control.

Loads in processes, but none hardly using CPU so probably not using bandwidth either. I don't generally download and play at the same time.

s

 

[ECA]

does this occur on all servers? or just BW?

 

[Tom]

Do you use zonealarm? It has a handy little bargraph, charting the amount of data tx/rx going on. It should at least let you know if anything is happening behind your back.

Do you suffer with this problem on any other games?

 

[Rubber Bullets]

Hi,

It's on all servers, sadly.

I'm not using ZA at the moment Tom, no. Though the firewall I am using does something similar, I'll have a look.

The more I think about it the more sure I am that this is BT having the bandwidth problem, and just fobbing me off. I'm on holiday for 2 weeks from Friday, I'll see what it's like when I get back.

s

 

[Rubber Bullets]

I've just had a look at the traffic log for a period that I was playing earlier.

The only other thing going on during that time was occasionally svchost.exe accessing the net. This is a windows thing right, but I don't know what it is. It happened every 5 mins or so, so it isn't causing the problem whatever it is.

BTW I don't play any other games on line so I'm not sure about your other question tom.

s

 

[S-Gray]

"SVChost" is "Generic host processor for Win32 Services".

Whats your Download Speed like?

JHave you tried downloadin any progs?

 

[Rubber Bullets]

Thanks Super, not any the wiser really, I'll go and look it up myself

Download speed is still pretty good most of the time but perhaps a bit more variable than usual. It's difficult to quantify much beyond that.

s

 

[ECA]

u tried a clean system install - ie reformat and reinstall?

 

[Tom]

Thing about download speed is that it only shows an average, and not an instanteaneous reading. It might not also show the latency of your connection, the actual tx/rx speeds might be fine, but the latency could be buggered.

I would try downloading some other online game, and checking out the ping on that. Failing that, I would suggest to BT that there is a fault on the line, and that you will be considering taking your business elsewhere, regardless of contract.

Try these links:

http://bandwidthplace.com/speedtest/

http://www.pcpitstop.com/internet/pinger.asp

For the ping test, I achieved the following results:

www.pcpitstop.com 122 123 122
www.mheller.com 124 206 165
www.byte.com 165 165 165
www.cern.ch 34 34 34
internic.net 113 113 113
yahoo.com 154 154 154
www.unisa.edu.au 329 329 329


Also try the following dos prompt command (ping 62.189.6.22) and see how it compares with my own results:

C:\Documents and Settings\tom>PING 62.189.6.22

Pinging 62.189.6.22 with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 62.189.6.22: bytes=32 time=37ms TTL=242
Reply from 62.189.6.22: bytes=32 time=19ms TTL=242
Reply from 62.189.6.22: bytes=32 time=19ms TTL=242
Reply from 62.189.6.22: bytes=32 time=21ms TTL=242

Ping statistics for 62.189.6.22:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 19ms, Maximum = 37ms, Average = 24ms

Hope this helps you out.

 

[Tom]

http://www.vantage.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/v2/v2.htm

Also try that

 

[S-Gray]

Why dont you ask in the Broadband Forum ? you may get more results

 

[Rubber Bullets]

Hi Tom, thanks for all the time you put into that. here are a few of my results:

Section 1: General Ping Results
A Ping test is the time taken for a server to reply to a request

Blueyonder Server:
28.75ms - Normal - it's about right!

UK Server 1 (www.demon.net):
29.25ms - Normal - it's about right!

UK Server 2 (www.microsoft.co.uk):
41.5ms - Normal - it's about right!

UK Server 3 (www.ic24.net):
29ms - Normal - it's about right!

USA East Coast Server (www.yahoo.com):
124.25ms - Normal - to be expected

USA West Coast Server (www.lycos.com):
119ms - Normal - to be expected

European Server (www.marcopoly.com):
49ms - Better than average - very quick response

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Section 2: Custom Server Ping Results
These results are to four user-definable servers.

Blueyonder Counter-Strike 1:
36.5ms -

Blueyonder Team-Fortress League 1:
36.5ms -

BarrysWorld Master Server (all games):
29ms -

Barrysworld Quake III Arena:
29ms -

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Section 3: Download Speed Results

Telewest blueyonder - 512k service Server Download:
58KB/s (464Kb/s) - Perfect - running at full speed!

Download through Transparent Cache:
59KB/s (472Kb/s) - Perfect - running at full speed!

Download through alternative Cache (webcache.blueyonder.co.uk):
0KB/s (0Kb/s) - **** SERVER ERROR: Unexpected error from Server****

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Section 4: Packet Loss

50 packets were sent, 48 bounced back; 4% loss (estimated)
Excellent - hardly any packets discarded
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Section 5: Transparent Cache Page Fetch Time

Average time taken to retrieve a page: 0ms - At least one of the pages requested failed to download. problems with your webcache . Run the test again to confirm this.


Bandwidth Place results:


447.8 kilobits

54.7 Kilobytes per second

18.7 seconds 1MB file download

PCPitstop pinger results:

www.pcpitstop.com 139 190 145
www.mheller.com 149 250 191
www.byte.com 179 200 187
www.cern.ch 49 129 57
internic.net 109 110 109
yahoo.com 169 180 171
www.unisa.edu.au 359 360 359


C:\DOCUME~1\ADMINI~1>ping 62.189.6.22

Pinging 62.189.6.22 with 32 bytes of data:

Request timed out.
Reply from 62.189.6.22: bytes=32 time=3345ms TTL=240
Reply from 62.189.6.22: bytes=32 time=29ms TTL=240
Reply from 62.189.6.22: bytes=32 time=30ms TTL=240

Ping statistics for 62.189.6.22:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 3, Lost = 1 (25% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 29ms, Maximum = 3345ms, Average = 1134ms


Not as good as yours.

How can I see if I really have a problem with my webcache? I doubt whether this is causing my line problem but I have had this every time I have run this test.

From the command prompt there were problems though I ran it again and got a much better result, though still a little slower than yours. What do you think Tom?

[SG] I have had a good look at the broadband forum, but it doesn't seem to get much traffic so I posted here.

s

 

[~YuckFou~]

Originally posted by ECA
u tried a clean system install - ie reformat and reinstall?

You work for Dell Support?

 

[Tom]

From the command prompt there were problems though I ran it again and got a much better result, though still a little slower than yours. What do you think Tom?

I'd say that could be the difference between BT ADSL and NTL Cable (thats what I'm on). You might get better results than me on certain addresses, and vice-versa.

Have you tried here:

http://www.winguides.com/registry/tweaks.php/WindowsXP

There is a broadband link, I did it on mine, and I can't see a difference, but some piece of software might have reconfigured your computer in some way. I remember installing a program that ripped streaming content off websites, but it also introduced a lag of about 1sec on everything I did!

At the end of the day, BT have a contractual obligation to repair or help with any problems you may be having with their equipment. You don't actually own the first BT telephone socket in your house, it belongs to BT, and if it goes faulty, they have to come round and fix it. What you need to do is decide if your computer is at fault, or the modem. I'd make that my priority.

If you have a spare hard drive knocking around, a quick install of windows and the modem will tell you if your software installation is buggered. You might also try removing some unneeded hardware, such as scanners, printers, soundcards, etc.

Perhaps a software driver update that you recently performed, or a windows update, has done this?

 

[Mr Bungle]

I think Tom has already covered my stock set of answers for this kind of problem :
1) Test the lines (that's #1 because BT do it for free otherwise it would be lower down ).
2) Check to see what other software is running.
3) Run various data link level tests, ping isn't great to be honest.

25% ping loss is quite high IMHO... But you only ran it across 4 packets, I'd make sure you run ping for at least a minute before drawing too many conclusions on what's wrong with your link.

I found that with this phone line here was the primary problem for disconnects and poor performance (the rest is just BT internet being shite now ). The problem was actually intermittent, usually occuring when the weather changed - turned out to be a dodgy BT junction box outside which was letting the weather get to it...

Also another point to bear in mind before berating the PFY on the end of the support line at BT... In mini/mainframe circles installation and field service engineers are commonly referred to as "Field Circus Engineers". They don't always get it right.

Cheers,
Rupert

 

[Rubber Bullets]

Thanks for those replies

As I said I'm off on holiday tomorrow, so this is likely to be my last post, and I'm not going to have time to see this through before I go. I still live in hope that by the time I get back things will have improved on their own. Well they did last time I had this problem

Other than that, thanks again Tom, for the time you've put into this, I do appreciate it.

Mr. Bungle, thanks, 25% packet loss is loads, though not indicative of my connection in general. Using neotrace I get a much lower figure, though still perhaps a bit too high.

You're right, of course, I do not have any particular faith in BT engineers, but to spend most of the time I was on the phone telling me that the setup I had couldn't possibly work, when I had pointed out that it had worked just fine for 9 months, was barking up the wrong tree to say the least.

Have a good couple of weeks, I intend to.

s

 

[old.Jas]

Originally posted by ~YuckFou~
You work for Dell Support?

ROFL