strange connection problem

[mallorcaben]

I have an antenna on the roof that picks up my internet connection. (4meg)
My problem is this....
More often than not when I click a link the page fails to connect. The 2nd time I click is usually ok.
I keep losing connection at various times of the day. My MSN, Skype etc remain connected but the speed goes so slow that I cant get any pages up. This will last anything from 10 mins to 8 hours.
My ISP has tested my line & say that it's not them. They came round to test my signal, all fine. They refuse to discuss it further.
I have 3 pc's & it happens on all of them.
I have reinstalled the O/S on my xo laptop (clean install) and still the same problem so I know its not my pc's.

The strangest thing is that when I get a page to load, say rapidshare, the download will come at 4 meg no problem. Its just the internet pages that struggle.
If I make a Skype call, my d/l meter shows nice & fast connection.
If I am not already connected to MSN, when I try it will fail. When I run the troubleshooter, the only thing that comes up wrong is "key ports"
Ive copied a couple of diags Ive run:

C:\Users\mallorcaben>ping

http://www.google.es

Pinging

http://www.l.google.com

[64.233.183.99] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 64.233.183.99: bytes=32 time=67ms TTL=240
Request timed out.
Reply from 64.233.183.99: bytes=32 time=72ms TTL=240
Reply from 64.233.183.99: bytes=32 time=61ms TTL=240


C:\Users\mallorcaben>tracert 74.125.77.147

Tracing route to ew-in-f147.google.com [74.125.77.147]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 1 ms <1 ms 1 ms 192.168.1.1
2 * * * Request timed out.
3 * 33 ms * 212.95.218.153
4 13 ms 15 ms 15 ms 10.119.240.93
5 13 ms * 100 ms 10.254.1.197
6 130 ms * * 10.254.3.29
7 * 36 ms 146 ms 10.207.240.22
8 28 ms 30 ms * ge-6-0-0-dcr1.esx.cw.net [206.24.137.193]
9 51 ms 67 ms 58 ms so-7-0-0-dcr2.tsd.cw.net [195.2.9.145]
10 50 ms * * xe-5-2-0.xcr1.lsw.cw.net [195.2.21.153]
11 133 ms * 74 ms xe-4-2-0.xcr1.lnd.cw.net [195.2.25.58]
12 87 ms * * 72.14.198.113
13 * 102 ms 289 ms 209.85.255.175
14 * 233 ms * 72.14.233.63
15 63 ms 78 ms 67 ms 64.233.175.246
16 59 ms 60 ms 61 ms 209.85.255.70
17 * 65 ms 74 ms 209.85.255.98
18 * 79 ms 67 ms ew-in-f147.google.com [74.125.77.147]

Trace complete.

 

[burtsbees]

Sounds like an MTU issue or QoS issue. Could be a bad cable also. Try the MTU first---adjust it to 1492, and MSS to 1452. If you cannot find a way to do this in your router, you can do it on the pc itself with DrTCP (free).
If it is a QoS problem, that would be the ISP.

Burt

 

[VinceWhirlwind]

An MTU issue would see OK ping results at default ping packet sizes.

Easily tested by pinging with a larger packet size (using the -l <size> after the ping command).

Seeing as some protocols/applications seem to work fine, the QoS suggestion makes sense, if your bandwidth is shared in some way.

You seem to be saying that HTTP and ping packets are affected by the slowness. Do you use a proxy or firewall of some sort?

Try a continuous ping to 212.95.218.153, and subsequent IP addresses in your tracert to confirm on exactly which link the slowness starts.

 

[mallorcaben]

What is weird is that its intermittent. For example, now as i type is super fast (well for Mallorca anyway, 4meg)
Here are the ping results, what do they mean to you?

C:\Users\mallorcaben>ping 212.95.218.153 -l 4000

Pinging 212.95.218.153 with 4000 bytes of data:
Request timed out.
Reply from 212.95.218.153: bytes=4000 time=26ms TTL=253
Reply from 212.95.218.153: bytes=4000 time=43ms TTL=253
Request timed out.

Ping statistics for 212.95.218.153:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 2, Lost = 2 (50% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 26ms, Maximum = 43ms, Average = 34ms

 

[burtsbees]

That tells me that the satellite link is actually dropping out, or it's a bad cable from the satellite modem/router to your computers, or somewhere in between.

Burt

 

[VinceWhirlwind]

Check your laptop's ethernet interface for speed/duplex settings and whether errors are being generated.
Ditto for each other network device you have (switch/router/etc...).

Switch off your Windows firewall, and any other firewall you use and test again.

Try to define the problem clearly: is the problem only affecting HTTP traffic?

 

[burtsbees]

Satellite links, IMHO, are just crap anyway. Are you stuck with it?

Burt

 

[normntwrk]

I had a very similar problem except I am on Cable, turned out to be a bad cable splitter. I replaced one of the splitters with a high quality one and no more issues

Norm

 

[mallorcaben]

If it were a cable, you would think this would be all the time.
What I find weird is that yesterday for example, I could use MSN & Skype fine but could get no pages up. My d/l meter showed spikes 512k then nothing over & over.

Ive taken a screenshot of my visualroute result to my ISP.
Why 100% packet loss at 2nd hop? Link attached