problems with routing

[Ian-S]

For the last couple of days I've had problems connecting to my gaming server in the US, it seems it's at Internap again and I know this isn't technically anything to do with Virgin but I'm wondering if 1) anybody else is having this problem, and 2) if a kind Virgin person could pass it on to the right dept at Level3.

I tried calling the tech support line but only got some person in India try and book me an engineers appointment, conversation was like:

ME: "I don't need an engineer I just want to report a problem in the network"
VM: "Would Wednesday 6th Jan be ok for an engineer to visit?"
ME: "No I don't need an engineer, just pass the message along to the appropiate dept please".
VM: "If 6th Jan is not convenient can we book another day...."

aaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggggggggghhh hhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Here's the traceroute:

Tracing route to 69.25.205.241 over a maximum of 30 hops

1 7 ms 10 ms 7 ms reig-cmts-04-lback-20.network.virginmedia.net [8
0.6.138.1]
2 11 ms 8 ms 7 ms hers-core-1b-ge-018-1295.network.virginmedia.net
[80.3.33.165]
3 35 ms 8 ms 11 ms pop-bb-b-so-501-0.network.virginmedia.net [213.1
05.175.41]
4 9 ms 11 ms 11 ms tele-ic-2-as0-0.network.virginmedia.net [62.253.
184.6]
5 207 ms 202 ms 214 ms cr1-eqix-peer.wdc005.internap.net [206.223.115.1
29]
6 * * * Request timed out.
7 * * * Request timed out.
8 107 ms 107 ms 265 ms nym009-phi004-813-cr2.nym009.internap.net [66.79
.147.10]
9 108 ms 108 ms 107 ms bsn006-nym009-9-cr1.bsn006.internap.net [66.79.1
58.9]
10 107 ms 109 ms 109 ms bsn004-bsn006-792-mpr1.bsn004.internap.net [66.7
9.145.34]
11 156 ms 138 ms 208 ms border11.te7-1-bbnet1.bsn.pnap.net [63.251.128.4
1]
12 108 ms 107 ms 106 ms 69.25.205.241

Trace complete.

--------------

Could someone not in Surrey do the same traceroute see what happens?
Thanks!

[Ignitionnet]

That trace actually looks absolutely fine sir, just those 2 routers don't want to respond to pings because either through configuration or a policy on them but the times to the last hop are good.

I don't think it's routing problems causing your issues, what do your host have to say?

Tracing route to 69.25.205.241 over a maximum of 30 hops

1 2 ms <1 ms <1 ms 192.168.1.1
2 10 ms 6 ms 7 ms cpc1-mort6-2-0-gw.croy.cable.virginmedia.com [94.172.192.1]
3 7 ms 7 ms 7 ms osr01mort-ge115.network.virginmedia.net [81.96.225.25]
4 8 ms 7 ms 7 ms osr02croy-tenge73.network.virginmedia.net [62.30.242.57]
5 7 ms 8 ms 9 ms pop-bb-b-ae2-0.network.virginmedia.net [195.182.178.86]
6 7 ms 7 ms 7 ms tele-ic-2-as0-0.network.virginmedia.net [62.253.184.6]
7 140 ms 201 ms 211 ms cr1-eqix-peer.wdc005.internap.net [206.223.115.129]
8 * * * Request timed out.
9 * * * Request timed out.
10 104 ms 108 ms 106 ms nym009-phi004-813-cr2.nym009.internap.net [66.79.147.10]
11 107 ms 108 ms 107 ms bsn006-nym009-9-cr1.bsn006.internap.net [66.79.158.9]
12 102 ms 99 ms 100 ms bsn004-bsn006-792-mpr1.bsn004.internap.net [66.79.145.34]
13 114 ms 100 ms 143 ms border11.te8-1-bbnet2.bsn.pnap.net [63.251.128.104]
14 100 ms 99 ms 99 ms 69.25.205.241

Pinging 69.25.205.241 with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 69.25.205.241: bytes=32 time=102ms TTL=114
Reply from 69.25.205.241: bytes=32 time=101ms TTL=114
Reply from 69.25.205.241: bytes=32 time=100ms TTL=114
Reply from 69.25.205.241: bytes=32 time=102ms TTL=114

Ping statistics for 69.25.205.241:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 100ms, Maximum = 102ms, Average = 101ms

Ping statistics for 69.25.205.241:
Packets: Sent = 100, Received = 100, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 99ms, Maximum = 182ms, Average = 111ms

[Ian-S]

It causes lag in iRacing when the packets get delayed, I personally don't care about the lag as I have no issues my end but the others really don't like seeing people blink in and out, it scares them.

I can usually do the entire trace in under 100ms, so for the hop from Virgin to Internap to take and average of 200ms is suggesting there is a problem with that router. Thanks for doing the traceroute, at least I know it's not me.

What did Virgin say? see my original post lol. Head, Sand & burried are words that come to mind, last time this happened it got sorted eventually.

[Ignitionnet]

Nope I didn't mean what did Virgin say, I was talking about the host of the game server.

While that router is responding to the pings a bit late it's forwarding them properly by the looks of it.

Of course it could be an intermittent thing or something that only really shows up on a nice constant flow of small packets like gamer traffic :)

[Ian-S]

Of course it could be an intermittent thing or something that only really shows up on a nice constant flow of small packets like gamer traffic :)

Bingo :)
I only had two discontinuity errors during the race (100% packet loss) I did last night but the other guys were saying I was blinking in and out all the time, it scares them poor souls lol, personally I just find it mildly distracting when I see it happen but you know what some people are like.

iRacing said issue was to do with Internap, the return route from them to me is fine (which is why I don't have any visual problems my end) and to report it to my ISP, I said I'd have better success at getting to see the Queen naked but i'd have a go, gave up after 2nd call to VM support and decided to post it here incase one of the UK staff see it (a guy who I spoke to before said that when this happens they can't actually do anything, but they can at least tell someone at Internap/Level3), I know it's not Virgin's fault to fix but you can't exactly call up Internap/Level3 and say "hey guys you might have a problem here and it's causing some issues for the Brits on iRacing" :D