View Full Version : Throttling or Crap DNS?
LincolnNTLVictim
27-09-2010, 17:56
this is on a 10mb upgrade broadband, in the LN6 postcode
Saturday
starts the slow down, checking on http://www.broadbandspeedchecker.co.uk/ shows my speed dropped from 9680 down at 20:00 to 2400 by midnight. Page loads were suffering 'unable to load page' , 'unable to find server', page has timed out' errors. Almost unusable, went to bed.
Sunday
08:00 still crap - pages I used frequently are slow but loading after 2-3 mins, new sites forget it, you cant load them. All of a sudden at 10:03 it springs back into life, back to full speed. 12:00 goes crap again.
by 13:00 im so fed up i ring NTL. (I must point out here i worked in IT 20 years, so im not entirely dim to the workings of broadband) He makes me go through the whole reboot, gives me some BS about checking the router log and the server log, we **** about for about 10 minutes, eventually, i plug PC straight into modem, runs great. I then plug back into router, reboot all, runs great.
today, running like **** again, i just flushed the DNS caches abd rebooted all, runs good.
Now i think what we have here isnt throttling, its DNS problems. Funnny how it died at exactly 20:00 and recovered at exactly 10:03. And then it went fine after he had supposedly checked it and found nothing wrong.
Thoughts ?
Thoughts:
1. I don't think DNS issues would cause your download speed to drop. They would cause pages either to load or be unreachable.
2. Please don't hammer our swear filter or re-spell words to try to dodge it. The filter is there for a reason.
LincolnNTLVictim
27-09-2010, 18:04
Thoughts:
1. I don't think DNS issues would cause your download speed to drop. They would cause pages either to load or be unreachable.
2. Please don't hammer our swear filter or re-spell words to try to dodge it. The filter is there for a reason.
1. page load errors is exactly what i have. Funnily enough, there times i get 9800 down and still cant load bbc.co.uk.
2. sorry, i didnt dont it deliberately, im just a sloppy keyboarder.
The guy from NTL denied there was any DNS problems, i dont believe him. From what happened, i think they did some work overnight, when they were done they let off the throttling, but the DNS had to re propagate because they changed the routing, which is why you get fast speed at level3/4 and rotten loading at level 7 for a few hours, and why flushing the DNS resolver helps, since it forces the PC to relookup the DNS rather than rely on the bad copy in the cache.
Why not just change your DNS to OpenDNS http://www.opendns.com/ ?
208.67.222.222
208.67.220.220
Or Google DNS http://code.google.com/speed/public-dns/
8.8.8.8
8.8.4.4
You can always experiment by using a different DNS service temporarily. Try switching your settings to OpenDNS - they should work without an active account (they simply won't block any domains, as you won't have any preferences set). Their servers are 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220.
Still think you're barking up the wrong tree though. Faulty DNS shouldn't affect a speed test.
Please post the Upstream and Downstream stats from your modem just click http://192.168.100.1/CmOpConfig.asp or if that does not work click http://192.168.100.1/
they should work without an active account (they simply won't block any domains, as you won't have any preferences set). Their servers are 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220.
Definitely works without an active account I didn't register one so they cant track me
Still think you're barking up the wrong tree though. Faulty DNS shouldn't affect a speed test.
I think its worth the change anyway, I definitely notice my general web browsing goes through the roof.
Definitely works without an active account I didn't register one so they cant track me
Fair enough - however personally I think the use of my aggregated web usage stats are a fair payment for the service I get from them. I do have an account, because I want to control what sites are available on our home network.
I think its worth the change anyway, I definitely notice my general web browsing goes through the roof.
Absolutely, although this isn't surprising as NTL's own DNS servers, as well as their transparent proxies (may they RIP, thankfully) were famously awful.
How do I change them?
https://store.opendns.com/setup/computer/
The location of your DNS settings varies depending on your operating system and whether you're using a router.
---------- Post added at 18:32 ---------- Previous post was at 18:31 ----------
Pah, I'm destined to play second fiddle to Juo this evening. :p:
LincolnNTLVictim
27-09-2010, 18:38
Please post the Upstream and Downstream stats from your modem just click http://192.168.100.1/CmOpConfig.asp or if that does not work click http://192.168.100.1/
Cable Modem Downstream
Downstream Lock : Locked
Downstream Channel Id : 7
Downstream Frequency : 402750000 Hz
Downstream Modulation : QAM256
Downstream Symbol Rate : 5360.537 Ksym/sec
Downstream Interleave Depth : taps32Increment4
Downstream Receive Power Level : 1.5 dBmV
Downstream SNR : 42.8 dB
Cable Modem Upstream
Upstream Lock : Locked
Upstream Channel ID : 3
Upstream Frequency : 34000000 Hz
Upstream Modulation : QPSK
Upstream Symbol Rate : 2560 Ksym/sec
Upstream transmit Power Level : 48.0 dBmV
Upstream Mini-Slot Size : 2
Runnning ok atm, i flushed the dns cache and had a general reboot.
Downstream Receive Power Level : 1.5 dBmV
Downstream SNR : 42.8 dB
Upstream transmit Power Level : 48.0 dBmV
Runnning ok atm, i flushed the dns cache and had a general reboot.
Power levels are fine so it looks like the flush may have sorted the issue.
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