Comcast - Level3 Strikes Again (Still)

[ImADot]

Damn them all.   

Target Name: N/A
         IP: 206.16.60.38
  Date/Time: 1/25/2009 12:40:06 AM to 1/25/2009 12:41:41 AM

Hop Sent Err  PL% Min Max Avg  Host Name / [IP]
 1    20   0  0.0   0   0   0  [192.168.1.1]
 2    20   0  0.0   5  15   7  [73.205.44.1]
 3    20   0  0.0   6  47  10  ge-4-1-ur01.crosstown.mn.minn.comcast.net [68.85.164.1]
 4    20   0  0.0   6  19   7  te-0-1-0-5-ar02.crosstown.mn.minn.comcast.net [68.86.232.1]
 5    20   0  0.0   6  21   9  [68.87.174.217]
 6    20   0  0.0  16  28  18  te-0-2-0-5-cr01.chicago.il.ibone.comcast.net [68.86.91.141]
 7    20   0  0.0  16 167  26  xe-9-2-0.edge1.Chicago2.Level3.net [4.71.248.25]
 8    20   0  0.0  16  26  17  vlan51.ebr1.Chicago2.Level3.n et [4.69.138.158]
 9    20   0  0.0  17  33  22  ae-6.ebr1.Chicago1.Level3.net [4.69.140.189]
10    20   0  0.0  16 198  38  ae-14-55.car4.Chicago1.Level3.net [4.68.101.136]
11    20   0  0.0  16 105  26  [192.205.33.209]
12    20   1  5.0 321 338 324  cr2.cgcil.ip.att.net [12.122.132.134]
13    20   1  5.0 320 333 323  cr2.sl9mo.ip.att.net [12.122.2.22]
14    20   2 10.0 321 338 324  cr2.kc9mo.ip.att.net [12.122.28.89]
15    20   1  5.0 321 330 323  cr1.dlstx.ip.att.net [12.122.28.85]
16    20   2 10.0 321 348 323  gar5.dlstx.ip.att.net [12.122.139.5]
17    20   1  5.0 321 334 323  mdf1-gsr12-1-pos-6-0.dal1.attens.net [12.122.255.78]
18    19   1  5.3 321 484 332  mdf1-bi8k-1-eth-1-2.dal1.attens.net [63.241.192.202]
19    20   5 25.0 321 333 324  [206.16.60.38]

 

[drdeathx]

Imadot. I had 1 night I was getting disco'd all the time. I used to have a stellar ping. I do get discod' maybe 1 time a week now. My ping used to be 49 and now its 80. I will post before Decmeber pingplotter and tonite.







Notice the max. It is definitely more jumpy...... BTW this may be the reason why. They hired new people at comcast!!!

VVVVVVVVVV check out the new crew below!

[rainnman]

Unless I am reading your submission wrong it appears to me that this problem belongs to ATT and not Comcast or Level 3.

[Anaxogoras]

We all live in the same area, and I'm also a comcast user.  I also have to go through level 3 in Chicago, but I almost never disco.  In fact, I don't think I've discoed more than 2 times in 6 months.

This is a trace from ~6 weeks ago.  I'll try it again and see if there's a big difference.

  1     1 ms    <1 ms    <1 ms  192.168.1.1
  2     *        *        *     Request timed out.
  3     9 ms     8 ms     9 ms  ge-1-2-ur01.lafayette.in.indiana.comcast.net [68.85.178.193]
  4     9 ms     9 ms     9 ms  68.85.176.237
  5    21 ms    22 ms    22 ms  68.85.177.46
  6    24 ms    28 ms    25 ms  68.87.229.109
  7    28 ms    25 ms    26 ms  pos-0-13-0-0-cr01.chicago.il.ibone.comcast.net [68.86.90.53]
  8    56 ms    28 ms    25 ms  xe-10-1-0.edge1.Chicago2.Level3.net [4.71.248.17]
  9    26 ms    29 ms    28 ms  vlan51.ebr1.Chicago2.Level3.n et [4.69.138.158]
 10    27 ms    33 ms    35 ms  ae-6.ebr1.Chicago1.Level3.net [4.69.140.189]
 11    34 ms    28 ms    26 ms  ae-14-55.car4.Chicago1.Level3.net [4.68.101.136]

 12    28 ms    29 ms    26 ms  192.205.33.209
 13    91 ms    90 ms    91 ms  tbr2.cgcil.ip.att.net [12.123.6.70]
 14    91 ms    91 ms    93 ms  cr2.cgcil.ip.att.net [12.122.17.221]
 15    90 ms    91 ms    94 ms  cr2.sl9mo.ip.att.net [12.122.2.22]
 16   105 ms    91 ms    89 ms  cr1.sl9mo.ip.att.net [12.122.2.217]
 17    92 ms    90 ms    91 ms  cr2.dlstx.ip.att.net [12.122.3.221]
 18    97 ms    91 ms    90 ms  gar5.dlstx.ip.att.net [12.122.138.5]
 19    94 ms    90 ms    90 ms  mdf1-gsr12-1-pos-7-0.dal1.attens.net [12.122.255.82]
 20    90 ms    91 ms    90 ms  mdf1-bi8k-2-eth-2-6.dal1.attens.net [63.241.192.46]
 21    93 ms    90 ms    94 ms  206.16.60.38

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

And here is the one I just did.  It is a little worse than before, but not much and nothing I would notice playing the game:

  1     1 ms    <1 ms    <1 ms  192.168.1.1
  2     *        *        *     Request timed out.
  3    30 ms    11 ms    11 ms  ge-1-2-ur01.lafayette.in.indiana.comcast.net [68.85.178.193]
  4    22 ms    23 ms    38 ms  68.85.176.237
  5    26 ms    23 ms    23 ms  68.85.177.46
  6    28 ms    25 ms    35 ms  68.87.229.109
  7    47 ms    41 ms    38 ms  pos-0-13-0-0-cr01.chicago.il.ibone.comcast.net [68.86.90.53]
  8    28 ms    44 ms    33 ms  xe-10-1-0.edge1.Chicago2.Level3.net [4.71.248.17]
  9    37 ms    25 ms    38 ms  vlan51.ebr1.Chicago2.Level3.n et [4.69.138.158]
 10    42 ms    53 ms    36 ms  ae-6.ebr1.Chicago1.Level3.net [4.69.140.189]
 11    31 ms    47 ms    48 ms  ae-14-55.car4.Chicago1.Level3.net [4.68.101.136]

 12    28 ms    56 ms    28 ms  192.205.33.209
 13   133 ms   116 ms    93 ms  cr2.cgcil.ip.att.net [12.122.132.138]
 14    93 ms    89 ms   105 ms  cr2.sl9mo.ip.att.net [12.122.2.22]
 15   100 ms   111 ms    92 ms  cr1.sl9mo.ip.att.net [12.122.2.217]
 16    90 ms    91 ms   104 ms  cr2.dlstx.ip.att.net [12.122.3.221]
 17    93 ms   101 ms    89 ms  gar5.dlstx.ip.att.net [12.122.138.5]
 18   107 ms    93 ms    90 ms  mdf1-gsr12-1-pos-7-0.dal1.attens.net [12.122.255.82]
 19   101 ms   119 ms   105 ms  mdf1-bi8k-2-eth-2-6.dal1.attens.net [63.241.192.46]
 20   100 ms    91 ms   119 ms  206.16.60.38

[ImADot]

I have had rock-solid connections with no packet loss and pings in the mid 60's for years.  Apparently Comcast recently signed up with Level3 as their backbone provider, and since December '08 I've had spikes in ping time into the 300's and various levels of packet loss.  I've gotten disco'd more and more since December...never before.

My anger is with Level3 over-selling their bandwith and seemingly not caring that their customers are suffering data loss and high ping times.  I'm less angry with Comcast, since it's not really their fault...other than seemingly either not caring or not able to leverage any support from Level3.

In any case, I'd have to believe [at least hope] there's a class-action suit building force in the shadows...with sights on Level3.

[Hungry]

Does level 3 equal ATT or is ATT a seperate issue?  When I hit ATT (Hop 10) is when my times increase (20 Miles West of Chicago)


Target Name: N/A
         IP: 206.16.60.38
  Date/Time: 1/25/2009 11:24:31 AM

 1   *       *       *       *       *       *       *       [-]
 2   11 ms   10 ms   12 ms   12 ms   13 ms   11 ms   12 ms  ge-2-13-ur02.elmhurst.il.chicago.comcast.net [68.86.115.253]
 3   14 ms   16 ms   13 ms   14 ms   12 ms   13 ms   *      te-8-3-ar01.area4.il.chicago.comcast.net [68.87.231.61]
 4   34 ms   36 ms   35 ms   36 ms   38 ms   37 ms   40 ms  [68.86.90.49]
 5   35 ms   82 ms   37 ms   35 ms   66 ms   34 ms   38 ms  xe-9-3-0.edge1.Chicago2.Level3.net [4.71.248.21]
 6   34 ms   38 ms   37 ms   35 ms   37 ms   34 ms   38 ms  vlan51.ebr1.Chicago2.Level3.n et [4.69.138.158]
 7   43 ms   37 ms   47 ms   38 ms   34 ms   41 ms   36 ms  ae-6.ebr1.Chicago1.Level3.net [4.69.140.189]
 8   35 ms   37 ms   35 ms   46 ms   38 ms   35 ms   36 ms  ae-14-55.car4.Chicago1.Level3.net [4.68.101.136]
 9   38 ms   37 ms   37 ms   36 ms   37 ms   35 ms   36 ms  [192.205.33.209]
10   77 ms   77 ms   78 ms   76 ms   89 ms   78 ms   76 ms  cr2.cgcil.ip.att.net [12.122.132.134]
11   75 ms   74 ms   75 ms   76 ms   79 ms   75 ms   78 ms  cr2.sl9mo.ip.att.net [12.122.2.22]
12   87 ms   77 ms   76 ms   76 ms   75 ms   76 ms   76 ms  cr1.sl9mo.ip.att.net [12.122.2.217]
13   78 ms   78 ms   76 ms   77 ms   77 ms   78 ms   77 ms  cr2.dlstx.ip.att.net [12.122.3.221]
14   75 ms   75 ms   76 ms   77 ms   77 ms   76 ms   76 ms  gar5.dlstx.ip.att.net [12.122.138.5]
15   77 ms   78 ms   76 ms   75 ms   80 ms   76 ms   78 ms  mdf1-gsr12-1-pos-6-0.dal1.attens.net [12.122.255.78]
16   76 ms   78 ms   77 ms   77 ms   *       *       76 ms  mdf1-bi8k-2-eth-2-6.dal1.attens.net [63.241.192.46]
17   74 ms   74 ms   75 ms   77 ms   74 ms   77 ms   76 ms  [206.16.60.38]

[Hungry]

If I get this correctly at the bottom the article is date 2004

Level 3 and Comcast
We can put the Level 3 & Comcast rumors to bed. Comcast has indeed chosen Level 3.

Excerpt:
Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCSA - News, CMCSK - News) today announced a long-term agreement with Level 3 Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq: LVLT - News) to provide inter-city and metro dark fiber as part of Comcast's extension of its fiber footprint.

This backbone is principally based on 20-year dark-fiber IRU's (indefeasible rights of use) from Level 3 and other sources. The agreements currently total over 19,000 route miles, and cover 95 percent of Comcast's national footprint. The initial cost of the network, including fiber capacity and routing and optical equipment, is expected to involve approximately $100 million of capital.

"This agreement with Level 3 will further enhance our ability to deliver new and innovative services such as video-on-demand, high definition television, digital video recorders, high-speed Internet access and advanced voice services," said Comcast Cable Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer David Fellows. "We expect to benefit from the inherent cost efficiencies and high reliability that the Level 3 network delivers."

"We're extremely pleased that Comcast has chosen Level 3 as an underlying provider of broadband infrastructure services," said Kevin O'Hara, President and Chief Operating Officer for Level 3. "We believe that Level 3's innovative and reliable services, network management tools and customer support will help Comcast continue to meet the strong demand the cable leader is seeing for new services."

Full release:
Comcast Extends National Fiber Infrastructure signs deal with Level3

December 7, 2004 11:25 AM |  0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks

[Hungry]

http://www.corp.att.com/peering/

looks like two seperate issues

[drdeathx]

Unless I am reading your submission wrong it appears to me that this problem belongs to ATT and not Comcast or Level 3.

Yes rain I see the att but there is a high ping(max) at level 3. Maybe 1 is in cunjuction with the other... Inquiring minds want to know.

[CRYPTIC]

I to have Comecast here on the east coast and my problem starts when it hits level 3 in chicago. My pings before December were high of 60 and know go to 160. I'm lucky if I can stay on for 5 minutes sometimes 10 in the middle of the night. I've been reading up on port forwarding and I'm going to see if that helps. If it does I'll let you know, at this point it is the only thing left to try. The game is unplayable and I have enough gray hair.I would hate to cancel AH for something that is not there fault,unfortunately Comecast is my only choice besides dial-up. They would have been to the road side long ago if I were able to get DSL.

[ImADot]

I don't believe port forwarding will help.  It's for your router/network at home.  The problem is with Level3 not having the bandwith and infrastructure to handle all of the traffic of all of the ISPs they have duped into signing up with them.  Most of the pingplotter (including mine) clearly shows most all of the packet loss and high ping times are when the route leaves Level3's domain.

Whether it's a routing table problem or just greedy pigs selling bandwith they don't have, port forwarding your router won't, IMO, help you.

[SectorNine50]

There is a thread in the General forum that is talking about this same thing.  The AT&T DNS servers near HTC's servers seem to be having trouble, I'm getting roughly 5% packet loss from all of them.

EDIT: Not sure if you guys notice it, but the website is slow as well.  AT&T will hopefully have the problems fixed by tomorrow.  I'm running a Line Quality test on HTC's IP address from DSLReports.com, I'll post my findings.

[SectorNine50]

Alright so here are my findings:

http://www.dslreports.com/linequality/nil/2481160

From what I can see, the only real packet loss was in LA, which means nothing for me.

However there is a HUGE jump in latency on the hop right before the HTC server, with a worst ping of 501.30 from the East Coast, and 553.71 from the West Coast.  Could account for the strange occurrences and spikes in the server.

Server in question from the east coast: mdf1-bi8k-2-eth-2-1.dal1.attens.net
Server in question from the west coast: mdf1-bi8k-2-eth-2-6.dal1.attens.net

[Anaxogoras]

However there is a HUGE jump in latency on the hop right before the HTC server, with a worst ping of 501.30 from the East Coast, and 553.71 from the West Coast.  Could account for the strange occurrences and spikes in the server.

Server in question from the east coast: mdf1-bi8k-2-eth-2-1.dal1.attens.net
Server in question from the west coast: mdf1-bi8k-2-eth-2-6.dal1.attens.net

Yup, I did some more tracert's recently and that hop sometimes gave back a 500ms ping.

[crims]

Well here is a site they may or may not help.


http://www.internettrafficreport.com/


Crims