Start.ca → carrier - cable

Is start.ca using only HE as their carrier for cable services?

In every traceroute i only notice HE.

If this is the case, why? Do you have any backup carrier?

Do you expect to get more carries for better routing?

Thanks

We use Bell, HE, Cogent and are peered with TorIX and other various interconnections.

»bgp.he.net/AS40788 has lots of interesting information if you're interested...

I too have noticed only HE is being used for transit for outbound routes, even when it appears Cogent would provide a better route . I have run traceroutes to all of the monitoring stations here: »www.nimsoft.com/content/ ··· ons.html. For all except one (where Torix is used) HE is used on the outbound.

For inbound my IP is announced through HE and Cogent (no Bell) (»route.robtex.com/108.170 ··· -ca.html) and the inbound routes appear to be an equal mix between HE and Cogent. But on the outbound HE appears to be heavily favoured to the point of being almost exclusively used.

Roughly, Hurricane takes 45%, Bell 25%, Cogent 20% and TorIX/other peers about 10%

That may be the case but Cogent and Bell are not represented at all in outbound routes from my connection.

Here are some examples where HE is being used even though Cogent would provide a better route.

Here is a route to a Nuclear Fallout (Internap) VPS in Chicago:

traceroute to 64.74.97.93 (64.74.97.93), 64 hops max, 72 byte packets
 1  10.204.100.1 (10.204.100.1)  8.668 ms  7.517 ms  8.455 ms
 2  asr-link1-burlington1.net.start.ca (64.140.112.154)  19.310 ms  19.861 ms  19.518 ms
 3  core1-toronto1-te3-3.net.start.ca (64.140.112.153)  22.083 ms  22.962 ms  19.875 ms
 4  v521.core1.tor1.he.net (209.51.164.81)  27.162 ms  24.609 ms  26.826 ms
 5  10gigabitethernet7-3.core1.chi1.he.net (184.105.213.150)  35.550 ms  36.411 ms  34.658 ms
 6  64.62.180.94 (64.62.180.94)  35.694 ms  37.173 ms  36.228 ms
 7  207.88.15.2.ptr.us.xo.net (207.88.15.2)  33.018 ms  33.676 ms  33.660 ms
 8  207.88.184.146.ptr.us.xo.net (207.88.184.146)  36.897 ms  35.452 ms  53.853 ms
 9  border5.po2-bbnet2.chg.pnap.net (64.94.32.74)  35.916 ms  42.818 ms  34.924 ms
10  c-64-74-97-93.managed-vds.internap-chicago.nfoservers.com (64.74.97.93)  35.732 ms  34.964 ms  38.314 ms
 

I know the VPS is announced through Cogent and this is the route I took when with Cogeco:

traceroute to 64.74.97.93 (64.74.97.93), 64 hops max, 72 byte packets
 1  10.90.192.1 (10.90.192.1)  8.588 ms  8.393 ms  8.540 ms
 2  d226-12-93.home.cgocable.net (24.226.12.93)  21.851 ms  22.138 ms  20.384 ms
 3  d226-6-134.home.cgocable.net (24.226.6.134)  23.297 ms  22.936 ms  22.940 ms
 4  te4-1.ccr01.yhm01.atlas.cogentco.com (38.122.17.17)  31.427 ms  30.960 ms  29.811 ms
 5  te3-7.ccr01.buf02.atlas.cogentco.com (154.54.82.101)  30.881 ms  31.566 ms  29.737 ms
 6  te8-8.ccr02.cle04.atlas.cogentco.com (154.54.31.237)  27.396 ms  28.039 ms  28.097 ms
 7  te0-5-0-6.ccr21.ord01.atlas.cogentco.com (154.54.45.130)  31.052 ms  28.801 ms  28.944 ms
 8  te0-1-0-3.ccr22.ord03.atlas.cogentco.com (154.54.1.2)  27.830 ms  27.695 ms  27.981 ms
 9  38.104.102.102 (38.104.102.102)  31.270 ms  39.784 ms  32.979 ms
10  border5.po2-bbnet2.chg.pnap.net (64.94.32.74)  32.220 ms  32.015 ms  32.238 ms
11  c-64-74-97-93.managed-vds.internap-chicago.nfoservers.com (64.74.97.93)  29.387 ms  29.678 ms  27.653 ms
 

For whatever reason, even though Cogent is supposed to be used as one of the transit provides my route goes Start --> HE --> XO --> Internap, rather than Start --> Cogent --> Internap. Latency is the same either way but the current route includes an extra AS hop.

Another example. The New York Watchmouse monitor station:

traceroute to ny.watchmouse.net (208.85.4.114), 64 hops max, 72 byte packets
 1  10.204.100.1 (10.204.100.1)  11.359 ms  6.992 ms  7.726 ms
 2  asr-link1-burlington1.net.start.ca (64.140.112.154)  20.298 ms  21.351 ms  20.122 ms
 3  core1-toronto1-te3-3.net.start.ca (64.140.112.153)  23.077 ms  19.277 ms  19.593 ms
 4  v521.core1.tor1.he.net (209.51.164.81)  20.595 ms  23.729 ms  24.789 ms
 5  10gigabitethernet7-3.core1.chi1.he.net (184.105.213.150)  35.877 ms  33.777 ms  40.270 ms
 6  eqix.chcg.twtelecom.net (206.223.119.36)  33.580 ms  33.668 ms  32.887 ms
 7  aby1-ar1-xe-0-0-0-0.us.twtelecom.net (66.192.242.50)  46.925 ms  43.587 ms  57.243 ms
 8  66.192.207.178 (66.192.207.178)  41.786 ms  43.017 ms  43.749 ms
 9  66-206-32-189.static.turnkeyinternet.net (66.206.32.189)  38.931 ms  40.417 ms  39.200 ms
10  usnyc01.watchmouse.net (208.85.4.114)  40.319 ms  40.352 ms  41.084 ms
 

This route also goes out via HE despite being reachable more directly by Cogent. See my route when with Cogeco.

traceroute to ny.watchmouse.net (208.85.4.114), 64 hops max, 72 byte packets
 1  10.90.192.1 (10.90.192.1)  6.962 ms  8.783 ms  7.616 ms
 2  d226-12-85.home.cgocable.net (24.226.12.85)  23.067 ms  23.656 ms  22.519 ms
 3  d226-6-134.home.cgocable.net (24.226.6.134)  20.981 ms  22.095 ms  19.662 ms
 4  te4-1.ccr01.yhm01.atlas.cogentco.com (38.122.17.17)  30.560 ms  30.990 ms  30.786 ms
 5  te7-7.ccr01.buf02.atlas.cogentco.com (154.54.24.221)  30.153 ms  29.736 ms  30.124 ms
 6  te8-7.ccr02.alb02.atlas.cogentco.com (154.54.27.177)  30.308 ms  31.539 ms  29.599 ms
 7  38.104.52.58 (38.104.52.58)  33.225 ms  38.813 ms  31.337 ms
 8  usnyc01.watchmouse.net (208.85.4.114)  31.864 ms  31.103 ms  32.154 ms
 

Current route goes Start --> HE --> Time Warner Telecom --> Turnkey, rather than Start --> Cogent --> Turnkey

So for whatever reason HE is being heavily favoured and used exclusively on the outbound (from my connection anyway).

There are lots of metrics at play, but yes not a lot of paths will transit Cogent for off-net routes. We're also adding another large player in November and routing policy may change again then based on real-world patterns. We continuously monitor, measure and report to ensure we are providing the best performance and reliability.