camelcaiPremium
join:2003-06-30
Herndon, VA | weird T1 packet loss,3 weeks still no resolution UPDATE 07/22/03
I finally was able to talk to a manager (Rob) and he seems to be a really resourceful guy, he asked me to
keep a constant ping from my LAN to the router's WAN IP and MP's border router and send him the results.
I let off some steam (thanks Rob) and will try his suggestions.
--------- Original post ------
First I've been a Megapath customer since around 1999. I have been very satisfied with their DSL service, always up, tech support helpful. However hell broke loose after I upgraded to a fractional T1 (384K, Covad as ILEC) this May. In late June, I noticed my line was down about twice a day, once late night, once early morning, each time the line was able to gradually recover in about an hour on its own (during which packet loss gradually improving from 100% to 0%). Also rebooting or power cycling the router ALWAYS made the problem go away (until the next time the line went down). On July 1 I called in and reported the problem. For the next 3 weeks I've been talking almost daily with no less than 10 different Megapath techs each time the line went down. To be fair MP and Covad did try a lot things. Covad even sent someone in and replaced my Netopia router, they also changed my DSLAM card. Initially they thought it's a over-utilization issue, but then they were not sure because telnet sessions were very responsive even when packet loss rate was huge, also unplugging LAN from the router would not stop the packet loss immediately, and not much traffic is going into or out of my router according to router's stats(Covad can monitor the WAN side traffic and claimed it was high, but they never told me the actual number).
Granted the problem was WEIRD (recently it only happened on weekdays), it might well be my LAN issue or an external TCP SYN-type attack (for my part I have disconnected certain computers to rule out viruses, also disconnected a wireless gateway). The thing really make me upset is that a lot of times I got a new tech who has no clue what had been tried and just keep throwing the old mantra "unplugging LAN ,reboot the router" at me when the thing has been tried many times before. Covad's attitude is like "we'll do this for you", then "now everything seems normal so we are not going to do it, or it must be your line is over-utilized" (they are also getting *very* reluctant to try more things).
It boils down to this, how far are MP and Covad willing to go for helping its customer to diagnose a problem. If they think all have been tried and they have no responsibility to diagnose my LAN or sniff the traffic coming into my router (to rule out external SYN type attacks), then well I think that's a valid point and I may have no choice but reverting my line to an old trusty IDSL. If they are willing to go the extra mile, for god's sake assign a few competent techs (like Toby or Nick who was really helpful) to my ticket and follow through, don't give me the "unplug-the-LAN-it-seems-to-improve-so-it-must-be-your-overutilizing-the-circuit" canned answer.
Remember each packet loss episode lasts from 30 minutes to an hour, and it takes me 10 minutes to get on the line with a tech, 10 minutes to explain things through, by the time the LAN is unplugged the line is already in its recovering phase, of course that made it seem like my LAN is the culprit. |
