ISP Trouble? For best results, do this first.

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 21:32:00 -0800

Occasionally, I experience some network latency and packet loss through my ISP, Comcast. When this happens, I let them know about it - and you should, too.

Before you do that, though, there are some things that you should do, as dumb as they may sound. They *will* help you get through to your ISP.

Reboot your computer. Reboot your router. Reboot your modem. (For the last two, unplugging the power cable should suffice; don't forget to plug it back in.)

Finally, you should gather some data to give them. I like to do this by setting up some pings to places in different geographical locations. I've written a script (tested on Linux and FreeBSD) to get this ping party started. FreeBSD users may have to change the interpreter to #!/usr/local/bin/bash first.

Here is the script:

#!/bin/bash

#### uhoh ###
# ISP Trouble Script #
# Author: Brie A. Gordon
# brie@unixsysadmin.org
# I run this when I'm having trouble with Comcast.

# Replace the line below with the IP of your router.
gnome-terminal -e "ping 10.100.1.1" -t "router" &

# Located in Pittsburgh
gnome-terminal -e "ping cmu.edu" -t "pgh" &

# My ISP
gnome-terminal -e "ping comcast.com" -t "ISP" &

# Located in Australia
gnome-terminal -e "ping news.com.au" -t "australia" &

# Located in California
gnome-terminal -e "ping dreamhost.com" -t "california" &

#Located in Germany
gnome-terminal -e "ping joker.com" -t "germany" &

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Getting Through to Comcast @ComcastCares

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 15:50:34 -0800

Today I was experiencing extreme fluctuating network latency between here and everywhere via Comcast. I started up some endless pings to monitor the situation and called up Comcast. Once I got through Shaq and Ben Stein's irritating greeting this is what I had to go through to get to a real person:

Push 1

Push 2

Push 0

Push 1

Push 2

Push 1
Listen to a sappy message about how unusually high the call volume is and how long the wait time is

Sit on hold briefly

Push 1

Listen to another different message about how unusually high the call volume is and how long the wait time is

Push 2 to continue the call (or Push 1 to hang up and call back later; umm, I meant to call you, not a mistake.)

Push 2

Wait a while

"Thank you for calling Comcast; I'm a real person. How can I help?"

Fortunately the tech was very helpful. He saw some high numbers (2054 ms to a server about 15 mins from me) and some extreme fluctuation. He is sending a tech out ASAP (which is Monday afternoon, lol). I asked him why the routing seemed so crazy and he acknowledged that it was weird but had no clue why. Traceroutes to a server in the same city go through Chicago, New York, Philly or Virginia before leaving Comcast's network. I don't know enough about ISP routing methodology to comment further but that seems inefficient to me.

I asked the tech why I had to push all those buttons and if there was a more direct way to get through and he said he'd leave it at no comment. Smart man.

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a blog by Brie Gordon

ISP Trouble? For best results, do this first.

Getting Through to Comcast @ComcastCares