Brie Gordon
I'm Brie, a 22 year-old graduate of Slippery Rock University's Computer Science department. My interests include Linux (generally and Ubuntu), networking, BSD-style operating systems including my own, BrieSD, translating English-Spanish-English for open source projects and LAMP configuration. Aside from that, I enjoy photography, making short films and soccer.
Posterous is one of my favorite new(ish) web sites!
brie@briegordon.com
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ISP Trouble? For best results, do this first.
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" &
Posted 7 months ago
Getting Through to Comcast @ComcastCares
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 2
Push 1
Listen to a sappy message about how unusually high the call volume is and how long the wait time is
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.
interviewing ISPs
I am moving and I have to select an ISP. (The most exciting thing
about moving, so far.) I am calling the local big ones and asking the
following questions:
1. Are you a backbone provider?
2. Do you offer 24/7 support? (My current ISP, Armstrong, doesn't, as
far as I know.)
3. What percent of your core capacity is used on average?
4. What service level do you guarantee, if any?
5. Do you perform usage-based throttling?
6. What is the length of contract that I must sign?
7. Do you offer a mail account and/or outgoing mail server for my use?
I hope that one of the ISPs I call has all the right answers. I know
that I don't have many choices but I am exercising my right to choose
as strenuously as I possibly can. (Knowing a thing or ten about
networking helps.)
about moving, so far.) I am calling the local big ones and asking the
following questions:
1. Are you a backbone provider?
2. Do you offer 24/7 support? (My current ISP, Armstrong, doesn't, as
far as I know.)
3. What percent of your core capacity is used on average?
4. What service level do you guarantee, if any?
5. Do you perform usage-based throttling?
6. What is the length of contract that I must sign?
7. Do you offer a mail account and/or outgoing mail server for my use?
I hope that one of the ISPs I call has all the right answers. I know
that I don't have many choices but I am exercising my right to choose
as strenuously as I possibly can. (Knowing a thing or ten about
networking helps.)
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