Routing issues?

[#1]

Hi,

I am currently investigating a problem that started recently. I have my own personal plex server at home and I allow my friend access so her daughter can watch kids movies over and over. Up until about a week ago everything was fine, then she reported nothing will play, it just stops and starts and buffers constantly.

We are both plusnet customers BUT recently I had a new connection installed (Zzoomm 900/900) which I use for my server.

I still have my plusnet FTTC (Under contract till November) so decided to run some tests. 

First I tried what she was trying, while connected to the plusnet line. Connected speeds 58/18

Play, stop, buffer, play, stop, buffer repeat (and only a 4mbps movie file too!)

I disconnect the laptop and connect to my iphone hotspot (3 4G). Plays fine.

I decide to run some traceroutes, first from Zzoomm to my plusnet ip. Below is the result. (done from my ubuntu plex server)

traceroute to xxxxx.plus.com (81.174.xxx.xxx), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets
1 192.168.xxx.xxx (192.168.xxx.xxx) 5.068 ms 5.153 ms 5.268 ms
2 84.18.xxx.xxx (84.18.xxx.xxx) 29.069 ms 29.175 ms 29.220 ms
3 149.14.81.130 (149.14.81.130) 9.576 ms 9.426 ms 9.547 ms
4 be6694.ccr21.lon01.atlas.cogentco.com (149.14.81.129) 9.860 ms 9.771 ms 9.871 ms
5 be2398.ccr22.lon01.atlas.cogentco.com (130.117.51.210) 10.009 ms 10.221 ms 10.025 ms
6 bt.lon01.atlas.cogentco.com (130.117.14.66) 10.731 ms * 7.574 ms
7 166-49-214-195.gia.bt.net (166.49.214.195) 7.988 ms * 8.364 ms
8 core1-hu-0-2-0-7.southbank.ukcore.bt.net (62.172.103.161) 10.044 ms 10.065 ms 10.449 ms
9 195.99.125.139 (195.99.125.139) 11.163 ms 12.832 ms *
10 * ge0-1-0-22.ptn-gw2.plus.net (195.166.129.210) 11.905 ms 195.166.129.208 (195.166.129.208) 8.304 ms
11 gi15-0-0-442.ptn-ag04.plus.net (84.93.253.74) 7.903 ms 8.118 ms *
12 xxxxx.plus.com (81.174.xxx.xxx) 16.374 ms 16.327 ms 16.261 ms

Everything looks fine going that way, but lets look going the other way. (Done from my windows laptop)

Tracing route to 84.18.xxx.xxx over a maximum of 30 hops

1 15 ms 3 ms 12 ms OpenWrt.lan [192.168.xxx.xxx]
2 13 ms 17 ms 14 ms 195.166.130.249
3 11 ms 18 ms 10 ms gi2-23-442.ptn-gw02.plus.net [84.93.253.75]
4 31 ms 17 ms 11 ms 195.99.125.136
5 20 ms 12 ms 21 ms peer2-et-3-0-4.slough.ukcore.bt.net [109.159.252.122]
6 12 ms 11 ms 15 ms linx-gw1.amatisnetworks.com [195.66.225.135]
7 19 ms 76 ms 24 ms 91.193.11.4
8 * * * Request timed out.
9 * * * Request timed out.
10 * * * Request timed out.
11 * * * Request timed out.
12 21 ms 35 ms 35 ms 84.18.xxx.xxx

Trace complete.

So, it looks like the route Plusnet takes to Zzoomm is broken. Can this be looked into? 

Im happy to supply the missing digits to someone at Plusnet in PM if they wish to investigate. 

[#2]

Moderators Note

This topic has been released from the automatic spam filter

[#3]

@SpaceBallz 

What makes you think you have a routing issue? In both cases traceroute completes successfully.

If you can ping the destination host then there is not a routing issue

Request timed out would occur if a device on the route does not respond to icmp (ping)

[#4]

There must be a slow hop along that route. Its only happening with the plusnet connection.

I have now tested 3 mobile networks tethered to the laptop and all of them work fine.

I have been to my mum's house and tested (She's on Plusnet too) and it won't play. Constant buffering.

So my own, my mum's and my friends all failing, all speed tests seem fine for the line speeds on speedtest.

What else can it be other than a bad hop along the route from plusnet to my server?

[#5]

Nothing wrong with the server either, apart from OVH's geo DB locate my new IP in Scotland.

[#6]

Just remembered I have a free VPN account I was gifted by a hosting provider a while ago. Just installed their windows client and bounced the plusnet connection off their London VPN server, changing the route of the traffic), Everything plays fine. Without the VPN, constant buffering. 

[#7]

Have you tried disconnecting your broadband connection to see if you can get a different gateway address from 195.166.130.249?

Edit: What's to say the issue is with Zzoom ?

[#8]

Tried that, Rebooted router twice now. Im static ip'd, not sure if that matters. Mum and friend are dynamic.

I would say the Zzoomm connection is fine considering I have tested it from 5 other isp's now without a problem but 3 plusnet connections all display the same issue.

[#9]

Curious to know, do you have two seperate LAN either at a hardware or network level, if you were to connect your plex server back to plusnet network do you get the issue?

There are some differences when using a Static IP Address with pluse net, this might be noticeable by a reduction of speed. Overall is the performance of you plunet connection as expected?

[#10]

It used to be on the plusnet connection before I changed and it has been fine up until a week ago.

I could put it back to try it but this would also mean my web server and sites would go down as the server's are located in the loft on their own 24 port gigabit rack mounted switch. I also downgraded the hardware on the plex server as I don't need transcodes anymore (18 meg upload on plusnet, 900 now).

I know its the plusnet connection at fault. I have absolutely no issue's with anything else or any other connections. It could possibly be throttling, I know plusnet use traffic shaping. This would probably make sense seeing as how connecting a VPN clears the problem.

Personally I don't care as once my contract is up i'm cancelling my line. Its more my friend and her daughter, she cant afford to pay for the streaming services and relies on my plex to keep her little one happy. She's already started looking at changing isp's because of it, she's been using her o2 mobile tethered to her fire tv stick for 2 days now and had no issues.

[#11]

Well I leave you in peace and trust you're not doing anything illegal