Packet Loss to an IP

[#1]

Hi,

Since yesterday evening, several colleagues and I who use BT Group broadband (BT, EE and Plusnet) have been experiencing packet loss to a specific IP address (can be provided for further investigation if needed)

We’ve tested from other ISPs (TalkTalk and Virgin Media) and the problem doesn’t occur on those connections. I can also rule out my own line, because pinging other destinations such as 8.8.8.8 at the same time shows no packet loss at all. This points to a routing or peering issue within the BT Group network rather than a fault with any individual connection.

I’ve already contacted Plusnet support, but was told they couldn’t help. Is there anyway to have this  escalated within plusnet network operations team, or someone who can look into routing issues?

I’m happy to provide traceroute and MTR results showing where the loss begins, along with comparison results from non-BT connections.

Many thanks

[#2]

Why is it claims of packet loss do everything possible to avoid providing : 

+ details of there internet connection
+ the details of the target host
+ the details of the kit & application involved
+ evidence of the problem.  i.e. of packet loss & not of dropped pings

[#3]

I made it clear that I could provide this evidence. The fact that Plusnet support didn’t even ask for the IP address where the packet loss is occurring doesn’t give me much confidence that the issue was properly investigated.

[#4]

@PhilipHeyes I also wonder about that - it isn't as though providing that information is going to reveal any sensitive data.

[#5]

@MrFrosties 

"We’ve tested from other ISPs (TalkTalk and Virgin Media) and the problem doesn’t occur on those connections. I can also rule out my own line, because pinging other destinations such as 8.8.8.8 at the same time shows no packet loss at all. This points to a routing or peering issue within the BT Group network rather than a fault with any individual connection."

Not the first time this sort of thing has been encountered.

"I made it clear that I could provide this evidence. The fact that Plusnet support didn’t even ask for the IP address where the packet loss is occurring doesn’t give me much confidence that the issue was properly investigated."

IMO current first line PN telephone support are unlikely to know how to do anything much about something like this. Reporting the details here may offer more help as technical PN people can be linked directly to by some board posters, who are super users etc.

[#6]

---

@MrFrosties wrote:

I made it clear that I could provide this evidence. The fact that Plusnet support didn’t even ask for the IP address where the packet loss is occurring doesn’t give me much confidence that the issue was properly investigated.

---

Then why not post it in the original query? You get a faster response that way.

[#7]

Full Fibre 900
Destination IP: 217.119.38.242

Ping to problem address (this is the WAN address of a firewall)
Ping statistics for 217.119.38.242:
Packets: Sent = 79, Received = 57, Lost = 22 (27% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 82ms, Maximum = 447ms, Average = 105ms

Ping to Google  (at the same time as the ping above) - No problem
Ping statistics for 8.8.8.8:
Packets: Sent = 159, Received = 159, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 18ms, Maximum = 291ms, Average = 26ms

The following is a ping from a TalkTalk connection that doesn't not show the packet loss to the problem address
Ping statistics for 217.119.38.242:
Packets: Sent = 601, Received = 601, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 49ms, Maximum = 95ms, Average = 49ms

[#8]

It looks OK to me !

MTR shows ZERO packet loss to and from the target.

Non-Plusnet line, Openreach 76/18Mbps SoGEA, DrayTek Vigor 167 modem, pfSense router.

                                         Loss%   Snt   Last   Avg  Best  Wrst StDev
  1.|-- My-Router                         0.0%   100    0.2   0.2   0.1   0.3   0.0
  2.|-- ***                               0.0%   100    5.4   5.4   5.2   5.6   0.1
  3.|-- ***                               0.0%   100    5.5   5.4   5.2   5.9   0.1
  4.|-- lond1-rc1.linx1.ip-only.net       0.0%   100    5.6   6.0   5.5  11.0   0.9
  5.|-- 146.247.201.29                   54.0%   100   55.9  55.9  55.7  56.5   0.1
  6.|-- 62.209.167.74                     0.0%   100   56.2  56.2  55.7  70.0   1.6
  7.|-- sr1.helpa.suomicom.net            0.0%   100   56.0  55.9  55.7  56.5   0.1
  8.|-- 217-119-38-242.cust.suomicom.net  0.0%   100   56.3  56.0  55.7  58.8   0.4

Ping also shows zero losses over 100 consecutive ICMP requests -

ping 217.119.38.242

PING 217.119.38.242 (217.119.38.242) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 217.119.38.242: icmp_seq=1 ttl=57 time=56.1 ms
64 bytes from 217.119.38.242: icmp_seq=2 ttl=57 time=55.9 ms
64 bytes from 217.119.38.242: icmp_seq=3 ttl=57 time=55.9 ms
64 bytes from 217.119.38.242: icmp_seq=4 ttl=57 time=55.9 ms
64 bytes from 217.119.38.242: icmp_seq=5 ttl=57 time=56.1 ms
... ... ...
            ... ... ...
64 bytes from 217.119.38.242: icmp_seq=97 ttl=57 time=55.9 ms
64 bytes from 217.119.38.242: icmp_seq=98 ttl=57 time=56.1 ms
64 bytes from 217.119.38.242: icmp_seq=99 ttl=57 time=55.7 ms
64 bytes from 217.119.38.242: icmp_seq=100 ttl=57 time=55.9 ms
64 bytes from 217.119.38.242: icmp_seq=101 ttl=57 time=55.9 ms
64 bytes from 217.119.38.242: icmp_seq=102 ttl=57 time=56.0 ms

[#9]

Full Fibre 150Mbps - Plusnet

 Well I can't reach it via HTTP (Edge). Target is in Finland.

C:\Users\********>ping 217.119.38.242
Pinging 217.119.38.242 with 32 bytes of data:
Request timed out.
Reply from 217.119.38.242: bytes=32 time=70ms TTL=49
Reply from 217.119.38.242: bytes=32 time=69ms TTL=49
Reply from 217.119.38.242: bytes=32 time=70ms TTL=49
Ping statistics for 217.119.38.242:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 3, Lost = 1 (25% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 69ms, Maximum = 70ms, Average = 69ms

C:\Users\********>tracert 217.119.38.242
Tracing route to 217-119-38-242.cust.suomicom.net [217.119.38.242]
over a maximum of 30 hops:
1 1 ms 1 ms 1 ms 192.168.1.254
2 4 ms 3 ms 4 ms 195.166.130.255
3 4 ms 3 ms 9 ms 213.120.163.8
4 4 ms 5 ms 4 ms 109.159.250.96
5 4 ms 3 ms 3 ms 109.159.250.70
6 3 ms 4 ms 3 ms core6-hu0-4-0-26.faraday.ukcore.bt.net [109.159.252.146]
7 * 3 ms 3 ms 166-49-209-194.gia.bt.net [166.49.209.194]
8 4 ms 7 ms 3 ms lond1-rc1.linx1.ip-only.net [195.66.224.142]
9 * * 70 ms 146.247.201.29
10 70 ms 68 ms 70 ms 62.209.167.74
11 69 ms 72 ms 69 ms sr1.helpa.suomicom.net [188.127.209.231]
12 70 ms * 68 ms 217-119-38-242.cust.suomicom.net [217.119.38.242]
Trace complete.  

[#10]

And here is the MTR report from my plusnet connection
|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| WinMTR statistics |
| Host - % | Sent | Recv | Best | Avrg | Wrst | Last |
|------------------------------------------------|------|------|------|------|------|------|
| 192.168.68.1 - 0 | 109 | 109 | 10 | 14 | 34 | 12 |
| 251.core.plus.net - 0 | 109 | 109 | 17 | 24 | 40 | 23 |
| 217.32.25.136 - 1 | 105 | 104 | 17 | 24 | 67 | 32 |
| 109.159.255.40 - 0 | 109 | 109 | 18 | 24 | 44 | 23 |
| core6-hu0-3-0-15.faraday.ukcore.bt.net - 53 | 36 | 17 | 22 | 25 | 38 | 23 |
| 166-49-209-194.gia.bt.net - 6 | 90 | 85 | 19 | 25 | 40 | 28 |
| lond1-rc1.linx1.ip-only.net - 0 | 109 | 109 | 18 | 24 | 40 | 23 |
| 146.247.201.29 - 55 | 35 | 16 | 0 | 90 | 103 | 103 |
| 62.209.167.74 - 19 | 65 | 53 | 84 | 91 | 108 | 86 |
| sr1.helpa.suomicom.net - 26 | 54 | 40 | 84 | 90 | 103 | 91 |
| 217-119-38-242.cust.suomicom.net - 23 | 58 | 45 | 85 | 91 | 120 | 91 |
|________________________________________________|______|______|______|______|______|______|
WinMTR v0.92 GPL V2 by Appnor MSP - Fully Managed Hosting & Cloud Provider

[#11]

217.119.38.242 is a public IPv4 address in Finland,

assigned to the Finnish ISP Suomi Communications Oy (also known as SuomiCom).

Key details

Field	Value
IP address	217.119.38.242
Hostname (rDNS)	217-119-38-242.cust.suomicom.net
ASN	AS16302 (Suomi Communications Oy)
Network / prefix	217.119.32.0/20 (or the more specific 217.119.38.0/24)
Organization / ISP	Suomi Communications Oy
Country	Finland (FI)
City / region	Helsinki, Uusimaa
Coordinates (approx.)	60.1695° N, 24.9354° E
Timezone	Europe/Helsinki
Type	ISP (customer/dynamic-style address; “cust.” in the hostname)
Privacy flags	No VPN, proxy, Tor, or hosting indicators detected in standard lookups
Hosted domains	None reported on this specific IP
Abuse contact	[email protected]

About the provider

Suomi Communications Oy is a Finnish internet service provider (cable/DSL/ISP type network) based in Espoo (Upseerinkatu 3 A, FI-02600 Espoo). It operates AS16302, which announces roughly 33,000+ IPv4 addresses across several prefixes, including the 217.119.32.0/20 block that contains this address. The company website is suomicom.fi / suomicommunications.com.

The reverse DNS pattern (*.cust.suomicom.net) is typical for end-customer or subscriber addresses rather than servers or infrastructure.

[#12]

*** DELETED as no longer relevant ***

[#13]

Thanks.

The issue appears to have been resolved within the last 45 minutes or so, both for me and for my colleagues who were affected.

[#14]

As requested, @ExForce9 

HOST: inmemory-mum Loss% Snt Last Avg Best Wrst StDev
1.|-- myfritz.box 0.0% 100 2.3 2.2 1.2 5.6 0.7
2.|-- lo0-0.bng2.ixn-lon.zen.net.uk 0.0% 100 16.3 22.6 15.2 48.4 7.9
3.|-- 100.0 100 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
4.|-- lag-2.br1.ixn-lon.zen.net.uk 0.0% 100 16.2 16.1 13.6 25.1 1.5
5.|-- lond1-rc1.linx1.ip-only.net 0.0% 100 13.8 14.6 13.2 20.2 1.1
6.|-- 146.247.201.29 59.0% 100 65.1 64.8 63.5 70.5 1.1
7.|-- 62.209.167.74 0.0% 100 66.6 66.3 63.6 100.5 3.9
8.|-- sr1.helpa.suomicom.net 0.0% 100 64.6 64.7 63.6 72.8 1.0
9.|-- 217-119-38-242.cust.suomicom.net 0.0% 100 63.9 64.6 63.3 69.5 0.9