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Possible packet loss issue

jdcopelin
Hooked
Posts: 9
Thanks: 3
Registered: ‎30-06-2016

Possible packet loss issue

Hello,

Today I have been experiencing intermittent IMAP connections when using Thunderbird (for a couple of different IMAP servers) - and some delays when browsing the web. As far as I can tell all those services statuses are okay, so I did a tracert and pathping to different servers and notice that there is consistently 100% packet loss at "410.xe-2-2-0.central10.psb-bng03.plus.net [84.93.253.112]". Can't say I have noticed this on previous pathpings - is it normal, or could it be why I am seeing interruptions to my IMAP connections and slightly slower browsing speeds? Plusnet service status does not show any known issues at present.

Thanks for any help,

Jonathan

 

8 REPLIES 8
adrianscotter
Pro
Posts: 240
Thanks: 152
Fixes: 2
Registered: ‎28-10-2016

Re: Possible packet loss issue

You'll frequently get entries in a TRACERT that are starred with Request Timed Out, it's normally the switches / MODEM / route that just does not respond to ping requests.  If I do a TRACERT to a known good address that I use frequently, out of 30 hops, 19 of them do not respond but I can still use that address without issue.  More likely, it's something like the mail server was really busy / was being maintained especially if it's one of the busier ones (hotmail / BT domestic mail servers).

Live long and prosper!
Townman
Superuser
Superuser
Posts: 22,922
Thanks: 9,538
Fixes: 158
Registered: ‎22-08-2007

Re: Possible packet loss issue

Is this problem still being seen? Is it with Plusnet imap servers only?

Superusers are not staff, but they do have a direct line of communication into the business in order to raise issues, concerns and feedback from the community.

jdcopelin
Hooked
Posts: 9
Thanks: 3
Registered: ‎30-06-2016

Re: Possible packet loss issue

Hello,

Sorry for not replying sooner, I have only just seen the email notification that there had been replies. The issue I was experiencing appeared to affect most server connections - except those to PlusNet and was particularly noticeable on IMAP connections because Thunderbird kept popping up messages saying the connection had been lost.

Thankfully it has cleared up on its own - I am not seeing so many lost packets now.

Thanks,

Jonathan

spraxyt
Resting Legend
Posts: 10,063
Thanks: 674
Fixes: 75
Registered: ‎06-04-2007

Re: Possible packet loss issue

@jdcopelin

When Thunderbird advised the IMAP connection had been lost were these incidents when fetching mail (eg the list a mailbox folder) or when writing a message (eg to the Sent folder), or both?

Could you estimate dates/times when this behaviour occurred?

David
jdcopelin
Hooked
Posts: 9
Thanks: 3
Registered: ‎30-06-2016

Re: Possible packet loss issue


@spraxyt wrote:

When Thunderbird advised the IMAP connection had been lost were these incidents when fetching mail (eg the list a mailbox folder) or when writing a message (eg to the Sent folder), or both?

Hello,

Most of the errors popped up when changing IMAP folders, but if I waited a few seconds and changed folders and back again it would work as if nothing was wrong. There seemed no rhyme nor reason to the errors showing up - it has never happened before except when a server has actually been down (and the appropriate companies service status reflected that). I think I had an SMTP connection go awry as well, but again it worked straight away afterwards. General web browsing was also very slow - at least to get an initial connection, pages themselves loaded okay, at least as far as I could tell for ones I visit regularly.

My original post was to see if it was (the start of) a PlusNet network issue as it was pretty unlikely that five completely unrelated mail servers were experiencing connection issues simultaneously.

 

Could you estimate dates/times when this behaviour occurred?


Sorry, I did not make a note of exact instances, but it carried on for at least a day or two after my original post.

If it happens again I shall remember to make a note of times and the servers involved.

Regards,

Jonathan

 

spraxyt
Resting Legend
Posts: 10,063
Thanks: 674
Fixes: 75
Registered: ‎06-04-2007

Re: Possible packet loss issue

Thanks for this information. The only instances when Thunderbird has reported losing the connection for me has been when about to copy a sent message into the Sent folder. Clicking Retry has always worked.

However I often experience messages I've just read (in the preview pane) not being marked as such, and sometimes the Answered flag not being set. Plusnet have reproduced some of these problems with Thunderbird and an investigation number has been opened. I'll chase up an update on that.

David
jdcopelin
Hooked
Posts: 9
Thanks: 3
Registered: ‎30-06-2016

Re: Possible packet loss issue



It is interesting that you mention a problem with Thunderbird not marking messages as read and the replied/forwarded flag not being set properly. We have a problem with 4 office PCs running TB on them accessing between 1-5 IMAP mailboxes depending on the persons access level - none of them are "in synch" which makes it difficult to tell whether client emails have been seen/replied/in progress etc. by someone else in the office.

We recently moved those mailboxes from a single dedicated server (which worked brilliantly) to a cloud platform for better redundancy and the problem has only occurred since then even though it is the same TB installation, just a new account (ie we did not just change the server name in account settings). The provider says it is a Thunderbird issue rather than a mail platform one, but so far nothing we have tried has fixed it.

It is interesting that PlusNet say they have reproduced the problem - is your problem experienced with PlusNet IMAP? Our email is hosted with another company and the problem can be reproduced on a PC located at home accessing the same mailboxes - which ruled out an IP connection limit which was the initial suspect.

If you could share any ideas or possible solutions to the problem it would be much appreciated!

Regards,

Jonathan

Moderator's note by Dick (Strat): Full quote of preceding post removed as per Forum rules.

 

spraxyt
Resting Legend
Posts: 10,063
Thanks: 674
Fixes: 75
Registered: ‎06-04-2007

Re: Possible packet loss issue

My comments here relate to IMAP access to Plusnet/Force9 mailboxes. I don't routinely access mailboxes on cloud services.

Finding an explanation for my initial failure to send instances has been unsuccessful. It was thought server housekeeping operations might have interfered but they were not active on my mailbox at the relevant time.

I've still to obtain an update on the failure to mark messages problem.

David