Internet: Driven to dstraction

[damocles]

Hi,

I am currently living in China and have a 'broadband' internet connection. It is running from a standard router and cabled to my PC.

Most of the time it is fine. I can surf/DL at decent speeds and play games (it is laggy but playable).

However, at times my connection is problematic. Some sites can't be reached (including Anandtech) and gaming is awful. There is a 20 odd second delay before my actions in a game occur.

I have copied a tracert to EQemulator below and it seems to time out badly on the first two hops.

I am not sure what is going on. Can anyone suggest what I should do and if a VPN or some program could help?

I have tried my ISP but they only speak Chinese (and my Chinese is bad). Getting a new ISP is a pain (I have to pay a year in advance and arrange it through my landlady because I am not a Chinese citizen).

Cheers



1 * * * Request timed out.
2 * * * Request timed out.
3 1 ms 1 ms 2 ms 61.148.68.145
4 1 ms 2 ms 1 ms 61.148.155.73
5 1 ms 1 ms 1 ms 124.65.60.5
6 2 ms 1 ms 2 ms 123.126.0.209
7 36 ms 34 ms 35 ms 219.158.8.214
8 37 ms 36 ms 36 ms 219.158.4.246
9 231 ms 231 ms 233 ms 219.158.30.246
10 281 ms 283 ms 287 ms gige-g2-14.core1.lax2.he.net [216.218.200.69]
11 236 ms 240 ms 234 ms 10gigabitethernet2-1.core1.lax1.he.net [72.52.92
.121]
12 313 ms 311 ms 307 ms 10gigabitethernet1-2.core1.dal1.he.net [72.52.92
.58]
13 355 ms 350 ms 349 ms 10gigabitethernet1-1.core1.atl1.he.net [72.52.92
.162]
14 343 ms 342 ms 345 ms Netriplex-LLC.gigabitethernet2-13.core1.atl1.he.
net [209.51.164.10]
15 317 ms 318 ms 317 ms 66.219.27.14
16 325 ms 328 ms 329 ms eqemulator.net [216.59.33.136]

 

[imagoon]

From what my friends in China says... that is not all that unusual. "The great firewall" is typically blamed for sites outside the Chinese homeland.

 

[Cable God]

9 231 ms 231 ms 233 ms 219.158.30.246
10 281 ms 283 ms 287 ms gige-g2-14.core1.lax2.he.net [216.218.200.69]
11 236 ms 240 ms 234 ms 10gigabitethernet2-1.core1.lax1.he.net [72.52.92
.121]
12 313 ms 311 ms 307 ms 10gigabitethernet1-2.core1.dal1.he.net [72.52.92
.58]
13 355 ms 350 ms 349 ms 10gigabitethernet1-1.core1.atl1.he.net [72.52.92
.162]
14 343 ms 342 ms 345 ms Netriplex-LLC.gigabitethernet2-13.core1.atl1.he.
net [209.51.164.10]
15 317 ms 318 ms 317 ms 66.219.27.14
16 325 ms 328 ms 329 ms eqemulator.net [216.59.33.136]

Hop 9 is where your pings turn to crap. Hurricane Electric's (HE) network is known for over-subscription/high utilization due to low rates. $695/month for GigE IS overselling, plain and simple.

Edit: Here's my result. I hit HE in Atlanta, my closest major city. The pings there isn't bad. It seems like the LA HE network might be congested where you come into it at. Then again, maybe your ISP's peering/routing isn't optimal for reaching HE.

3 97.67.118.1 (97.67.118.1) 12.233 ms 6.381 ms 5.977 ms
4 66.162.21.233 (66.162.21.233) 6.237 ms 6.375 ms 15.229 ms
5 peer-01-ge-2-0-0.asbn.twtelecom.net (66.192.240.18) 25.214 ms 25.894 ms
peer-01-ge-0-0-0-1.asbn.twtelecom.net (64.129.249.10) 24.473 ms
6 10gigabitethernet1-2.core1.atl1.he.net (72.52.92.158) 43.892 ms 45.885 ms 47.955 ms
7 netriplex-llc.gigabitethernet2-13.core1.atl1.he.net (209.51.164.10) 49.210 ms 49.077 ms 49.708 ms
8 66.219.27.14 (66.219.27.14) 45.707 ms 47.340 ms 48.706 ms
9 eqemulator.net (216.59.33.136) 54.453 ms 52.873 ms 49.749 ms

 

[damocles]

Update on this.

I have a new internet connection (now have cable and ADSL). Also have a new computer.

My new computer doesnt have any problems connecting to US servers using either connection. My other computer has problems with both.

Any tips for diagnosing where my problem is?

 

[somethingsketchy]

Update your drivers lately? Might be a problem with your network driver. Try downloading the newest (stable) drivers for your NIC and see if that eliminates the problems.

 

[damocles]

I have checked and the driver for the Realtek network card is uptodate. I have also tried stopping my firewall, anti-virus software and other services with no success

 

[Emulex]

format the old machine. it's probably pwned/rooted.