[CentOS] Spotty internet connection

Fri Feb 3 03:12:36 UTC 2017
TE Dukes <tdukes at palmettoshopper.com>


> -----Original Message-----
> From: CentOS [mailto:centos-bounces at centos.org] On Behalf Of Matt
> Garman
> Sent: Thursday, February 2, 2017 8:52 PM
> To: CentOS mailing list
> Subject: Re: [CentOS] Spotty internet connection
> 
> On Thu, Feb 2, 2017 at 7:13 PM, TE Dukes <tdukes at palmettoshopper.com>
> wrote:
> > Lately I have been getting slow  and partial page loads, server not
> > found, server timed out, etc.. Get knocked off ssh when accessing my
> > home server from work, etc. Its not the work connection because I
> > don't have problems accessing other sites, just here at home and my home
> server.
> >
> > Is there any kind of utility to check for failing hardware?
> 
> I have the exact same problems from time to time via Comcast.  Mine comes
> and goes, and lately it hasn't been too bad.  But when it comes, it's down
for
> very small amounts of time, maybe 30-90 seconds, which is just long enough
> to be annoying, and make the service unusable.
> 
> When it was really bad (intermittent dropouts as described above, almost
> every night during prime time, usually for several hours at a
> time) I wrote a program to do constant pings to several servers at once.
If
> you're interested, I'll see if I can find that script.  But, conceptually,
it ran
> concurrent pings to several sites, and kept some stats on drops longer
than
> some threshold.  Some tips on a program like this: use IP addresses,
rather
> than hostnames, because ultimately using a hostname implicitly does a DNS
> lookup, which likely requires Internet service to work.  I also did
several
> servers at once, so I could prove it wasn't just the one site I was
pinging.
> Included in the list of servers was also the nexthop device beyond my
house
> (presumably Comcast's own router).  Use traceroute to figure out network
> paths.
> 
> After running this for a while---before I called them with the
evidence---the
> problem magically cleared up, and since then it's been infrequent enough
> that I haven't felt the need to fire up the script again.  When it comes
to
> residential Internet, I am quite cynical towards monopoly ISPs like
Comcast...
> so maybe they saw the constant pings and knew I was building a solid case
> and fixed the problem.  Or maybe enough people in my area complained of
> similar problems and they actually felt uncharacteristically caring for a
second.
> 
> I haven't been there in a while, but in the past, I've gotten a lot of
utility out
> of the DSLReports Forums[1].  There are private forums that will put you
in
> direct contact with technical people at your ISP.
> It can sometimes be a good way to side-step the general customer service
> hotline and get in touch with an actual engineer rather than a script
reader.
> Maybe not, but worst-case you're only out some time.
> Also, you might post this same question to one of the public forums over
> there, as there seems to be lots of knowledgeable/helpful people hanging
> out there.  (Despite the name, it's not only about DSL, but consumer ISPs
in
> general.)
> 
> [1] http://www.dslreports.com/forums/all
> 

Thanks for the info.

I've seen that site before so I might check it out.

My router/modem has a log. Its loaded with errors I can't interpret. I
googled a portion of it and landed on TWC forums. 

Missing BP Configuration Setting TLV

http://forums.timewarnercable.com/t5/Connectivity/Predictable-disconnects/td
-p/1016

Didn't see much of an answer.

Hopefully it's a temporary thing as it just started.  I don't think it's a
problem on my end, maybe, but doubt it. I'll give it another day or so.

Thanks!!