Is AT&T Screwing With Me Again?

On practically every website I go to, there is short burst of network activity, then it drops down to zilch for 3-5 seconds at a time. Then the rest of the page loads in one swoop without any further delays. I'm watching this happen on the Network Meter Gadget and through a couple of the Windows 7 built-in's.

Another oddity is that a torrent will be downloading at 66% of my max speed, but as soon as I go to a web site using my browser, all network activity ceases for 4-5 seconds right after the browser contacts the website (after DNS resolution) and downloading that.

Which makes me think that AT&T (DSL) is definitely squelching my network connection when it sees HTTP activity afetr a lull. FTP, Torrent, and NNTP traffic does not seem affected. But as soon something up the line sees HTTP traffic... it inserts an artificial annoying delay (to try and get me to upgrade speeds again). At least that's my theory. And it's not like they haven't played games like this before.

Does this sound plausible, or could there be another valid explanation?

Windows 7, Firefox 12.0 (Ghostery, Adblock), WRT54G, Siemens 4100B, AT&T DSL 3Mbps.

TIA.

-sw

Reply to
Sqwertz
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IPv6 day was Weds. I'm getting calls for slow or erratic web browsing on a few specific sites. All of them seem to be getting things fixed.

I'm also having problems with old firmware on some routers. Ancient firmware on Netgear WGR614 is the only one that I'm sure was a problem.

Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

A packet capture demonstrating the problem would be useful. About 15 seconds worth should do.

I can't think how an IPv6 misconfiguration would cause the symptoms described. Then again, I can't think what failure mode would cause the symptoms described, either. Misconfigured traffic shaping could be one cause.

Reply to
alexd

I haven't seen this issue myself, but it sort of sounds like an IPv6 address is being attempted and has to time out before the requesting systems falls back to IPv4. If so, I don't know if the delay is happening at the DNS level or at the host level, but a packet cap should help.

Reply to
Char Jackson

Neither can I, but it won't hurt to check for a router or client machine problem by substituting another router or computer. I managed to create a mess on own machine because of residue from the last IPv6 test day that I forgot to clean out. The IPv6 proxy/gateway that I was using went comatose. My client was set to first try IPv6 before IPv4. The result was a long (about 20 second) delay every time it had to lookup any address.

I'm still getting calls for home router issues, most of which I solve with a reboot, but some that appear to need new firmware, or if I'm greedy, a new router.

For the conspiracy buffs:

Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

I've been having this problem for about a month, but it has been getting more consistent. At first I thought it was my browser, but I can replicate it with IE as well. I suppose it could be something in my router as well. I'll try it without the router.

-sw

Reply to
Sqwertz

Packet Capture... No habla English. What tool would I use for that?

-sw

Reply to
Sqwertz

Wireshark is the usual tool.

Some background info:

Reply to
Char Jackson

Good idea.

Are you still on the Comcast 1Mbit/sec cheapo service? I've had problems with that service. Until maybe a month ago, they were sending bursts of high speed data, followed by long periods of nothing, and then another burst. The average throughput was about

1Mbits/sec. That caused fatal problems for VoIP and streaming, so they apparently (my guess) evened out the bursts into something that resembles a flow. Now, VoIP and even Netflix works. I just noticed that Comcast no longer offers their 1Mbit/sec plan.

If you call Comcast to complain, you might ask them about their $10/month plan:

Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

AT&T 3Mbps. When I complained about the last issue they upgraded me to 3.0 for the same price as 756Kbps.

That's interesting. Not available to me in Central Texas unless I borrow some kids. Yeah, right!

-sw

Reply to
Sqwertz

Be careful not to run wireshark while you are parked on a wifi channel in Kismet. You might accidentally decode wifi traffic, AKA "pulling a google".

Reply to
miso

A while back ATT, Verizon, TW Comcast and perhaps some others had a PR party about that. Seems Comcast is the only one that is moving forward and has limited the availability to folk with kids on the school lunch program (original announcement - as I recall- had broader and less restrictive qualifications)

Reply to
NotMe

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