Is anyone else on schools broadband having any issues today?

[mrbios]

Trying to find the source of a problem, speed tests are reporting download speeds of 0.4mbps for example.

 

I've spoke to SB but they can't see any issues and their third parties have no issues, I've testing a deny all rule on the firewall with literally only me and the DC allowed out. I'll then get about 5mbps download if I'm lucky (multiple sources tested of course).

 

The top sources, top applications and top destinations on the firewall all show things i would expect, nothing out of the ordinary. Can't use the firewall logs though (¬_¬) to go any deeper.

 

I'm struggling to see how we can be the problem if there's nothing being reported on the firewall. I'm guessing I'm the only one with a problem which suggests it's us, but any suggestions on how to narrow down what could be causing this when i've got no firewall logs to go by?

[synaesthesia]

All good here - anything you have in place that can check speeds between internal machines and the gateway? such as The Dude?

 

** edit** Scratch that - 9Mbps in and out, out of 100... @SchoolsBroadband ?

Edited December 14, 2015 by synaesthesia

[mrbios]

All good here - anything you have in place that can check speeds between internal machines and the gateway? such as The Dude?

 

** edit** Scratch that - 9Mbps in and out, out of 100... @SchoolsBroadband ?

 

I'm finding web pages are loading nice and quick, but downloads.....errmagerrd. Trying to download a 73mb file at 10-40kbps.

[synaesthesia]

Exactly the same here. Internal speeds all OK.

 

Oddly, using speedtest.net with 5 different servers, the speed limit goes RIGHT up to 9.4 and stays there rock solid like something is limiting it hardware/QoS wise.

[mrbios]

Exactly the same here. Internal speeds all OK.

 

Oddly, using speedtest.net with 5 different servers, the speed limit goes RIGHT up to 9.4 and stays there rock solid like something is limiting it hardware/QoS wise.

 

Well you're definitely getting more than me, I'm seeing 0.05mbps on my speed test for download upload isn't quite as bad though, that sits around 15-20

[MikeGreen]

Hi @mrbios we are with schools broadband and I have just done a speed test and its coming back with 55download and 48 upload. We did have an issue earlier with some outlook clients that wouldn't connect to emails but that has since been sorted. We have had issues in the past though were we have had issues and were told it was our end when it wasn't so I would suggest getting one of there BOC engineers to look in to it. What you could also do to rule out anything on your LAN is plug a laptop directly in to the router and do a speed test if you get the same results then there is a problem with there service. If you get better speeds then it is something local to your network.

 

Kind regards

[synaesthesia]

Again you can disregard my reply. My PC is just being a tart

[Fazza]

We're supposed to have a 1:1 contention ratio 100Mbps leased line but since the middle of last week (at times) we've only had 5Mbps.

 

We keep being told they're investigating it - either no one has a clue at there end what is going on, or they've cocked something up and dont want to tell us!

 

The last time this happened they hadnt purchased enough bandwidth at one of their nodes that one of our schools that we support went through.

 

On Twitter they denied there was a problem and implied it was probably Windows Updates and we should look at a WSUS server. We have a WSUS server so I dont think it is that!

 

I've always had a niggly feeling that we dont have what we think we have connection wise but have no way to investigate it.

[IrritableTech]

Speed wise I've not see any slowdown. We've been peaking at 100Mbits numerous times today according to the dude.

 

We have had a couple of little issues with communication between the lightspeed clients not reporting the user to the rockets both today and Friday - but seemingly only for a short time. The SB help desk are looking into that one. The captive portal is active so users can authenticate, but as they are not used to it it has created a few calls to our help desk.

[FN-GM]

On Twitter they denied there was a problem and implied it was probably Windows Updates and we should look at a WSUS server. We have a WSUS server so I dont think it is that!

 

I've always had a niggly feeling that we dont have what we think we have connection wise but have no way to investigate it.

 

If you setup SNMP and/or netflow on the switch port that connects to your router you will be able to see the usage stats and what applications are using bandwidth to confirm or deny any claims like this.

 

Thanks

[SchoolsBroadband]

Hi folks,

 

I'm not in the office today (my birthday so trying not to work!)

 

I've not been informed of any major issues but will speak with our techs tomorrow and have emailed then ref the above.

 

As per my tweets to @Fazza we have no known speed issues. All leased lines are 1:1 contention ratio and you should get those speeds paid for all the time.

 

Suggest you all also get your portal access setup at portal.talk-straight.com which shows you your bandwidth usage.

 

I'll report back tomorrow when I'm in the office.

 

Thanks

Dave

[mrbios]

Hi folks,

 

I'm not in the office today (my birthday so trying not to work!)

 

I've not been informed of any major issues but will speak with our techs tomorrow and have emailed then ref the above.

 

As per my tweets to @Fazza we have no known speed issues. All leased lines are 1:1 contention ratio and you should get those speeds paid for all the time.

 

Suggest you all also get your portal access setup at portal.talk-straight.com which shows you your bandwidth usage.

 

I'll report back tomorrow when I'm in the office.

 

Thanks

Dave

 

Thanks Dave, I spoke to Rob in the NOC, he had a look into our problem for me.

 

I think it's a false alarm, and that we were genuinely legitimately using up the full capabilities of the connection, which would be a first hence the confusion. As of about 3:30 everything shot back up to being quick again (unless Rob changed something). In the past we've always been concerned of either an ISP issue or something suspicious causing traffic on the network (Many months back, it was windows 7 clients going out to the net for windows updates even though SCCM was meant to be deploying them, stupid tick box...) as we've genuinely never maxed the connection out before legitimately

 

I can only put it down to too many people not teaching and opting for the "youtube lesson" as it were, in the run down to Christmas.

 

EDIT: oh and happy birthday!

[SchoolsBroadband]

Thanks for the birthday wishes @mrbios

 

So I've double checked with the NOC team today first thing and both of you and @Fazza were maxing your lines. We have no speed issues nor are any of our NNI's into our carriers (both of you are using different carriers btw) are anywhere near hitting their limits.

 

We're seeing more and more secondary schools take 200Mbit and above as standard now. Perhaps its time for an upgrade for you guys as you've been on less than that for best part of 3 years?

@Fazza your comments are completely incorrect ref nodes. We do 100% know what we are doing and we haven't "cocked" anything up. Please can I ask before you slate our service you fully check everything with us as you've done this on more than one occasion intimating we are not delivering on the service promised / sold when we are. Other users such as @IrritableTech and @FN-GM can give you more impartial advice on how to help look into speed issues also.

 

As per @FN-GM comment it's always worth while SNMP monitoring your switch uplink(s) so you can see what data you are trying to send to our router thus our stats should equal what yours show. I'm hoping the portal access will help put your minds at rest.

 

This week we have seen about a 20% increase in traffic over normal levels on our network (+30% over our Google interconnect) with lots of schools hammering YouTube in particular. However we've still 10's of Gbits of spare capacity.

 

FYI here's our nice AS Stats to Google today in case you don't believe us

 

 

All comments welcome.

 

Thanks

 

Dave

Edited December 15, 2015 by SchoolsBroadband
bad grammar!

[Fazza]

Thanks for the birthday wishes @mrbios

 

So I've double checked with the NOC team today first thing and both of you and @Fazza were maxing your lines. We have no speed issues nor are any of our NNI's into our carriers (both of you are using different carriers btw) are anywhere near hitting their limits.

 

Excellent! We're finally getting somewhere. Why is this information not available to your Support team on the helpdesk that we call? If it is then why are they scared to tell us - or do they not know how to use this part of the system.

 

I've been asking (for what I consider to be very basic information that I was able to get 18 years ago from other ISPs) since we went with Schools Broadband over 3yrs ago - bandwidth useage (both current and historic) along with top 10 protocols and websites visited etc. (both by number of uses/visits and by bandwidth in MB) has simply never been available to us and without this information we simply can not properly manage our internet usage. The option has always been available on the Fortinet box but it's always been blank and when we ask about it we're fobbed off with random excuses each time.

 

I've tried multiple times to sign up to your portal ever since I found out about it months ago (tried again yesterday) but after waiting and waiting and waiting I never get sent any log on details so I give up now as I'm simply fed up with it all.

[SchoolsBroadband]

Hi Fazza,

 

we're not scared of showing people bandwidth usage if anything we really want you to know what your are using. If we haven't given you this information then I'd be rather disappointed with us.

 

Ref the portal, the full portal has only just been released in the last few weeks. We did have a beta portal a long time ago which didn't really see the light of day after feedback from some beta testers. When you mean portal though do you mean login to the Fortigate (which you should have by default) or the new bandwidth monitoring / case raising portal at portal.talk-straight.com ? (in fact in writing this I've been told this has now been done)

 

If you want more granular view of protocols used, user use of applications and have a really granular view of all data that traverses your Internet connection etc etc then you need to purchase Fortianalyzer or setup your own syslog server to download the logs from the Fortigate real time and run your own reporting. See Network Security Reporting, Logging and Analyzing | Fortinet for more info. This is available as an onsite appliance or a VM image.

 

If you like as you sound a little aggrieved we may even be able to set you up on our hosted version for a trial FOC if you like?

 

You can get your website stats from the Lightspeed interface and run as many reports as you want (I'm presuming you have this though and not an onsite Fortigate box).

 

Thanks

 

Dave

[Fazza]

So what you're saying is that looking at the stats that I mention is an optional extra then? Cool, at least we now know, shame it's has literally taken years to be told this as we've always been fobbed off with random answers in the past.

 

All you need to do now is write an SLA so all your customers know what kind of service to expect as unblocking a website seems to have a higher priority than wireless not working as when the wireless is playing up, teachers cannot teach with their laptops and as everything is electronic they need to access the network to open their resources so when the wireless stops working, it is a critical thing for a school and we shouldn't have to chase it up over several days and then end up fixing it ourselves!

[SchoolsBroadband]

Hello again,

 

For the Fortigate box that's a 100% yes as this is how Fortinet licence / provide the service. Cases / Tickets do have a priority depending on what they are (although wireless not working shouldn't be lower than unblocking a site).

 

I have an idea. Perhaps we could offer you and Ken (if he's still there) a free training session with our technical team including lunch etc at our HQ. We can host about 16 people on one go so if there are any other network managers that would like to come with you then great the more the merrier?

 

Also if there's some functionality or something you need that you don't have at the moment then please speak with Craig your account manager who can then engage our Technical Consultants (probably Luke) and we'll propose a solution. Luke's FCNSP qualified so really knows his stuff.

 

Hopefully the above can help you out with everything you need to know about the products we sell and go over the more technical issues you are having with a qualified expert.

 

Before you say it, yes I'd love all of our engineers to be FCNSP qualified but that takes a lot of time for everyone to achieve it as its not an easy qualification to get (equivalent of Cisco CCNP)

 

Thanks

 

David

[Wubbalubbadub]

I have been getting speed issues since last Friday.. numerous phone calls and no one seems to know what is going on!

[jertsy]

Ours is a little slow and buffering etc.. I have reported it to the helpdesk and they are looking into it, they did say that we were not maxing out and they couldnt see any issues although we do get a lightspeed error message intermittantly and I have seen that today so there may be a problem... They are checking things out and will get back to me.

[Fazza]

Ours is a little slow and buffering etc.. I have reported it to the helpdesk and they are looking into it, they did say that we were not maxing out and they couldnt see any issues although we do get a lightspeed error message intermittantly and I have seen that today so there may be a problem... They are checking things out and will get back to me.

 

They've said the same to me.

[SchoolsBroadband]

Hello everyone. We definitely don't have an issue with our network that's for sure. We are investigating a potential issue with one of our carriers. This is not effecting all customers using that carrier but may be some in certain locations.

 

We'll keep you informed here and by the usual channels.

 

This is with the carriers escalations team and we are waiting on their input.

 

Dave

[SchoolsBroadband]

Hi all,

 

I'm getting some info second hand today as I'm off work as its my birthday.

 

An issue has been identified on Talk Talks network at a certain location where they are seeing unexpected high throughput at certain times (likely a collector node). They are putting measures in place to mitigate this. I expect this to be resolved tomorrow. The issue is happening sporadically and not all the time so it's been harder for them to pin point.

 

It's not happening to all customers using Talk Talk around the country only in a certain area.

 

We'll keep you updated.

 

David