CenturyLink Fiber Latency Issues (Seattle, WA)

Wed Nov 3 02:13:54 UTC 2021

Hi,

I have taught of an (hackish) workaround for now.

Enable my Tor relays, but at the same time switch my non-Tor traffic to 
Verizon "LTE Home". Then hope my neighbors have service calls with 
CenturyLink which forces them to fix the issue (a tech told me about 
"capacity issues"). Monitor the CL connection every day, and if or when 
CenturyLink fixes the issue, cancel Verizon and enjoy.

I could get Xfinity Prepaid for much cheaper, but since the Coax drop on 
our house is cut and we have no Coax outlets, the install would be hairy 
and long. CenturyLink had an advantage here since while the home was 
being flipped CL upgraded the street to fiber. The copper drop is still 
there and attached (Bell System 305A2 anyone?), but will probably never 
be used again.

-Neel

On 2021-11-02 07:28, Neel Chauhan wrote:
> I tried that back in September, it didn't work. It doesn't happen on
> my hop but the one after that. Even a second GPON connection shows the
> issues if one is running the offending traffic.
> 
> The issue occurs even if I'm using 50 Mbps out of my 940.
> 
> It may be bufferbloat on CL's side but they keep denying the issue.
> 
> I guess I'll have to break the bank and get Comcast Gigabit Pro.
> 
> CenturyLink should just get bought out by another telco, like how
> Cablevision got bought by Altice.
> 
> -Neel
> 
> On 2021-11-01 20:52, Ryan Hamel wrote:
>> Neel,
>> 
>> Sounds like buffer bloat.
>> 
>> Run a speed test, whatever is your maximum for your download and 
>> upload take
>> 10% away from it, and setup traffic shaping in OPNsense
>> (https://docs.opnsense.org/manual/shaping.html) with those values. If 
>> the
>> issue goes away, then you're exceeding the buffer of CenturyLink's 
>> device
>> with the bursts of traffic.
>> 
>> Ryan
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: NANOG <nanog-bounces+ryan=rkhtech.org at nanog.org> On Behalf Of 
>> Neel
>> Chauhan
>> Sent: Monday, November 1, 2021 6:44 PM
>> To: nanog at nanog.org
>> Subject: CenturyLink Fiber Latency Issues (Seattle, WA)
>> 
>> Hi NANOG Mailing List,
>> 
>> I don't know if any of you work at CenturyLink/Lumen, very less on 
>> their
>> Fiber network in Seattle, WA. However, here's my story.
>> 
>> If I attempt to run certain applications that use 1000, or 10000 TCP
>> connections, I get latency spikes. It is based on how many 
>> connections, but
>> also how much bandwidth is used. This means certain things like Tor 
>> relays
>> are off limits to me (which I wish to run).
>> 
>> On an idle connection, the PingPlotter outputs look like this:
>> https://centurylinklatencyissues.com/image-000.png
>> 
>> If I attempt to run BitTorrent with 1000 connections in Deluge, 
>> PingPlotter
>> looks like this:
>> https://centurylinklatencyissues.com/image-002.png
>> 
>> Getting support, or even executive contacts to admit the issue hasn't
>> worked. They all love to blame my equipment or applications, when CL 
>> routers
>> also show the issue when I run the same things whereas my same exact
>> OPNsense box on Google Fiber Webpass running Tor at another address 
>> had no
>> issues whatsoever, and I can ping other Tor relays on CenturyLink 
>> AS209 just
>> fine (from a VPS).
>> 
>> The most competent person I dealt with was actually one tech. He told 
>> me
>> there was "capacity issues" in our neighborhood, and that's the reason 
>> for
>> the issues. However, nothing was done about it afterwards, I'm 
>> guessing
>> since I turned off my Tor relay after the visit to avoid complaints 
>> from
>> family members.
>> 
>> On an AT&T forum, people have said GPON gives latency spikes/packet 
>> loss on
>> congestion:
>> https://www.dslreports.com/forum/r33242889-How-rare-is-GPON-XGSPON-saturatio
>> n
>> 
>> The capacity managers in Seattle are literally dragging their feet: 
>> it's
>> 100x worse than AT&T's 802.1X. I know AT&T and CenturyLink don't 
>> compete,
>> but if I had to choose between AT&T Fiber and CenturyLink, I'll take 
>> AT&T in
>> a heartbeat, no ifs, no buts, even if I have to use AT&T's crappy 
>> router
>> instead of my OPNsense box.
>> 
>> Going back, do any of you who work at CenturyLink/Lumen can get me to 
>> the
>> right people, hopefully the capacity managers in Seattle?
>> 
>> I could go with Comcast, but it's either (a) 35 Mbps uploads or (b) 
>> $329/mo
>> for "Gigabit Pro" with a 2-year contract and a steep install fee. I am
>> seriously considering Gigabit Pro even if it breaks the bank, but hope 
>> I
>> won't have to go there.
>> 
>> I don't need 2 Gbps and would rather pay $65 than $329. 300-500 Mbps 
>> uploads
>> when I need it is the sweet spot for me (even without Tor) which CL 
>> GPON
>> should easily handle without a sweat. I also don't exactly
>> **trust** Comcast, they're a horrible company in many metrics, but in 
>> some
>> ways Comcast is more competent than CenturyLink.
>> 
>> Best,
>> 
>> Neel Chauhan