[Network] 'mtr' tool : are these results abnormal ??

[Tony Arnold]

On Mon, 2006-09-04 at 23:27 +0200, Vincent Trouilliez wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> I just learnt about this 'mtr' command line tool, from another thread
>  on this list today, and thought it could help me.
> 
> Recently I (and many many many others who use the same cable ISP)
>  started having problems with my internet conenction: the speed
>  suddenly became highly unstable, and average transfer rates very about
>  only 30% of the advertised maximum of 30Mbps.
> 
> So I decided to give mtr a try, and pointed it to the ISP's portal
>  website:
> 
> $mtr www.numericable.fr
> 
> I don't crap about networking, so I would like peoples opinions on the
>  results, I uploaded a screen capture of mtr there
> 
> http://www.007.org.uk/~vtrouilliez/tmp/mtr.png
> 
> Because I see a column that I seems to indicate that 50 to 80% of "Packet loss" ! 

I tried the same thing from here in the UK and I see 0% packet loss all
the way, but then my traffic does not pass through most of the routers
you are seeing.

> Is it really as worrying as it looks, or are the figures in these
>  columns somehow "normal"/typical ?

I think so! Do the routers showing high packet loss belong to you ISP?
If so, I'd report to them. If not, then I'd still report it so they can
contact whoever provides those routers.

> If it really means that over 50% of the packets fail to arrive to me,
>  no wonder I witness way substandard download speeds !

The packet loss together with the very long round trip times would give
you this.

Regards,
Tony.
-- 
Tony Arnold <tony.arnold at manchester.ac.uk>
University of Manchester