Sunday, December 29, 2013

I Hate Big Box ISP's

Sometimes I hate "big box" Internet service providers.  In this case, Comcast (or Xfinity, which ever name you'd prefer) is my target.

We had a power outage in this area a week and a half ago.  Normally, this is not an issue.  However, this was wide-spread enough that Comcast decided to add custom routes in the network, and hasn't figured out how to remove them.

What it means for me

I have to have Internet access for my job.  I need it to be accessible from both sides (public to the private network, and vice-versa).  However, I cannot ping the public IP address that they provide from the public side.  I can't connect to it from there, either.  Since I'm an idiot with some networking experience, I start looking at trace routes.  From the inside :

traceroute to virtualserver (XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX), 64 hops max, 52 byte packets
 1  router (192.168.1.1)  7.623 ms  1.502 ms  1.832 ms
 2  XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX (XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX)  10.849 ms  11.573 ms  11.102 ms
 3  te-0-5-0-16-sur04.saltlakecity.ut.utah.comcast.net (68.87.220.177)  11.262 ms  13.049 ms  11.200 ms
 4  te-0-5-0-8-sur03.saltlakecity.ut.utah.comcast.net (69.139.231.57)  11.564 ms
    te-0-10-0-4-ar02.sandy.ut.utah.comcast.net (69.139.231.97)  15.901 ms *
 5  te-2-3-ar01.saltlakecity.ut.utah.comcast.net (68.86.180.65)  16.767 ms  14.778 ms  15.931 ms
 6  pos-0-9-0-0-cr01.denver.co.ibone.comcast.net (68.86.90.233)  27.885 ms  28.708 ms  24.411 ms
 7  te3-5.ccr01.den03.atlas.cogentco.com (154.54.10.33)  36.089 ms  246.011 ms  185.173 ms
 8  te0-1-0-3.ccr22.den01.atlas.cogentco.com (154.54.83.33)  24.435 ms
    te0-6-0-3.ccr22.den01.atlas.cogentco.com (154.54.45.185)  27.180 ms
    te0-1-0-3.ccr22.den01.atlas.cogentco.com (154.54.83.33)  26.129 ms
 9  be2131.mpd22.mci01.atlas.cogentco.com (154.54.26.130)  81.675 ms  82.868 ms  87.086 ms
10  be2157.ccr22.ord01.atlas.cogentco.com (154.54.6.118)  89.675 ms  88.852 ms
    be2159.mpd22.ord01.atlas.cogentco.com (154.54.24.82)  92.166 ms
11  be2140.ccr22.bos01.atlas.cogentco.com (154.54.43.186)  124.252 ms  122.275 ms
    be2138.ccr22.bos01.atlas.cogentco.com (154.54.43.202)  124.109 ms
12  endurance-international-group.demarc.cogentco.com (38.97.106.34)  122.540 ms  122.649 ms  123.540 ms
13  * * *
14  vpslinkrouter (XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX)  122.334 ms  124.073 ms  127.955 ms
15  virtualserver (XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX)  121.408 ms  121.116 ms *

From the outside looking back to that IP address :

traceroute to XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX (XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX), 30 hops max, 40 byte packets
 1  vpslinkrouter (XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX)  0.063 ms  0.082 ms  0.073 ms
 2  72.22.78.1 (72.22.78.1)  0.297 ms  0.392 ms  6.757 ms
 3  237.252.148.207.static.yourhostingaccount.com (207.148.252.237)  0.232 ms  0.259 ms  0.316 ms
 4  te0-7-0-4.ccr22.bos01.atlas.cogentco.com (38.97.106.33)  0.654 ms  1.991 ms  1.971 ms
 5  be2096.ccr22.jfk02.atlas.cogentco.com (154.54.30.41)  6.401 ms be2097.mpd22.jfk02.atlas.cogentco.com (154.54.30.117)  6.502 ms  6.519 ms
 6  be2061.ccr21.jfk05.atlas.cogentco.com (154.54.3.70)  6.563 ms  6.502 ms  6.400 ms
 7  be2073.ccr21.jfk10.atlas.cogentco.com (154.54.0.230)  8.090 ms be2074.ccr21.jfk10.atlas.cogentco.com (154.54.86.226)  7.971 ms be2073.ccr21.jfk10.atlas.cogentco.com (154.54.0.230)  6.892 ms
 8  comcast.jfk10.atlas.cogentco.com (154.54.13.162)  57.804 ms  57.789 ms  57.833 ms
 9  he-2-1-0-0-cr01.newyork.ny.ibone.comcast.net (68.86.83.101)  61.152 ms he-2-4-0-0-cr01.newyork.ny.ibone.comcast.net (68.86.83.105)  58.932 ms  58.892 ms
10  comcast-isc.pao1.isc.org (68.86.88.222)  77.619 ms  77.642 ms  77.613 ms
11  he-1-13-0-0-cr01.denver.co.ibone.comcast.net (68.86.85.246)  100.511 ms  100.459 ms  100.443 ms
12  pos-0-11-0-0-ar01.sfsutro.ca.sfba.comcast.net (68.86.90.226)  109.087 ms  112.585 ms  111.537 ms
13  te-0-1-0-5-sur03.saltlakecity.ut.utah.comcast.net (162.151.9.214)  111.017 ms  109.492 ms  111.080 ms
14  te-6-1-acr04.saltlakecity.ut.utah.comcast.net (68.87.170.222)  110.072 ms  108.898 ms  110.121 ms
15  * * *
16  * * *
17  * * *
18  * * *
19  * * *
20  * * *
21  * * *
22  * * *
23  * * *
24  * * *
25  * * *
26  * * *
27  * * *
28  * * *
29  * * *
30  * * *

Outbound traffic was routed from SLC, UT, USA to Denver, CO, USA.  In Denver, things take a different path than the inbound traffic.  In fact, inbound traffic is getting routed through New York City, NY, USA.  Even with THAT, it should be easy to pin point the problem.

Why I hate "Big Box" ISP's

So, I jump on the phone with them.  2 hours and 25 minutes (yes, I tried for this long), 8 transfers (3 times at the same group, too), 9 "that's beyond what I can do for you", and two online chat sessions later, my phone battery dies.  Not one idiot works for Comcast that knew that when I talked about an IP address in Denver that was their router, I wasn't meaning my home network router.  When this contract is over (if I can find a good ISP), kiss Comcast good bye.  If someone wants to pitch in to buy me a fiber connection, I'd be one happy camper!  But, in the mean time, I have to deal with big box idiots that associate "router" with "in house wireless" rather than a nice Foundry device sitting at their Denver office.

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