Tracing an internet connection

[woody1]

Ironically, that IP address is one of Google's DNS servers, so you're not quite removing it from the equation!

OK, to be more precise, I should have said removing DNS lookup from the equation.

I read that it's distributed across the globe, with huge redundancy, so it's as likely to be UP as anything else on the internet.

ps. there's also 1.1.1.1

[Lance]

OK, to be more precise, I should have said removing DNS lookup from the equation.

I read that it's distributed across the globe, with huge redundancy, so it's as likely to be UP as anything else on the internet.

ps. there's also 1.1.1.1

1.1.1.1 is not a Google IP.
In fact neither is 8.8.8.8 It's a Level 3 IP that Google uses for DNS

At least 8.8.8.8 is a genuine one for Google though.
1.1.1.1 is not something I'd use as it's used by anonymization services and has multiple malware threats associated. It's registered to Cloudflare.
1.1.1.1 IP Address Report (ibmcloud.com)



Some further reading in IP address space at IANA Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (iana.org) They manage the address space (delegated to authorities in each region).

[wattaj]

1.1.1.1 is not a Google IP.
In fact neither is 8.8.8.8 It's a Level 3 IP that Google uses for DNS

At least 8.8.8.8 is a genuine one for Google though.
1.1.1.1 is not something I'd use as it's used by anonymization services and has multiple malware threats associated. It's registered to Cloudflare.
1.1.1.1 IP Address Report (ibmcloud.com)



Some further reading in IP address space at IANA Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (iana.org) They manage the address space (delegated to authorities in each region).

1.1.1.1 and 1.0.0.1 are the DNS IPs provided by Cloudflare. Supposedly faster that the other DNS providers as they do not log unnecessary information. Hence its other uses.

[wattaj]

I've been having intermittent problems with my mobile broadband (no internet, slow speed). I wanted to try and trace the route end-to-end but unfortunately tracert returns mostly "* * *". I also tried a 3rd party tool tracetcp which uses TCP packets, instead of tracert's ICMP, but it was the same. Increasing the tracert timeout doesn't make any difference either.

Have you tried logging onto the router's admin console and trace route from there?

Virgin's routers support this function, but I've not tried those from other providers.

[Lance]

1.1.1.1 and 1.0.0.1 are the DNS IPs provided by Cloudflare. Supposedly faster that the other DNS providers as they do not log unnecessary information. Hence its other uses.

******* Cloudflare.... It's sh1te.... I hate it....

DNS is a great example of something so well designed it will last for centuries. No issues with scale like IPv4
Cloudflare is snake oil at best, or at worst a proxy service that fails too frequently (Cloudflare gateway timeout today ruined my registration with a cloud service as it timed out as I was doing the final MFA verification so now I have to ring a fecking call centre to do the registration)..

[wattaj]

******* Cloudflare.... It's sh1te.... I hate it....

DNS is a great example of something so well designed it will last for centuries. No issues with scale like IPv4
Cloudflare is snake oil at best, or at worst a proxy service that fails too frequently (Cloudflare gateway timeout today ruined my registration with a cloud service as it timed out as I was doing the final MFA verification so now I have to ring a fecking call centre to do the registration)..

Horses for courses.

[woody1]

Have you tried logging onto the router's admin console and trace route from there?

Virgin's routers support this function, but I've not tried those from other providers.

The router came included when I signed up for mobile broadband. It's basically a black box, and there's bugger all diagnostic capability. It doesn't even tell me the ISP's gateway IP address.

I may upgrade to something better. However, I suspect that most of the ISP's network is configured not to respond to traceroute or ping. I read that many ISPs do this for security reasons to prevent hackers mapping out their network.

[Lance]

The router came included when I signed up for mobile broadband. It's basically a black box, and there's bugger all diagnostic capability. It doesn't even tell me the ISP's gateway IP address.

I may upgrade to something better. However, I suspect that most of the ISP's network is configured not to respond to traceroute or ping. I read that many ISPs do this for security reasons to prevent hackers mapping out their network.

so log a ticket with the provider. It's their problem to solve. You are just the customer.

[woody1]

This wasn't what I was expecting.

I ran concurrent "ping -t" tests to the following addresses, and the average round trip times were always practically identical (typically just under 40ms).

ISP's DNS server............(4 hops from my router with tracert)
bbc.com...............................(11 hops)
8.8.8.8..................................(12 hops)

Obviously most of the latency will be between my router and the ISP, however I had thought that the round trip time would be less for a server on the ISP's network, with far fewer hops, but clearly not.

[Lance]

This wasn't what I was expecting.

I ran concurrent "ping -t" tests to the following addresses, and the average round trip times were always practically identical (typically just under 40ms).

ISP's DNS server............(4 hops from my router with tracert)
bbc.com...............................(11 hops)
8.8.8.8..................................(12 hops)

Obviously most of the latency will be between my router and the ISP, however I had thought that the round trip time would be less for a server on the ISP's network, with far fewer hops, but clearly not.

why would you think that? The latency from provider network to BBC or Google is likely in the 1-3 ms range. The 4g network is at least one order of magnitude greater.

And as the service uses a proxy, ping latency times aren't in the slightest bit helpful for what you're trying to diagnose.

Have you logged a ticket yet?