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alter.net issues (152.XX.X.XXX ADDRESSES)

I am having serious connection problems with a few websites (so are many others) and when I perform a traceroute, it seems the failures (errors, 50-100% packet loss, total drops) all point to the alter.net hubs that verizon uses. All of the addresses where the drops, packet loss and errors occur have a 152. prefix. Would it be possib;le just to block the whole 152.XX.X.XXX range in the router? I am sick of paying for 75/35 speed and getting speeds slower than dial-up. Can anyone help before I call Verizon?

I checked one of the offending addresses-152.179.50.138 on IP Lookup and an error on the page indicates that the DNS is broken at this host?

Comments

tireyjp

I have noticed the same issues with alter.net connections. My download speed drops to useless levels every night. .Performing a traceroute to google.com I'm currently seeing 120ms+ pings to 152.179.51.30 (which is alter.net). Sadly, so far my interactions with the phone support has been beyond worthless.

Sarsfield1

Yeah, this is getting painful. If anyone wants to see where their packets are getting dropped I suggest downloading Pingplotter free version here (Windows):

http://www.pingplotter.com/freeware.html

so that you can tell Verizon exactly where the problems on the routes seem to be. Invariably for me, it has been at one of the many alter.net addresses with the 152 address prefix.

I have done a search of these fora and it seems this issue crops up periodically and there seems to be no solution that I could find? That is why I'm asking if it would be possible to block this range of addresses and see if the alternate routes Verizon may use would be free from this issue? I don't know. I'm tired and grasping at straws.

tns2

Probably the routers in question are not the problem. The problem is most likely the ones these connect to next.

Verizon and some of the others are in peering disputes. They want free peering and verizon says they are not peers and should pay more/all the cost of Verizon connecting to them. Cogent is the current biggest dispute and that effects Netflix and Youtube for some users.

Sarsfield1

I really hope someone from Verizon would contact me so I could show them the traceroutes. Some sites are almost completely inaccessible to me and others have packet losses up to 100%. This sucks.

Maxszx

I think I have the same issue as you. Some websites are completely inaccessible, most of which are foreign websites.

Sarsfield1

Verizon has to know about these issues. i have been piecing together other bits of information from across the web and it does seem that Verizon shares these hubs with other ISP's and all of the ISP customers getting routed through these servers are suffering serious speed degradation because of an overload issue. When I first got FIOS I was so excited about the speeds I was getting. Now, it's a crapshoot as to whether some sites will ever even load. Too bad they're the only game in town (for me) for speeds like the 75/35 plan that I have. Google, please fiber up Western NY, will you?

nokomisfl

Hey tireyjp,

I saw another post you had about losing connx at the same time every night. They closed out the thread so I could not respond there - does not seem like they fixed anything for you - what did they tell you? I lose mine at 9pm EST. If I am watching Amazon, I can pretty much tell what time it is when the quality starts dropping. I was never quite sure if it was Amazon or Verizon, but

I have additional issues:

-Roku box hardwired into router - cannot download new firmware - verification failure. Cold reboot on router, no change.

-Laptop on wireless could not download itunes thru apple update software, always fails. Was able to direct download itunes exe and install. Again, verification failure. Seems like downloads are incomplete...

-ipad/iphone cannot update ios, had to take to work and updated fine on their internet. Tried for 3 weeks with ipad to make sure it was not busy servers. Always some "could not verify download" error. I can't even download an app that is 1.5mb, and have to try multiple times to successfully download songs.

-Then there is the 9pm slowdown on amazon.

I have not wanted the trouble of trying to deal with verizon on this. Now I see others have tried and gotten the response we all expect.

My tracert's aren't bad to google.com. But out of 3 tried, I did get one failure right after the Miami alternet. Feels like I am getting packet drops, but cannot prove it. However, a tracert to amazon.com, which they won't let resolve, showed some loss and bad speed.

Tracing route to amazon.com [72.21.215.232]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 3 ms 2 ms 3 ms Wireless_Broadband_Router.home [192.168.1.1]
2 3218 ms 7 ms 6 ms L100.TAMPFL-VFTTP-123.verizon-gni.net [173.78.12
7.1]
3 12 ms 14 ms 12 ms G0-9-1-2.TAMPFL-LCR-22.verizon-gni.net [130.81.1
33.142]
4 12 ms 11 ms 13 ms so-4-0-0-0.TPA01-BB-RTR2.verizon-gni.net [130.81
.199.28]
5 * 18 ms 17 ms 0.ae2.BR1.MIA19.ALTER.NET [152.63.87.178]
6 19 ms 18 ms 18 ms 204.255.168.42

Sending 1000 byte pings to google is fairly steady at 25-30ms. A few 2000ms pings, but no drops.

Reply from 74.125.229.201: bytes=1000 time=26ms TTL=57

Ping statistics for 74.125.229.201:
Packets: Sent = 98, Received = 98, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 24ms, Maximum = 2896ms, Average = 86ms

NSparks1

I'm having issues at the Alter.net addresses too - starting today, though, so maybe whatever was being reported last month got fixed?

C:\Users\Me>tracert google.com

Tracing route to google.com [74.125.226.194]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 1 ms 6 ms 1 ms Wireless_Broadband_Router.home [192.168.1.1]
2 7 ms 4 ms 4 ms L100.BSTNMA-VFTTP-165.verizon-gni.net [96.252.13
.1]
3 10 ms 9 ms 6 ms G0-5-5-6.BSTNMA-LCR-21.verizon-gni.net [130.81.1
88.148]
4 12 ms 9 ms 6 ms ae0-0.BOS-BB-RTR1.verizon-gni.net [130.81.209.86
]
5 12 ms 11 ms 14 ms 0.xe-2-1-0.XT1.NYC4.ALTER.NET [152.63.18.58]
6 25 ms 25 ms 23 ms TenGigE0-6-2-0.GW8.NYC4.ALTER.NET [152.63.21.117
]
7 * 12 ms 12 ms google-gw.customer.alter.net [152.179.72.62]
8 15 ms 14 ms 14 ms 209.85.255.68
9 14 ms 16 ms 14 ms 72.14.239.250
10 14 ms 14 ms 14 ms lga15s28-in-f2.1e100.net [74.125.226.194]

The tech at Verizon (I got to speak to a level 2 support person) seemed to think that because the router was in my basement and I was on the main floor, this was the issue, despite both the router and my laptop having been in these positions most of the last four years! Then he decided it was because we hadn't reset the router to factory defaults. Both of these comments were AFTER I'd told him to look at the trace route I'd pasted into the chat I had earlier with their level 1 tech. At that point, I decided it was not worth my time on the phone with him and hung up in frustration.

Is this their way of trying to force me to switch to their "quantum" fios? Seriously, I've never had any issues with them, and I've had fios since it was first offered in my neighbourhood, which was four years ago, but I'm ready to go look for alternatives. There should be a "I know what I'm doing, and I don't need you to walk me through resetting my router or rebooting my computer, take me to your leader!" button when you go to contact support.

NSparks1

While I was waiting for a website to load (it didn't, it timed out) I was playing around with traceroute and decided to do one to verizon.com:

C:\Users\Me>tracert verizon.com

Tracing route to verizon.com [192.76.85.245]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 <1 ms 1 ms <1 ms Wireless_Broadband_Router.home [192.168.1.1]
2 5 ms 4 ms 4 ms L100.BSTNMA-VFTTP-165.verizon-gni.net [96.252.13
.1]
3 9 ms 7 ms 9 ms G0-5-5-6.BSTNMA-LCR-22.verizon-gni.net [130.81.1
88.150]
4 12 ms 19 ms 9 ms ae0-0.BOS-BB-RTR2.verizon-gni.net [130.81.209.94
]
5 75 ms 76 ms 74 ms 0.ae1.XT2.SAC1.ALTER.NET [140.222.225.217]
6 75 ms 76 ms 74 ms GigabitEthernet7-0-0.GW9.SAC1.ALTER.NET [152.63.
55.77]
7 75 ms 75 ms 75 ms verizon-gw.customer.alter.net [157.130.193.66]
8 * * * Request timed out.
9 * * * Request timed out.
10 * * * Request timed out.
11 * * * Request timed out.
12 * * * Request timed out.
13 * * * Request timed out.
14 * * * Request timed out.
15 * * * Request timed out.
16 * * * Request timed out.
17 * * * Request timed out.
18 * verizon-gw.customer.alter.net [157.130.193.66] reports: Destinati
on net unreachable.

Trace complete.

So, that'd be why posting on here is taking me ages... I really hope someone at Verizon has noticed and is working on getting traffic through alter.net restored, since the domain appears to be owned by Verizon Business.

SoCalMX70

Bumping this thread because I am experiencing the same problems with alter.net hubs. The last time this happened was back in July and it just kind of went away after a couple days. Several calls to Verizon did nothing (that I know of).

Now, here we are again, going on day 2 with lag/latency/packet loss issues galore.I did some traceroutes using pingplotter (cool program btw) and verified it is indeed those alter.net hubs. Seems like I get 33-50% packet loss every other trace. I called Verizon, carefully explained what is going on and what I see. They told me everything looks fine on their end and they will send someone out tomorrow to look at it from my end. I already know there is absolutely nothing wrong with my hardware, but if this gets me some face time to go through the issue with a tech who can perhaps call it in to somoene higher up in the tech hierarchy, so be it.

If this continues without resolution I'm just going to have to take action. I'm not going to keep paying for a service where I have slow connectivity to certain websites, laggy gaming, or sound like a robot on VoIP clients. Verizon FiOS is AMAZING... when it works. I shouldn't have to worry about the reliability of a hardwired connection...

EDIT: Wanted to add that I've done many searches on this issue and the results are astonishing. It seems like this crops up all the time with the alter.net hubs. Why? And why isn't it being acknowledged? Why would any company think it wise to leave it alone and let the customers get angry?

brenda2347

Hey, I have the exact same problem, exact same trace to the exact same switch causing me problems, I do not understand how the techs do not refer this upwards to someone who can actually read a traceroute. It's so odd. It's screwing up a lot of my traffic.

atcnf2000

I got the same problem with my company's connection. Speedtest is good , I can go to almost any sites with good speed except my working place, which is just 7 miles away ( I live in Hampton roads, VA). The connection to my company is too slow to be useful, I used to have Charter Communications with 15Mbps/2Mbps plan, the connection to my company was dramatically faster, now I just got my Fios installed On Dec 31, 2013 and found out the most important connection for me( I do lots of omputing home for office work) is useless, tracert found the same problem like others describibed here: (my company uses Cox )

5 0.ae1.br3.iad8.alter.net (152.63.7.81) 22.858 ms 21.727 ms 23.408 ms

6 * * *

7 207.88.15.53.ptr.us.xo.net (207.88.15.53) 26.015 ms 22.218 ms 22.803 ms

8 209.48.42.62 (209.48.42.62) 90.538 ms 90.685 ms 92.949 ms

9 nrfkdsrj02-ae0.0.rd.hr.cox.net (68.1.0.27) 181.416 ms 108.604 ms

what is my option? can I cancel my Fios bundle ( it's a 2year agreement)? thank you all for any good sugestions.

Sarsfield1

Well it's been two months since I started this thread and I see there are no solutions from Verizon. Just a big IGNORE of this issue. I even see another thread about this exact same MAJOR problem.

Maybe a moderator could consolidate the threads about this issue and ask that someone from Verizon at least address this? Or do they not care?

jt881

I have been experiencing the same issue since I got fios 10 days ago. They have been in denial that there is a problem. Looks like I will be ditching fios within days.

Sarsfield1

@jt88 wrote:
I have been experiencing the same issue since I got fios 10 days ago. They have been in denial that there is a problem. Looks like I will be ditching fios within days.

I wish this was possible for me. Nobody else comes close to the speeds I need/want. What a terrible company to deal with. I have been trying to get an answer for this problem for months and nobody has been able to tell me anything constructive.

I now believe that they are not answering because they know about this issue and refuse to do anything about it. It's probably that these alter.net hubs are some type of government data collection points that the NSA and other scum are using to spy on law abiding citizens.

scrappyxyz

I have been having the same issues for 2+ months. After being able to pull 10MB/sec, i get only 60k/sec

I just finished a tech chat with verizon & they said they are aware of the issue & are working on it..Somehow I think this is **bleep** since the last time i went to them with this, they said its not their problem & they cant help.. so stay tuned..ill post more if anything changes

tns2

@scrappyxyz wrote:
I have been having the same issues for 2+ months. After being able to pull 10MB/sec, i get only 60k/sec
I just finished a tech chat with verizon & they said they are aware of the issue & are working on it..Somehow I think this is **bleep** since the last time i went to them with this, they said its not their problem & they cant help.. so stay tuned..ill post more if anything changes

They're working on it, as in negotiating with the other side for how much money they want to improve the connections. They won the last court case.

Sava333

Someone might want to raise it to Verizon's attention that they might be in violation of every single term of service with their customers:

If you buy broadband Internet access from Verizon Online
•	We will not prevent you or other users of our service from sending and receiving the lawful content of your choice; running lawful applications and using lawful services of your choice; or connecting your choice of legal devices that do not harm the network or the provision of Internet access service, facilitate theft of service, or harm other users of the service.
•	We will not unduly discriminate against any lawful Internet content, application, or service in a manner that causes meaningful harm to competition or to you or other users of our service.
•	We will continue to disclose accurate and relevant information in plain language about the characteristics and capabilities of our service offerings so you and other users of our service can make informed choices.
•	We will disclose the types of practices that we use to manage our network, consistent with standards to be developed by industry Technical Advisory Groups; we reserve the right not to disclose technical details that would undermine the efficacy of these practices.
•	We will continue to offer you an open Internet access service as described above, so that option will remain available to you even as we continue to innovate and create new services so that we may also offer you other online options to meet your needs. If and when we provide other online services, we will continue to disclose to you the characteristics, capabilities and terms of our various service offerings. That way you may distinguish between them as you choose whether, which and how many of our services you wish to use or purchase.

Last I checked, Netflix is lawful content of my choice.

luxedesign

I am finding so many people with the problem, I am trying to gather us all up but I am afraid of the moderators on the forum frankly, they don't seem to like it when try anything like posting a link IDK. But, I the answer lies in a routing table update to operators that failed. I posted about it in the VZ Fios forums, please read the posting for an answer and support info.

DaveMasters

I've complained so much that I am getting tired of the dead ends. Verizon has SO MANY problems that have popped up in the past few months that for a fact when my contract is up early in the year I am gone for good. At least with TWC I'll have a new set of people to complain too.

My speeds and complete drops/packet losses has gotten rediculious. In my world of fixed income I am paying a ton of money for a 75/35 connection that otten to the point that I am having more problem times than I am good times, and I never receive anywhere close to what I am paying for...

Good bye Verizon as soon as possible.

BTW, I am not a gamer or a Netflix user.

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