Connection drops during uploads

[cboothuk]

Hi,

I have Unlimited Faster Broadband and a BT Home Hub 5. Every time I upload a large file to the cloud my internet connection drops.

Board version: BT Hub 5A

Firmware version:  4.7.5.1.83.8.236.1.2 (Type A) Last updated 12/07/17

Software variant: AA

Boot loader version: 1.0.0

Regarding the upload, it is a Docker push of an image 299MB in size, which get's split in 7 parts and uploaded concurrently to my company's Azure Container Registry.

It causes my internet connection drop consistently.

Could someone get in touch and look into it please? - very much appreciated.

Thanks,

Chris.

[Keith_Beddoe]

Welcome to this user forum.

This is only a user to user forum, your message does not go to BT.

Help from forum members is available here.

Could you please post the results from the BT Wholesale speed checker, including the further diagnostics.
 
BT Wholesale Speedtester

This must be done using an Ethernet connected computer.

Are you a business user?

[cboothuk]

Hi Keith,

Thanks for reaching out.

I have run the speed test and further diagnostics as requested.

I have noticed big drops on speed after running the test several times in a row:

The first test shows:       20.25Mbps Download, 10.9Mbps Upload, 24.25ms ping latency.

The second test shows:    8.37Mbps Download, 0.53Mbps Upload, 31.88ms ping latench.

Further diagnostics run after second test.

Also included on this message, the results of the BT Broadband Availability Checker tool.

[cboothuk]

I am on Standard BT Broadband - I am not a BT Business Broadband user.

I do use broadband for work however with the usual VPN, Voice over IP phone, and cloud related traffic when I work from home.

[imjolly]

please edit out your phone number as public forum

[Keith_Beddoe · Accepted solution]

Thanks.

The first reading would be wrong, as you cannot get that upload speed.

The max upload connection speed is only 1.2Mbs, which is why you can only get a poor upload speed.

You are going to have to throttle the speed at which your application sends the data to the home hub, to avoid overloading the input buffer, and causing it to crash.

Try reducing the transfer rate until you reach a point where the home hub does not crash.

[cboothuk]

Thanks imjolly. Phone number edited out - appreciated.

[cboothuk]

Thanks Keith,

I have reached the minimum acceptable for my application in terms of throttling down: Uploading a smaller file 79MB, single upload stream, low bandwidth, and still get disconnected.

Is this a limitation of the router itself (hardware, small input buffer size) or software related (firmware, lack of dynamic throttling, buffer management etc)?

Would replacing the BT Home Hub 5 with a better one be the answer to this?

Certainly other users might have come accross a similar situation, right?

[Keith_Beddoe]

I believe its an issue with flow control on the home hubs, as its been reported before. Its not the download speed thats the issue, its the upload speed.

https://community.bt.com/t5/BT-Infinity-Speed-Connection/Uploading-Causing-Connection-Drop/m-p/17972...

It this a recent problem, or has it just started?

You might like to try a different router?

The one I use on ADSL, has proper buffering and user defined bandwidth control, so you can limit the upload speed and priority of any device. It only cost £30 and works on VDSL and ADSL.

Its worth a try, you can always return it, if it does not help.

TP-Link TD-W9970 - replacement for home hub

[cboothuk]

I have installed a traffic shaper on my laptop and managed to throttle down uploads for a particular process much further - down to 80KB/s for a file size of 80MB seems to work in this paritcular case.

For those users who have a BT Home Hub 5 and are experiencing issues with Docker push..

1. Reconfigure your dockerd daemon. Set "max-concurrent-uploads" to 1.

2. Run a docker push of your image.

3. If (2) causes your router to drop connection, install a traffic shaper.

4. With the traffic shaper running, run a docker push of your image, take note of the processes and find the one maxing your upload bandwidth.

5. Throttle that particular process down a little and try again until you find the right amount to apply.

If you are pushing Docker images from Windows 10, the process handling the push is called "vpnkit.exe". That is the process you must throttle down.

Finally, thank you Keith for pointing out the source of the problem and the solution, and for taking the time to help out.

Very much appreciated.

Kind regards,

Chris.