How do I resolve occasional severe internet connection problems with overseas trading company software, is this caused by routing lags?

Question

I live in Australia, and login to a US based trading company software for work. Generally my connection to this software is good with maybe 1-2 dropouts every 1-2 days (in a 5-6 hour period). When this occurs I usually just need to log back in and everything is fine after that, however a couple of times a month I will experience several hours where I either:

• Can login, but then data on the software is not updating properly (with the software sometimes displaying a "connecting" error), and so then I can't use the software.
• Or I login, but then soon after have a connection problem and get logged out.

These periods are extremely dangerous because if there is a market move against me and I can't trade, I can't make any adjustments to my trades and I'm flying blind. An occasional logout, but then being able to log back in in a couple of minutes is no problem.

It seems like in good times and bad my internet connection speeds (wired LAN), and ping/tracert results are pretty similar.

• My internet connection speed is around 47MBps download speed.
• I have attached ping/tracert example results during a bad connection period.

Optus ISP ping/tracert results:

^{(Click images to enlarge)}

The trading company says it is the lag in Singapore through my Optus ISP that is causing the problem, and that I should see if the ISP can optimize my routing to login.silexx.com. Unfortunately my ISP is not proving very helpful with this. Someone also mentioned to me that due to the distance of the jump, the lag is expected/normal.

I have also tried logging in through a VPN (just to have a different routing path). This seems to yield similar ping/tracert time results, and when I was having serious connection problems yesterday - using the VPN wasn't resolving the issue.

VPN tracert/ping results:

My questions are:

• How do I check that the lag/internet routing is the actual problem - and not just an excuse used by the software company?
• If the ISP won't/can't optimize my route is there a way of doing so myself?
• Is there any point trying a different VPN?
• Is there any point having a backup mobile internet connection with a different provider, but how do I know which provider's routing might be successful/how do I know this will resolve the problem?
• Are there any other solutions that I haven't thought of?

Answer 1

I think your vendor is full of crap, but first, the answers to your questions:

How do I check that the lag/internet routing is the actual problem - and not just an excuse used by the software company?

A typical tracert will only show three round-trips for each hop. When the problem ("connecting error") happens, run a My traceroute (Windows version: WinMTR) repeatedly for several thousand samples and monitor the packet loss. You can also test at shorter intervals, like 1/10 of a second, to get more results.

If the packet loss starts somewhere in the middle and at the end is more than a few percent, that is more likely to mean that there is a routing issue. Where the packet loss begins is the culprit.

If the packet loss starts at a hop controlled by your vendor (close to the end or at the end), it's probably on them.

If there is no packet loss, it's probably not a routing issue.

If the ISP won't/can't optimize my route is there a way of doing so myself?

You're already doing the right thing by trying a VPN.

Is there any point trying a different VPN?

Sure, to get another route. If a certain route is working better, maybe routing is involved. If you're not seeing any difference, then it's less likely that routing is a contributing factor to the problem.

Is there any point having a backup mobile internet connection with a different provider, but how do I know which provider's routing might be successful/how do I know this will resolve the problem?

A VPN connection should cover this case already, unless the routing error is starting early in the traceroute.

If your packet loss starts early in the hops, this means that your ISP is dropping packets to the Internet. You may notice that websites all over are slow or not loading. In this case, it would be helpful to try a backup ISP.

Are there any other solutions that I haven't thought of?

Yes, your software vendor is probably deflecting the true cause of the connectivity issues.

You said, "I login, but then soon after have a connection problem and get logged out.", but think about almost every other web service you log in to. If you disconnect from and reconnect to the Internet while using the website, you're probably not going to be logged out. Why does your vendor log you out?

Seems like crappy software.

Furthermore, your traceroutes during the "bad" times are pretty typical for Australia to United States with no conclusive evidence of packet loss.

Ruling out the network connection, the next-most likely cause is that the vendor's server becomes inoperative "a couple of times a month" for "several hours", and the vendor's software can't cope with the server being unusable for any amount of time.

My advice to you is to start developing a contingency plan for if/when your vendor disappears. It sounds like there is no ability to work offline, which suggests that your data is locked in with them.

You can also try to get the vendor to fix their software so that it's more resilient to server unreachable conditions, but I wouldn't count on it.