Packet Filtering on the Backbone of the Internet?

An Open Letter to W-Link Technical Support

Joel R. Voss
jvoss@myuw.net

Introduction

I have a box in <company>'s rack (207.244.153.137). I have noticed that although everything works perfectly (431 days uptime) I have a problem with data transfer rates to machines in the Westin (2ms and 4 hops away). I suspect that there is some type of router that is seriously mucking stuff up with the link. It makes sense that it'd be on your turf. I thought I'd let you know and see what you think. It's quite likely that I'll be moving my server to the Westin soon, but it is important for you to ensure proper workings of your systems. Also if I ever want to host something in Bothell, I'd go with your company.

From DSL, I can get 140KB/s from my server in <company>'s rack or from the Westin. From my server in <company>'s rack, I get uneven 40KB/s and 80KB/s from the Westin. It is very pronounced. What is going on?

Data

The data is below:
ASLinWs01 is on DSL.
ASBsdSv10 is in <company>'s rack.
dedication.neg9.org is in the Westin.

jvoss@ASLinWs01:~$ scp neg9.org:/usr/pub/file ~/file
Enter passphrase for key '/home/jvoss/.ssh/id_dsa':
file                                         100%  428KB 142.7KB/s   00:03

jvoss@AsBsdSv10:~/neg91$ scp neg9.org:/usr/pub/file ./file
Enter passphrase for key '/home/jvoss/.ssh/id_dsa':
file                                       0%   14MB  84.2KB/s 10:39:41 ET

jvoss@ASLinWs01:~$ scp altsci.com:~/neg91/file ./file
Enter passphrase for key '/home/jvoss/.ssh/id_dsa':
file                                     28% 4720KB 156.4KB/s 01:15 ETA

jvoss@dedication:~> traceroute 207.244.153.137
traceroute to 207.244.153.137 (207.244.153.137), 64 hops max, 40 byte packets
1  216.10.66.1 (216.10.66.1)  0.368 ms  0.337 ms  0.239 ms
2  208.99.192.129 (208.99.192.129)  0.254 ms  0.266 ms  0.223 ms
3  208.99.192.134 (208.99.192.134)  16.755 ms  0.962 ms  0.916 ms
4  207.244.153.137 (207.244.153.137)  1.914 ms  1.496 ms  2.097 ms

jvoss@AsBsdSv10:~$ traceroute neg9.org
traceroute to neg9.org (208.99.207.109), 64 hops max, 40 byte packets
1  7206-ge-0-1-80.bot.w-link.net (207.244.158.161)  0.340 ms  0.710 ms  0.494
ms
2  208.99.192.133 (208.99.192.133)  1.915 ms  1.943 ms  2.50 ms
3  208.99.192.130 (208.99.192.130)  2.422 ms  1.775 ms  1.274 ms