Connection issues with Cloudflare

[#1]

I am experiancing issues with Cloudflare. It only appears to be people on Plusnet as all of my firends/colleagues on other providers are not having these problems. If i connect to a VPN then the issue goes away. I had the same issue a few days a go, must be a routing issue somewhere on the BT network but would be nice if Plusnet can escalate it as there are so many services on the internet that use Cloudflare. I did use their DNS but have had to change for now.

Lots of packet loss to Cloudflare DNS:

Reply from 1.1.1.1: bytes=32 time=27ms TTL=52
Reply from 1.1.1.1: bytes=32 time=28ms TTL=52
Request timed out.
Reply from 1.1.1.1: bytes=32 time=27ms TTL=52
Reply from 1.1.1.1: bytes=32 time=27ms TTL=52
Reply from 1.1.1.1: bytes=32 time=28ms TTL=52
Reply from 1.1.1.1: bytes=32 time=41ms TTL=52
Reply from 1.1.1.1: bytes=32 time=27ms TTL=52
Request timed out.
Reply from 1.1.1.1: bytes=32 time=27ms TTL=52

3     7 ms     7 ms     7 ms  213.120.163.4
  4     6 ms     6 ms     6 ms  217.32.240.93
  5     6 ms     6 ms     7 ms  host213-121-192-96.ukcore.bt.net [213.121.192.96]
  6    21 ms     6 ms     8 ms  peer3-et0-1-5.slough.ukcore.bt.net [109.159.252.76]
  7    28 ms    29 ms    29 ms  195.99.126.99
  8    28 ms    27 ms     *     141.101.71.133
  9    28 ms    28 ms     *     one.one.one.one [1.1.1.1]

Google DNS:

Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time=7ms TTL=115
Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time=7ms TTL=115
Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time=7ms TTL=115
Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time=6ms TTL=115
Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time=6ms TTL=115
Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time=8ms TTL=115
Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time=7ms TTL=115
Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time=6ms TTL=115

3     7 ms     6 ms     6 ms  213.120.163.16
  4     6 ms     6 ms     5 ms  217.32.240.95
  5    12 ms     6 ms     7 ms  213.121.192.134
  6     7 ms     6 ms     6 ms  peer8-et-0-0-5.telehouse.ukcore.bt.net [109.159.252.186]
  7     8 ms     8 ms     8 ms  109.159.253.191
  8     9 ms     8 ms     8 ms  216.239.54.127
  9     8 ms     7 ms     7 ms  108.170.234.231
 10     7 ms     7 ms     7 ms  dns.google [8.8.8.8]

[#2]

Its not just you, I've been having issues all afternoon. I'm getting high packet loss at the last BT server and the first Cloudflare server, so I'm not sure where the issue lies exactly.

[#3]

Just to confirm that I'm not seeing the Cloudflare issue on my NON-Plusnet VDSL broadband connection.

Zero packet loss, over 100 traceroutes -

$ mtr -c 100 -w -r  1.1.1.1

Start: 2025-02-22T18:28:51+0000
                          Loss%   Snt  Last   Avg  Best  Wrst StDev
  1.|-- My_Home_Router     0.0%   100   0.2   0.2   0.2   0.2   0.0
  2.|-- My_ISPs_Gateway    0.0%   100   5.5   5.7   5.5   5.8   0.1
  3.|-- My_ISPs_Router     0.0%   100   5.7   5.6   5.4   5.8   0.1
  4.|-- 141.101.71.244     0.0%   100   6.8   7.6   6.4  12.9   2.0
  5.|-- 141.101.71.97      0.0%   100   6.7   7.9   6.0  15.2   2.8
  6.|-- one.one.one.one    0.0%   100   6.3   6.2   6.0   6.4   0.2

and zero losses over 100 pings -

$ ping 1.1.1.1

PING 1.1.1.1 (1.1.1.1) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 1.1.1.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=59 time=6.07 ms
64 bytes from 1.1.1.1: icmp_seq=2 ttl=59 time=5.93 ms
64 bytes from 1.1.1.1: icmp_seq=3 ttl=59 time=6.12 ms
64 bytes from 1.1.1.1: icmp_seq=4 ttl=59 time=6.24 ms
64 bytes from 1.1.1.1: icmp_seq=5 ttl=59 time=6.38 ms
                ...
                ...
64 bytes from 1.1.1.1: icmp_seq=95 ttl=59 time=6.24 ms
64 bytes from 1.1.1.1: icmp_seq=96 ttl=59 time=6.15 ms
64 bytes from 1.1.1.1: icmp_seq=97 ttl=59 time=6.38 ms
64 bytes from 1.1.1.1: icmp_seq=98 ttl=59 time=6.11 ms
64 bytes from 1.1.1.1: icmp_seq=99 ttl=59 time=6.48 ms
64 bytes from 1.1.1.1: icmp_seq=100 ttl=59 time=6.38 ms

Something's not right with your Plusnet route to Cloudflare, as the latency is around 28ms, when Google is 7ms, when normally they are typically about the same.

.

[#4]

Also having some issues on some websites with it loading images slowly, enabling my VPN and the problem goes away.

[#5]

Just tried the same and its not great.

mtr -c 100 -w -r  1.1.1.1
Start: 2025-02-22T18:48:28+0000
HOST: paddy                               Loss%   Snt   Last   Avg  Best  Wrst StDev
  1.|-- _gateway                             3.0%   100    4.7   2.6   1.2   6.9   1.1
  2.|-- 172.16.18.94                         0.0%   100    3.6   5.4   2.5  29.2   3.0
  3.|-- ???                                 100.0   100    0.0   0.0   0.0   0.0   0.0
  4.|-- 128.hiper04.sheff.dial.plus.net.uk   0.0%   100   10.4  11.5   8.5  31.0   2.6
  5.|-- peer2-et-7-0-1.slough.ukcore.bt.net  0.0%   100   12.2  15.7   8.7  51.1   9.6
  6.|-- 195.99.126.97                       22.0%   100   31.0  36.1  29.7  71.1   6.5
  7.|-- 141.101.71.107                      20.0%   100   34.0  35.2  29.0  79.0   7.4
  8.|-- one.one.one.one                     22.0%   100   30.1  31.9  28.4  44.5   3.0

[#6]

Similarly for Discord on NON-Plusnet broadband -

$ mtr -c 100 -w -r  cdn.discordapp.com

Start: 2025-02-22T18:50:24+0000
                                Loss%   Snt  Last   Avg  Best  Wrst StDev
  1.|-- My_Home_Router           0.0%   100   0.2   0.2   0.2   0.3   0.0
  2.|-- My_ISPs_Gateway          0.0%   100   5.8   5.6   5.4   5.8   0.1
  3.|-- My_ISPs_Router           0.0%   100   5.6   5.6   5.4   6.0   0.2
  4.|-- 141.101.71.244           0.0%   100   6.4   9.3   6.3  20.2   5.3
  5.|-- 141.101.71.133           0.0%   100   6.2   7.1   6.0  11.1   1.5
  6.|-- 162.159.130.233          0.0%   100   6.2   6.2   6.0   6.3   0.1

[#7]

Can confirm.  I've had problems all afternoon, and right now about 30% packet loss to 1.1.1.1 from my full fibre connection.

[#8]

Ah - this explains my issues thanks.
Thought it was just my Wifi initially - but it's just the occasional but regular loss, not persistent.

[#9]

Same here. Can't use any cloudflare services.

[#10]

It would seem that Plusnet are throttling our connections to Cloudflare. This is obvious when using the Cloudflare speed tester here: https://speed.cloudflare.com/. If you utilize any other speed test utility, Google, Speedtest.net, Fast.com etc, speeds are showing normal.

[#11]

Or simply maybe there’s an issue on the peering connection(s). Why do people jump to conspiracy theories?

Tracert reports suggest that the issue is way beyond Plusnet’s network.

[#12]

---

@mattmarchy wrote:

It would seem that Plusnet are throttling our connections to Cloudflare. This is obvious when using the Cloudflare speed tester here: https://speed.cloudflare.com/.

---

No, Plusnet aren't throttling your connection.

I can confirm that the Cloudflare speed test is currently working OK on a  NON-Plusnet  broadband -

[#13]

For clarity, this is what I'm currently getting on my Plusnet connection:

And this is my failover with another ISP:

I don't believe this is intentional, hence the use of the word "seems". However, I would like some clarity if someone with the real technical knowledge is able to provide it. 

[#14]

It's ridiculous to think that any ISP would intentionally throttle a connection to a CDN so badly it makes it basically unusuable considering a huge portion of the internet is hosted by cloudflare.... like an insane amount. I went through so many sites this afternoon and when I checked the IP's about 90% were cloudflare. And they all had issues.... yeah it wouldnt happen!

[#15]

---

@nbk wrote:

It's ridiculous to think that any ISP ...

---

... wouldn't have a member of the networking team on emergency call-out over the weekend,

instead potentially leave 1.5 million customers with unusable connections for two days during school half-term !

.