/forum-replies.cfm?t=976876

the thread mentions nothing about westnet users being able to access "free" usg from iinet ... well .. there is one post but not confirmed from a westnet rep .. so can we?

Test it? Download something from the iiNet FTP mirror and see if your usage increments by roughly that amount?

well account is shaped and was just d/l file at shaped speeds

It would be disappointing if they don't open up the iiNet freezone to Westnet. Unfair also.

Hopefully they will.

Cheers

sk3l3t0r writes...

well account is shaped and was just d/l file at shaped speeds

If your account is shaped, anything you download will be at shaped speeds, regardless of if it's located inside the Westnet Neighborhood or not.

At least, from my (apparently hazy!) memory that's how it works.

-B.

Brad Peczka writes...

anything you download will be at shaped speeds, regardless of if it's located inside the Westnet Neighborhood or not.

Hello Brad

If you are shaped, anything you download inside the WN Neighbourhood is downloaded at full speed.

Chris

Chris Atkins writes...

If you are shaped, anything you download inside the WN Neighbourhood is downloaded at full speed.

I stand corrected :-)

-B.

Obviously? the westnet "neighbourhood" does not include fellow westnet customers.

sk3l3t0r writes...

the thread mentions nothing about westnet users being able to access "free" usg from iinet

Yeah I saw that post, I thought it was a little strange.

Most would think iiNet would first do things to help suppress Westnet customer concerns and offer quota free access to their systems. Last I saw it was us users contemplating jumping ship.

So first impressions I have is take take take as quickly as possible.

That's true but, consider the weight of the freezone for each ISP. 3fl is probably the most significant resource between both companies, so it makes sense to go first.

iinet doesn't have any better free content services to offer us do they? 3fl is way better then games.iinet.com.au

here is a list of iinet free content for gaming
ftp.iinet.net.au/games

iiNet has the Gamershell mirror, the VOD Premier League & Drift Racing and a few other tidbits. The VOD stuff is the most popular though, by far.

And they will be adding more VOD in the coming months.

I think most people who have watched iiNet & Westnet over the years will have noticed some significant differences between the 2 organisations. For example, iiNet has been an industry leader in infrastructure and new technologies, and Westnet has led in customer service. Both of these approaches come at a cost though. Being leading edge has sometimes meant iiNet has, necessarily, been bleeding edge, sometimes frustrating customers who suffered the consequences of early release systems and products. Having stability and customer service as Westnet's focus, has meant we have, necessarily, been slow to release new products & develop systems, and sometimes cautious to the point of not releasing a product at all if we felt it may negatively impact our reputation. Again, this has sometimes frustrated our customers.

Both companies have been both applauded and criticised for their choices, as the most important thing to some people is that they get it now, where to others, it's to have it well tested. Westnet's approach means that we rarely give time estimates for product release, because we like to hold products back until we have an acceptable level of stability. It also means that iiNet have been happy to add Westnet content to their free zone, while there's been no corresponding change to Westnet's Neighbourhood.

This is all a long (and potentially defensive :)) way of saying that iiNet generally get products out quicker than Westnet :).

As has been stated many times, it's business as usual at Westnet, and while we have access to a range of new products (including iiNet's content), we'll continue to completely research and develop our products, even ones that look simple like free traffic, so that we don't put our reputation or viability at risk through rushed decisions.

I haven't been across any discussions relating to adding iiNet content to the Westnet Neighbourhood, but I would expect that some iiNet content will be made available under the Neighbourhood, once the necessary i's have been dotted and t's crossed (with respect to costs, reliability & systems).

Chris

Chris Thomas writes...

expect to wait a while

Fixed.

Seriously though, thanks for that reply Chris, it is interesting to see the mindset of the organisation.

iOffline writes...

Seriously though, thanks for that reply Chris, it is interesting to see the mindset of the organisation.

Yep. I've never had anything to do with iiNet so I've never been following whats been happening over there.

When you look at it from what Chris said you do get a better understanding why Westnet looked so good to buy.

When going to the 3FL Mirror Seem to be hitting the Sydney one instead

Tracing route to mirror.3fl.net.au [203.21.20.200]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 <1 ms 1 ms 1 ms adsl.bradleyamm.org [192.168.1.2]
2 12 ms 12 ms 12 ms nexthop.wa.ii.net [203.59.14.16]
3 12 ms 12 ms 12 ms gi2-4.per-qv1-bdr2.ii.net [203.215.4.34]
4 69 ms 68 ms 69 ms gi0-15-1-1.syd-stl-core1.ii.net [203.215.20.66]
5 69 ms 69 ms 69 ms te1-4.syd-ult-bdr2.ii.net [203.215.20.93]
6 69 ms 69 ms 69 ms te1-2.syd-ult-bdr1.ii.net [203.215.20.146]
7 69 ms 69 ms 69 ms te0-15-0-0.syd-ult-core1.ii.net [203.215.20.30]
8 69 ms 69 ms 70 ms AS9543.sydney.pipenetworks.com [218.100.2.42]
9 70 ms 69 ms 69 ms 203.21.20.200

Trace complete.

But from a Colo in Perth i hit the Perth one

traceroute to mirror.3fl.net.au (203.21.20.200), 64 hops max, 44 byte packets
1 per-core1.fasthit.net.au (202.53.4.2) 0.887 ms 0.800 ms 0.659 ms
2 per-brd0.fasthit.net.au (202.53.4.253) 1.037 ms 1.016 ms 0.949 ms
3 fasthit-transit-link-1-2.conceptua­ ­ l.net.au (203.190.192.178) 1.433 ms 1.587 ms 1.238 ms
4 westnet.ix.waia.asn.au (198.32.212.6) 1.647 ms 6.403 ms 7.775 ms
5 gi0-1.core.op.wa.westnet.com.au (202.72.148.130) 9.080 ms 7.472 ms 5.603 ms
6 203.21.20.200 (203.21.20.200) 6.239 ms 5.999 ms 4.731 ms

Shouldn't you be asking iiNet why they're routing you that way?

It's actually due to how Westnet advertises via BGP, AFAIK. The same goes for their primary recursive DNS server - if you trace to it from an iiNet connection in Perth it'll hit the one in Sydney. On a Westnet connection you'll be delivered to the closest one thanks to multicasting, but outside of their network you'll hit the equipment in Sydney. I remember asking about this a little while ago.

i.e:
elithrars-mbp:~ elithrar$ traceroute 203.21.20.20
traceroute to 203.21.20.20 (203.21.20.20), 64 hops max, 40 byte packets
1 192.168.0.1 (192.168.0.1) 2.006 ms 1.631 ms 1.450 ms
2 nexthop.wa.ii.net (203.59.14.16) 18.841 ms 19.122 ms 19.144 ms
3 gi2-6.per-qv1-bdr1.ii.net (203.215.4.72) 18.003 ms 18.265 ms 18.837 ms
4 gi0-15-1-0.syd-ult-core1.ii.net (203.215.20.2) 77.139 ms 76.136 ms gi0-15-1-1.syd-ult-core1.ii.net (203.215.20.4) 75.840 ms
5 AS9543.sydney.pipenetworks.com (218.100.2.42) 74.616 ms 75.979 ms 75.055 ms
6 * * *

elithrars-mbp:~ elithrar$ traceroute mirror.3fl.net.au
traceroute to mirror.3fl.net.au (203.21.20.200), 64 hops max, 40 byte packets
1 192.168.0.1 (192.168.0.1) 2.012 ms 1.434 ms 1.455 ms
2 nexthop.wa.ii.net (203.59.14.16) 18.024 ms 17.790 ms 18.336 ms
3 gi2-6.per-qv1-bdr2.ii.net (203.215.4.74) 18.500 ms 18.761 ms 18.594 ms
4 gi0-15-1-1.syd-stl-core1.ii.net (203.215.20.66) 73.807 ms 76.283 ms 74.070 ms
5 te0-13-0-0.syd-ult-core1.ii.net (203.215.20.128) 73.313 ms 74.488 ms 73.495 ms
6 AS9543.sydney.pipenetworks.com (218.100.2.42) 74.396 ms 73.929 ms 73.949 ms
7 203.21.20.200 (203.21.20.200) 73.584 ms 74.061 ms 73.953 ms

Why is my tracert from a Colo on FastHit hitting the Perth 3FL Mirror. They have 2 servers. 1 in Perth and 1 in Sydney using Anycasting

traceroute to mirror.3fl.net.au (203.21.20.200), 64 hops max, 44 byte packets
1 per-core1.fasthit.net.au (202.53.4.2) 0.887 ms 0.800 ms 0.659 ms
2 per-brd0.fasthit.net.au (202.53.4.253) 1.037 ms 1.016 ms 0.949 ms
3 fasthit-transit-link-1-2.conceptua­ ­ ­ l.net.au (203.190.192.178) 1.433 ms 1.587 ms 1.238 ms
4 westnet.ix.waia.asn.au (198.32.212.6) 1.647 ms 6.403 ms 7.775 ms
5 gi0-1.core.op.wa.westnet.com.au (202.72.148.130) 9.080 ms 7.472 ms 5.603 ms
6 203.21.20.200 (203.21.20.200) 6.239 ms 5.999 ms 4.731 ms

Brad Amm writes...

Why is my tracert from a Colo on FastHit hitting the Perth 3FL Mirror.

Maybe they've added a static route across WAIX for that IP address?