Comcast issues in Chicago

[Led]

Comcast problems in Chicago
Aug 14 2016 12:38:07 AM PT    Comcast has been struggling in Chicago recently with overloaded transit/peering connections (for a couple of months, but particularly within the last two weeks). This has caused packet loss for many Comcast customers at times. We have been working hard to optimize the traffic to Comcast as much as we can in order to limit the amount of loss that is seen.

Most recently, Comcast has been particularly bad about overloading its connection to Tata (in the Tata->Cogent direction). We have completely excluded that provider from the outbound route selection now, but since Comcast is also overloading connections to other providers, this isn't a full resolution. We are continuing to work on our selection system to have it better juggle which provider is better moment-to-moment and client-to-client.

When packet loss is seen to a client, that client may observe it in the form of poorly-responding interactive sessions, slow or interrupted data transfers, skipping in game servers, or choppy audio in voice servers.