Very slow response from one website on Windows PC - iPad fine

[NEILGUNN]

Over recent weeks I have noticed that accessing one particular website from my Windows PC that I use a lot (thegvoffice.com ... IP address 104.21.64.1) has become very slow and often pages do not load without multiple refreshes.

Other useful information:

Windows up to date, cache cleared
Ethernet Connection to router (Fibre 500)
Issue is on Firefox, Edge and Chrome (all up to date)
Tried with Norton on and off
If I use the website via iPad or iPhone  via the broadband connection it works fine on that website (apparently iPads route differently to Windows devices)
Tried to change DNS on PC to Google (8.8.8.8 / 8.8.4.4) and Cloudflare (1.1.1.1 / 1.0.0.1) - no different
Tracert indicates a slow routing with timeouts

Conclusion - there is a routing issue from my windows PC to that website as all other sites work very quickly.

I called EE CS but they were unable to assist and said it was a device issue (I am not convinced) and suggested I raised a question here.

So - I'm calling on the 'HIVE COMMUNITY' for any suggestions...

Thanks

Neil

[NEILGUNN]

Hello Peter

On this second call they did not ask me to do any tests - they just logged the tests I'd already done and ran speed checks on my broadband service (fibre to the house recently installed). The site is thegvoffice.com (there is a login needed to access the database)

1. PC to SmartHub2 (SH2) via ethernet - site requests timed out
2. PC to SH2 via wifi - site requests timed out
3. PC to site via tethered connection to a mobile on 3 - site requests worked fine

They suggested a call to CLOUDFLARE and to the team that manage the GVO application that uses the CLOUDFLARE service

I set up a CLOUDFLARE community account and asked the question and also spotted a similar ticket with request timeouts to another site that uses CLOUDFLARE when using EE/BT broadband - the suggestion was that the IPv6 settings on the SH2 might be the issue .

I checked - there are 4 settings (Hub Admin/IPv6/Config)

1. Stateless (this was what was set)
2. Stateful
3. Both
4. Off

The suggestion was turn it OFF. So I did. The site now seems to be working fine on my Windows PC via EE broadband. ....but still early days.

I am now searching to see if there any issues about switching it OFF or of 'Stateful' or 'Both' are better options.

It is all a mystery to me.

Thanks, Neil

[Peter_W]

Thanks for explaining all of that for me @NEILGUNN.

I'm glad that you've found a workaround that's doing the job for now, but it definitely makes sense to review all of the different options here. 

Whilst this is really simple, as part of the tests you've tried since this issue started occurring, did you ever do a full reset on your Hub?

EE broadband has a dynamic IP, and if you leave your Hub off for a good 30 seconds or so and start it back up you should be assigned a new one. 

This can rule out the option that the issues you've experienced are specifically between Cloudflare and the particular IP you were assigned at that moment.

Peter

[NEILGUNN]

Hello @Peter_W

That is a very interesting point - the SH2 may have been switched off very briefly at some point but never for as long as 30 seconds and probably not since the issue became problematic.

My next steps ....

1. Do a full reset on the SH2
2. Switch it off and leave for a few minutes and restart
3. Try the various IPv6 settings to see what happens when I try to use thegvoffice.com (which uses CLOUDFLARE services).

Thanks!

Neil

[Peter_W]

Cheers @NEILGUNN!
Keep us posted on how things go 😊

Peter

[NEILGUNN]

@Peter_W  ...with IPv6 switched to 'off' on my SH2 the access to the Cloudflare served application is working much better. 

I've joined a user community on the CLOUDFLARE system and it appears that others are experiencing the same issue ...it seems to be a connectivity issue between BT/EE broadband and Cloudflare from the various reports. This is the thread I'm following (one of two) ... https://community.cloudflare.com/t/uk-connectivity-problems-over-ipv6-on-bt-and-ee-networks/797407/4

I'm not sure how issues like this get flagged to EE/BT and Cloudflare tech support - hopefully if there is enough noise from the two communities they will look into it.

Thanks, Neil