Request Timed Out before getting to ISP

I’m on a network running server running Windows Server 2008 R2 and seem to be having a problem with connection speed to the internet. When I use tracert in the command prompt I always get “request timed out” on the 2nd hop before finding another internal IP address and connecting to our ISP. Another potentially enlightening detail: the “10.208.133.5” internal IP address connected to on the 3rd hop is consistent in all my tracert tests:

Tracing route to google.com [173.194.33.0]
1 <1 ms * <1 ms [192.168.10.1]
2 * * * Request timed out.
3 * 2 ms 2 ms 10.208.133.5
4 10 ms 11 ms 13 ms sea2-pr2-xe-0-3-0-0.us.twtelecom.net [66.192.243.34]
5 11 ms 11 ms 11 ms 66.192.241.5
6 * 11 ms 11 ms 66.249.94.212
7 11 ms 13 ms 15 ms 209.85.253.24
8 11 ms 11 ms 11 ms sea09s01-in-f0.1e100.net [173.194.33.0]
Trace complete.

Many users complain about slow internet connection speeds, and the location of this "Request Timed Out" implies to me that the problem is on my side because it occurs before I even get to the ISP. A similar cadence (seemingly slow connection to start, followed by expected speed) is noticed by users on the network when attempting to connect to the websites with a browser.

What are the “usual suspects” for a situation such as this?

Thank you!

Shane Taylor

Posted 2013-01-03T21:29:38.967

Reputation: 23

2If you have a working connection, the "usual suspect" would be that the second hop is simply not replying to pings. Do you have hosts on the 10. network? If so, do they experience slow speeds? – user142485 – 2013-01-03T21:54:35.700

Answers

Well the usual suspect of Request Timed Out on a tracert scan is that node in particular has ICMP disable, basicly, it doesn't respond to ping requests even the there is something there. I wouldn't attribute internet slowness due to that. We need more detail about the network, or the ISP to be able to find that out. It could be anything to a bad DNS server or the bandwidth for the number of users your trying to serve, or if you are running a domain, the server might be overloaded.

Please provide more detail.

Chad Harrison

Posted 2013-01-03T21:29:38.967

Reputation: 5 759

Thanks for the feedback. Unfortunately I was taken off this task by my boss, so I won't be able to provide more detail. Your feedback did help to steer the person now responsible for it. – Shane Taylor – 2013-01-10T17:53:44.610

It cannot be a bad DNS server -- DNS server responses have no impact on the measured ICMP latency (or "request timed out" lines for that matter) in a traceroute. This particular traceroute shows "lost" responses from the very first route, and that continues up until it actually crosses from the origin network to the ISP (Time Warner Telecom) in hop 3-4. His best bet is to focus on the origin network, and determine why hop 1 has intermittent responses, and hop 2 is missing -- is it always like that, or just when he's having a problem? – oo. – 2013-03-25T17:34:54.050