JP ISP Query

[gamma-ro]

OK...

Since I moved back to Tokyo from Sapporo last spring, I have had 100mb Hikari Fibre in my home. It was provided as the default for my building (it's brand new) and since it has been so fast, i have not had too many issues with is.

Well, because I like to play online games from time to time, and because I need to do some VPN connections with clients and whatnot, problems have arisen via NAT because of lame router issues which makes it such that I can't open ports. (Simply buying a new router and replacing the old one will not solve the problem because of the way my building is wired with my current ISP.)

Anywax-trax...

After spending a good deal of time on the phone with my ISP (e-Mansion), I realised that like many Japanese service companies, they are idiots. They don't know much about the internet, and let alone what DNS servers are (they actually claim to not have them - for which I congratulated them in being the first ISP in the history of internet to not have them), and they couldn't give me information on how to connect to my router because they insist there is not one in my apartment (even though they were the ones who installed it), or really give me any help at all, I have decided to switch ISPs to NTT. At first I wanted KDDI since I used them in Sapporo, but they don't have fibre laid in my area. But NTT seems reliable enough, especially since they offer lots of providers.

I can choose from the following companies for my internet via NTT:
The heavy-weight players: Nifty, Biglobe, So-Net, OCN
The light-weight players: Purara, Hi-Ho, Wake Waku

Unfortunately, I don't have any history with any of them, so I am coming here to ask any people who may be using or have used any of these providers to let me know their thoughts and / or experiences.

Basically, I just want to make sure that I can have a provider who will not withhold my relevant numbers form me (DNS, etc.) so I can set up my own router, and will allow me to use said router such that I can connect to the settings myself and open ports for the reasons which I listed earlier.

Your help and input is greatly appreciated.

[Ketou]

I can't really help with your main question but I can say you maybe in for a wait. We ordered our hikari fibre in November (NTT) and are still waiting for a connection date. All they can say is, "we're not sure when".
Can't you just use 192.168.0.1 to access your router though?

[gamma-ro]

Actually, NTT has told us that our connection will be live next Thursday. Our area is already wired, so it's just a matter of service activation. My guess is that your delay is because all the wires haven't been set in your area. (I had to wait a few weeks in Sapporo for my high speed internet because of that.)

Anyway, in regards to the current router setup I have... My router's IP is actually different from that. On top of that, it is actually acting more like a hub than a router, as e-mansion has has everyone using their service in our building going through a building router - to which I am not allowed to access and open any ports. I asked if there is any way around this, and they said "no". So that is why I am going to go with a provider which is not wired to service my whole building, neighbours and all. Sure, I know I will have to share fibre with people in my area, but at least it will be via my own connection over which I should have some control.

Thanks for the reply, though...

[gamma-ro]

Well, I ended up going through Biglobe. Things went well for quite some time, but now they seem to be throttling any communications I have via non-standard ports. Even if I encrypt them.

This is extremely lame because I need to transfer huge video and audio files with colleagues in Europe, and it kind of puts a cramp in things when my speed used to be as much as 1.5 MB/s, but then all of a sudden gets throttled down to around 100 KB/s.

Anyone know if any of the others ISP's I listed above do not throttle speeds?

[IkemenTommy]

I get the same problem when I connect to the company VPN. I have mansion hikari, but the bandwidth on my wireless drops from 20Mbps to 100kbps when I am on the VPN. It sucks donkey balls but I don't have any other choice.

[gamma-ro]

Well I know that NTT has several providers, and I am wondering if some of those other ones don't care as much. When I had KDDI in Sapporo it was a non-issue. My hikari-mansion service which came with my new flat in Tokyo was pretty lame, but it was universally lame, so if one thing worked well in one aspect, it worked well in all aspects - and if one thing worked poorly in one aspect, it worked poorly in all aspects.

The thing is, for around 2 weeks I had ZERO port issues after I migrated to NTT BG B Flet's. Everything went smoothly. Then I got throttled to something like 100-200k shared for that one port. So after some searching for a decent port I moved to another and encrypted, and everything seemed to be just fine. But then last night I got throttled again, this time including completely segregate ports I use for broadcasting and remote access and blah blah blah. And I find this to be completely unacceptable.

Of course trying to talk to anyone at customer service yields only (I'm guessing) tilted heads, lots of "ehhhh to"'s, and 10 minute sessions of being on hold to be told they don't know what to do after asking me the same three questions they asked me just before they put me on hold again.

What really blows is that I am paying for fibre, so I should get it. I mean, nobody needs fibre solely for net-surfing and e-mail checking. That's all low data transmissions which went fast enough on 10mbps DSL I had several years ago. The whole point of fibre is to have fast speeds for large file transmissions, and if they ban me from doing it, then what is it exactly for which I am paying?

Sorry for the mini-rant, there. But this is an extremely crucial issue for me, and I really don't know how or where else to ask for advice.

It's days like these when I need to try and find ways to remind myself why I like living in Japan.

[cstaylor]

I get the same problem when I connect to the company VPN. I have mansion hikari, but the bandwidth on my wireless drops from 20Mbps to 100kbps when I am on the VPN. It sucks donkey balls but I don't have any other choice.

What's your VPN? PPTP? IPSEC? Give us some info and maybe somebody can help you out. For one thing, unless you're using a Sonicwall or something that handles the VPN for you, you can configure your VPN client to only route packets for the corporate network over the VPN connection.

[Big Booger]

What modem do you have? I am certain, that almost all modems sold via NTT come with the ability to forward ports even with NAT. I have a NAT based router that I lease from NTT and I have ports forwarded for bittorrent and several other applications.

I think you should check your users manual as many provide information on setting up port forwarding. And you can try to set up a DMZ for the PC that you want to do the VPN or gaming on. A DMZ basically bypasses all restrictions with the modem giving the IP address of the machine you set up with DMZ full access to the net, so it's not really secure but it works.

[IkemenTommy]

What's your VPN? PPTP? IPSEC? Give us some info and maybe somebody can help you out. For one thing, unless you're using a Sonicwall or something that handles the VPN for you, you can configure your VPN client to only route packets for the corporate network over the VPN connection.

AFAIK, I am using the Nortel Client. I have no idea about the pptp and ipsec.. it says that the IPSec NAT is inactive. I can't access certain ports and sites when I am connected on the company VPN. They started to cock block FG at work recently because I am sure the admins deem the site inappropriate. Any help is appreciated.

[gamma-ro]

Booger... Thanks for the info, but I already opened up several different port ranges, and it is clear that my ISP throttled them. I have no NAT issues or anything of that ilk, as everything shows up 5x5, it's just that the speed is way the hell down now.

Personally, I do not use a VPN, we use another programme (KDX) to handle our file sharing with each other which allows for encrypted communication. Easier to set up than VPN, and it has lots of nice features which makes our collaboration process very easy. But I digress.

I have subsequently set up a very contrived process where I allow my server in LA to act as a proxy for my communications with my colleagues and just route all my file xfers through port 80 via my web browser. It's ugly, non-encrypted, and less secure, but it works. As such, I won't be looking into changing ISP's for a while, so I suppose you can ignore my request for assistance for now.

Thanks again though for your concern and advice...