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EE 4G MTU query

teleman6868

Pro Member
Hi folks. Hoping your knowledge can help me with a query.

I have the B818-263 on EE 4G. Everything is great. Our family got an Xbox for Christmas and annoyingly it fails the Xbox‘s online multiplayer check because the MTU is too low. The Xbox reports an MTU of 1370. If I run pings from a command line on my laptop, I can ping 1372 before fragmentation starts.

The B818 doesn’t have an MTU config setting for LTE. I spotted in an earlier post about the B535 you can query MTU through Chrome’s console, and this reports 1500. I thought LTE H-Monitor used to allow config of MTU, but can’t see an option there.

Question - is MTU defined by EE’s network setup and there’s nothing I can do about this? Or is it possible that my home network is somehow contributing to the low MTU?

Thanks in advance.
 
I think it's something on your side that changes the mtu. Try to disable anything firewall, voip, sip etc in the settings and see if it's better.
 
I spotted in an earlier post about the B535 you can query MTU through Chrome’s console, and this reports 1500.
Glad to hear that someone else has been able together some use out of my post and that it works on a B818 too! This means that there is a chance that my script from that thread for changing the MTU setting will also work on a B818.

I've just checked my MTU setting on my 4g EE connected B535-232 and it is reporting 1500, this is confirmed by running a ping from my laptop without fragmentation.

As Lucian says, it could be something on your internal network causing the issue. Have you tried a direct ethernet connection from your laptop to the router to rollout any wifi issues?
 
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Thanks very much both. This is good (if not great) news as I was thinking it would be a network thing and I am stuck with it.

I have a TP-Link switch connected to the router with all network devices plugged in there. I run ethernet cables from the switch to TP-Link EAP225 APs to get coverage throughout my house. The Xbox connects wirelessly to one of those, so there are a few elements I need to investigate. I am also connecting to EE in dual IPv4/IPv6 mode and devices do get both addresses.

I need to try a direct connection to the router first, but it’s a bit cold today and the router is in the loft!

Thanks for the input. I will let you know how I go over the weekend.
 
Try to disable the b818 firewall and any related settings like alg, sip, voip etc etc before going in the loft, see if it makes a difference.

EE won some praise somewhat recently for how good gaming was on their mobile network, surely this would not have happened had the Xboxes failed to connect generally. So i don't think it's their network.
 
I just remembered that I also have an EE sim in my phone. If I run an MTU test when disconnected from WiFi, going straight to the tower, I also get a low MTU at this site.

https://www.speedguide.net/analyzer.php

Does this not suggest that my issue is with the network? I was wondering if other EE people get MTU = 1402 reported from the site?

Before I start reconfiguring everything.....
 
Here's what it reports for my EE connection, over wifi:

« SpeedGuide.net TCP Analyzer Results »
Tested on: 2021.01.17 05:35
IP address: 213.205.xxx.xxx
Client OS/browser: Android (Firefox 84.0)

TCP options string: 020405480402080a06e641b90000000001030308
MSS: 1352
MTU: 1392
TCP Window: 87808 (not multiple of MSS)
RWIN Scaling: 8 bits (2^8=256)
Unscaled RWIN : 343
Recommended RWINs: 64896, 129792, 259584, 519168, 1038336
BDP limit (200ms): 3512kbps (439KBytes/s)
BDP limit (500ms): 1405kbps (176KBytes/s)
MTU Discovery: ON
TTL: 45
Timestamps: ON
SACKs: ON
IP ToS: 00000000 (0)
 
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Thank you. Maybe that site is untrustworthy. I just put a Three SIM in an old phone and it reported 1360.

I have remembered that my venerable Huawei B593 is in my loft too, and that (from memory) has MTU config for LTE. So trying my EE SIM in there is my next step.
 
Thank you. Maybe that site is untrustworthy. I just put a Three SIM in an old phone and it reported 1360.

I have remembered that my venerable Huawei B593 is in my loft too, and that (from memory) has MTU config for LTE. So trying my EE SIM in there is my next step.
My Three and Virgin Mobile (EE) sims report the same poor values on that website.

My CPE Pro 2 Has its MTU set at 1500.

I have no problems showing on the Xbox multiplayer test teleman6868.
 

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Thanks for testing that. Everyone on here is so helpful!
You're very welcome, I forgot to add that the console is reporting an MTU of only 1386 but no packet loss and no moaning errors anywhere.
 
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You're very welcome, I forgot to add that the console is reporting an MTU of only 1386 but no packet loss and no moaning errors anywhere.
Nice setup by the way (forgot to say that first time round!)

I like the XSX's network test options. With an MTU in the 1300s, if you choose the 'Test multiplayer connection' option, doesn't it come back and say 'There is an MTU problem'?

I should add that this MTU issue doesn't stop general online play. It only impacts specific P2P activities like groups and trying to connect to someone else's worlds in Minecraft. Things like Sea of Thieves and Forza appear fine.
 
Nice setup by the way (forgot to say that first time round!)

I like the XSX's network test options. With an MTU in the 1300s, if you choose the 'Test multiplayer connection' option, doesn't it come back and say 'There is an MTU problem'?

I should add that this MTU issue doesn't stop general online play. It only impacts specific P2P activities like groups and trying to connect to someone else's worlds in Minecraft. Things like Sea of Thieves and Forza appear fine.
Cheers teleman6868, no that's why i mentioned the MTU result, it's not much more than yours, but it never reports I have an MTU problem anywhere.

(The screenshot above was from 'test multiplayer connection')
 
Thanks for confirming again.

At present, I have to conclude it's the EE network causing this. I have connected to my B593 (old router) using a laptop and an ethernet cable. The B593 has MTU configured to 1500. The maximum I can ping from a command line without fragmentation is 1372, which I take to mean 1400 is my maximum when the 28 is added for headers.

My understanding of MTU is limited. Would the network negotiate MTU down if my signal strength is not great? I currently have RSRP -97 and RSRQ -7 (B593 doesn't report SNR and can't be accessed by H-Monitor). But those stats are fine for fast speeds. My B818 exhibits the same behaviour with good signal stats.

Living rurally, I'm connecting to the only EE tower available. Once I'm allowed to travel again, I can test others.
 
Thanks for confirming again.

At present, I have to conclude it's the EE network causing this. I have connected to my B593 (old router) using a laptop and an ethernet cable. The B593 has MTU configured to 1500. The maximum I can ping from a command line without fragmentation is 1372, which I take to mean 1400 is my maximum when the 28 is added for headers.

My understanding of MTU is limited. Would the network negotiate MTU down if my signal strength is not great? I currently have RSRP -97 and RSRQ -7 (B593 doesn't report SNR and can't be accessed by H-Monitor). But those stats are fine for fast speeds. My B818 exhibits the same behaviour with good signal stats.

Living rurally, I'm connecting to the only EE tower available. Once I'm allowed to travel again, I can test others.
Here's my current router figures as reported by Hua Ctrl.
I have really never had to alter my MTU settings ever, so I have very little knowledge what major differences changing it would actually do teleman6868.

I do tend to agree with you it's the mobile networks causing your problems though, although why I don't get MTU errors on 3 is a mystery as my MTU results on 3 aren't wildly different to your EE MTU results.
 

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Those speedguide results are definitely not reliable as it reports 1402 for my ee connection yet my pings are quite happy at 1500. This does sound like it could be an issue at EE's end - perhaps they have an issue with the backhaul on the mast. Have you checked the EE coverage maps to see if there are any faults reported on your mast?
 
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No faults are reported but I might give EE a call in the morning as speeds don’t seem great at the moment. Maybe they’re throttling my line. I hope not!
 
Don't think they'd throttle you. Do let us know what you learn re MTU.
 
BTW, not sure how to do it on Windows, but in Linux you can use the tracepath command and it'll show you mtu changes along the way. e.g.

~]$ tracepath bbc.co.uk
1?: [LOCALHOST] pmtu 1500
1: _gateway 0.524ms
1: _gateway 0.509ms
2: _gateway 0.473ms pmtu 1440
2: 192.168.118.1 4.053ms
3: no reply
4: 10.124.71.1 32.501ms
5: 10.124.222.84 45.430ms
6: 10.124.72.165 55.699ms
...

In my case my gw changes the mtu to 1440 (I'm aware of that, it's a B535).

Needless to say, a VPN can sort out the "problem", but it's not ideal to need one..
 
That’s interesting. While I have no immediate plans to obtain a Linux distribution and go for it, it’s interesting to hear that such commands are available. A quick Google reveals a few utilities that have been written to achieve the same on Windows. I will investigate and report back, although have limited time in the week and can’t take the router offline while the kids are homeschooling!

As always, thanks for the input.
 
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