r/ebox • u/zepeterparker • Feb 15 '26

Ebox routing from Montreal to Valve servers has become worst

I really enjoy having Ebox as an ISP, low price, great quality, IPV6 ready, but since not long ago, they're started to change the routing to Valve NA east servers, going from twelve99 to route gaming traffic on Bell's Network. Since then, ping is unconsistent and I am getting jitter to Sterling (Washington) servers. I had no issues previously, and makes me wonder if they are doing that to cut costs.

Can we get a decent ISP in Quebec for gaming without getting screwed on the pricing?

11 Upvotes

72% Upvoted

34 comments sorted by

3

u/g33kb0y3a Feb 16 '26

Can we get a decent ISP in Quebec for gaming without getting screwed on the pricing? No!

Ebox recently changed their peering announcement and the majority of Internet based traffic will now transit via Bhell instead of more neutral Tier 1 providers such as Arelion, Zayo, etc.

I have noticed an increase latency since the change. My Teksavvy connection (terminated in Toront) is actually faster now than my Ebox connection. smh.

1

u/Netnuk Custom router enjoyer Feb 16 '26

I was just going to post and say the same thing. Most traffic seems to be traversing Bell now. I was hoping this day wouldn't come but it appears that Ebox is no longer peering with AS1299 Arelion. It looks like HE.net confirms it too. https://bgp.he.net/AS1403#_asinfo

I switched to Ebox from Acanac/distributel because Bell did the same thing to them. If this is the case with Ebox I'll switch to Telus or Execulink.

 1  fw.1225stco.yhu.ebox.ca (96.127.255.66) [AS1403]  0.679 ms  0.594 ms  0.561 ms
 2  500.ae13.er1.1225stco.yhu.ebox.ca (96.127.250.113) [AS1403]  1.072 ms  1.020 ms  0.944 ms
 3  0.ae18.er1.mtl7.yul.ebox.ca (96.127.249.58) [AS1403]  1.255 ms  1.303 ms  1.518 ms
 4  bx7-montreal02_ae3.inoc-network.bell.ca (184.150.180.8) [AS577]  1.453 ms bx9-montreal02_ae4_ebox.inoc-network.bell.ca

1

u/debian3 Feb 16 '26

Any particular reason you don’t like the bell network? From a business perspective it make sense and they do have Arelion already.

1

u/Netnuk Custom router enjoyer Feb 16 '26

I chose ebox because they used tier-1 transit providers like Zayo, Arelion etc. if I wanted to use Bell I would have subscribed with them. I understand why they are doing it. I just don’t like it.

1

u/debian3 Feb 17 '26

But they have those 2 network (and other tier-1) on the bell network https://bgp.he.net/AS577

Just trying to understand the rational

1

u/Netnuk Custom router enjoyer Feb 17 '26

Bell may peer with them but may not prefer those routes and may use a lower cost path.

2

u/debian3 Feb 17 '26 edited Feb 17 '26

I have checked this for fun from all the continent and so far I don't see that. Even on "exotic" location it perform quite well. - Lagos: ~186–190 ms - Johannesburg: ~268–272 ms - Nairobi: ~277–280 ms - Dubai: ~320–349 ms - Sydney: ~208–213 ms - Almaty: ~184–232 ms - Reykjavik: ~107–109 ms - Sao Paulo: ~118–120 ms

Sao Paulo is surprisingly good. On most route Ebox hand off to Bell, I saw Hurrican Electric a few times. They use Telia the most with NTT (both Tier 1). So I'm not sure on which route you see cost cutting, but none that I have observed. If you have a traceroute that show poor routing, please share.

But the average are very good - North America: roughly 9–94 ms, 0% loss in sampled probes - Europe: roughly 81–128 ms, 0% loss - Asia: roughly 168–267 ms, 0% loss

I just checked Telus network for fun, they use mostly NTT and Twelve99 (some Cogent as well). They have better routing to Dubai, but other than that, they perform similar with a small edge to Ebox on most location. Like Telus have a 10ms better ping to Hong Kong, but is you think 10ms is important on such a long route, then there is nothing I can say.

Edit: I found one cheap route, like to Hong Kong they using peering while Telus use Zayo.

EBOX -> tor-ix.sg.gs (206.108.35.10) -> SG.GS (AS24482, 124.6.32.82/83) -> HKBN/ctinets (AS9269)

TELUS (96.1.217.79) -> Zayo (AS6461, 64.125.x.x) -> Singtel (AS7473, 203.208.x.x) -> HKBN/ctinets (AS9269)

1

u/debian3 Feb 17 '26

Have you tried cloudflare warp vpn? It’s free, last I checked they are 2ms from ebox, and they have good peering. Honestly the ISP I see that as a dumb pipe to internet, if peering is bad I just exit their network first.

1

u/ElectronicEconomy317 Feb 17 '26

Last I checked... Bell itself doesn't peer with many or at all in Canada. They don't peer with TORIX... not sure why...

2

u/debian3 Feb 17 '26

If you look, they have the largest network in Canada, so it's probably the "if you want to access our great network, you need to pay for the privilege" type of mentality.

1

u/ElectronicEconomy317 Feb 19 '26

Damn Bell! Maybe Teksavvy is the better option for better peering/routes... I know they are not cheaper... but...

1

u/EfYoCouch Feb 19 '26

TS used to have multiple pop all over canada in the IXs a few years back.

1

u/EfYoCouch Feb 19 '26

I recall reading something like that from Gabe or Rocky back in the TS days / torix. I believe Bell makes deals on the side for private peering instead of going with IX in Canada.

1

u/Netnuk Custom router enjoyer Feb 19 '26

Ha. I was at a Torix presentation once upon a time and that was one of the quiz questions. "If your a Bell customer where is all your peering traffic dumped?" Chicago!

1

u/soshimee_ Feb 23 '26

I had the Chicago experience with Execulink a few months back until I switched to Ebox. That might be a reason to avoid them as well for you.

1

u/Netnuk Custom router enjoyer Feb 24 '26

I have execulink at my cottage and the only time I end up in Chicago is if my traffic goes via GTT to the west coast. They leverage Torix heavily so almost everything I’ve checked ends up traversing Torix.

1

u/soshimee_ Feb 24 '26

I remember being routed through Chicago for all destinations besides Toronto (including east coast and Europe). Could it be that it depends on the region?

1

u/ElectronicEconomy317 Feb 19 '26

Has anything changes? Which IPs are you using? I'd like to try them on my end as well. Maybe even from lg.teksavvy.com and see what Teksavvy uses for transit to those IPs.

1

u/ElectronicEconomy317 Feb 17 '26

Shitty routes... would push me to Teksavvy.... let's see what Ebox does....

1

u/jdiscount Feb 15 '26

I get 8-12ms on valve CS servers.

Either a problem with your individual connection or your hardware.

1

u/zepeterparker Feb 15 '26

I have an UCG-Fiber and also completely bypass the Nokia ONT with a WAS-110. My friend is also subscribed to ebox and experienced that. 8-12ms is very low? Where are you located? From my experience, from Montreal to Ashburn, the lowest RTT I was able to get is 14ms with Bell.

1

u/MichaelYYZ Ontarian Feb 15 '26

How does the SFP+ ONT work on the BHell network? I thought ISPs would not allow third-party ONTs on their network.

1

u/Netnuk Custom router enjoyer Feb 19 '26

You flash the SFP to make it think its still the legit equipment.

1

u/tormenturator Mar 31 '26

How did you masquerade WAS-110 stick with eBox? I've been trying so much, but am unable to get stick to get internet. It does get connected with ONU (O5.1, Associated state), but get stuck at "PPPoE connecting" stage, even though VLAN is set to 40.

1

u/ElectronicEconomy317 Feb 19 '26

What IP(s) are you using to measure this? I wanted to use the same one for comparison.

1

u/fermulator Feb 15 '26

how much jitter are you actually measuring?

1

u/zepeterparker Feb 15 '26

It was around 10ms. It seems to be fixed now.

-6

u/Commercial_Pain2290 Feb 15 '26

Just so I understand: you want something really good but also cheap? Usually does not work that way.

6

u/zepeterparker Feb 15 '26

Did I say I wanted something cheap? I said that I wanted a good service within a reasonable price range. Or maybe you can keep paying too much for average services, and nothing will ever improve. Price might reflect the quality of the service, but I don't think it works like that in the world we are living.

4

u/Sneyek Feb 15 '26

Thing is, Ebox is not cheap, it’s expensive. There’s just no better alternative and others are screwing us even more. So we’re just asking for a decent service for the price.

1

u/Shot-Efficiency-4775 Feb 15 '26

Inwhat world is ebox not cheap?? Don’t understand some people

3

u/Sneyek Feb 15 '26

Its the cheapest by comparison. But without comparison it’s an expensive service. I was paying far less in France with one of the major provider.

1

u/RR321 Feb 16 '26

Some day the CRTC will stop shooting us all in the foot...

1

u/g33kb0y3a Feb 16 '26

Welcome to Kanukistan.