topic Re: Static IP - Netflix and speed in Broadband

Static IP - Netflix and speed

petedwilliams — Sun, 07 May 2023 13:42:09 GMT

Hi,

I've already discussed this with Support and previously we've had OpenReach engineers visit to try to help resolve part of the issue.

I have a Static IP with Plusnet because I'm unable to successfully connect to work via a VPN without it.

Since receiving the Static IP, the broadband speed seems to be roughly 20% slower than it was previously. I've searched the forums and the following posts may identify the issue:

https://community.plus.net/t5/Fibre-Broadband/Static-IP-speed-drop/m-p/1758621

https://community.plus.net/t5/Fibre-Broadband/Static-IP-and-reduced-download-speed/m-p/1756449

Is someone from Plusnet able to check this for me, please?

Also, we've recently discovered that certain programs are missing within Netflix that should be available to us. On a standard Plusnet connection using their primary DNS, the shows are missing. Using a custom DNS (our preferred method) such as Cloudflare or Google, the same problem still exists. However, if I connect to a VPN located in the UK, the shows are visible as we'd expect them to be. This is the same when using mobile data.

Could the Static IP be causing the problem? Would it be possible to have our Static IP changed to another to see if this resolves the issue?

Kind regards,

Pete

Re: Static IP - Netflix and speed

petedwilliams — Sun, 07 May 2023 14:06:22 GMT

I should also add that we're experiencing intermittent time outs for certain websites too such as Google, Amazon, and Netflix. The domains time out but then some time later they will load.

And just for information, before the Static IP, our download speeds were mid to high 50s. Now they're typically in the high 40s.

Thanks

Re: Static IP - Netflix and speed

adamwalker — Wed, 10 May 2023 07:32:21 GMT

Hi there,

We can't change the IP as it would get assigned to someone else automatically who would then have the same issues (assuming it relates to the IP)

I've been running some tests on your connection and everything looks fine, can you run a traceroute to Netflix and post the results back here please?

Re: Static IP - Netflix and speed

petedwilliams — Wed, 10 May 2023 13:45:37 GMT

As requested:

Tracing route to netflix.com [54.74.73.31]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms pfSense.knockturnalley.localdomain [10.83.83.1]
2 9 ms 9 ms 9 ms 251.core.plus.net [195.166.130.251]
3 10 ms 10 ms 10 ms 84.93.253.91
4 10 ms 10 ms 10 ms core1-BE1.colindale.ukcore.bt.net [195.99.125.132]
5 10 ms 10 ms 10 ms peer1-et3-0-1.interxion.ukcore.bt.net [62.172.103.12]
6 * * * Request timed out.
7 * * * Request timed out.
8 * * * Request timed out.
9 * * * Request timed out.
10 * * * Request timed out.
11 * * * Request timed out.
12 * * * Request timed out.
13 * * * Request timed out.
14 * * * Request timed out.
15 * * * Request timed out.
16 * * * Request timed out.
17 * * * Request timed out.
18 * * * Request timed out.
19 * * * Request timed out.
20 * * * Request timed out.
21 * * * Request timed out.
22 * * * Request timed out.
23 * * * Request timed out.
24 * * * Request timed out.

etc.

And with the www. prefix:

Tracing route to www.dradis.netflix.com [192.0.0.69]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms pfSense.knockturnalley.localdomain [10.83.83.1]
2 10 ms 9 ms 9 ms 251.core.plus.net [195.166.130.251]
3 13 ms 16 ms 10 ms 84.93.253.95
4 * * * Request timed out.
5 * * * Request timed out.
6 * * * Request timed out.

etc.

Thank you for your help so far.

Pete

Re: Static IP - Netflix and speed

adamwalker — Wed, 10 May 2023 14:09:34 GMT

No worries and cheers for that Pete, did you add in the "dradis" part of the URL on the second one? I ask because I'm sure they provide a VPN service.

Re: Static IP - Netflix and speed

petedwilliams — Wed, 10 May 2023 14:23:14 GMT

I didn't. I just ran: tracert www.netflix.com and that is the response I received.

I've run another since and everything came back the same but this time "dradis" wasn't included. The first 3 seem to respond and then everything else times out.

Thanks

Re: Static IP - Netflix and speed

petedwilliams — Wed, 10 May 2023 14:27:15 GMT

I've also received a similar response, but from www.eu-west-1.internal.dradis.netflix.com

Re: Static IP - Netflix and speed

adamwalker — Wed, 10 May 2023 14:54:01 GMT

cheers Pete and just to double check you're not knowingly connecting through a VPN?

Re: Static IP - Netflix and speed

petedwilliams — Wed, 10 May 2023 15:19:07 GMT

Whatsmyipaddress.com (and others) reports my IP is 80.229.6.146, which I believe belongs to Plusnet. One of them shows the hostname as our username.plus.com. They all show the location as either Birmingham, or Brixworth.

If I connect to a VPN located in the UK using a program on my PC, Netflix behaves as expected, which is what led me to think the static IP could be the problem.

Kind regards,

Pete

Re: Static IP - Netflix and speed

adamwalker — Wed, 10 May 2023 15:19:53 GMT

Cheers Pete, I agree. would it be OK to first try moving you temporarily onto a dymamic IP to see if that changes anything? If it does I'll just get a new static one assigned.

Re: Static IP - Netflix and speed

petedwilliams — Wed, 10 May 2023 15:24:07 GMT

Absolutely. I'm more than happy to give that a try to help diagnose the issue.

Thanks, Adam!

Pete

Re: Static IP - Netflix and speed

petedwilliams — Sat, 13 May 2023 07:38:20 GMT

Just chasing this up in case the last response was overlooked. Thank you

Re: Static IP - Netflix and speed

adamwalker — Sun, 14 May 2023 09:29:19 GMT

Hi Pete, mind dropping me a PM with your username please?

Re: Static IP - Netflix and speed

petedwilliams — Sun, 14 May 2023 09:49:56 GMT

Hi Adam,

That's been done. Thank you.

Pete

Re: Static IP - Netflix and speed

petedwilliams — Tue, 16 May 2023 20:35:36 GMT

An update for anyone that finds this thread via a search. The Static IP address was the cause of our problems. Switching to a dynamic IP address for testing resolved the Netflix issues, the regular timeout issues for certain domains, and even the speed appeared snappier.

I'm about to be switched back to a new Static IP address, so fingers crossed that behaves as well as the Dynamic IP.

Re: Static IP - Netflix and speed

petedwilliams — Mon, 19 Jun 2023 17:24:49 GMT

Unfortunately, this problem has returned.

Once again, we are experiencing intermittent but frequent problems accessing popular domains such as Google, Amazon, and Netflix.

I discovered a thread where someone else was experiencing DNS-related issues, which appeared to be linked to a Static IP address. Unfortunately, he left PlusNet because the problem wasn't resolved: https://community.plus.net/t5/Broadband/Plusnet-gateway-and-DNS-problems/td-p/1809490/page/4

Could PlusNet Support please investigate this further? If possible, I'd prefer not to request a new Static IP address every few weeks.

Many thanks,

Pete

Re: Static IP - Netflix and speed

adamwalker — Mon, 19 Jun 2023 17:54:19 GMT

Hi Pete, sorry to see that you're seeing the same issue again, I can say with confidence it's very unlikely to be that you have a static IP as we changed that last month when I looked into this previously, the fact that it's static shouldn't make a difference either.

Is this affecting certain devices you're using or any/all of them?

Adam

Re: Static IP - Netflix and speed

petedwilliams — Mon, 19 Jun 2023 18:02:22 GMT

Temporarily changing to the dynamic IP address appeared to resolve it last time, though that may have just been coincidental as the new Static IP also appeared to resolve the issue to begin with.

Unfortunately, it's all devices on our network, both wired and wireless.

Cheers,

Pete

Re: Static IP - Netflix and speed

bobpullen — Mon, 19 Jun 2023 18:03:40 GMT

Clichéd as it may be, I'd suggest a reboot of the router is in order before attempting to diagnose anything further.

Re: Static IP - Netflix and speed

petedwilliams — Mon, 19 Jun 2023 18:55:49 GMT

Router rebooted and the problem is still present I'm afraid