topic Re: Skype calling is killing my bandwidth !!!!!!!!!! in Tech Help - Software/Hardware etc

Skype calling is killing my bandwidth !!!!!!!!!!

keyholder — Sat, 19 Mar 2016 18:15:55 GMT

As per title.
My internet connection is absolutely USELESS when just one person is using Skype, even on a 64mb/14mb connection.
Gaming is pointless as the constant rubber banding is just constant. I can join a EU server with a 30 - 45ms ping and i cant even hit a player from russia with a dam 120+ ping.
Other players from the Uk who are on the same server, just laugh at my pathetic connection. People on ADSL have either a lower or the same ping, can kill me easily, yet im still waiting to fire.
Ive placed all skype pcs / devices , to a 1mb up and down QOS limit, yet it still has a major impact!!!
I've Qos all streaming rubbish with the likes of twitch.. Yet i still cant frigging play without lagging or rubber banding everywhere!!!
Almost 1TB of data usage per month from mainly Skype calls!! Oh and thats without video enabled, thats just a voice chat!!!
Plusnet need to do something with these bandwidth hungry VOIP rubbish programs!!!!

Re: Skype calling is killing my bandwidth !!!!!!!!!!

beeceegee — Sat, 19 Mar 2016 20:19:53 GMT

Quote from: keyholder
Plusnet need to do something with these bandwidth hungry VOIP rubbish programs!!!!

What has this got to do with Plusnet? What are you expecting them to do? The programmes you use are your choice. What happens if you disable all Skype connections? I don't think Skype is regarded as a great resource hog, especially if voice only.

Re: Skype calling is killing my bandwidth !!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous — Sat, 19 Mar 2016 20:21:54 GMT

Quote from: keyholder
Almost 1TB of data usage per month from mainly Skype calls!! Oh and thats without video enabled, thats just a voice chat!!!

Are you sure you don't have video enabled ?
[code=https://support.skype.com/en/faq/FA1417/how-much-bandwidth-does-skype-need]How much bandwidth does Skype need?
The bandwidth required by Skype depends on the type of calls you want to make.
The table below provides the minimum download and upload speeds required,
as well as the recommended speeds for best performance.
Minimum Recommended
Call type download/upload speed download/upload speed
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Calling 30kbps / 30kbps 100kbps / 100kbps
Video calling /Screen sharing 128kbps / 128kbps 300kbps / 300kbps
Video calling(high-quality) 400kbps / 400kbps 500kbps / 500kbps
Video calling(HD) 1.2Mbps / 1.2Mbps 1.5Mbps / 1.5Mbps
Group video(3 people) 512kbps / 128kbps 2Mbps / 512kbps
Group video(5 people) 2Mbps / 128kbps 4Mbps / 512kbps
Group video(7+ people) 4Mbps / 128kbps 8Mbps / 512kbps[/code]
Using the upper recommended speed for voice calling, i.e. 100Kbps up and down -
(100Kbps + 100Kbps) * 60 secs_per_min * 60 mins_per_hour * 24 hours_per_day *31 days_per_month / 8 bits_per_byte
would only use 69.12GB if voice calling was on for the entire month, which is well short of 1TB

It seems unlikely that a 100Kbps audio stream on a fibre connection would ruin your gaming latency.

Re: Skype calling is killing my bandwidth !!!!!!!!!!

keyholder — Sat, 19 Mar 2016 21:51:26 GMT

Quote from: beeceegee
Quote from: keyholder
Plusnet need to do something with these bandwidth hungry VOIP rubbish programs!!!!

What has this got to do with Plusnet? What are you expecting them to do? The programmes you use are your choice. What happens if you disable all Skype connections? I don't think Skype is regarded as a great resource hog, especially if voice only.

Thats like saying, What do games have to do with Plusnet, yet they prioritise some games, Whats it to plusnet for what games their customers use,

Re: Skype calling is killing my bandwidth !!!!!!!!!!

keyholder — Sat, 19 Mar 2016 22:10:55 GMT

Quote from: Nibiru
Quote from: keyholder
Almost 1TB of data usage per month from mainly Skype calls!! Oh and thats without video enabled, thats just a voice chat!!!

Are you sure you don't have video enabled ?
[code=https://support.skype.com/en/faq/FA1417/how-much-bandwidth-does-skype-need]How much bandwidth does Skype need?
The bandwidth required by Skype depends on the type of calls you want to make.
The table below provides the minimum download and upload speeds required,
as well as the recommended speeds for best performance.
Minimum Recommended
Call type download/upload speed download/upload speed
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Calling 30kbps / 30kbps 100kbps / 100kbps
Video calling /Screen sharing 128kbps / 128kbps 300kbps / 300kbps
Video calling(high-quality) 400kbps / 400kbps 500kbps / 500kbps
Video calling(HD) 1.2Mbps / 1.2Mbps 1.5Mbps / 1.5Mbps
Group video(3 people) 512kbps / 128kbps 2Mbps / 512kbps
Group video(5 people) 2Mbps / 128kbps 4Mbps / 512kbps
Group video(7+ people) 4Mbps / 128kbps 8Mbps / 512kbps[/code]
Using the upper recommended speed for voice calling, i.e. 100Kbps up and down -
(100Kbps + 100Kbps) * 60 secs_per_min * 60 mins_per_hour * 24 hours_per_day *31 days_per_month / 8 bits_per_byte
would only use 69.12GB if voice calling was on for the entire month, which is well short of 1TB

It seems unlikely that a 100Kbps audio stream on a fibre connection would ruin your gaming latency.

Positive,
Only 3 of us use the net,
. I game on the pc, mainly fps, cod, Bf, crysis, and tomb radier now n then.
. The 10 year old plays on his PS, rarely online, youtube sometimes on his pc, and the odd Wii updates.
. And the 17 year old uses skype and plays rpg games, yet holds a 12+ skype conversation, and thats all he does. he does not have a webcam, infact no one has a webcam.
The 17 year old also uses the most bandwidth according to my router logs.
Weather the router is not blocking skype properly and my Qos is doing nothing is my only guess and skypes using a secure connection that my router cant Qos.
My usage for last month from PN usage checker.
Billing Period Peak usage Off-Peak usage Total usage
05 Feb - 04 Mar 656.62GB 107.9GB 764.51GB
In the last 12 hours, the 17 year old has uploaded 13.36 GB direct from my routers real time Qos logs.

Re: Skype calling is killing my bandwidth !!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous — Sat, 19 Mar 2016 22:20:56 GMT

Quote from: keyholder
I take it that a Score of - D - D - C is bad then

Did you fix that 'BufferBloat' 'D' score, when you were adjusting your QoS (as stated above) ?
If you can get that score to an 'A' or 'B' when saturating your upstream with the DSLReports test, then it is highly likely that your other latency issues will disappear.
Remember that 'BufferBloat' is a measure of how quickly time sensitive traffic can pass through your router, when there is other less time critical traffic also being carried. Use Google to research how to fix BufferBloat on your router.

Re: Skype calling is killing my bandwidth !!!!!!!!!!

keyholder — Sat, 19 Mar 2016 22:30:33 GMT

currently, No idea what the 2 lads are doing online atm.

Re: Skype calling is killing my bandwidth !!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous — Sat, 19 Mar 2016 22:51:12 GMT

Taking your test result on face value -

You said

Quote from: keyholder
My internet connection is absolutely USELESS when just one person is using Skype, even on a 64mb/14mb connection.
Gaming is pointless as the constant rubber banding is just constant. I can join a EU server with a 30 - 45ms ping

So who is currently using the missing 46.42Mbps of your download, and missing 12.69Mbps of your upload, right now ?
Interesting to see that the PING is unaffected despite your upstream connection already being 91% used when you run a speed test !
So presumably when your latency goes above 120ms, then your upstream must have exceeded 14Mbps - which isn't far from what is shown !.
I would suggest that it is probably unreasonable to expect gaming latency to be completely lag free, when your upstream is running above 90% utilization.

There is also a problem with the statement -

Quote from: keyholder
My internet connection is absolutely USELESS when just one person is using Skype, even on a 64mb/14mb connection.

because we have already established that Skype only takes 100Kbps, yet your test result shows a normal PING when someone is was clearly uploading at 12.69Mbps when you performed the test, so I'm guessing that the other people in your house are using the internet significantly more than you have stated.

Re: Skype calling is killing my bandwidth !!!!!!!!!!

beeceegee — Sat, 19 Mar 2016 22:54:56 GMT

Quote from: keyholder
No idea what the 2 lads are doing online atm.

hammering your upstream bandwith (and most of your downstream) at a guess
out of interest what router are you using? I had a Billion Bipac where if qos was switched on pretty much everything was useless as the processor couldn't handle the overhead involved
[edit] I see "Nibiru" beat me to it
[edit2] and that sort of usage is unlikely to be Skype

Re: Skype calling is killing my bandwidth !!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous — Sat, 19 Mar 2016 23:33:53 GMT

Quote from: beeceegee
Quote from: keyholder
No idea what the 2 lads are doing online atm.

hammering your upstream bandwith (and most of your downstream) at a guess

That is almost certainly what is going on

Quote from: beeceegee
I had a Billion Bipac where if qos was switched on pretty much everything was useless as the processor couldn't handle the overhead involved

I can imagine that is quite common !
My current router, while running a VPN, a 6in4 IPv6 tunnel, live anti-virus on downloading traffic, performing Google Safe-Browsing on incoming web pages, full outgoing QoS traffic shaping, protocol sensitive traffic prioritization, four WAN IPs each handled differently, http caching proxy server (with 8GB DDR3 primary cache with 120GB SATA3 SSD secondary cache), live bogon firewall rules, intrusion detection, plus all the usual junk that normal routers do, only registers 0.29% of CPU utilization on my 6.8Mbps ADSL connection !

Quote from: beeceegee
[edit] I see "Nibiru" beat me to it

Yeah, but it is good to know that someone else confirms that it's not only me thinking this setup isn't what it seems !

Quote from: beeceegee
[edit2] and that sort of usage is unlikely to be Skype

Oh really !!!

Re: Skype calling is killing my bandwidth !!!!!!!!!!

beeceegee — Sat, 19 Mar 2016 23:51:20 GMT

Quote from: Nibiru
Quote from: beeceegee
[edit2] and that sort of usage is unlikely to be Skype

Oh really !!!

But OP is convinced it IS Skype. Thinking out loud what would happen to priorities if the lads were transferring large files via Skype ?

Re: Skype calling is killing my bandwidth !!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous — Sat, 19 Mar 2016 23:54:56 GMT

I was being facetious !,
I wasn't challenging what you'd said, I was agreeing with you

Re: Skype calling is killing my bandwidth !!!!!!!!!!

keyholder — Sat, 19 Mar 2016 23:56:23 GMT

Ermm...

My router is an asus RT-N66U. ( merlin software ) Ive never seen the core go above 30% workload.
If i scrap the router and plug in my pfsense box makes no difference even with Qos on.
If Skype is not the cause with the odd youtube video then what else can it be ??
Ive checked the oldest's pc and same again, skype, 9+ people call, and diablo, thats it.
littleuns on his youtube.

Router dont show much.
Unless its not skype and its youtube then im at a loss.

Re: Skype calling is killing my bandwidth !!!!!!!!!!

beeceegee — Sun, 20 Mar 2016 13:09:29 GMT

Quote from: Nibiru

I wasn't challenging what you'd said, I was agreeing with you

I know
I'm pretty much out of ideas - back of my mind tells me there's something else in the setup OP has missed. Youtube won't hit the upload, I am not a gamer, but was always led to believe that gaming is not a huge bandwidth hog, and neither is Skype in voice-only.
But back to my theoretical question - given that youtube is unlikely to be maxing-out the upstream , and taking OP at his word that Skype is only other resource-user would transferring large files via Skype be given high priority? And would it be caught by the qos limitation on Skype?.

Re: Skype calling is killing my bandwidth !!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous — Sun, 20 Mar 2016 15:18:38 GMT

I don't know what the "Asus RT-N66U" is capable of, but given that 'keyholder' also has a pfSense router, then it is simple to monitor traffic flows with that. Even doing something as simple as watching the WAN traffic graph, and switching each PC on in turn, will reveal where the bandwidth is going, or changing the traffic graph interface to LAN then watch the bandwidth figures being listed for each LAN IP address.
This problem could easily be a PC running a forgotten bit-torrent server, or a mis-configured Windows-10 p2p updater sourcing updates to the rest of the planet, or an Apple iPhone/iPad/etc doing a cloud backup, or one of the lads running something that they don't realize is saturating the upstream connection, or a neighbour using the WiFi...
The point being that something on that network is using a lot of unexpected bandwidth, and that needs to be investigated locally, and there isn't much more that us forum members can help with until that rogue traffic is identified.
Another approach, would be to use the pfSense router to impose the traffic limiter on each user, and see who complains.
Given that this is a 64Mb/14Mb connection, divide the bandwidth between the users, perhaps -

Limit to say 10Mb/3Mb for the 10 year old

Limit to say 20Mb/4Mb for the 17 year old

Remaining (unlimited) 34Mb/7Mb for 'keyholder'

Doing this would mean that neither of the lads could ever use more than their allocated bandwidth, and wouldn't be able to overload the broadband for the other users. If that works, then a fairer and dynamic traffic sharing policy could be applied in future, but in the short term using fixed bandwidth limiters may be a quick and simple fix.

Re: Skype calling is killing my bandwidth !!!!!!!!!!

keyholder — Sun, 20 Mar 2016 21:33:55 GMT

Give me another 24 hours, as ive limited all bandwidth to the 2 pcs to less than 2mb. each way. ..
None of the boys run torrents, all windows 7 pcs, and no neighbours have my wifi password, and if any of them could guess it id give them a grand in cash.. not likely going to happen!
But somthing is still churning away at the bandwidth.
i'll report back when the 24 hours are up ,tomorrow night sometime, and see how the usage is then