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VMBU iPlayer identification
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VMBU iPlayer identification
03-10-2008 6:01 PM
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For a little while now I've suspected that iPlayer traffic hasn't been picked up correctly by the VMBU internet activities breakdown, but now I feel I have as about conclusive evidence as I'm ever likely to obtain. According to the VMBU, I've currently used about 800MB of paid usage so far this billing month, which for me started on the 1st, with 472 of those MB being today. That sounds about right, as I spent an hour and a half watching 'high-quality' streams on iPlayer this afternoon. However, if I go to 'view internet activities', I find that paid-for streaming usage apparently accounts for only 5% of my total broadband usage this month. My grand total usage is 1678MB, of which 5% is 84MB - even if that '5%' figure has been rounded down from 5.99999%, we're still only looking at 100MB. This is clearly wrong for 1.5h of high-quality iPlayer streaming - I would expect to see a figure of somewhere between 3-400MB. And for what it's worth, all iPlayer streaming was done over two hours ago.
So it's clear that 'view my internet activities' is having problems identifying iPlayer traffic. However, I wonder if there could be a wider issue of traffic management too. I wonder about this because there have been occasions recently (albeit not today) when I've been watching iPlayer streams and they've paused midway several times, presumably to buffer. This shouldn't be happening as even the high-quality streams are designed for a 1Mbps line, and I have a 3-3.5Mbps connection. I originally conceded that this could have simply been a BBC issue, but having now seen that VMBU is mis-identifying traffic, I find myself wondering if there's a larger issue here instead.
So it's clear that 'view my internet activities' is having problems identifying iPlayer traffic. However, I wonder if there could be a wider issue of traffic management too. I wonder about this because there have been occasions recently (albeit not today) when I've been watching iPlayer streams and they've paused midway several times, presumably to buffer. This shouldn't be happening as even the high-quality streams are designed for a 1Mbps line, and I have a 3-3.5Mbps connection. I originally conceded that this could have simply been a BBC issue, but having now seen that VMBU is mis-identifying traffic, I find myself wondering if there's a larger issue here instead.
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Re: VMBU iPlayer identification
03-10-2008 6:31 PM
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What did the iPlayer traffic get misclassified as? Web? If so, it shouldn't have much bearing on the prioritisation of your traffic as both streaming and web will be in the Gold traffic queues. You can check it's being prioritised correctly by running a Wireshark capture.
Regarding the actual classification, we could do with looking into that as we graph iPlayer traffic and this correlates directly with what you'd see on the VMBU pages.
Regarding the actual classification, we could do with looking into that as we graph iPlayer traffic and this correlates directly with what you'd see on the VMBU pages.
Bob Pullen
Plusnet Product Team
If I've been helpful then please give thanks ⤵
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Re: VMBU iPlayer identification
03-10-2008 6:45 PM
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Ah yes, fair point about the web prioritisation - it is indeed showing up as web usage. I'll make a mental note to do a wireshark capture if I see more buffering etc. Some iPlayer traffic is clearly being registered as streaming as my streaming total is 27% - approx. 460MB. Just, at the same time, some of it clearly isn't hence the results I noted earlier. Making a complete stab in the dark, perhaps it's something to do with which gateway I'm connected through at the time? If so, if it helps I'm currently on ptn-ag2, and to the best of my knowledge I haven't reconnected since I watched iPlayer earlier.
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Re: VMBU iPlayer identification
03-10-2008 6:49 PM
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It shouldn't matter which gateway you're connected to TBH. Whilst each has its own Ellacoya switch, the configuration of them all is taken from a central repository AFAIK.
Bob Pullen
Plusnet Product Team
If I've been helpful then please give thanks ⤵
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