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Very inconsistent speeds

jagstang
Grafter
Posts: 30
Registered: ‎22-05-2009

Very inconsistent speeds

Hi there, for the past few weeks the speed of my Broadband connection has been fluctuating much more than usual. I am a film maker so spend a lot of time viewing my video's on streaming sites like vimeo.com and youtube. My line syncs at around 8000 kbps which is normally more than adequate to watch such services but over the last few weeks I have been unable to watch video without major buffering issues. My account type is PlusNet Broadband Premier Option 1
I know the problem isn't the host server because I often communicate with fellow film makers who have no problems at all viewing the footage using different Broadband Providers. For Example, at the moment I am unable to watch the following video http://www.vimeo.com/4695414 without giving it a few minutes to load by pressing pause. This shouldn't be happening at the speed I'm syncing at. The problem seems to be the inconsistent bandwidth. Like most video streaming players, the flash loader starts the video when it calculates that the download speed is sufficient to play to the end without catching the buffer point. The problemn I'm having is that the first few seconds seem to be quite fast, which initiates the player to start the video playback, but then the bandwith slows down to a crawl and the video needs to start buffering.
I just did the BT Speed tester thing and it gives the following results...
Test1 comprises of Best Effort Test:  -provides background information.
    Your DSL connection rate: 8096 kbps(DOWN-STREAM),  832 kbps(UP-STREAM)
    IP profile for your line is - 7000 kbps
    Actual IP throughput achieved during the test was - 1578 kbps
Using the Plusnet speed tester I'm also seeing similar results. I'm not sure how accurate the rev counter style display is but my connection jumps around all over the place
for the first half of the test and then starts to settle on a higher speed towards the end, this is consistent with what I see when streaming videos too.
I'm well within my usage limits by the way, so i shouldn't bee seeing any traffic shaping.
Any help would be very much appreciated.
regards
Paul.
4 REPLIES 4
Oldjim
Resting Legend
Posts: 38,460
Thanks: 787
Fixes: 63
Registered: ‎15-06-2007

Re: Very inconsistent speeds

quick question - are you connected by wireless or wired.
if wireless can you check the results when wired
James
Grafter
Posts: 21,036
Thanks: 5
Registered: ‎04-04-2007

Re: Very inconsistent speeds

Hi Paul,
I've just had a quick look from our end and there doesn't seem to be anything obviously untoward.
If you could come back to us and let us know what your setup is like, we may be able to help further.
jagstang
Grafter
Posts: 30
Registered: ‎22-05-2009

Re: Very inconsistent speeds

Thanks guys.
Yes I'm using a wireless router (Netgear DG834GT) so I'll do some tests later with my Macbook Pro plugged into the ethernet ports and see if it makes any difference.
The problem seems to be really inconsistent, I just tried the video again and it streamed perfectly which makes the problem even harder to diagnose. From experience though I know it won't be long before it's struggling again so I'll report back later today with the results of the wireless vs wired results.
James, thanks for getting back so quickly. As mentioned I'm using a netgear DG834GT router which is connect directly into the main Phone box. I'm running a Mac Pro wirelessly from a bedroom upstairs and also have a Macbook Pro which also connects wirelessly.
Do you need to know anything else?
regards
Paul.
James
Grafter
Posts: 21,036
Thanks: 5
Registered: ‎04-04-2007

Re: Very inconsistent speeds

Thanks Paul.
That's good information thanks.
If your speeds are good when wired directly into the router, I'd definitely suggest some trial and error work with using a different wireless channel.
There may well be some interference with the wireless channel that you're trying to use and changing it might help Smiley