cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Youtube pretty much unusable on Plusnet today.

Azagoth
Grafter
Posts: 661
Thanks: 5
Registered: ‎01-08-2007

Youtube pretty much unusable on Plusnet today.

What has happened today?  Trying to watch some videos and they only load partway and then just stop, sometimes it's all the way to 80 odd percent and then sometimes it's less than 10%.  This happens across all devices, mobile, tablet, laptop and desktop when using my Plusnet connection.  Have tried Firefox (my default browser), Chrome and Edge but it's still the same.  Funny thing is, if I jump onto my neighbour's wireless network (Virgin) they load all the way without a single problem.

 

Strange thing is, only yesterday a mate of min who is also on Plusnet was experiencing the exact same thing. 

12 REPLIES 12
Azagoth
Grafter
Posts: 661
Thanks: 5
Registered: ‎01-08-2007

Re: Youtube pretty much unusable on Plusnet today.

Advert claims 'great customer service'; four hours without a single reply. 

Azagoth
Grafter
Posts: 661
Thanks: 5
Registered: ‎01-08-2007

Re: Youtube pretty much unusable on Plusnet today.

Still waiting....

billnotben
Community Veteran
Posts: 7,689
Thanks: 2,164
Fixes: 2
Registered: ‎23-09-2010

Re: Youtube pretty much unusable on Plusnet today.

I don't know if it's relevant but in the last 24 hours I've had a couple of websites that wouldn't function properly. Dropping the line for a while and reconnecting made no difference.

But whatever the problem was it's cleared up now. So I've no idea if that was down to plusnet.

 

 

Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Youtube pretty much unusable on Plusnet today.

I often found Youtube to have issues when using standard IPv4 over Plusnet,  but since I now exclusively access Youtube via tunneled IPv6 the problems vanished.

 

Presumably this is because Plusnet's IPv4 routing goes via some congested or errored path, whereas my tunnelled IPv6 goes via Hurricane Electric IP transit which appears to be in the same building as Plusnet's gateways.

 

My kids have been using Youtube all day, and I've not had any complaints.

Azagoth
Grafter
Posts: 661
Thanks: 5
Registered: ‎01-08-2007

Re: Youtube pretty much unusable on Plusnet today.

Still can't use Youtube.  I posted this on Thursday and now it's Saturday, and there is still no reply from a member of Plusnet staff. 

Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Youtube pretty much unusable on Plusnet today.

Not that it helps you, but I can confirm that Youtube is working right now (via tunneled IPv6).

As Youtube is working, and you can also get it via your neighbours WiFi,  then that points to the issue being somewhere in the Plusnet system, or with your router settings.

Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Youtube pretty much unusable on Plusnet today.

Which router are you using ?

Which DNS are you using ?

Are you on ADSL or fibre ?

What MTU is your router set to ?

Do other video sites (like BBC iPlayer) work OK on your connection ?

Azagoth
Grafter
Posts: 661
Thanks: 5
Registered: ‎01-08-2007

Re: Youtube pretty much unusable on Plusnet today.

I don't have a Plusnet router (they wouldn't send me one because they refused to take the P&P payment from the same bank account that I pay for my broadband from).  I can 100% rule out the settings on my router as being the cause (the same problem arises on two different routers) which leaves only one thing - Plusnet.

 

The Youtube webpages open just fine and a tracert shows no problems in the hops to the destination server, it's just the video that's failing to completely load.

 

Router WAG160N

DNS:  Google

ADSL

MTU: 1480

 

All other video sites are fine.  It's just Youtube.

 

Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Youtube pretty much unusable on Plusnet today.

I tend to agree that it is likely to be Plusnet's routing of Youtube traffic,  as I used to suffer the same issues that you are describing, and my connection is as near to perfection as it is possible to achieve.

 

When I switched to tunneled IPv6, it was instantly like the alternative routing simply bypassed whatever this issue is within the Plusnet network.

 

With my tunneled IPv6, the IPv6 Youtube traffic is encapsulated IPv4 packets from my network to the Plusnet data-centre, and immediately passed to my IPv6 ISP (Hurricane Electric) who are in the same London location, but from then on my traffic is carried by their IP transit instead of via Plusnet's routing.

 

Are your routers capable of running a '6in4' IPv6 tunnel ?, as it is free to use if you are able to !  Wink

 

https://tunnelbroker.net/

 

Don't hold your breath waiting for Plusnet to fix this, as they will likely claim that it works for them. Embarrassed

Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Youtube pretty much unusable on Plusnet today.

With those router settings, it looks like you know what your doing Cool

Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Youtube pretty much unusable on Plusnet today.

You said you have tried two routers, what model is the other one ?

Azagoth
Grafter
Posts: 661
Thanks: 5
Registered: ‎01-08-2007

Re: Youtube pretty much unusable on Plusnet today.

Sorry for the wait, I had work and then had to track down my mate who I borrowed the other router from.  It's a TP-Link TD-W8960N V5.    As running that 6in4' IPv6 tunnel, I'll look into that.  Should be OK as all tests show that I'm capable of using IPv6.