Buffering with full speed? YouTube, Plex BBC

[#1]

I would guess that as using an IPV6 tunnel avoids the problem, it points to an issue with Plusnet / YouTube caching and peering?

This post from @JonoH indicates that there are YouTube caching servers "within the Plusnet network":

https://community.plus.net/t5/Everything-else/How-does-the-Plusnet-Caching-Nework-actually-work/m-p/...

[#2]

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@RichardB wrote:

... it points to an issue with Plusnet / YouTube caching and peering?

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I have long wondered whether there is a Plusnet peering restriction somewhere, as I've often noticed that when doing back-to-back IPv4 then IPv6 speed tests using ipv6-test.com/speedtest/,  that the tunnelled IPv6 is frequently slightly faster than the native Plusnet IPv4 from the same speed test server ! - something that you wouldn't expect to ever happen unless there is an IPv4 peering bottleneck ?.

[#3]

Further to the question of whether my solution to buffering was down to bypassing Plusnet routing, or IPv6 protocol,

I just found this in another topic "Buffering on Youtube " -

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@jb68 wrote:

Noticed from the last 2-3 days, youtube is buffering like mad. My connection is 75mbps but youtube is showing 100kbps. Nothing has changed on my setup. Did the usual reboot. Only way I can resolve it is by using a VPN.

The fact that a VPN can also cure the buffering, would tend to indicate a Plusnet routing/peering/caching issue, rather than simply using the IPv6 protocol ?.

[#4]

This seems remarkably similar to my issues, but for me YT is fine but Warcraft is not. Ping fine and stable, speedtest show stable speeds, no apparent issues other than cannot play the game. Downloads are fast, really only this one service that is a total failure.

141.hiper04.sheff.dial.plus.net.uk has between 99 and 100% packet loss on WinMTR. There are a couple that are 100% loss so don't even report a name/IP in WinMTR

Been around a week or so as well.

[#5]

Although I am indeed having similar problems with YouTube, my speed is the main issue as it keeps dropping to about half. Has anyone else had similar problems?

Thank you for using Speedtest by Ookla. Your test history is attached to this email in CSV format.

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Although I am indeed having similar problems with YouTube, my speed is the main issue as it keeps dropping to about half. Has anyone else had similar problems?

Thank you for using Speedtest by Ookla. Your test history is attached to this email in CSV format.

Speedtest by Ookla is the definitive way to measure your internet performance. Speedtest has been used billions of times, making it the dominant global leader in internet performance testing and metrics.

You can take a Speedtest at speedtest.net and by downloading the free Speedtest app for iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, Apple TV, and Google Chrome.

[#6]

Firstly I have to say Plusnet support is none existent with this issue which is disappointing, they need to look into their caching or CDN or whatever you want to call it for Youtube as this is not good enough!

My internet is working totally fine outside of Youtube, however Youtube its an absolute lottery at the moment when it comes to loading videos. I am going to try a router wide VPN tonight to see if this bypasses my speed issues;

Pinging Youtube.com [216.58.204.46] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 216.58.204.46: bytes=32 time=9ms TTL=54
Reply from 216.58.204.46: bytes=32 time=9ms TTL=54
Reply from 216.58.204.46: bytes=32 time=9ms TTL=54
Reply from 216.58.204.46: bytes=32 time=9ms TTL=54
Reply from 216.58.204.46: bytes=32 time=9ms TTL=54
Reply from 216.58.204.46: bytes=32 time=9ms TTL=54  

Tracing route to youtube.com [172.217.169.78]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1    <1 ms    <1 ms    <1 ms  192.168.1.1
  2     *        *        *     Request timed out.
  3     8 ms     8 ms     8 ms  129.hiper04.sheff.dial.plus.net.uk [195.166.143.129]
  4     9 ms     8 ms     8 ms  128.hiper04.sheff.dial.plus.net.uk [195.166.143.128]
  5     8 ms     8 ms     9 ms  195.99.125.136
  6     8 ms     9 ms     9 ms  peer7-et-4-1-4.telehouse.ukcore.bt.net [194.72.16.140]
  7     9 ms     9 ms     9 ms  109.159.253.185
  8     8 ms     8 ms     8 ms  216.239.40.81
  9     9 ms     9 ms     9 ms  172.253.66.99
 10     8 ms     9 ms     8 ms  lhr48s09-in-f14.1e100.net [172.217.169.78]

The cached videos are super fast to get to 25 seconds ahead on Youtube but when you hit a bad one it might as well be from Egypt its so bad!

It should not be up to the customer to be doing anything outside of the normal troubleshooting process, this is clearly an issue outside the control of the customer.

My son gets a certain portion of time a day to watch Youtube and 75% of his videos are buffering, this issue has only started happening for me recently so if somethings changed on Plusnets end they need to get it fixed ASAP!

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[#7]

Here is an example of the buffering with and without a VPN on my iPad;

YouTube buffering

[#8]

Hi,

I am also experiencing the same exact issue on my Plusnet connection.

Over the past few days, YouTube fails to load / constantly buffers certain videos on all devices (Mac, iPhone, Windows Chrome, Chromecast).

The weird thing is it's not all videos - I can load some videos at 1080p just fine, however some videos, will never load or take a very long time to load and then play in very low quality, I think around 50% of videos do this.

I am getting a solid connection (67Mbps down/16Mbps up/15ms to London), no other websites/services are having issues. I can stream 4k 60fps instantly on sites like Vimeo without hickup.

I assume Yorkshirelion you are actually in Yorkshire? I ask because I am also in the Yorkshire region (Holmfirth exchange), a neighbour of mine also on Plusnet is getting the exact same issue. We are also using custom routers, and until recently, everything worked perfectly. I have not found any reports of this however anywhere else, so I suspect it could be a localised problem. I have also not changed any device network or router settings any time this year.

Here's what I have tried, to no success:

• Rebooted routers/modems/devices
• Updated router firmware
• Changed router DNS to Google's public DNS
• Flushed DNS cache on devices
• Checked IPv6 is disabled on router/devices
• Reset one device's network settings

For reference:

Here is an example video, that does not load on all my devices at any quality 

Here is an example video, that loads almost instantly at 4k on all my devices 

Speedtest

Note: I previously posted this same reply, however it was removed by the system as spam.

[#9]

I’m in Manchester so don’t think it’s just a Yorkshire issue....

[#10]

I’m in Scotland and it’s affecting me too

[#11]

Is anyone here getting this on a Plusnet router?

[#12]

Yes, I’m on a plusnet router. My speed fluctuates so much & Youtube is very unreliable. 

[#13]

I’m using netgear and openreach modeM

[#14]

@alexpn I tried the video you posted and I also had buffering on the same video so it would appear that the issues are related, I have hit a new low in the fact that my Alexa devices are buffering on Spotify! Makes no sense at all. Never ever had Spotify issues before. 

Really is bizarre as I have full speed and most things are working fine. YouTube and now Spotify however having issues. 

[#15]

@Yorkshirelion Thanks for confirming.

I just asked my girlfriend who lives in another town and uses the standard out of the box Plusnet router with default config on standard fibre - also getting exact same issue, solid ~30Mbs down, YouTube buffering most videos. Think this rules out custom routers.

I am just surprised there is not more people complaining given YouTube is obviously a huge service. I searched Google/Twitter/Facebook/YouTube (ironically) for posts related to YouTube problems with Plusnet/BT/UK and couldn't find anything except the usual people complaining of unrelated problems. This forum thread seems to be the only report I could find...

I hope Plusnet sort this because it's been like this nearly a week and getting ridiculous, YouTube is basically unusable. 

I noticed some posts saying Plusnet plan to trial IPv6 in spring this year, I was wondering if they have attempted to roll it out but f*d it up, given the posts above?