Netflix streaming quality - Page 87

Ethernet wired or WIFI (wireless)?

54mbps .. what provider do you have .. ??

initial poor PQ that improves is the norm .. there are so many variables on any connection that it's difficult to pinpoint ..

go to CNET and look up the bandwidth meter and then let us know what it reads ..

well, i'm the dumbass....

the computer reads 54 MBS, i swear, but the CNET says 632 kbps.

that'd explain it. off topic, but may i ask, is this a hardware or ISP isuue, both? guess i'll call ATT.

THANKS!!!

Try Speedtest.net as well. If you're not getting what your network provider promises you should take it up with them.

You can also try a self-contained app called ShaperProbe that detects up/down speed and if there's any traffic shaping being done on your line. I've found it to be the most accurate of all the speed tests I've tried.

http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~partha/diffprobe/shaperprobe.html

Developed by the Georgia Institute of Technology

As Mike mentioned, a second opinion speed test is a good idea, although the CNET app is pretty accurate for me ..

If you have AT&T DSL, your still pretty low .. .. if your connection can't get above that then your lucky to be getting even an SD feed ..

Doubtful it's a hardware issue ..

thanks alot guys. i also tested with speedtest.net. same result. or even a bit worse. called att tech support, oh boy...here we go. i have been being charged for(and wanted) their top speed service for years...only been provided their lowest...tech support says i have to talk to the billing dept to "upgrade" my service.

could be fruad or legit, but either way, i'll suggest everyone actually test their speeds. i always thought it was just my old-ass computer.
Edited by dcarroll - 2/10/13 at 3:07pm

Don't feel bad I had a friend who had the same problem. He thought it was his older computer since he had constant buffering on YouTube. He generally only used it for browsing and email so he wasn't aware that his internet speed was very slow. I had him do a speed check and he came back with 768 Kbps, half of what he was paying for (yeah I know still slow). When he called CenturyTel to ask why he was having such slow speeds they informed him that they hadn't switched his service over to the higher speed in spite of billing him for 1.5 Mbps for a year or more. No apologies and no refund - although I'm not sure if he asked for one.

Verizon has been throttling down their antiquated DSL service because they don't want to invest too much into the cost of maintenance calls anymore. However, it hasn't precluded them from raising their fees, even in areas where they refused to offer Fios. As far as they are concerned, there's no problem in charging more for less.



Ian

I have been having issue with streaming on and off for 2 years. Never on my Computer but on my Blu-ray player. Finally fixed my issues by upgrading my router. Once I did that I went from a 80% signal strenth to 100% from about 50 feet way thru brick.
Made a HUGE difference.

The computer will only show the speed of the link to the next hop. So it's showing you the 54M of your wireless connection. If you plug it in it will show 100M or even 1000M. This has nothing to do with your actual internet connection.

Actually I think that is the plan - they don't want to invest in aging copper wires and would happily lose their DSL customers.

http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Verizon-is-Willfully-Driving-DSL-Users-Into-the-Arms-of-Cable-120473

I live in a rural area and they downgraded me from 6 Mbps - 4 Mbps DSL last summer.

Fortunately our local county supervisor has been pushing Comcast to support cable into our remote areas.

With some trepidation I went with Comcast 20 Mbps. It has been great - very reliable download speeds and saving quite a bit of money with Comcast/Ooma compared to Verizon DSL/Phone.

Verizon had no interest in keeping me as a customer.

ShaperProbe is great - but I have found it doesn't work well on computers with wireless (WiFi) connections (partly because the WiFi connection is introducing its own issues). On a wired computer it is very accurate.

I find the Vudu Speed Test to be a very good indication on the real world speed you are getting. It is longer than speedtest.net and other popular tests.

http://speedtest.vudu.com/

You can also try the non-flash, non-java speed test at:

http://speedof.me/

I was in the same boat. The first two times they lowered my speed, I complained and they they sent a tech out who tested my line and told them to bring it back up. After the third time, they refused, even though my line still tested fine for the higher speed. I changed to Optima Online through Cablevison, and haven't looked back.


Ian
Edited by mailiang - 2/12/13 at 11:33am

Try several meters. With speedtest.net I am around 35 mb and with CNET I get 9.8 mb. That's a big difference. It probably has to do with the number of hops and distance to the server.

Floyd

What did you upgrade from and too? I'm using a 6 year old linksys router (4 ports) @ 10,000 mb per line. I'm currently hooked to a cable system that has Open Connect, so I see superhd. I've noticed with all movies, it tends to be blurry at the very start and then quickly goes to very sharp. Like there is some kind of negotiation going on.

Floyd

Asus RT-N66R (best buy model) RT-N66U

This thing is amazing. It lets me boost the signal strenth as needed to cover all of my house. It switches to a higher bandwith for HD steaming. Great for gaming, etc.
What I also love about it was it allows me to control the times my child is on the net, and block any sites I want. That and you can set up your own cloud for streaming. But I did get my from Best buy and I love it!

By default speedtest.net will choose the closest available test server, probably within 50 miles of you, but you can manually select one located virtually anywhere. Who knows where the test servers CNET uses are.

For what's it's worth, so does speedofme, which really impressed me and it doesn't require flash or Java. Thumbs up to Mr. G.






Ian
Edited by mailiang - 2/12/13 at 3:44pm

My Google Chrome Broswer choked on it, it got up to 90Mb/s down and then crashed. While with IE10, it went very slow and only showed a download speed of 30Mb/s (and an upload of 14Mb/s). The only site I've used that let me consistently hit my 155Mb/s download speed and 69Mb/s upload speeds is from the FiOS speedtest. Speedtest.net is the second most consistent for me.


http://speedtest.verizon.com/fios300/

I've used the Verizon test and it's OK, but I prefer the format of speed of me. It could be the server or it may not be calibrated for that rate of speed. However, I'll keep checking for any inconsistencies.



Ian
Edited by mailiang - 2/12/13 at 9:44pm

I have a 6 Mbit line. My Ps3 gets to High-HD (3850 kbps) in about 30 seconds and stays there. The WD TV Live needs ~1-2 Minutes for the same quality. The Apple TV 3 I just bought doesn't get over 2350 kbps. I tried wired and wireless no change. Too bad because I really like it for Airplay etc. The PS3 is too loud and the WD TV Live menu sluggish as hell.

Thanks for the info. Pretty impressive. I see one in my near future.

Floyd

I know the feeling. Guy at work told me about it at 7:30 am and by 10:00 am I had it. One of the best impuse buys I ever did in ages I wa thinking on wiring my entire house when this solution dropped in my lap.

My Roku runs the same way as you PS3. My Panasonic BD players go to full HD almost instantly.


Ian

Netflix Launches Speed Index To Highlight The Best ISPs For Streaming


http://techcrunch.com/2013/03/11/netflix-launches-speed-index-to-highlight-the-best-isps-for-streaming/



Ian

It's notable that the top 4 spots on the US index are providers set up for Open Connect access. Cox Communications just did that a month or so ago and have jumped 5 spots. I wonder if they think that this list will entice other providers to join the Open Connect club?

I know us Comcast users certainly hope so, and if the "king of the hill" goes with OC I would imagine the rest will follow suit.

Don't hold your breath. They may be the largest, but they are one of the worst when it comes to customer service. I have Cablevision here, and Comcast at my wife's home where her brother lives and it's like night and day.


Ian