Penny Arcade Forums› Help / Advice Forum
The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums here.
The Guiding Principles and New Rules document is now in effect.

Diagnosing internet slowdown? (hulu, youtube)

LoneIgadzraLoneIgadzra Registered User regular
edited February 2010 in Help / Advice Forum
Hey, I'm currently living with my parents and was getting tired of our extremely low-end 1 Mbit cable internet so I offered to pay the difference to upgrade to a more standard 8 Mbit connection. Mainly I was getting tired of Hulu and Youtube videos hardly ever playing, as well as slow downloads on Steam (since the games I'm buying now are many gigabytes).

But guess what! Hulu and youtube still don't play. But I downloaded OpenOffice at 800 K/s!

I am curious - can anyone tell me if this is more likely to server load or ISP traffic shaping - or even the new version of DD-WRT (v24-sp2) that I just put on our router? (We're with roadrunner cable - now owned by time warner.)

LoneIgadzra on

Posts

  • Santa ClaustrophobiaSanta Claustrophobia Ho Ho Ho Disconnecting from Xbox LIVERegistered User regular
    edited February 2010
    I just installed new malware and virus scanners that offer real time scanning. Ever since then, video streaming has become extremely choppy and at times takes a while to start. Make sure there isn't anything running in the background at the same time.

    Santa Claustrophobia on
    You're muckin' with a G!

    Do not engage the Watermelons.
  • BarrakkethBarrakketh Registered User regular
    edited February 2010
    Sometimes Youtube and Hulu is just slow. The site itself works but some of the servers that stream your video is just slow. I've found that it's not consistent, as other videos will work fine and others won't. Sometimes those videos that consist of nothing but a still image and music will constantly pause to buffer while another video in HD can be easily streamed.

    The only thing I can suggest right now is to do a traceroute whenever Youtube is being excessively slow just to see if maybe your latency is too high between the router and your ISP. It's entirely possible that your ISP is oversubscribed and there are too many people using bandwidth where your line terminates. It's like having too many people behind one residential router but on a larger scale.

    Barrakketh on
    Rollers are red, chargers are blue....omae wa mou shindeiru
  • LoneIgadzraLoneIgadzra Registered User regular
    edited February 2010
    Santa Claustrophobia wrote: »
    I just installed new malware and virus scanners that offer real time scanning. Ever since then, video streaming has become extremely choppy and at times takes a while to start. Make sure there isn't anything running in the background at the same time.

    On a Mac, so that's a moot point.

    LoneIgadzra on
  • skeldareskeldare Gresham, ORRegistered User regular
    edited February 2010
    Youtube has a pretty good way to test your speed.

    skeldare on
    Nintendo Console Codes
    Switch (JeffConser): SW-3353-5433-5137 Wii U: Skeldare - 3DS: 1848-1663-9345
    PM Me if you add me!
    HAIL HYDRA
  • admanbadmanb unionize your workplace Seattle, WARegistered User regular
    edited February 2010
    I assume when you say "don't play" you mean that they'll play for a couple seconds, pause to buffer, play, pause, etc. Not that the video or sound are choppy.

    admanb on
    twitter, github
  • LoneIgadzraLoneIgadzra Registered User regular
    edited February 2010
    Yeah, that's what I mean.

    LoneIgadzra on
  • LoneIgadzraLoneIgadzra Registered User regular
    edited February 2010
    skeldare wrote: »
    Youtube has a pretty good way to test your speed.

    Hilariously their sample video had to pause frequently to buffer, and my speed kept pingponging between 800 K/s and 50 K/s.

    I guess I can try plugging directly into the modem for a bit, eliminate the router firmware as a potential culprit.

    LoneIgadzra on
Sign In or Register to comment.
Penny Arcade Forums› Help / Advice Forum