Slow download speed from some services despite fast connection

[nophead]

Hello,

   I have a solid ADSL connection speed of 55.37 Mbps and I can play youtube videos,  watch HD TV catchup services and Netflix without any problems. However at some times of day near race weekends I can't watch MotoGP and WorldSBK at HD resolution.  Sometimes it is low res which looks like an impressionist oil painting! 

When I investigate actual download speeds I get widely varying results depending on the test provider.  Google home says I have a lightning fast connection and reports 50.2 Mbps. Fast.com powered by Netflix always reports a reasonable speed as well, currently 53 Mbps. It varies between about 40 and 55.

However when I have a problems with MotoGP Which's speed test can be as  lows as 2 Mbps to 5 Mbps and www.speedtest.net can show similar slow speeds as well, although on good days they show much higher speeds, closer to the actual line rate.

I have been in contact with Dorna and after a long email conversation they offered a refund but no fix. They say only a small number of their customers have this problem. I have looked at the bandwidth used by Dorna videos and it is about 6 Mbps, so about 4 times other HD video services but that should not be a problem for a 55M bps connection.  I can watch other HD services at the same time and it doesn't make the Dorna feed any worse. So I do have plenty of bandwidth, just not to Dorna.

So what is Which's speed test doing that sees such slow download speeds, that only affect Dorna's videos? It seems like some part of the internet has a slow connection to Talktalk but other parts are always fast.

A traceroute shows the Dorna videos come from an Amazon server in Seattle via 19 hops, lots taking around 100ms. 

[nophead]

Deep in my file! What exactly does my file consist off?

It is four months ago because I can't was unable to switch due to being in Tenerife for three months and not home long enough in between to be able to guarantee being able to complete switching. Looks like it will take 14 days to go live and then some days to evaluate if it works properly and if I still have the same problem some unknown time for it to be fixed.

If I cancel the direct debit TT won't able to take the money, no matter how incompetent they are. I think that is worth forgoing a small refund to avoid that battle, which would problably end in the small claims court.

[Gliwmaeden2]

@nophead, the original note about no early termination fees might well be buried deep in your file by now:

 

It's from 4 months ago - I would post this in the billing section of the forum for Arne-talktalk to investigate for you.

Leave your Direct Debit in place while this is being sorted out. It's by far the best way to manage the issue at this stage, and if Talktalk then owes you any money, you can claim it back using the same details, via My Account. 

[nophead]

Karl stated that a note had been put on my account to not charge an early termination charge:

https://community.talktalk.co.uk/t5/Broadband/Slow-download-speed-from-some-services-despite-fast-co...

But, as I guessed would happen, I just got email saying I would be charged £76.12 for contract breakage. I will wait for this months payment to go out and then I will cancel the direct debit. It is TalkTalk that broke the contract by not delivering the minimum download speed and refusing to do anything about it.

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Hello,

I understand and I'm sorry to hear that. I hope everything goes well with your new ISP.

Thanks

[nophead]

Back from Tenerife now so have just initiated a switch to Plusnet Unlimited Fibre Extra.

While I was away in Tenerife the TalkTalk service has been terrible. Most evenings from about 18:30 to 11:30 the download speed dropped to below 1 Mbps. Fine during the weekdays but poor during the day some weekends as well. Whatever the problem is it has been getting steadily worse.

It will be interesting to see how Plusnet compares.  I read they have the best customer service in the UK, so if they have the same problem perhaps they will be able to fix it. The guaranteed download speed is the same, 42 Mbps, and the price is £1 more.

I will let you know how it goes.

[nophead]

Looks like your network team and certainly the complaints team are mostly useless then.

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Hi,

Unfortunately as this has been looked at a few times by both the Network engineers, our faults team and also as a complaint, there are no further steps we can take.

Thanks

[nophead]

So what other explanation is there for the fact your own broadband speed test shows my download slows down most evenings at peak times but my router stays connected at 56Mbps? And somebody from your network team phoned me to say that video is cached and other net traffic isn't.  He said that was the reason I could watch Netflix but not Dorna in the evenings. Now the slow down has go so bad it even affects Netflix but not as badly as non video traffic, such as your download test. 

Last night the download speed reported by your test was below 1Mbps but when watching Netflix it was getting about 1.5Mbps and Fast.com, power by Netflix showed a higher download speed. However simply browsing this forum or trying to post was almost impossible.

My router isn't going to look at the time and traffic content and arrange to be slow for some traffic in the evenings. It must be something further up stream that either caches video, or prioritises video streaming traffic.

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Morning,

One of our Network Engineers has just come back to me to advise that they have checked this and can't see any peak time congestion or bottle necks that would be causing this on our network.

Thanks

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Hello,

I've asked our Network Team to check to see if they can see any peak time congestion issues for your line/exchange and I will post back as soon as I receive an update back.

Thanks

[nophead]

Well I have done what Michelle asked me to do and she said she would contact the network team. There isn't anything to see at my house because the problem is not present during working hours and is not an ADSL line problem.  It is a bottleneck somewhere between the cabinet and the internet.

[ferguson]

Well, enjoy Tenerife and come back to us when you return to what will hopefully be a warmer UK, brrr! I cannot imagine this is possible to diagnose, let alone resolve from your current position. 

[nophead]

Or perhaps you give priority to video feeds over non video traffic. I have noticed that first my Dorna videos and now Netflix have started using a lot more bandwidth than they did at the beginning of the year. I was reminded by a friend today that Netflix reduced their bandwidth during the pandemic to reduce pressure on ISPs and it seems they have recently increased it again. This seems to correspond to my problem getting worse.

[nophead]

No I am in Tenerife until spring. There is no point in running tests from the test socket. The router is connected solidly at 56Mbps. The problem is contention upstream of the server that caches video because non video services slow down a lot more than video services. 

[ferguson]

OK, are you at home now? Can you run tests directly from the test socket?

[nophead]

The VPN server is another RPI4 at home with a wired connection running Wireguard. It doesn't have any reason to slow down in the evening and the RPI4 next to it that I am running the TT speed test on shows my download speed at home has slowed right down to below 1Mbps, which it has been doing most evenings for months. This is also confirmed by my Google home router's speed test, which is wired to the router supplied by TT, which I only use as a modem.

The VPN slows because my download speed at home is less than my upload speed in the evenings. During the day it runs at about 6Mbps, which is my upload speed.

This issue has been getting steadily worse since I started complaining about it. It will probably be slow now till about 23:30 this evening when it will recover again.

It is definitely contention caused when people come home from work because it was not as bad during the Christmas holidays.

[ferguson]

If you are using a VPN is it not the IP server in question which is causing the issue?

[nophead]

At 19:20 Netflix over VPN started buffering and dropped to low resolution.  I ran another TT speed test on my RPI  at home and the download speed has dropped below 1Mbps, so it doesn't even show in the summary. Google Home says 1Mbps but it only has 1Mbps resolution.

This is the traceroute:

 $ traceroute 51.140.107.12
traceroute to 51.140.107.12 (51.140.107.12), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets
 1  192.168.1.1 (192.168.1.1)  4.521 ms  4.720 ms  4.660 ms
 2  192.168.2.1 (192.168.2.1)  4.590 ms  5.884 ms  5.601 ms
 3  host-2-98-32-1.as13285.net (2.98.32.1)  11.146 ms  11.523 ms  11.959 ms
 4  ae49-ner001.irl.as13285.net (78.144.1.41)  10.735 ms  10.488 ms  12.597 ms
 5  ae48-scr001.msp.as13285.net (78.144.1.36)  10.975 ms  10.689 ms ae49-scr002.msp.as13285.net (78.144.1.40)  15.424 ms
 6  host-78-144-5-87.as13285.net (78.144.5.87)  10.518 ms  14.800 ms  12.796 ms
 7  104.44.53.149 (104.44.53.149)  22.156 ms ae23-0.icr02.lon22.ntwk.msn.net (104.44.239.113)  26.454 ms *
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[nophead]

I can run the TT speed test on an RPI4 8GB using a remote desktop and Chromium. It is wireless rather than wired but it is only about 1.5 metres from the wireless router and gets reasonable speeds during the day. Here is an example:

Google Home speed test on a wired connection says 52 Mbps, so perhaps a little loss due to wireless or just the CPU power of the RPI.

traceroute to the server that the download data comes from does not complete the route but it does go through the usual suspects in Aylesbury.

 $ traceroute 51.140.107.12
traceroute to 51.140.107.12 (51.140.107.12), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets
 1  192.168.1.1 (192.168.1.1)  2.277 ms  2.351 ms  2.313 ms
 2  192.168.2.1 (192.168.2.1)  3.879 ms  2.675 ms  2.540 ms
 3  host-2-98-32-1.as13285.net (2.98.32.1)  15.877 ms  15.664 ms  15.799 ms
 4  ae49-ner001.irl.as13285.net (78.144.1.41)  21.711 ms  11.167 ms  11.029 ms
 5  ae48-scr001.msp.as13285.net (78.144.1.36)  11.625 ms ae49-scr002.msp.as13285.net (78.144.1.40)  11.616 ms  11.576 ms
 6  host-78-144-5-87.as13285.net (78.144.5.87)  51.927 ms  10.249 ms host-78-144-5-85.as13285.net (78.144.5.85)  12.008 ms
 7  ae24-0.icr01.lon24.ntwk.msn.net (104.44.239.115)  21.602 ms  21.547 ms  21.142 ms
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I will do the same tests this evening when it goes slow.

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Hi,

Ok, please let us know how you get on. If it's not possible to run the tests now then we may need to wait until you're available.

Thanks