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tim
Premium Member
join:2005-06-07
Conroe, TX

1 edit

tim to maartena

Premium Member

to maartena

Re: Netflix on 24Mbps - rarely get full HD stream

said by maartena:

Unfortunately, AT&T's DNS server is located in "Wichita, Kansas", which pretty much stands for "I don't know where you are, so I will pick the exact middle of the U.S." - Now if you are in California, you could be sent to a Netflix datacenter in say..... Columbus, Ohio (I have no idea if there actually is a datacenter there, just as an example), which means your data stream has to cross almost the entire country.

Netflix does have a datacenter somewhere in California, so you should use that one. To get around this, you can change the DNS servers of the machine that plays Netflix to a DNS server that either IS local, or does round-robin DNS selection and automatically determines which DNS server is best, and which is local.

False. The DNS IPs that AT&T assigns (in my area) are 68.94.156.1 and 151.164.8.201. So, let's do a traceroute to 68.94.156.1.

 
traceroute to 68.94.156.1 (68.94.156.1), 64 hops max, 72 byte packets
 1  10.65.44.1 (10.65.44.1)  0.747 ms  0.253 ms  0.378 ms
 2  192.168.0.1 (192.168.0.1)  1.699 ms  1.455 ms  1.368 ms
 3  adsl-99-41-243-254.dsl.emhril.sbcglobal.net (99.41.243.254)  8.621 ms  7.898 ms  8.319 ms
 4  dist1-vlan60.emhril.ameritech.net (68.22.72.130)  8.513 ms  7.950 ms  8.823 ms
 5  dnsr1.sbcglobal.net (68.94.156.1)  8.939 ms  8.506 ms  8.539 ms
 

Looks like it's going to a server in Elmhurst, IL - which is the local AT&T DSL hub.

Let's also traceroute netflix.vo.llnwd.net - which is one of Netflix's CDN hostnames.

traceroute to netflix.vo.llnwd.net (208.111.168.7), 64 hops max, 72 byte packets
 1  10.65.44.1 (10.65.44.1)  1.322 ms  0.251 ms  0.234 ms
 2  192.168.0.1 (192.168.0.1)  1.483 ms  1.557 ms  1.519 ms
 3  adsl-99-41-243-254.dsl.emhril.sbcglobal.net (99.41.243.254)  8.706 ms  7.903 ms  8.454 ms
 4  dist1-vlan60.emhril.ameritech.net (68.22.72.130)  22.350 ms  8.684 ms  8.316 ms
 5  151.164.101.214 (151.164.101.214)  8.640 ms  8.377 ms  8.149 ms
 6  151.164.99.169 (151.164.99.169)  52.948 ms  46.506 ms  47.816 ms
 7  ppp-151-164-46-42.eulstx.swbell.net (151.164.46.42)  160.888 ms  77.231 ms  43.790 ms
 8  limelight.tengigabitethernet8-4.ar2.chi2.gblx.net (206.165.73.150)  41.212 ms  44.764 ms  50.929 ms
 9  cdn-208-111-168-7.ord.llnw.net (208.111.168.7)  43.024 ms  44.110 ms^C
 

So it appears it is indeed connecting to a server in Chicago. Try to traceroute to netflix.vo.llnwd.net and see where it connects you.

FWIW, I'm on DSL. 6mbit. Netflix HD seems to stream fine, even on this connection.

Deft
Stros in '08
Premium Member
join:2003-09-06
Grand Forks, ND

Deft

Premium Member

1st one crossed Minneapolis-Chicago then ended here --> eulstx swbell

2nd one crossed Chicago and ended at Dallas.

Michail
Premium Member
join:2000-08-02
Boynton Beach, FL

Michail to tim

Premium Member

to tim
I ran the trace and it took me to a Miami server, which is about 50 miles from me.
...
15    26 ms    31 ms    25 ms  cdn-68-142-101-254-mia1.llnw.net [68.142.101.254]
 
Michail

1 edit

Michail to tim

Premium Member

to tim
Switching to google's DNS server gets me Atlanta. At least I think that's what could be the cause.

16    46 ms    40 ms    46 ms  cdn-68-142-118-254.atl1.llnw.net [68.142.118.254]
 

I'll have to see what this does to the Bluray player.