Topic 'Distributel - Problems Streaming' in forum 'Canadian Broadband' - dslreports.com

Re: Distributel - Problems Streaming

Sat, 25 Aug 2012 16:41:13 EDT

Gza14 posted : Hmm... not sure if it's my node, but speeds are on the slow side today.

Speedtest.net is hovering around 10Mb, while Speakeasy is barely breaking 5Mb.

Twitch.tv @ 1080p is a no go.

Anyone else?

EDIT (6:54PM): Speeds are going back up.

Re: Distributel - Problems Streaming

Mon, 23 Jul 2012 17:07:33 EDT

spartan002 posted : yup speeds for have improved a lot. from 24kb/sec to 1-3mb/sec

Re: Distributel - Problems Streaming

Fri, 13 Jul 2012 23:09:09 EDT

priyen posted : I can also confirm improvement but slight.
On links where i used to get 300Kbps, i am now getting ~500Kbps..

But i was really expecting at least half (1.5MB/sec ) at the least :/

Still hoping for significant improvement.

Re: Distributel - Problems Streaming

Fri, 13 Jul 2012 23:01:37 EDT

Samgee posted : Things have definitely improved.

*edit* Downloads in IE hold steady at 3.4 MB/sec, 1080p streaming solid and uninterrupted. Good across the board. Torrents were never an issue and running full speed.

*edit2* Just noticed that my upstream has 4 bonded channels now as well.

Re: Distributel - Problems Streaming

Fri, 13 Jul 2012 22:32:33 EDT

anon posted : I had the same issue but for the first time today I am able to watch IPTV at normal speed

Did something change?

Re: Distributel - Problems Streaming

Thu, 12 Jul 2012 21:43:45 EDT

Gza14 posted : Speakeasy (CHI) has now hit 21Mb.

Streaming 1080p just fine.

Keep it coming. :)

Re: Distributel - Problems Streaming

Thu, 12 Jul 2012 15:59:00 EDT

priyen posted : Guys remember the issue is not SPECIFIALLY streaming, its single threaded connections.

Anything that will utilize single threads will be slow. and that is a BIG issue with distributel's network.

(thus causing slow streaming)

Re: Distributel - Problems Streaming

Thu, 12 Jul 2012 14:04:08 EDT

Gza14 posted : Currently discussing the issue and possible options with sehache myself.

To add to this, I was able to successfully stream a 1080p channel on justin.tv, post-midnight last night. However, around 6:30PM or so, they would play for a few seconds, stutter for a bit, resume playing, and eventually freeze altogether.

Re: Distributel - Problems Streaming

Thu, 12 Jul 2012 13:23:13 EDT

sehache posted : After talking with a few people on this thread, and looking around, I found the following.

* I do not have issues with Justin.tv or youtube high def video streaming now. Tried on a few occasions at different times during the day. Another person on this thread who lives a few blocks away is having the issue. We get IP addresses in different ranges so we are not served by the same equipment. But we are served by the same POI

* I have seen a few posts in Techsavvy forums for the same issues. Some where due to transit links being used, but that would affect all customers for the most part. This issue only affects some customers in certain areas.

* Streams are being affected by loss of data. Loss could be occuring in a few different places and blame could be laid accordingly.
- If loss is seen before it enters the network, then maybe problem with transit or site itself(not likely since others would complain).
- If loss is seen within network, after transit but before Rogers, then
- loss could occur between our network and customer dwelling - Possible congested node.

Anyone willing to help test this. Would need to run wireshark on your box and send me captures of a stream.

Re: Distributel - Problems Streaming

Wed, 11 Jul 2012 19:16:24 EDT

Gza14 posted : I've raised this issue on their Facebook page (wall posts by others not visible, however), as well as via email to the tech support.

Not expecting to hear much at this point, but will post upon their response.

Re: Distributel - Problems Streaming

Wed, 11 Jul 2012 00:03:26 EDT

spartan002 posted : unfortunately my friend teksavvy has same issues sometimes. worse i fear its rogers back to its tricks. i switched from teksavvy cable to acanac. problem was during prime time, teksavvy would have huge latency issues and even time out. the connection would literally disconnect for few sections.

acanac doesn't time out though but the latency is always big and single link downloads are super slow

Re: Distributel - Problems Streaming

Tue, 10 Jul 2012 12:49:06 EDT

anon posted : I have been using Distributel for a few months.
I was talking to their Tech Support last night and he told me, "Well, if there's nothing wrong with your speedtest, then there is nothing we can do".

I ran their stupid speedtest.bat file and it showed the following tracert:

Tracing route to www.l.google.com [173.194.69.99]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 16 ms 7 ms 8 ms 129.142.101.10.in-addr.arpa [10.101.142.129]
2 20 ms 11 ms 11 ms 201.221.231.67.in-addr.arpa [67.231.221.201]
3 13 ms 7 ms 9 ms gw-rchmdhll1-to-ipr02.distributel.net [206.80.244.12]
4 19 ms 12 ms 10 ms xe-2-2-0-1405.ipr01.totftds.ext.distributel.net [206.80.244.9]
5 10 ms 11 ms 20 ms gw-google.torontointernetxchange.net [206.108.34.6]
6 10 ms 10 ms 10 ms 114.47.239.216.in-addr.arpa [216.239.47.114]
7 29 ms 29 ms 29 ms 170.46.239.216.in-addr.arpa [216.239.46.170]
8 102 ms 102 ms 101 ms 219.46.239.216.in-addr.arpa [216.239.46.219]
9 100 ms 102 ms 100 ms 175.235.14.72.in-addr.arpa [72.14.235.175]
10 111 ms 126 ms 111 ms 16.235.14.72.in-addr.arpa [72.14.235.16]
11 126 ms 114 ms 126 ms 187.242.85.209.in-addr.arpa [209.85.242.187]
12 125 ms 125 ms 125 ms 88.240.85.209.in-addr.arpa [209.85.240.88]
13 125 ms 124 ms 125 ms 53.48.239.216.in-addr.arpa [216.239.48.53]
14 * * * Request timed out.
15 125 ms 124 ms 125 ms bk-in-f99.1e100.net [173.194.69.99]

I have tried calling back today but no luck so far.
Can anyone give me advice as to what I should do, and if I switch providers, who should I switch to? Would going for DSL solve the problems? And what kind of ping would I get with DSL?

Thanks

Re: Distributel - Problems Streaming

Mon, 09 Jul 2012 22:31:43 EDT

rseiler posted : Yes, this has been an issue since Day 1 on Acanac cable Internet, though I only signed up about 14 months ago and initially only noticed it with downloads (using the DownThemAll extension for Firefox makes it really obvious).

There were threads there about this last year, but they never resolved to anything.

It's a joke at this point.

Re: Distributel - Problems Streaming

Sun, 08 Jul 2012 20:52:32 EDT

priyen posted : 2 months ... i've had this for nearly 1.5 years to no avail. But i am finally giving up and changing after my term

Re: Distributel - Problems Streaming

Sun, 08 Jul 2012 12:27:27 EDT

chaos1105 posted : Wow, about 2 months and still not resolved? Time to switch providers, guys. Try Teksavvy or Start Communications.

Re: Distributel - Problems Streaming

Sat, 07 Jul 2012 20:58:20 EDT

spartan002 posted : same issue as everyone else.
like priyen says its a routing issues, fixed by using a vpn or ssh tunnel. i wonder if rogers dpi has anything to do with it.

without vpn my ping to google.ca is 130ms avg
with vpn its 20ms

Re: Distributel - Problems Streaming

Thu, 05 Jul 2012 21:19:51 EDT

cbourdeau posted : Being on Acanac 30/2 internet for a bit more than a month this problem caught my attention and I wanted to check if I had the same problem. I'm in Quebec, so on Videotron's network and everything was fine when I tried it. MIB3 1080 trailer finished downloading after about 1/4 of the video had played. I also tried Justin.tv, I selected a live game feed that was 1080 and no problem as well... Maybe they fixed it recently, but I watched a few HD videos from youtube before and never had a problem...

Re: Distributel - Problems Streaming

Thu, 05 Jul 2012 20:07:24 EDT

Fergless posted : Thanks for your help sehache. :)

Re: Distributel - Problems Streaming

Thu, 05 Jul 2012 16:57:36 EDT

Mohdslh posted : still pretty bad for me. Will pm you my postal code

Re: Distributel - Problems Streaming

Thu, 05 Jul 2012 08:41:55 EDT

sehache posted : From what I have been finding, the problem cannot be seen via a speed test. You can have a 18+ Mbps speed test result and still get poor performance on the stream. I was having the same issue with streaming for the last few weeks when I tested it. I viewed the MIB3 preview from youtube in 1080p and it was full of buffer requests at 1080p. Also had poor performance from Justin.tv (Twitch.tv).

Yesterday however after testing I did not find any issues. I was able to stream the MIB3 trailer and other trailers without buffer stops. It downloaded the whole trailer in a few seconds. Justin.tv (Twitch.tv) worked fine as well during prime time and off prime time with 1080p and 720p live streams.

There was some network upgrades completed last week to move us off of a congested network with Rogers.

I am served off the St Laurent POI in Ottawa.

If people are still having issues, PM me your postal code. Samgee, can you PM me yours.

I can also confirm that this issue does not occur with DSL.

Re: Distributel - Problems Streaming

Wed, 04 Jul 2012 21:31:44 EDT

Mohdslh posted :

said by Yodums:

I haven't, however I will share some information that wasn't posted in the OP, because I was waiting for some information. I contacted Distributel's CSR Admin, Daniel Brisson, after writing the OP, and they put me through directly to one of their network engineers. He replicated the issue by streaming from the sites I was using with various ISPs, and Distributel was unable to stream, whereas the other ISPs had no issues. The network engineer had informed his director and told me this issue required core changes and I'd see them implemented late June. The wait was because the changes would impact everyone and had to be thoroughly tested -- understandable. Well, we're heading into July now and I haven't heard from him since June 11th.

Unfortunately, I decided to cancel my service with Distributel. Being able to stream is important to me and not hearing any sort of an update for such a long period of time was a deal breaker to me. Perhaps some of you guys that are affected by it can contact Daniel again, and ask an update. I'm sure if you link them to this thread, it would ring a bell.

How to contact Daniel?

Re: Distributel - Problems Streaming

Wed, 04 Jul 2012 13:10:34 EDT

avp77 posted :

said by Samgee:

Awesome, try again after 7pm. Their network admin has acknowledged there is a problem, if you can't replicate it more power to you. It's there.

*edit* can you confirm that you are on cable as well?

Yeah, I'm on cable, on the Scarlett POI. I can try again in the evening, but I doubt it's going to make much difference. I seem to be in a very light-use neighbourhood, I've never ever ever (in the few months I've had it) done a speedtest that was slower than my package of 18Mbps.

Re: Distributel - Problems Streaming

Wed, 04 Jul 2012 12:34:22 EDT

Samgee posted :

said by avp77:

said by Samgee:

Try justin.tv, pick a live gaming stream and run in at 1080 and come back and let us know how that goes.

I tried out a few 1080 streams, and they worked just fine. I didn't let them run for more than a few minutes, since I'm not that interested in watching other people play video games, but it was all smooth and worked great.

Awesome, try again after 7pm. Their network admin has acknowledged there is a problem, if you can't replicate it more power to you. It's there.

*edit* can you confirm that you are on cable as well?

Re: Distributel - Problems Streaming

Wed, 04 Jul 2012 11:23:57 EDT

avp77 posted :

said by Samgee:

Try justin.tv, pick a live gaming stream and run in at 1080 and come back and let us know how that goes.

Re: Distributel - Problems Streaming

Wed, 04 Jul 2012 10:56:31 EDT

Samgee posted :

said by avp77:

I suppose I meant they are hard for another person to verify, since it seems that almost all the services mentioned require paid accounts with some content provider?

I tried the Comedy Network and clips from that seem fine. I also haven't had any problem with Youtube, Vimeo, BBC and all other news sites, 3rd party sports streams like atdhe, etc...

Not saying you're not having problems, but I wouldn't characterize it as a problem all Distributel users are having with streamed video.

None of the streams you have listed would be impacted as they are either not live (youtube, vimeo, BBC) or do not offer a high quality stream.

Try justin.tv, pick a live gaming stream and run in at 1080 and come back and let us know how that goes.

Re: Distributel - Problems Streaming

Wed, 04 Jul 2012 10:32:37 EDT

priyen posted : Its anything single threaded. Turn off our download managers and just download regularly and watch your speed go to as if you had 5Mbps dsl. Its pathetic, they know this, and I hesitate to say:

This is why they dont have a lot of cable capacity problems. The capacitys there for only people know how to utilize it. For most, thell uncontiously be downloading at slow speeds not knowing how fast it is suppose to be.

Re: Distributel - Problems Streaming

Wed, 04 Jul 2012 09:37:58 EDT

avp77 posted : I suppose I meant they are hard for another person to verify, since it seems that almost all the services mentioned require paid accounts with some content provider?

I tried the Comedy Network and clips from that seem fine. I also haven't had any problem with Youtube, Vimeo, BBC and all other news sites, 3rd party sports streams like atdhe, etc...

Not saying you're not having problems, but I wouldn't characterize it as a problem all Distributel users are having with streamed video.

Re: Distributel - Problems Streaming

Tue, 03 Jul 2012 22:26:53 EDT

Mohdslh posted : This complaints aren't vague avp77.
I have the same problem as another several user of distributel/acanac users
If all of us didn't satisfy you go ahead and check acanac community under cable internet problems.
Almost everyone with iptv or live streaming are affected. I'm not talking about youtube and netflex as these are working fine. I'm talking about any live TV service. For example me and another user are having trouble streaming from ATN network.
Another User having problems streaming from Comedy Network Canada and another from Neulion.
The common thing between all of them is distributel cable internet

Re: Distributel - Problems Streaming

Sun, 01 Jul 2012 23:18:26 EDT

avp77 posted : I have Distributel, and I haven't noticed any streaming problems since I switched from DSL with another provider. Most of these complaints seem pretty vague, are there some examples of sites you're having trouble with? (direct links to the video would be best, I'm not going to spend a lot of time hunting around)

Re: Distributel - Problems Streaming

Sat, 30 Jun 2012 22:03:05 EDT

priyen posted : same.. (canceling if not fixed)

Re: Distributel - Problems Streaming

Tue, 26 Jun 2012 19:40:26 EDT

anon posted : I had Distributel installed on Friday and have the exact same issue - speedtest shows 20-30MB download, but I am unable to stream any video at all.

I had Acanac DSL before and streaming was pretty much rock solid.

I'll give them a week and then I'm cancelling

Re: Distributel - Problems Streaming

Tue, 26 Jun 2012 15:00:00 EDT

Yodums posted : I haven't, however I will share some information that wasn't posted in the OP, because I was waiting for some information. I contacted Distributel's CSR Admin, Daniel Brisson, after writing the OP, and they put me through directly to one of their network engineers. He replicated the issue by streaming from the sites I was using with various ISPs, and Distributel was unable to stream, whereas the other ISPs had no issues. The network engineer had informed his director and told me this issue required core changes and I'd see them implemented late June. The wait was because the changes would impact everyone and had to be thoroughly tested -- understandable. Well, we're heading into July now and I haven't heard from him since June 11th.

Unfortunately, I decided to cancel my service with Distributel. Being able to stream is important to me and not hearing any sort of an update for such a long period of time was a deal breaker to me. Perhaps some of you guys that are affected by it can contact Daniel again, and ask an update. I'm sure if you link them to this thread, it would ring a bell.

Re: Distributel - Problems Streaming

Tue, 26 Jun 2012 12:17:04 EDT

bossfn3 posted : Have you heard any updates to this?
I'm having the same issues with distributel in waterloo...full speeds for most things, but streaming is brutal with constant buffering.

I'm not sure if using a Docsis 2 could be an issue on the 28Mbit connection, but that's what I'm using presently...I'm about ready to switch ISPs over this.

Re: Distributel - Problems Streaming

Tue, 29 May 2012 17:18:40 EDT

anon posted : Good luck.

This was an issue for me about two years ago back when I had 3Web. Torrents/Usenet speeds were fine, but when it came to streaming, it always buffered like crazy which became really annoying for me.

Re: Distributel - Problems Streaming

Sun, 27 May 2012 14:39:00 EDT

priyen posted : Well I actually have told Distributel... they said the engineers have been aware of it and are trying to fix it..

(been a few weeks i told distributel)
and a few months i posted on Acanac forum

Re: Distributel - Problems Streaming

Sun, 27 May 2012 14:23:07 EDT

pstewart posted : Hmmm.. that's quite strange. I can follow some of your logic for sure. Definately something to ask them (Distributel) more about for sure if you can get through to the right folks. I can verify though that this isn't a TiNet issue in particular though...

Good luck!

Re: Distributel - Problems Streaming

Sun, 27 May 2012 10:18:22 EDT

priyen posted : Not anywhere in specific.. but MANY destinations outside local areas have single thread speed issues. This is why (I logically assume) ME and others have issues like streaming..basically anything that wont utilize more then 1 thread, speed will be very slow

Re: Distributel - Problems Streaming

Sun, 27 May 2012 09:42:06 EDT

pstewart posted : OK but where are you trying to go? Those links don't tell us anything related to your problem.

Also, 213.200.84.146 is a peering point (one of many) between TiNet and XO Communications in New York City itself - not in Europe as your traceroute in the first response proves. The geolocation information is wrong on that particular IP address (as is quite common for point to point IP addresses used to link providers together).

Re: Distributel - Problems Streaming

Sun, 27 May 2012 09:34:57 EDT

priyen posted : »www.infosniper.net/index.php?ip_···_level=7

»www.hostip.info/index.html

»geomaplookup.net/?ip=213.200.84.146

All Geolocate As2828 in Europe.

If TiNet is not the issue, my guess is someone is throttling heavy on single threads.
eg. »www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/
None of them are above 7Mbps for me at the moment, ranges from 3-7Mbps

..If i use SSH Tunnel, 20Mbps+ ......

Re: Distributel - Problems Streaming

Sun, 27 May 2012 09:09:36 EDT

pstewart posted : Hmm.. that's quite strange. AS2828 (hop #9) you referenced is XO communications based in the US. Without seeing a full sample traceroute it's quite hard to tell the issue. Peering between XO and TiNet is up within the USA though which would make me assume there's another factor sending you into Europe.

XO's looking glass is at »xostats.xo.com/cgi-bin/xostats/diagtool-pub if that helps see it from their network perspective.

Re: Distributel - Problems Streaming

Sat, 26 May 2012 22:55:05 EDT

priyen posted : I think this because when I geolocate the following three hops when routing to most areas, this is what I get:
(these appear in most trace routes outside local areas)
7 10 ms 9 ms 10 ms xe-7-1-0-705.tor10.ip4.tinet.net [173.241.130.249]
8 29 ms 29 ms 30 ms xe-11-3-0.nyc30.ip4.tinet.net [89.149.184.109]
9 30 ms 29 ms 29 ms as2828.ip4.tinet.net [213.200.84.146]

Distributel -> TiNet (IF DESTINATION IP IS NOT LOCAL) Toronto -> New York -> Somewhere in Europe, Germany or a nearby country, I forgot, -> another provider
With this.. I get 300Kbps on single thread speeds.. which include streaming.

I fix this by using Acanac's SSH tunnel, effectively turning the route to: Distributel -> Acanac (Local so TiNet does not take over) -> Cogent CO -> atlas... etc
nearly 10 times the speed on the same thread.

When i geolocate the hops Cogent CO uses, they dont go into europe.. / , they stay in North America

I think its TiNet because thats the only missing link in this
I also think this is not throttling since other Indie ISP's dont seem to have as much single thread problems as do with Distributel / Acanac

Im no tech-savvy person but i know the internet's designed in a way Longer routes lower throroughput and Toronto->New York->Europe-> Back to USA is not efficent

Re: Distributel - Problems Streaming

Sat, 26 May 2012 22:40:25 EDT

pstewart posted :

said by priyen:

I believe (after all i have tested FOR MONTHS) this to be a Tinet Routing problem. I've told Acanac / Distributel about it..... I dont really know what to say except I feel your pain

Curious why you think TiNet is having issues? We use Tinet/Tiscali/Inteliquent for part of our transit mix and have virtually zero issues.

Re: Distributel - Problems Streaming

Sat, 26 May 2012 21:20:41 EDT

Yodums posted : I contacted the customer service admin about the issue, and he has forwarded the issue to the network engineer. I'll keep you guys posted on what he has to say.

Re: Distributel - Problems Streaming

Sat, 26 May 2012 19:14:49 EDT

priyen posted : re:: same problem

Re: Distributel - Problems Streaming

Sat, 26 May 2012 19:14:03 EDT

priyen posted : I believe (after all i have tested FOR MONTHS) this to be a Tinet Routing problem. I've told Acanac / Distributel about it..... I dont really know what to say except I feel your pain

Re: Distributel - Problems Streaming

Fri, 25 May 2012 11:18:53 EDT

anon posted : same here in mississauga i am on their adsl line, i cannot even watch imdb trailors without buffering, Netflix however works great

Re: Distributel - Problems Streaming

Thu, 24 May 2012 14:28:35 EDT

Malvane posted : Yodums,

I have the exact same problem in Mississauga.

I too stream Starcraft 2 from twitch.tv and can not watch anything higher then 480p, sometimes even that gets bad.

I even had streaming problems from youtube.com with a 720p video, and from watch.thecomedynetwork.ca, Colbert and Stewart just aren't as funny when you have to buffer every 2 minutes.

If you are in Gloucester it would show that Distributel is having more core network and peering issues then local node issues.

I hope to call Distributel soon about this issue as well and I will cite your post to show that this isn't an isolated incident.

Distributel - Problems Streaming

Thu, 24 May 2012 10:07:46 EDT

Yodums posted : I'm a new Distributel customer. The speed and reliability of the connection has been great, but there's one thing that is a major issue for me -- streaming. I watch a lot of StarCraft 2 streams (tournaments, live player streams, and VODs), and they've been unwatchable in 720p or 1080p. The symptoms is the video constantly buffers (1080p) or it is semi-watchable in 720p until the in-game FPS shoots up, causing the stream throughput to be higher and then it lags or buffers. It even sometimes lags in 480p. The stream site I'm mainly basing my post on is Justin.tv (Twitch.tv), however I noticed watching a video on Vimeo in HD is also a problem. I'm not sure how to isolate or diagnosis the issue, because loading up a movie trailer on YouTube at 1080p poses no issues.

Here's some quick facts about the issue:

1. Without going into too much detail, the Rogers tech that came to activate the line on the first day had installed a completely new cable line going into the house. This line is directly hooked up to the cable modem, as I have no other cable services in the house.

2. The problem continues to happen if I'm hardwired into the cable modem.

3. The computer is not an issue. I've tried multiple computers and these computers were able to view the stream fine the morning before we switched over to Distributel (we had a parallel DSL connection still up and that wasn't cancelled yet).

4. Now, here's the weird part. If I do a hard reset of the modem (Thomson DCM475) using the reset pinhole, the streaming is actually normal! The Distributel Tech instructed me to do this and I was fairly happy to see it return back to normal. But the caveat is the lag and buffering resurfaces in a matter of 5-10 minutes.

While Distributel did provide some initial help, the L2 techs pretty much de-escalated the issue because I passed their generic test of running a series of trace routes, pings, and speedtests. Those tests checked out, so they're pretty reluctant to spend anymore time with this. But I know it's something they need to address, as this conveniently all happened when I switched ISPs.

Any thoughts, guys? I pretty much switched to Distributel because of a better speed and no usage limits for streaming.