Apple TV buffering

AfriNatic said:
If you get a chance can you try a browser and see if it's still buffering?

We are still waiting for our machines to arrive but as mentioned traffic should be okay via Akamai.
Click to expand...
I have been away for few weeks got back this week and I noticed all of sudden App store and Apple TV flying faster than ever before, not on AH but was thinking either local Caches are coming online or Akamai suddenly woken up.
 
Jola said:
Had this buffering problem with Apple TV on Vox lately.

All other services were fine. Line tests at 200 Mbps.
Click to expand...
Same here. 200Mbs fibre with Octotel/Web Africa, yet Apple TV is buffering like I'm on 20Mbps.
 
I’ve recently discovered that if I use Cloudflare DNS instead of Afrihost then I often get this buffering.

I wonder if Cloudflare just isn’t aware of Afrihost cache or maybe they only route you there when using their own DNS?
 
SauRoNZA said:
I’ve recently discovered that if I use Cloudflare DNS instead of Afrihost then I often get this buffering.

I wonder if Cloudflare just isn’t aware of Afrihost cache or maybe they only route you there when using their own DNS?
Click to expand...

Akamai steers traffic based on DNS.

From what I could figure out most traffic comes from vod-ap3-aoc.tv.apple.com

So you can check which server you get served from by doing a ns lookup and specifying the DNS you want to check.

For example.

nslookup vod-ap3-aoc.tv.apple.com 169.1.1.1

This shows that the Ipv4 traffic is from our JHB Akamai caches

Code: 
Server:        169.1.1.1
Address:    169.1.1.1#53

Non-authoritative answer:
vod-ap3-aoc.tv.apple.com    canonical name = vod-ap3-aoc.tv.v.aaplimg.com.
vod-ap3-aoc.tv.v.aaplimg.com    canonical name = hls-svod-aoc.itunes.apple.com.edgesuite.net.
hls-svod-aoc.itunes.apple.com.edgesuite.net    canonical name = a1936.dscw11.akamai.net.
Name:    a1936.dscw11.akamai.net
Address: 169.1.36.27
Name:    a1936.dscw11.akamai.net
Address: 169.1.36.11

If you test with Cloudflare

nslookup vod-ap3-aoc.tv.apple.com 1.1.1.1

Code: 
Server:        1.1.1.1
Address:    1.1.1.1#53

Non-authoritative answer:
vod-ap3-aoc.tv.apple.com    canonical name = vod-ap3-aoc.tv.v.aaplimg.com.
vod-ap3-aoc.tv.v.aaplimg.com    canonical name = hls-svod-aoc.itunes.apple.com.edgesuite.net.
hls-svod-aoc.itunes.apple.com.edgesuite.net    canonical name = a1936.dscw11.akamai.net.
Name:    a1936.dscw11.akamai.net
Address: 197.80.130.16
Name:    a1936.dscw11.akamai.net
Address: 197.80.130.11
Name:    a1936.dscw11.akamai.net
Address: 197.80.130.96
Name:    a1936.dscw11.akamai.net
Address: 197.80.130.128

Now you can see that traffic is from Optinet/Mweb which is the partner network for Akamai in SA.

This is why we suggest clients use our DNS as it will direct all their streaming to the caches just a few ms away or use a DNS with ECS enabled. EDNS sends the IP subnet you are on with the request enabling correct traffic steering.

Quad9 supports this on 9.9.9.11 (https://www.quad9.net/support/faq/#edns)
 
AfriNatic said:
Akamai steers traffic based on DNS.

From what I could figure out most traffic comes from vod-ap3-aoc.tv.apple.com

So you can check which server you get served from by doing a ns lookup and specifying the DNS you want to check.

For example.

nslookup vod-ap3-aoc.tv.apple.com 169.1.1.1

This shows that the Ipv4 traffic is from our JHB Akamai caches

Code: 
Server: 169.1.1.1
Address: 169.1.1.1#53

Non-authoritative answer:
vod-ap3-aoc.tv.apple.com canonical name = vod-ap3-aoc.tv.v.aaplimg.com.
vod-ap3-aoc.tv.v.aaplimg.com canonical name = hls-svod-aoc.itunes.apple.com.edgesuite.net.
hls-svod-aoc.itunes.apple.com.edgesuite.net canonical name = a1936.dscw11.akamai.net.
Name: a1936.dscw11.akamai.net
Address: 169.1.36.27
Name: a1936.dscw11.akamai.net
Address: 169.1.36.11

If you test with Cloudflare

nslookup vod-ap3-aoc.tv.apple.com 1.1.1.1

Code: 
Server: 1.1.1.1
Address: 1.1.1.1#53

Non-authoritative answer:
vod-ap3-aoc.tv.apple.com canonical name = vod-ap3-aoc.tv.v.aaplimg.com.
vod-ap3-aoc.tv.v.aaplimg.com canonical name = hls-svod-aoc.itunes.apple.com.edgesuite.net.
hls-svod-aoc.itunes.apple.com.edgesuite.net canonical name = a1936.dscw11.akamai.net.
Name: a1936.dscw11.akamai.net
Address: 197.80.130.16
Name: a1936.dscw11.akamai.net
Address: 197.80.130.11
Name: a1936.dscw11.akamai.net
Address: 197.80.130.96
Name: a1936.dscw11.akamai.net
Address: 197.80.130.128

Now you can see that traffic is from Optinet/Mweb which is the partner network for Akamai in SA.

This is why we suggest clients use our DNS as it will direct all their streaming to the caches just a few ms away or use a DNS with ECS enabled. EDNS sends the IP subnet you are on with the request enabling correct traffic steering.

Quad9 supports this on 9.9.9.11 (https://www.quad9.net/support/faq/#edns)
Click to expand...

Very insightful, thanks!

I mostly use Cloudflare for the built-in Malware protection on 1.0.0.1, but I see Quad9 has similar built right in as well.
 
Last edited:
Get this, ISP VOx 150mbps line

If I watch apple TV service on my 4K apple TV, I will sometimes get buffering or issues where it won't even load if you skip past credits Random but it does happen

If I use the AppleTV app on WebOS TV, works like a dream. Both devices connected to the same AP with excellent quality etc

So apple has work to do.

Have to say, have not experienced any issues with Netflix, prime, disney- (yes the app is still ****) , YouTube, on both devices.
 
Going to +1 this - Noticed the same issues with Disney+ and Apple TV+ on my LAN connected Apple TV 4K. Over the last couple of weeks. Tried watching a movie on Disney+ just today, started buffering and I gave up.

500mbp Vuma here, line testing fine, so can't wait for the Apple Edge Cache servers to arrive. I've tried Cloudflare and Afrihost DNS and swap between the two, but it's inconsistent.

Netflix/YouTube perfect.
 
I have the same experience - with the same configuration:
LAN wired AppleTV 4K + 200Mbs line. (CoolIdeas +Vumatel).
It is ok most of the time, but when it comes to evening viewing, especially from 19h00-21h00 the disney+ stream buffers and becomes horribly pixelated with only that device on the network!

I realise there are different compression algorithms from Netflix - but I NEVER have a problem there, even with multiple streams and a backup running. I really expected more from Disney!

Please share any solutions you might find!
 
LordPhoenix_ZA said:
Going to +1 this - Noticed the same issues with Disney+ and Apple TV+ on my LAN connected Apple TV 4K. Over the last couple of weeks. Tried watching a movie on Disney+ just today, started buffering and I gave up.

500mbp Vuma here, line testing fine, so can't wait for the Apple Edge Cache servers to arrive. I've tried Cloudflare and Afrihost DNS and swap between the two, but it's inconsistent.

Netflix/YouTube perfect.
Click to expand...

We are also getting additional Akamai capacity as the current cluster of 14 machines is getting strained during the evening peak. As a result, the hard drives keep failing. We are currently replacing 2 to 3 harddrives a week. Once we get our Apple caches and the additional akamai machines we should be much better of not to rely on IXP traffic from Akamai directly which is also taking a strain by the looks of it.
 
Photorer said:
I have the same experience - with the same configuration:
LAN wired AppleTV 4K + 200Mbs line. (CoolIdeas +Vumatel).
It is ok most of the time, but when it comes to evening viewing, especially from 19h00-21h00 the disney+ stream buffers and becomes horribly pixelated with only that device on the network!

I realise there are different compression algorithms from Netflix - but I NEVER have a problem there, even with multiple streams and a backup running. I really expected more from Disney!

Please share any solutions you might find!
Click to expand...

You might need to ask @PBCool

I know there was mention that they will be getting Apple caches also and I know they do have Akamai caches so in most cases Akamai controls the traffic and if they feel they need to shift traffic to other sources they do it and an ISP can't do much about that.
 
So just discovered this thread. Have been having a lot of buffering with Apple TV last few weeks. On Afrihost. Never have problem with Netflix or Prime Video.
 
AfriNatic said:
If you get a chance can you try a browser and see if it's still buffering?

We are still waiting for our machines to arrive but as mentioned traffic should be okay via Akamai.
Click to expand...
Have not watched on a browser yet but I can say it buffers considerably less in the last week.
 
Update if interested.
I haven't tried a browser but I can say that buffering on the AppleTV has considerably reduced in the last few weeks.
 
DerekDe said:
Update if interested.
I haven't tried a browser but I can say that buffering on the AppleTV has considerably reduced in the last few weeks.
Click to expand...

We have dropped Optinet Akamai caches completely and now serve traffic from our own caches only and will fall back to Akamai over NAP if there are any issues.

We are also in the process of building a high-capacity cache cabinet at Teraco to host cache servers from every content provider we can.
 
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