How fast should a 10mbit line really be?

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Masta K

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So, I finally got Hulu plus up and running:) on my 10mbps Axxess uncapped line and I've been forced to cap quality at 1mbps line speed to avoid any buffering. I have to admit that this was a little surprising so I ran a few non-scientific tests (please bear with this noob:whistle:)

  • PS3 network test shows around 7mbps (using unotelly dns but presumably to a local server)
  • speedtest.net using local server shows about 8mbps
  • speedtest.net using US server shows between 1.5 -2 mbps
  • Ubuntu Download using FDM maxed out the line (stable 1MB/s for full download)

So my question is, how fast should a 10mbps line really be especially when streaming video from the US? and how does anyone with a lesser line even manage?
 
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Masta K said:
So, I finally got Hulu plus up and running:) on my 10mbps Axxess uncapped line and I've been forced to cap quality at 1mbps line speed to avoid any buffering. I have to admit that this was a little surprising so I ran a few non-scientific tests (please bear with this noob:whistle:)

  • PS3 network test shows around 7mbps (using unotelly dns but presumably to a local server)
  • speedtest.net using local server shows about 8mbps
  • speedtest.net using US server shows between 1.5 -2 mbps
  • Ubuntu Download using FDM maxed out the line (stable 1MB/s for full download)

So my question is, how fast should a 10mbps line really be especially when streaming video from the US? and how does anyone with a lesser line even manage?
Click to expand...

Have you taken into account the SEACOM outage? http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php/515422-Seacom-downtime-update

Not sure if Axxess use SEACOM, and if they don't other ISPs are probably provisioning bandwidth on other cables, possibly causing congestion somewhere. That would cause slower speeds to the EU, and in turn, the US.
 
JasDan said:
Have you taken into account the SEACOM outage? http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php/515422-Seacom-downtime-update

Not sure if Axxess use SEACOM, and if they don't other ISPs are probably provisioning bandwidth on other cables, possibly causing congestion somewhere. That would cause slower speeds to the EU, and in turn, the US.
Click to expand...

Well I took a quick look at this thread which suggests that Axxess uses WACS and Eassy but I don't know how authoritative this is.
 
Masta K said:
Well I took a quick look at this thread which suggests that Axxess uses WACS and Eassy but I don't know how authoritative this is.
Click to expand...

Axxess runs off the MTN ADSL network which uses WACS and EASSy as it's primary international cables with fail over on SAT3 and Seacom.

You can get a nice overview of the MTN network here: http://www.afrihost.com/microsites/adsl_network/?src=homeslide

As Haptic pointed out, there are some issues with EASSy at the moment as well and international is running slightly slower than it would be normally.

I'm also on Axxess and normally get 5-8Mbps international currently getting 2-5Mbps international
 
Thanks guy, I'd say you've comprehensively answered my question:D
 
I have a 10mb line and subscribe to Netflix, Hulu and UnoDNS (obviously). I'm rather obsessive about getting the best performance and I'm fairly confident I have all the answers to your questions. :)

PM me
 
prodigyX said:
I have a 10mb line and subscribe to Netflix, Hulu and UnoDNS (obviously). I'm rather obsessive about getting the best performance and I'm fairly confident I have all the answers to your questions. :)

PM me
Click to expand...

Spread the love - if there are any obvious tricks I'm missing I'd like to know too. :)
 
Speedtest results for a 10mb line never go over about 9mb. My line's highest is 8.9, but that was a really good day. You have to factor in the ~13% overhead for software and other elements in the transfer.
 
jackshields is correct: that with application, TCP/IP & ATM overheads, you'll lose about 13% of the 10Mbps, meaning that you'll get a maximum of about 8.8Mbps download speed with local stuff.

As soon as you go and download stuff from international servers, the latency and amount of connections plays a big role, due to the window size of TCP connections.

For instance if your latency (RTT = round trip time) is 250ms, then the fastest that you can download using a single TCP connection is: speed (in kbps) = 512/RTT
eg. 512/0.250 = 2048 kbps.
So to reach 10Mbps to a server with a latency of 250ms, you'll need to open at least 5 connections!

* take note that I've used a TCP window buffer size of 64KB - like used here: http://cisconet.com/traffic-analysis/throughput/104-tcp-throughput-calculation-formula.html

If you take an average maximum latency for local servers to be say 30ms, then you should be able to max out your 10Mbps ADSL connection with a single connection. eg. 512/0.030 = 17,067kbps
 
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HapticSimian said:
Spread the love - if there are any obvious tricks I'm missing I'd like to know too. :)
Click to expand...

Ok, consider the love spread:

I have a 10mb line, and accounts with 3 ISPs: Mweb's premium 10mb uncapped, OpenWeb's 'Gamer King / Downloader Bling' account, and an unshaped Afrihost capped account. I subscribe to UnoDNS, Netflix, & Hulu Plus, and have tested everything with all 3 ISPs. I have a Windows 8 PC, an Xbox, and a WD TV Live Streaming Media Player. Here's what I've found:

When streaming Netflix through a browser (i.e. Chrome) I can never seem to get up to 200kBps, no matter what ISP I've used. It seems to average around 160kBps, giving me 'SD / DVD' quality. I always thought that was due to Netflix not being optimized for connections outside the US, or something to that effect. My Xbox performs similarly (using wifi). 2 out of 4 bars (1 bar, 2 bars, 3 bars & 'HD'). Strangely enough, Hulu seems to stream 720p with no problems; both on my Xbox AND my PC (using the desktop app, not so much the browser). I noticed that the bandwidth requirement for 720p Hulu is about 350kBps.

Here's where it gets interesting:

I recently purchased a Western Digital 'TV Live' Streaming Media player, for about R1,000.00, and guess what.. Netflix streams in perfect HD quality (using wifi, like my Xbox). It has no 'bar' system or bandwidth monitor, but it most definitely streams at least 720p, all the time, irrespective of ISP.

I also recently discovered that Silverlight (used to stream Netflix in browsers) is TERRIBLE for streaming HD. It has no hardware acceleration at all; people around the world have complained about it. There's even talk about some bandwidth limit involved. HD Netflix problems on the Xbox are also very common.

This basically means that the quality of your Netflix stream is far more device/app dependent, rather than your network setup or choice of ISP. Obviously these things do count, but if you're really serious on streaming Netflix in HD, buy yourself a WD Live TV Streaming Media Player or let me know if you discover another device that works as well

As far as I can tell, based on bandwidth & device tests in South Africa, the Xbox will never stream Netflix in HD, and neither will your PC's browser, but if you're lucky enough to have a WD TV Live Streaming Media Player, and at least a 4mb uncapped account, you'll be smiling

Hope this helps guys
 
Nicolasfoto said:
I wonder how the PS3 fares in this scenario..?
Click to expand...

Many people on this forum have already confirmed that Netflix on PS3 is superior to xbox. Since Microsoft owns silverlight it's probably the same issue.
 
Nicolasfoto said:
I wonder how the PS3 fares in this scenario..?
Click to expand...

Many people on this forum have already confirmed that Netflix on PS3 is superior to xbox. Since Microsoft owns silverlight it's probably the same issue.
 
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