ISPs shaping/throttling Netflix?

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Masta K

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So I get home today, start up Netflix on my Roku (I have Axxess 10mbit uncapped), try to start a show takes super long to start up and buffers every 2 minutes.

I check my router's traffic monitor and the downlink is maxing out at 30KB/s. So I sign in to my backup Afrihost 1GB account and voila; Netflix is working perfectly. Sign back in to my Axxess account and it's unusable.

So it seems my Netflix is getting shaped/throttled even though I'm not on managed status... Anyone else have a similar experience?
 
I was seriously under the impression that they didn't shape interactive protocols like streaming.

I can deal with non-interactive protocols (say downloads, p2p or nntp) being shaped but shaping a protocol that I'm busy eyeballing my TV for makes the service 100% useless to me...
 
Masta K said:
So I get home today, start up Netflix on my Roku (I have Axxess 10mbit uncapped), try to start a show takes super long to start up and buffers every 2 minutes.

I check my router's traffic monitor and the downlink is maxing out at 30KB/s. So I sign in to my backup Afrihost 1GB account and voila; Netflix is working perfectly. Sign back in to my Axxess account and it's unusable.

So it seems my Netflix is getting shaped/throttled even though I'm not on managed status... Anyone else have a similar experience?
Click to expand...

Remember home uncapped is shaped during office hours. They don't take public holidays into account.
 
So I called Axxess and the agent vehemently claimed that they don't shape or throttle interactive protocols like streaming. But i'm still unable to use Netflix on my Axxess account (throttled to 30KB/s for the last 3 days) but it works perfectly on my Afrihost 1GB free account.

I'm basically planning my move to Afrihost at month end; not much I can do before then.

At least they haven't figured out that Hulu uses just as much bandwidth as Netflix!
 
Masta K said:
So I called Axxess and the agent vehemently claimed that they don't shape or throttle interactive protocols like streaming. But i'm still unable to use Netflix on my Axxess account (throttled to 30KB/s for the last 3 days) but it works perfectly on my Afrihost 1GB free account.

I'm basically planning my move to Afrihost at month end; not much I can do before then.

At least they haven't figured out that Hulu uses just as much bandwidth as Netflix!
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Dude wtf.

You're comparing home uncapped to a capped account.

If you want performance like that free 1gig from axxess upgrade to business uncapped or move to capped.
 
Chevron said:
Dude wtf.

You're comparing home uncapped to a capped account.

If you want performance like that free 1gig from axxess upgrade to business uncapped or move to capped.
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Um no. This isn't a comparison of capped to uncapped. This is about m ISP telling me they aren't throttling/shaping a particular service and then only allowing that particular service to run at exactly 3% of my maximum line speed.

The capped account was purely used to assess whether the issue related to Netflix or if it's on the Axxess side that the service is being "managed"

Beyond that, I take issue with the fact that I'm not even listed as being on managed status (this is always shown in the Axxess CP and indicates that your high bandwidth services such as p2p, nntp etc. will be heavily shaped) so I don't see why any service should be limited to 3% of my line speed.

3%...
 
Masta K said:
Um no. This isn't a comparison of capped to uncapped. This is about m ISP telling me they aren't throttling/shaping a particular service and then only allowing that particular service to run at exactly 3% of my maximum line speed.

The capped account was purely used to assess whether the issue related to Netflix or if it's on the Axxess side that the service is being "managed"

Beyond that, I take issue with the fact that I'm not even listed as being on managed status (this is always shown in the Axxess CP and indicates that your high bandwidth services such as p2p, nntp etc. will be heavily shaped) so I don't see why any service should be limited to 3% of my line speed.

3%...
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Maybe because you're paying for one of the cheapest home accounts that exist. If you want day time performance home account isn't for you.
 
Chevron said:
Maybe because you're paying for one of the cheapest home accounts that exist. If you want day time performance home account isn't for you.
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I totally agree with you on that. In my case I neither want nor need daytime performance as I work a normal 8-5 and I never see home before 6. Netflix has been shaped permanently (at night and over weekends) for the last 3 days (oddly Hulu hasn't) so my uncapped account unfortunately no longer meets my intended use.

My other option is to just switch to a 200gb capped account as I never breach that limit but I'll try Afrihost first and go from there.
 
Masta K said:
I totally agree with you on that. In my case I neither want nor need daytime performance as I work a normal 8-5 and I never see home before 6. Netflix has been shaped permanently (at night and over weekends) for the last 3 days (oddly Hulu hasn't) so my uncapped account unfortunately no longer meets my intended use.

My other option is to just switch to a 200gb capped account as I never breach that limit but I'll try Afrihost first and go from there.
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Check the feedback threads first.

Afrihost have been having lots of issues lately. Many people been switching to Axxess because of it.
 
Chevron said:
Check the feedback threads first.

Afrihost have been having lots of issues lately. Many people been switching to Axxess because of it.
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Thanks for the heads up. A high cap account may actually be a better solution to my problem then.
 
Chevron said:
Check the feedback threads first.

Afrihost have been having lots of issues lately. Many people been switching to Axxess because of it.
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These issues, are they only related to home adsl, or to business packages as well?
 
AdrianH said:
These issues, are they only related to home adsl, or to business packages as well?
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Seems as though the Business issues seemed to gone away after the last capacity upgrade, but home users still suffering from severe shaping.
 
Just realised a 4mbit business uncapped account costs the same as my 10mbit home uncapped.

I'll call in for a change today and see if it makes any difference. I'll give feedback in a few days.
 
Netflix was heavily shaped and unusable for a full week till I switched out to business Uncapped (decided to just pony up the extra R400 to stay on 10mbit). Netflix was back as soon as I rebooted the router. Not running at full HD just yet (switches between HD and SD as the show goes on) but I'll see how it goes for the rest of the month.

No idea how these accounts are for p2p as I never use it. Netflix, Hulu+ and Crunchroll have me pretty much covered.
 
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Afrihost (AH) Business uncapped accounts aren't very good for streaming. I struggle to get stable HD streams from Twitch, Netflix and Hulu+. These same services work very well on AH's own free 1GB ADSL account, which doesn't make sense because AH claims that they are essentially the same product.

This issue has been brought to AH's attention a few times, and each time AH basically end up saying that the issue isn't on their side and completely ignore the fact that it works on their capped accounts but not their business uncapped accounts. I'm cancelling my account this month as I think I gave them enough time to fix this but it doesn't look like it'll happen.

TL;DR Don't waste your time with Afrihost Business uncapped if you rely on streaming HD Netflix/Hulu+/Twitch, rather put in your cancellation before the 25th and look elsewhere.
 
efitol said:
.
TL;DR Don't waste your time with Afrihost Business uncapped if you rely on streaming HD Netflix/Hulu+/Twitch, rather put in your cancellation before the 25th and look elsewhere.
Click to expand...

I'm on Axxess and it's working perfectly now. Running at full HD now. Hopefully this lasts
 
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