Rain Shaping YouTube Speeds?

[Pixual]

Over the past week or two I have been experiencing abnormal streaming rates on YouTube and it's starting to frustrate me because this shouldn't be happening at all. I have great d/l and u/l speeds (avg 20/20Mbps) and there are no problems streaming from any other service, including Showmax, Netflix and recently Apple TV+. Prior to this slow down I was able to stream YouTube at 4K resolution on my LG Smart TV, but now I am lucky if I can get 480p. If I force the app to play 1080p it will buffer every few seconds which makes it impossible to watch.

I have been experiencing this on every device I own. Apple TV 4K, LG Smart TV, Xaomi Mi Box 4K, desktop computers (iMac), iPad and even iPhones.

The only thing I can think of is that this is either being caused by YouTube themselves, or Rain is doing something to slow down that particular service. Are there any other people experiencing this?

 

[ManBearPiggy]

Have the exact same problem. I get buffered allot and my torrent download speeds is terrible.

 

[Pixual]

Not really doing torrents anymore, but the YouTube isolation is not cool at all as its my most used resource. How can we find out if this is a Rain or YouTube issue?

 

[ManBearPiggy]

Not really doing torrents anymore, but the YouTube isolation is not cool at all as its my most used resource. How can we find out if this is a Rain or YouTube issue?

Its definitely Rain man cuz i have Fibre too and i dont have any issues.

 

[Pixual]

I can understand them doing some kind of throttle or FUP for the people who are on the R250 unlimited deals, but I'm on the original Fixed LTE-A deal and I'm paying R1349 per month for my capped data, so they have no right to throttle any of my services.

 

[cavedog]

I can understand them doing some kind of throttle or FUP for the people who are on the R250 unlimited deals, but I'm on the original Fixed LTE-A deal and I'm paying R1349 per month for my capped data, so they have no right to throttle any of my services.

You need to cancel and move to Rain 5G if you have coverage. R1 000 a month uncapped

 

[Pixual]

Durban barely has fibre coverage, let alone 5G...

 

[phly]

I can understand them doing some kind of throttle or FUP for the people who are on the R250 unlimited deals, but I'm on the original Fixed LTE-A deal and I'm paying R1349 per month for my capped data, so they have no right to throttle any of my services.

Is the original not handled by Afrihost though meaning chances are high you wont get any support ffrom Rain but Afrihost or the reseller that you went with at the time. I am fortunate/unfortunate to have both the mobile and the fixed LTE and i have noticed issues off late. The fixed LTE is still stable to some extent and crazy enough i keep reverting to it when the mobile one is not behaving.

Just this morning alone I kept losing connection on mobile and even after repeatedly rebooting/switching router off and on I still kept getting a red light after a few minutes of blue/cyan light. Later on in the day I tried Rain mobile sim - had to reboot once and it was fine for the rest of the evening. I can also confirm to seeing youtube/netflix issues. Youtube is set to auto so i keep getting 480p streams even though 1080p exists as an option and netflix looks garbage for awhile before clearing up - at times i need to rewind the movie abit to have sustained clear viewing. Speedtests would average 4mbps download but full standard speed for upload. Something is clearly up.

 

[mrlgm007]

I am back to a vpn for YouTube / Google services again had issues all weekend with rain today alone I rebooted the router 25 odd times.

 

[Pixual]

I'm fed up with this now. Going to get Afrihost involved. There's no way I can show this kind of speed on all my tests and then be unable to stream a 1080p video on YouTube.

 

[Pixual]

Afrihost are not helping. Tickets either get answered by people who don't understand the issue or they don't get answered.

Bottom line here is that based on my evidence, I can only surmise that at the start of November Rain has begun to implement shaping on YouTube to try and balance the load on their network. It's pretty obvious to me that if you are giving away unlimited use during the day for R250 your biggest use is probably going to be YouTube by kids who aren't exactly going to start watching a series or a movie during the day. They'd rather watch an idiot or two on a platform that doesn't require a lot of mental investment.

This is really the pits, especially if you pay for capped data and they start shaping your usage.

 

[Jake45]

I decided to cancel my Rain Fixed LTE a few days ago after two years due to regular slowdowns and other network issues.

I am hoping that either Afrihost Pure LTE or one of the Telkom LTE packages will be a cheaper and more reliable choice. I am now waiting to see what LTE deals are available on Black Friday otherwise I will switch to Afrihost's Pure LTE service.

I don't think that Rain can offer any improvements to their Fixed LTE service in the future due to the large number of uncapped users that are currently using their LTE network.

 

[Pixual]

I haven't heard of this "Pure LTE" product. Will go and have a look. I have been with Rain since the start and have only once had an issue with speed. Have tried all the other LTE services in my area and Telkom and Cell C were just ghastly. The current issue is only affecting YouTube and that is what is frustrating me. Try watching 480p on a 4K TV.

 

[Polymathic]

I have no issues with YouTube speeds but then again I only get a maximum of 8mb at my place . If they are throttling it to 10mb it wouldn't make a difference to me

 

[SirFooK'nG]

Have the exact same problem. I get buffered allot and my torrent download speeds is terrible.

I'm 100% sure they are shaping p2p. My torrents dont work at all, but if I use my VPN, no probem...

 

[Pixual]

I have no issues with YouTube speeds but then again I only get a maximum of 8mb at my place . If they are throttling it to 10mb it wouldn't make a difference to me

8Mbps should be enough to stream in 1080p according to YouTube's troubleshooting page. When you watch do you see the red HD icon over the cog icon? Click on that and see if it shows 1080 or 720.

 

[Pixual]

I am hoping that either Afrihost Pure LTE or one of the Telkom LTE packages will be a cheaper and more reliable choice. I am now waiting to see what LTE deals are available on Black Friday otherwise I will switch to Afrihost's Pure LTE service.

There is no "Pure LTE" only Pure Fibre, which if you're like 90% of the rest of SA means you're SOL as far as getting it goes.

 

[phly]

There is no "Pure LTE" only Pure Fibre, which if you're like 90% of the rest of SA means you're SOL as far as getting it goes.

That's what they mean by Pure LTE.

 

[WarriorWolf]

I'm 100% sure they are shaping p2p. My torrents dont work at all, but if I use my VPN, no probem...

They are.
It seems to cap to 50-60 KB/s during the day. I haven't tested during 6PM-11PM, but who would download torrents that time anyways with rain (R50 a GB is ouch). After 11PM it's a LOT faster though. I don't know until what time in the morning though.

 

[Polymathic]

8Mbps should be enough to stream in 1080p according to YouTube's troubleshooting page. When you watch do you see the red HD icon over the cog icon? Click on that and see if it shows 1080 or 720.

Yeah I'm having no problem streaming 1080p 60FPS when I cast from my phone to the TV