lightbox and RBI 4G

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371 posts

Ultimate Geek
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#1433015 23-Nov-2015 08:00

kaihoka:
coffeebaron: Lock RBI router to 3G?

i had thought about that, just for when i am using streaming.
i have been looking at some data management programs.
do you know how other 4G RBI customers manage their lightbox ? with ultimate

3G RBI can still have rates that could achieve highest definitions - I have got 15 Mbps on 3G RBI site here. If using a PC to watch Lightbox some form of rate limiting may be best if they can't offer rate changing in the app.

KieranfromLightbox

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#1433023 23-Nov-2015 08:31

We don't provide the ability to select playback quality - so I can only suggest (as has been suggested further back in the thread) that a rate limiting device would be your best bet to artificially control the data you consume.

coffeebaron

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#1433068 23-Nov-2015 09:13

kaihoka:
coffeebaron: Lock RBI router to 3G?

i had thought about that, just for when i am using streaming.
i have been looking at some data management programs.
do you know how other 4G RBI customers manage their lightbox ? with ultimate

We can do a lot more data over 3G RBI cheaper than over 4G, so a few of our high user customers are on 3G only plans. In good areas, you can still hit 20Mbps on 3G.

Edit: we now do a 500GB RBI 3G (250 peak + 250 off peak) plan for $139 / month.

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kaihoka

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#1433084 23-Nov-2015 09:30

I am under contract to voda for another year.
I was on about 7 mbt with 3G .
But I have a newer modem so I will look at limiting it to 3G
I am on 30 down now. All well and good but not so practical with 80Gb data caps.

NonprayingMantis

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#1433139 23-Nov-2015 10:53

johnr:
kaihoka: light box got back to me and suggested i contact my isp.
so i will ring vodafone

@kaihoka Vodafone can add no value here, Not sure why they advised that, Go back to them and say what can my ISP do?

In the majority of cases where somebody is on a data capped plan, they can contact their ISP and upgrade to unlimited.
(Obviously not the case here, but would explain why lightbox suggest contacting your ISP)

kaihoka

164 posts

Master Geek
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#1433143 23-Nov-2015 10:55

well this is a hard case.
i thought i would check the settings for limiting my modem and i noticed that the light was blue, showing 3G.
and logging in it seems that is what i am on.
my speed on 3G is 17mbps down and 4 up and a ping of 67.
i suppose i could live with this.
what i would like is a device that went between my modem and desk top that the ethernet plugged into so i could run one of our devices on reduced speed

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#1433206 23-Nov-2015 12:06

You may already have one. Some routers provide bandwith limitation per device. Easiest route might be replacing your router. Unless something comes up in the lightbox direction.

grant_k

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#1433214 23-Nov-2015 12:16

kaihoka: ...
what i would like is a device that went between my modem and desk top that the ethernet plugged into so i could run one of our devices on reduced speed

I have been looking into this as well and found Gargoyle:

https://www.gargoyle-router.com/

The best idea would be to buy a compatible router from PB Tech or somewhere similar and then reflash it.

dwl

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Ultimate Geek
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#1433436 23-Nov-2015 17:39

Seems there is plenty of bandwidth on 3G to chew up 80GB fairly quickly.

Is the watching device PC or other appliance? For example, an app on a smart TV connected via WiFi might need one solution like a rate limiting WiFi router (maybe acting as switch on separate WiFi channel for Lightbox only), PC/laptop might work with software, or appliance if wired might have other options. I haven't tried it but Raspberry Pi with separate RJ45 network interface running bridging with rate limiting could work.

kaihoka

164 posts

Master Geek
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#1433514 23-Nov-2015 20:06

dwl: Seems there is plenty of bandwidth on 3G to chew up 80GB fairly quickly.

Is the watching device PC or other appliance? For example, an app on a smart TV connected via WiFi might need one solution like a rate limiting WiFi router (maybe acting as switch on separate WiFi channel for Lightbox only), PC/laptop might work with software, or appliance if wired might have other options. I haven't tried it but Raspberry Pi with separate RJ45 network interface running bridging with rate limiting could work.

i limited my modem to 3G and still got speeds of 20mb but when i put it back to 4G it was only 11 mb [ it is normally about 30mb]
but i have a very erratic speed, the 3G signal is much stronger than my 4G.
i watch lightbox on a laptop, desktop or an android phone. what ever is available, the phone is the best.
i stream through a chromecast onto the tv.
the gargoyle router that grant suggested look like it would work, looking at the web site.
and cheap too.
i will see how grant gets on if he buys one
we never usually chewed through our data on 3G, i recently got free lightbox and thought i would give it a try .
we got upgraded to 4G about 3 weeks ago.
i think the data caps will go up to 100 in a few months.
i appreciate everyone's constructive feedback

dwl

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Ultimate Geek
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#1433676 24-Nov-2015 08:23

The use of different devices suggests the rate limiting access point may be best. The rate will need to be quite low, maybe 1.5 to 2 Mbps, and a separate SSID and WiFi channel would be tidiest (assuming all these devices are on WiFi) so you can chose what to limit.

I used the word access point to say you will probably need to stay with the RBI modem as your service termination and then add the new access point on the LAN side - try and avoid double NAT. I don't know how the Gargolye works but the WiFi is hopefully part of the LAN side switch - in my case connecting the incoming service from a router LAN to the LAN port of a WRT54G gives me a wireless AP from the WRT54G but depends on where the rate limiting is applied whether this would work.

My ADSL service is only 6 Mbps (rural) but I had to increase to unlimited when Lightbox and Netflix appeared. Unfortunately while this is only $10 it will be a long time before RBI wireless goes unlimited but hopefuly some increases more than just extra 20GB are coming.

One word of warning - we had one PC stuck doing continuous download (constant 5 Mbps) which I tracked down to a stuck Windows download, probably Windows 10. Needed stopping the update service and deleting directories before the update service could be started again. It isn't just video that can drive usage high and some monitoring is a good idea.

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kaihoka

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Master Geek
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#1433735 24-Nov-2015 09:30

dwl: The use of different devices suggests the rate limiting access point may be best. The rate will need to be quite low, maybe 1.5 to 2 Mbps, and a separate SSID and WiFi channel would be tidiest (assuming all these devices are on WiFi) so you can chose what to limit.

I used the word access point to say you will probably need to stay with the RBI modem as your service termination and then add the new access point on the LAN side - try and avoid double NAT. I don't know how the Gargolye works but the WiFi is hopefully part of the LAN side switch - in my case connecting the incoming service from a router LAN to the LAN port of a WRT54G gives me a wireless AP from the WRT54G but depends on where the rate limiting is applied whether this would work.

My ADSL service is only 6 Mbps (rural) but I had to increase to unlimited when Lightbox and Netflix appeared. Unfortunately while this is only $10 it will be a long time before RBI wireless goes unlimited but hopefuly some increases more than just extra 20GB are coming.

One word of warning - we had one PC stuck doing continuous download (constant 5 Mbps) which I tracked down to a stuck Windows download, probably Windows 10. Needed stopping the update service and deleting directories before the update service could be started again. It isn't just video that can drive usage high and some monitoring is a good idea.

thank you for the above info.
so you have 6 mbps . i was so smug about my fast speed , but now 6 unlimited sounds pretty good to me.
is the WRT54G just a router and you have a separate modem.
we have 2 computers on a lan connection and i would prefer to put a limiting device on one of those.
we also have a weatherstation, POE weather cam and we ftp to quite a few weather sites and we have a flight rader linux box, so we have a busy modem.
we have a few wireless devices and i try and use lan as much as possible to keep the air waves free.
do you use a chromecast. they are pretty good but only work through chrome browsers and lightbox needs silver light which chrome no longer supports.
and i think neon uses flash which is been rejected by android and win phone.
there is a huge disconnect between the OS, hardware and services designed to operate on them.
or maybe i am such a minority type of user that i am an uneconomic unit to cater to

coffeebaron

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#1433899 24-Nov-2015 13:13

dwl: My ADSL service is only 6 Mbps (rural) but I had to increase to unlimited when Lightbox and Netflix appeared. Unfortunately while this is only $10 it will be a long time before RBI wireless goes unlimited but hopefuly some increases more than just extra 20GB are coming.

500GB (250 peak + 250 off peak) over RBI is certainly getting closer to unlimited!
http://www.ultimatebroadband.co.nz/rbi-wireless.html

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dwl

371 posts

Ultimate Geek
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#1433985 24-Nov-2015 15:54

coffeebaron:
dwl: My ADSL service is only 6 Mbps (rural) but I had to increase to unlimited when Lightbox and Netflix appeared. Unfortunately while this is only $10 it will be a long time before RBI wireless goes unlimited but hopefuly some increases more than just extra 20GB are coming.

500GB (250 peak + 250 off peak) over RBI is certainly getting closer to unlimited!
http://www.ultimatebroadband.co.nz/rbi-wireless.html

Wow, that is certainly a game changer - but maybe not for the best though with this shared medium ? Big difference with ADSL line uncontended back to the ISAM compared to 3G carrier.

My brief checks of RBI 3G here were the speeds were good but latency was on the high side (I note the cross against VoIP on the 3G plans linked). 4G RBI had better latency (similar to my ADSL) but not on my local site so speeds a problem - download similar to 3G but upload not usable.

dwl

371 posts

Ultimate Geek
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#1433995 24-Nov-2015 16:17

kaihoka: thank you for the above info.
so you have 6 mbps . i was so smug about my fast speed , but now 6 unlimited sounds pretty good to me.
is the WRT54G just a router and you have a separate modem.
we have 2 computers on a lan connection and i would prefer to put a limiting device on one of those.
we also have a weatherstation, POE weather cam and we ftp to quite a few weather sites and we have a flight rader linux box, so we have a busy modem.
we have a few wireless devices and i try and use lan as much as possible to keep the air waves free.
do you use a chromecast. they are pretty good but only work through chrome browsers and lightbox needs silver light which chrome no longer supports.
and i think neon uses flash which is been rejected by android and win phone.
there is a huge disconnect between the OS, hardware and services designed to operate on them.
or maybe i am such a minority type of user that i am an uneconomic unit to cater to

It is surprising how well only 5-6 Mbps works if it isn't contended - without active users in the home usually see 5-5.5Mbps speedtest. Usually no issues streaming on two devices with other browsing and they often get HD (which is probably a waste on an iPad).

The WRT54G is a Linksys wireless router but I don't use the routing functionality. I have a separate ISP supplied modem down in the paddock and receive the WiFi from that 1km away with a client radio. This LAN side goes into the WRT54G LAN port only for use as an access point (only routing is at the modem). There is another AP (outdoor radio) plugged into another LAN port to serve a remote building.

Our Lightbox and Netflix are Smart TV or tablet apps - rarely ever use the PC or laptop and don't have Chromecast sorry.

The Gargoyle project looks interesting and possibly best option (assuming paying a bit more $ for a lot more 3G data isn't an option) if you want both wired and wireless rate limited options. There are various posts on the forum like Introduce a new Gargoyle Router into an existing Household network. which seems may be to route between two subnets to get full functionality while leaving RBI modem in place. Others here might be able to add further info. Hope you can get a good solution.

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