Really bad international speeds on Spark

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Really bad international speeds on Spark

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8 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1293833 29-Apr-2015 20:01

michaelmurfy: Please, I repeat please ensure you're using your providers DNS servers as this is needed for proper caching. Try and set up Sparks DNS which are 122.56.237.1 and 210.55.111.1 and see if your speeds improve.

Google DNS won't ensure proper caching and OpenDNS is pretty horrible when it comes to this.

I'm not sure how DNS performance would affect a speedtest, but Done. International Speeds not improved in any meaningful way: https://www.speedtest.net/my-result/4324674433

Local is pretty bad tonight too: https://www.speedtest.net/my-result/4324679304

Jase2985

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#1293853 29-Apr-2015 20:27

what server are you using? try using sonic net, in San Jose, up by San Fran, ive found it has better speed than most others on the west coast.

My result for Sonic Net, San Jose. Its been that all day, no change at all in the speed.

MooCube

8 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1293855 29-Apr-2015 20:31

Jase2985: what server are you using? try using sonic net, in San Jose, up by San Fran, ive found it has better speed than most others on the west coast.

My result for Sonic Net, San Jose. Its been that all day, no change at all in the speed.

Thanks for the tip, but I'm just using speedtest to demonstrate that the differences in speed I'm getting locally vs internationally are very real. I don't care so much about some metric, but whether I can watch Netflix in HD, get expected performance from websites, play games without getting disconnected like I'm paying for.... and I can't.

Jase2985

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#1293868 29-Apr-2015 20:53

did you stop to think that this issue could be completely out of sparks control?

try the same speed test server as i used and see what you you get, will prove at least that a very similar route has the same performance or not. other than that there is not much you can do as the issue is more than likely not on sparks network.

there are some other servers ive tested to on the west coast and got 210ms, 10/9 so is that sparks fault? or latency/congestion in the US?

i dont use netflix so i cant comments on their performance, are you using sparks DNS servers and NZ netflix, or US netflix and a DNS service?

and there will always be a different in performance between locally hosted content and stuff internationally, it happens with all ISP's

MooCube

8 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1293871 29-Apr-2015 21:01

Jase2985: did you stop to think that this issue could be completely out of sparks control?

try the same speed test server as i used and see what you you get, will prove at least that a very similar route has the same performance or not. other than that there is not much you can do as the issue is more than likely not on sparks network.

PaulZA

314 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1297521 4-May-2015 11:50

I did have a few major traffic issues on Spark's network a week or so back. but I seemed to have resolved it, and all works fine.

I am on Spark's unlimited VDSL plan.

I'm a heavy video streamer, and I stream overseas TV channels.

Last week, M-Net (One of the South African channels, I was watching) was buffering madly, and upon further testing, turns out my line was set to the wrong profile.

Phoned up Manila, and the gentleman there reset my line, and all was fine again..

jonb

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#1297537 4-May-2015 12:01

I'm on Spark 30/10 fibre, and consider this 'normal' for an international speedtest. Netflix etc should be fine with these speeds.

(Both over wifi, so less than line speed)

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MooCube

8 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1297623 4-May-2015 13:19

jonb: I'm on Spark 30/10 fibre, and consider this 'normal' for an international speedtest. Netflix etc should be fine with these speeds.

(Both over wifi, so less than line speed)

Should be fine, yes, but it's not. Netflix drops to SD on that speed. However, I'm happy to report that cbrpilot was able to make a tweak and now I'm getting ~23mbps overseas \o/

Jase2985

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#1297634 4-May-2015 13:38

odd

PANiCnz

989 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1299425 6-May-2015 20:31

I'm getting some pretty average international speeds also. I've logged an issue with the help desk but had zero response. Can someone from Spark assist?

and pages such as kodi.tv and openelec.tv are taking an age to load. Even just loading the speedtest.net website to run a speedtest is painful.

cbrpilot

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Spark NZ

#1299442 6-May-2015 20:51

We're rolling out some tweaks to all of our Fibre 30/10 customers. I hope to have that completed tomorrow.
This does not effect any other Fibre speeds, or any other access types (e.g. ADSL(2+)/VDSL etc).
Let me know tomorrow night if things improve for anyone on Fibre 30/10.

My views are my own, and may not necessarily represent those of my employer.

jim69

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#1299443 6-May-2015 20:52

For those thinking this might be outside Spark's control I note that if I do a speedtest to an Australian server I get the full speed of my connection (akin to a local speed test) while a test to anywhere else in the world is 7 to 9 mbps if I'm lucky.
Summary: Spark to Australia good, Spark to anywhere else in the world bad.
Is that outside their control?

Jase2985

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#1299448 6-May-2015 21:00

Did get slow speeds about 30 mins ago but it seems to be back to normal +- 3mbps

i do think sometimes the choice of server plays a part in the speed you see.

jim69

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#1299880 7-May-2015 14:39

I wonder if something just kicked in? My 30/10 connection ... wriggled, lots of confused comms, then its back, on a whim I tried a speedtest and ... wow. Suddenly I'm getting 25-28 mbps on the download link to anywhere in the world. Upload is also improved, although that varies, eg full speed to LA or Sydney but only 5 to Finland. I know its only 2:30pm but if this holds into the evening it is quite a significant improvement.

cbrpilot

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Spark NZ

#1299938 7-May-2015 15:17

As per my post from last night, we were rolling out tweaks today.
If you're on Fibre 30/10 suffering international throughput issues, the change should have helped.

My views are my own, and may not necessarily represent those of my employer.

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