Is Spark screwing with my file downloads?

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Is Spark screwing with my file downloads?

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sbiddle

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#1171243 8-Nov-2014 08:22

geekIT:
I'm now in Otautau, Southland and the exchange IS a bit primitive, I think. Like, we're paying for Caller Display (a hangover from our last connection in Arrowtown) but can't get the service here, apparently because the cabinet needs an update.

The type of NEAX you're connected to for your POTS service has absolutely zero impact on your broadband. CallerID is determined by the NEAX in the exchange, and has nothing to do with a cabinet.

geekIT

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#1171308 8-Nov-2014 13:00

If the slow downloads and missing Resume facility had been the rule since we moved to Otautau last November and changed ISPs to Telecom, I'd accept that it could be due to local conditions. But there have been periods, mostly earlier this year, when everything worked normally, often for weeks at a time.

Jase2985 asked how I could possibly expect data traffic from Switzerland and Cyprus to arrive in the backblocks of NZ at a reasonable speed. The answer's simple: Because it used to.

To repeat: I had no problems in Arrowtown (which is no metropolis, either) using XNet. And, since moving towns and ISPs, there have been times when the system's worked OK in Otautau. In fact, I'd never experienced speeds as high as 1.5 - 1.6Mb\sec until we came here. (BTW, the local school - about 1k down the road - is apparently on fibre optic cable, according to Downers)

What else could have changed? The people who provide the data are telling me that there's no fault at their end. The IDM software that facilitates the file transfers is working perfectly. Certain contributors to this thread appear to be extremely well informed about the unlikeliness of Spark's involvement in my problem, so, as well as being very grateful for their input, I'm willing to take their assurances at face value. That rules out my ISP. So where else do I look?

Put yourself in my shoes (or office chair). If you had a system (of any kind) that used to work, but now doesn't, wouldn't you wonder what was going on?

'Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.' Voltaire

'A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government.' Edward Abbey

Cbfd

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#1171310 8-Nov-2014 13:15

Try other forms of downloading?

Jase2985

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#1171312 8-Nov-2014 13:23

how many servers, routers and paths are there between where your file is coming from and where your computer is? i found a cyprus hosted website and its 16 hops and looks like its going via japan

it could be any one of those hops out side of the telecom network that could be slowing it down, yet you are blaming spark?

do you have links to said downloads? so that others on different networks can try download them so we can see the results?

the thread is going nowhere because you are not providing more info to help diagnose whats wrong

maxeon

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#1171503 8-Nov-2014 21:40

geekIT: What else could have changed?

Put yourself in my shoes (or office chair). If you had a system (of any kind) that used to work, but now doesn't, wouldn't you wonder what was going on?

There could be two possibilities IMO
- Hops between the ISP to the location
- Localised issue within your computer ?

To eliminate the ISP / Download Server issue, can you try downloading the same file and comparing from another location apart from your house (preferably same ISP).
and
TO eliminate the localised issue, try using a laptop or something using a cable the same file and notice if there is a change in speeds? (preferably using different download manager).

Ragnor

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#1172255 10-Nov-2014 15:28

geekIT:

What else could have changed? The people who provide the data are telling me that there's no fault at their end. The IDM software that facilitates the file transfers is working perfectly. Certain contributors to this thread appear to be extremely well informed about the unlikeliness of Spark's involvement in my problem, so, as well as being very grateful for their input, I'm willing to take their assurances at face value. That rules out my ISP. So where else do I look?

International HTTP traffic on Spark is going through transparent caching proxy infrastructure and likely taking a different route/transit provider, compared to on WxC/Xnet.

The problems you describe like download resuming and low throughput (broken window scaling) are similar to the problems people have seen before with caching infrastructure on both Spark and Telstraclear (at least pre Vodafone, don't know what it's like now) because these systems modify http headers and proxy the traffic. These systems are not immune to congestion, outages or other issues.

Alternatively it could just be something in the upstream route or the return route which is not under the ISP's direct control but could be logged as a fault if investigated and found to be a real problem, there was a good previous thread comparing international throughput on Xnet vs Telstraclear (similar problem) but I can't seem to find it with the forum search.

Unless you can provide a specific server/link that has the problem so that someone can investigate you are not going to get anywhere. Vague dodgy file locker performance is probably not high on ISP's troubleshooting priority list.

Also the hosts website might be HTTPS but are you sure the actual downloads in IDM are using HTTPS or are they HTTP or FTP?

plambrechtsen

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#1172304 10-Nov-2014 16:40

geekIT: If the slow downloads and missing Resume facility had been the rule since we moved to Otautau last November and changed ISPs to Telecom, I'd accept that it could be due to local conditions. But there have been periods, mostly earlier this year, when everything worked normally, often for weeks at a time.

Jase2985 asked how I could possibly expect data traffic from Switzerland and Cyprus to arrive in the backblocks of NZ at a reasonable speed. The answer's simple: Because it used to.

To repeat: I had no problems in Arrowtown (which is no metropolis, either) using XNet. And, since moving towns and ISPs, there have been times when the system's worked OK in Otautau. In fact, I'd never experienced speeds as high as 1.5 - 1.6Mb\sec until we came here. (BTW, the local school - about 1k down the road - is apparently on fibre optic cable, according to Downers)

What else could have changed? The people who provide the data are telling me that there's no fault at their end. The IDM software that facilitates the file transfers is working perfectly. Certain contributors to this thread appear to be extremely well informed about the unlikeliness of Spark's involvement in my problem, so, as well as being very grateful for their input, I'm willing to take their assurances at face value. That rules out my ISP. So where else do I look?

Put yourself in my shoes (or office chair). If you had a system (of any kind) that used to work, but now doesn't, wouldn't you wonder what was going on?

Are you sure you didn't move from a ISAM connected location to somewhere on BUBA / the old ATM network.

Quite possibly you have moved to an area where your broadband is congested due to heavily utilisation on the BUBA (Chorus legacy) network which we (or any other ISP) have no control over.

If you can email me "pl at telecom.co.nz" with your PSTN Phone number I can run a line test and see what is going on.

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geekIT

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#1173295 12-Nov-2014 08:08

Sorry guys, the last few days have thrown up some non-pc issues that I'm having to cope with. I'll mull over the recent posts and respond ASAP. Again, thanks to everyone for their suggestions.

'Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.' Voltaire

'A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government.' Edward Abbey

Jase2985

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#1176179 15-Nov-2014 07:12

any updates?

plambrechtsen

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#1176195 15-Nov-2014 08:27

Update from my side is he is connected to an ISAM via EUBA so not on the old BUBA network and worse still on a Conklin.

Seems seem reasonable, ran a line test and nothing major seemed untwoard. Been personally very busy with my normal day job and other random things that always seem to land on my lap from my employer so haven't looked into it for a few days.

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