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RustyGonad

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#269820 9-Apr-2020 12:07
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Can anyone at Spark explain why download performance has been exceptionally poor lately, specifically when downloading updates or new releases of major gaming titles.

 

Background:

 

Connection 1Gb, BigPipe Unlimited Fibre, Unifi USG, Nano HD Wireless (Wireless performance is excellent, both Xbox’s using Wireless AC, connecting at 500Mb/s+)

 

Most recently this was seen last night with the Modern Warfare update.

 

On Xbox (wireless)  – downloads started poorly – achieving around 3-4 Mb/s, but reduced regularly to sub 1Mb/s levels (<600Kb/s for minutes at a time).  Pausing the download would see speed return to poor (3-4Mb/s) for a few seconds, then reduce again.

 

Another Xbox (wireless) on the same network saw ok performance and the download completed with 90 mins (slow, when compared to a non-congested download which would take <20 mins).

 

On the PC (Ethernet) a similar trend occurred – constant sub 10Mb/s download speeds, reducing to < 1Mb/s for long periods.

 

The problem was resolved on the PC by using ExpressVPN to connect to a Sydney server, which saw download speeds in the 70-100Mb/s range.

 

On the Xbox – it broke the game install after 4 hours and required a reinstall of the game this morning (averaging around 120Mb/s which is still slower than expected)

 

What’s going on at Spark with localized caching (Akamai CDN, F5 GTS etc), and or Global Gateway performance.  I understand Spark run express routes through to Sydney – but lately download performance has been abysmal during major game update releases. 

 

Based on my experience by using ExpressVPN, it would appear that download traffic is being rate limited/throttled either locally at Spark or on the Trans-Tasman link, as once the VPN was turned on download performance returned to normal levels (normal for a VPN connection anyway).

 

To the best of my understanding, Spark used to cache this stuff locally, but it looks like this has been turned off, which would be OK if there was enough bandwidth at the provider level to cope – but it appears not (or its being throttled at Global Gateway to manage performance).  I honestly haven't noticed if the same thing is happening with things like Apple iOS updates or if it specifically relates to gaming traffic.

 

Late nights update was only relatively small (13 GB on the Xbox, 16GB on the PC) – major updates lately have been much larger – performance has obviously suffered for a longer period.

 

This isn’t a case of performance just being slow – its reducing to such a level that it breaks the game install process.  I can’t easily check packet loss/jitter etc. on the Xbox, but I suspect it was significant, i.e. packets being dropped, as opposed to reduced speeds.  This further increases load on the network when you have to re-download the game at 80GB+ download, let alone wasting hours of time.

 

It’s also not an issue that’s going to go away – with game downloads regularly exceeding 20GB in size just for updates, full game release heading north of 100GB.

 

Hopefully someone can explain what’s happening.


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gehenna
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  #2458145 9-Apr-2020 12:21
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COVID.




Poll
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  #2458147 9-Apr-2020 12:22
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With everyone being at home many of the cdn's including those for Xbox and Playstation are throttling gaming downloads to reduce strain on their services.


Batman
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  #2458157 9-Apr-2020 12:34
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Hmm ... my xbox is getting 80-250Mbps ?




lurker
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  #2458169 9-Apr-2020 12:48
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On PC I've noticed the same with the last two Modern Warfare updates via the Blizzard client (extremely slow and took hours to complete), but Steam has been fine so I don't think it's the ISP but can't be sure on that.

 

 

 

 


RustyGonad

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  #2458193 9-Apr-2020 12:59
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gehenna:

 

COVID.

 

 

Nope - performance was bad on major updates before the lockdown as well.


RustyGonad

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  #2458195 9-Apr-2020 13:03
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Poll:

 

With everyone being at home many of the cdn's including those for Xbox and Playstation are throttling gaming downloads to reduce strain on their services.

 

 

 

 

More trying to find out if Spark are actually running gaming downloads through the CDN's at all... This isn't a local load issue - VPN tunneling indicates that no local caching is occurring at all.

 

 

 

Throttling doesn't reduce load - it just delays it.  And in many cases it breaks the download (especially common with Modern Warfare and the Xbox).  It then places another 80GB of load on the network.

 

 

 

CDN's when correctly implemented are designed to reduce load, and therefore the need for throttling...


RustyGonad

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  #2458198 9-Apr-2020 13:04
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Batman:

 

Hmm ... my xbox is getting 80-250Mbps ?

 

 

Mine is this morning as well - specifically questioning around major updates/downloads like last nights COD update


 
 
 

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wratterus
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  #2458202 9-Apr-2020 13:10
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I don't play that many games, and am only on 100mbps (BigPipe) but I have absolutely no issues maxing that out with any game updates. 


RustyGonad

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  #2458204 9-Apr-2020 13:12
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wratterus:

 

I don't play that many games, and am only on 100mbps (BigPipe) but I have absolutely no issues maxing that out with any game updates. 

 

 

Did you download COD Modern Warfare update last night?


  #2458206 9-Apr-2020 13:15
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What games, what services? whats DNS are you using?

 

Im getting full line rate (Spark 70mbps vdsl) from Blizzard (COD:WZ)

 

Getting full line rate from PS4 Store

 

Getting full line rate from Steam

 

Getting full line rate from UPlay

 

Getting full line rate from Epic Games

 

anecdotally i cant see any issues


RustyGonad

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  #2458208 9-Apr-2020 13:17
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lurker:

 

On PC I've noticed the same with the last two Modern Warfare updates via the Blizzard client (extremely slow and took hours to complete), but Steam has been fine so I don't think it's the ISP but can't be sure on that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Are you with Spark?

 

 

 

Using the VPN tends to indicate somethings specifically related to Spark (by encrypting traffic its skips any Layer 7 traffic identification/throttling being applied).

 

I'm not saying this is unique to Spark - any ISP can choose to implement caching/CDN, just trying to find out what Spark are doing that may be impacting performance.


wratterus
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  #2458209 9-Apr-2020 13:17
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RustyGonad:

 

Did you download COD Modern Warfare update last night?

 

 

 

 

No sorry. I'm only using Steam at the moment. 


Talkiet
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  #2458210 9-Apr-2020 13:19
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RustyGonad:

 

Poll:

 

With everyone being at home many of the cdn's including those for Xbox and Playstation are throttling gaming downloads to reduce strain on their services.

 

 

 

 

More trying to find out if Spark are actually running gaming downloads through the CDN's at all... This isn't a local load issue - VPN tunneling indicates that no local caching is occurring at all.

 

 

 

Throttling doesn't reduce load - it just delays it.  And in many cases it breaks the download (especially common with Modern Warfare and the Xbox).  It then places another 80GB of load on the network.

 

 

 

CDN's when correctly implemented are designed to reduce load, and therefore the need for throttling...

 

 

Yes, the downloads go predominantly through massive local caching infrastructure. I saw huge spikes last night on our CDN infrastructure (that were no-where near peak capacity BTW). However individual game publishers choose not to send all downloads over a single CDN so they themselves balance the load for resilience and cost reasons.

 

We're not throttling.

 

Cheers - N

 

 





Please note all comments are from my own brain and don't necessarily represent the position or opinions of my employer, previous employers, colleagues, friends or pets.


RustyGonad

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  #2458215 9-Apr-2020 13:23
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Jase2985:

 

What games, what services? whats DNS are you using?

 

Im getting full line rate (Spark 70mbps vdsl) from Blizzard (COD:WZ)

 

Getting full line rate from PS4 Store

 

Getting full line rate from Steam

 

Getting full line rate from UPlay

 

Getting full line rate from Epic Games

 

anecdotally i cant see any issues

 

 

 

 

Lol - during non-congested times I can get 200-300Mb/s from Xbox, 700Mb/s is the best I've ever seen from Steam, but it's usually way less than that, don't use UPlay, or Epic Games.

 

No gaming download service on the planet has given me line speed yet (950Mb/s) - but I don't care about that...

 

DNS - default BigPipe (Can you please explain why you think this is a DNS issue?) 

 

You can't see any issues because you didn't reed my post properly - I specifically asked anyone from Spark who may be still on here if they can comment about caching/CDN's during times of intense congestion (as seen during last nights COD update), and Spark/Bigpipe performance.

 

Anecdotally...lol


Talkiet
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  #2458219 9-Apr-2020 13:25
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RustyGonad:

 

Poll:

 

With everyone being at home many of the cdn's including those for Xbox and Playstation are throttling gaming downloads to reduce strain on their services.

 

 

More trying to find out if Spark are actually running gaming downloads through the CDN's at all... This isn't a local load issue - VPN tunneling indicates that no local caching is occurring at all.

 

Throttling doesn't reduce load - it just delays it.  And in many cases it breaks the download (especially common with Modern Warfare and the Xbox).  It then places another 80GB of load on the network.

 

CDN's when correctly implemented are designed to reduce load, and therefore the need for throttling...

 

 

Actually throttling (which we are not doing) can reduce load by shifting it outside of peak... As for our CDNs, I can confidently say they are exceptionally well implemented and dimensioned.

 

Cheers - N

 

 





Please note all comments are from my own brain and don't necessarily represent the position or opinions of my employer, previous employers, colleagues, friends or pets.


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