Is Vodafone throttling Netflix traffic?

Forums › One New Zealand (including Vodafone, WxC, Farmside) › Is Vodafone throttling Netflix traffic?

Scotty1986

315 posts

Ultimate Geek

#191756 15-Feb-2016 15:10

100/10mb cable connection, using a xbox one plugged directly into the latest cable modem to stream netflix. My xbox one is returning a speed test result of 98mb down. Yet netflix always struggles to play. Long load times, buffering and poor quality. Sometimes the stream reaches 1080p only to drop down to 480p seconds later. This is happening at all times of the day. I have been trying to watch a movie today and gave up because the quality drops were just to jarring.

What's going on Vodafone?

johnr

19282 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#1492692 15-Feb-2016 15:19

Nope VodafoneNZ have a Netflix CDN in the network and partnered with Netflix on launch of services in NZ. Traffic management happens at peak time on P2P traffic only

Something else is at play here

Scotty1986

315 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1492697 15-Feb-2016 15:26

I tend to agree. A forum mod may change the title if they want. The reason I agree, is I just found that my TV has a netflix app and it went to 1080p fast and stayed there. Unfortunately the TV cannot pass sound through to my home theatre like my xbox does.

I'm not sure how to troubleshoot this further. I have rebooted modem and xbox and re-download the app. I'm not sure if this is a xbox issue of modem

jjnz1

1363 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#1492698 15-Feb-2016 15:27

Maybe its your VPN and the long distance to the US?

;)

Scotty1986

315 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1492700 15-Feb-2016 15:30

Tv and xbox are using the same settings. So my dns settings must be fine? I'm using Unblockus.

stevenz

2802 posts

Uber Geek

#1492701 15-Feb-2016 15:33

Netflix says no.

https://ispspeedindex.netflix.com/country/new-zealand/

FWIW - I get better Netflix performance from my nVidia Shield TV than I do through the app on my Samsung TV. PQ looks better and audio skips less frequently (i.e. never versus sometimes)

@KnightNZ

wscalioni

73 posts

Master Geek

#1492704 15-Feb-2016 15:38

I have a far more modest connection (VDSL) and have no issues at all with Netflix, including peak hours. Either playing from XBOX or Apple TV.

sbiddle

30853 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

Trusted

Biddle Corp

Lifetime subscriber

#1492706 15-Feb-2016 15:45

Are you meaning NZ or US Netflix? If it's NZ Netflix you could try using the correct Vodafone DNS servers.

Sharesies

Trade NZ and US shares and funds with Sharesies (affiliate link).

MackinNZ

450 posts

Ultimate Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#1492707 15-Feb-2016 15:48

Scotty1986: ...Unfortunately the TV cannot pass sound through to my home theatre like my xbox does.

Is your TV connected to the Receiver by HDMI? Does your Receiver support ARC? Are you connected to the ARC port (often HDMI-2 on the TV)?

NonprayingMantis

6434 posts

Uber Geek

#1492708 15-Feb-2016 15:49

Scotty1986: Tv and xbox are using the same settings. So my dns settings must be fine? I'm using Unblockus.

If you are accessing Netflix USA (or another country that isn't NZ) then some or all of the content you are watching might well be coming from server that isn't on VFs network and could be as far away as the UK. (e.g. if it is content that only UK netflix has then it's possible that is the only place that hosts it)

Try switching unblock-us off for a bit (and I don't mean changing unblock-us region to NZ, but rather changing your DNS back to VF) and see if that improves things.

wscalioni

73 posts

Master Geek

#1492710 15-Feb-2016 15:50

sbiddle:

Are you meaning NZ or US Netflix? If it's NZ Netflix you could try using the correct Vodafone DNS servers.

True. Big difference. Switch to UnblockUS is always my last option, when that's the case, there's not much to complain about...

Scotty1986

315 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1492724 15-Feb-2016 16:29

US netflix. It's all I have ever used, For 18 months. I used to have issues in the evening but that has been mostly fixed. I will try using NZ netflix but from my checks it is far, far behind usa and other countries. The shows I'm currently watching (The office USA version and house of Cards) p are not in NZ.

As for different shows hosted on different servers, why would the same show work flawlessly on one device and not the other? Must be something going on in the modem or xbox?

stevenz

2802 posts

Uber Geek

#1492725 15-Feb-2016 16:33

I use Unblock US as well (Spark), generally starting a show takes about 3 seconds tops, including shows that are not available on Netflix NZ.

Check which DNS servers you're using, UnblockUS did change the ones for Australia\NZ a couple of months back.

@KnightNZ

Scotty1986

315 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1492727 15-Feb-2016 16:37

Thanks for the tip I will check that out.

noroad

951 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#1492781 15-Feb-2016 18:15

Just remember, if you are using a bypass method then you are taking responsibility for the quality of your streaming. Vodafone has local Netflix caches as all the other big service providers do and they pay to house and feed the caches (a not insignificant amount of traffic). If you bypass then you are choosing not to use what your service provider is supplying and you are having all of your traffic delivered internationally rather than locally. Now I fully understand why you would do so in regard to the content, but you are really on your own when it comes to if it works properly or not.

PhantomNVD

2619 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#1492830 15-Feb-2016 20:52

Fair enough, he's not asking VF to trouble shoot it for him BUT to recap the _OP_

1) all settings the same but TV works fine while Xbox doesn't

2) always been watching US version and issue is more recent

3) he's asking if the different devices have a reason for having different results

4) he's asked for his thread title to be renamed to reflect this.

Back on topic people?