Experiences with Vodafone FibreX: My streaming seems worse

Forums › One New Zealand (including Vodafone, WxC, Farmside) › Experiences with Vodafone FibreX: My streaming seems worse

KiwiTim

365 posts

Ultimate Geek

#222528 16-Aug-2017 07:58

I recently upgraded my internet service from Vodafone Unlimited Ultra Fast Cable (50 Mbps) to Vodafone FibreX 200 Mbps plan. The price seemed great at around $70/mth. I thought my streaming would be much better with this service, supposedly 4X faster, but in practice it seems worse. I get great speeds on on the OOkla Speed Test (it jumps to 180 almost straight away and then quickly zips up to 200 Mbps). I stream from BBC iplayer, SBS Australia, ABC Australia and use Kodi video addons a far bit. None of these services work any better, and in fact, they seem worse (buffering, disconnecting).

I disconnected the Vodafone router and use my own TP-Link Archer C7 router, which is reasonable quality. I don't think the problem is my router or devices, I think it is the FibreX service. I know FibreX is not true fibre optic to your home, but a hybrid of fibre optic and cable. I was hoping for a snappy, quick, and reliable service, but so far I am not impressed.

What are other peoples experiences with FibreX and streaming services? I am starting to think I should not have "upgraded".

MikeB4

18133 posts

Uber Geek

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Trusted

Subscriber

#1847370 16-Aug-2017 08:46

You may find this thread interesting

https://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=40&topicid=214442

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gaddman

224 posts

Master Geek

Trusted

#1847379 16-Aug-2017 09:04

Hi KiwiTim,

Some suggestions for starters:

If you haven't logged a fault, then that's the best place to start. By upgrading you've got a new cable modem, new router, new wifi, the cables/connectors have been moved around, and you have a new IP address (different v4 address, new v6 address). That's a lot of potential for issues, which our faults team can work through - although your Ookla speedtest suggests most of that is good.

If you're only streaming on one connection at a time in HD, then 50Mbps is plenty - a connection 4x faster isn't going to give you 4x better quality. What it does provide is the capability for running more simultaneous streams.

If you, or anyone else here, is able to give me some useful info like the IP addresses the streaming connection comes from then I can check it's optimal. Although in my own experience with streaming on Kodi the problem is not here, but where you're streaming from - different sources give different performance.

KiwiTim

365 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1847380 16-Aug-2017 09:07

MikeB4:

You may find this thread interesting

https://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=40&topicid=214442

That is one long thread! I see that new modems are coming that should improve things. Fibre optic won't be in my street until 2019, so I'll have to stick with FibreX until then. Lets hope the new modem roll out improves the service.

Coil

6614 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#1847382 16-Aug-2017 09:11

KiwiTim:

MikeB4:

You may find this thread interesting

https://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=40&topicid=214442

That is one long thread! I see that new modems are coming that should improve things. Fibre optic won't be in my street until 2019, so I'll have to stick with FibreX until then. Lets hope the new modem roll out improves the service.

Off shore services will possible have other things outside of New Zealand affecting the speed. Especially to the UK with BBC IPlayer. What is streaming youtube 4k and 1080P like? Does it buffer or just load instantly and and go? That will give you a fair idea on where to start looking.

Please turn off wifi and test via Ethernet only. No test done via wifi has any value of any kind.

KiwiTim

365 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1847383 16-Aug-2017 09:13

gaddman:

Hi KiwiTim,

Some suggestions for starters:

If you haven't logged a fault, then that's the best place to start. By upgrading you've got a new cable modem, new router, new wifi, the cables/connectors have been moved around, and you have a new IP address (different v4 address, new v6 address). That's a lot of potential for issues, which our faults team can work through - although your Ookla speedtest suggests most of that is good.

If you're only streaming on one connection at a time in HD, then 50Mbps is plenty - a connection 4x faster isn't going to give you 4x better quality. What it does provide is the capability for running more simultaneous streams.

If you, or anyone else here, is able to give me some useful info like the IP addresses the streaming connection comes from then I can check it's optimal. Although in my own experience with streaming on Kodi the problem is not here, but where you're streaming from - different sources give different performance.

Thanks Gaddman. I am in a hurry this morning, so I will get back to you with IP addresses later in the afternoon. Wifi is the same as I'm using my Archer C7 router. I will test again with the Vodafone router and get back to you later in the day.

Thanks,

Tim

KiwiTim

365 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1847388 16-Aug-2017 09:19

Coil:

KiwiTim:

MikeB4:

You may find this thread interesting

https://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=40&topicid=214442

That is one long thread! I see that new modems are coming that should improve things. Fibre optic won't be in my street until 2019, so I'll have to stick with FibreX until then. Lets hope the new modem roll out improves the service.

Off shore services will possible have other things outside of New Zealand affecting the speed. Especially to the UK with BBC IPlayer. What is streaming youtube 4k and 1080P like? Does it buffer or just load instantly and and go? That will give you a fair idea on where to start looking.

Please turn off wifi and test via Ethernet only. No test done via wifi has any value of any kind.

Youtube 4K HDR is streaming fine

danza

112 posts

Master Geek

#1851437 23-Aug-2017 18:53

Can you see/post your signal level if you go to the modem page? Something like the status page in 192.168.100.1?

KiwiTim

365 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1851766 24-Aug-2017 10:27

Gaddman and Danza, thanks for your offers of help. I think I have got to the bottom of the problem. I was using a DNS geo-unblocking service and I think it is just a coincidence that the geo-unblocker's performance plummeted when I switched to fibreX. I have since moved onto a different geo-unblocking service which is working much better, so most sites are streaming ok now. Thanks again for your advice.

gaddman

224 posts

Master Geek

Trusted

#1851783 24-Aug-2017 11:09

Great to hear you're back up and running @KiwiTim. Using alternate DNS definitely opens you up to some sub-optimal routing, so hopefully most of your other traffic is good too. You might find general browsing could be a bit slow as well - partly just the longer DNS lookup and partly that Google, CloudFlare and other CDN providers might be serving you content from AU or US instead of locally.

KiwiTim

365 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1851840 24-Aug-2017 12:26

gaddman:

Great to hear you're back up and running @KiwiTim. Using alternate DNS definitely opens you up to some sub-optimal routing, so hopefully most of your other traffic is good too. You might find general browsing could be a bit slow as well - partly just the longer DNS lookup and partly that Google, CloudFlare and other CDN providers might be serving you content from AU or US instead of locally.

True indeed, but the content for entertainment is so much better. If I gave up geo-unblocking my evenings would be somewhat duller.

Wiggum

1199 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#1851860 24-Aug-2017 12:42

Yes DNS geo-unblocking servics can play havoc with your streaming.

The issues with Fibre-X seem to have been ironed out now. We on the 200/20 plan and have not had any noticeable dropouts for a few months. We have multiple screens streaming Netflix etc. Saying that, when we first signed up it was terrible. Multiple dropouts etc everyday, now just a bad memory from the past. For $70 per month we really can't complain, and out first 6 months were even half price.

KiwiTim

365 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1852284 25-Aug-2017 08:59

@Wiggum How did you get the first 6 months for half price? Were you switching from another ISP?

Wiggum

1199 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#1852699 25-Aug-2017 16:01

KiwiTim:

@Wiggum How did you get the first 6 months for half price? Were you switching from another ISP?

It was a special they were running. I think it was due to all of the problems they were having. I also believe that customers that moaned a lot, also got the discount.