[TelstraClear] Telstra unmetered Steam server

Forums › One New Zealand (including Vodafone, WxC, Farmside) › [TelstraClear] Telstra unmetered Steam server

jb5

27 posts

Geek

#95935 17-Jan-2012 08:50

We just got our 100% usage email last night. On logging into the Telstra usage meter we've found that none of the downloads from the recent Steam sales have been unmetered. I'm quite positive the data came from the Telstra Steam Content Server as for one the games came down at 1.7MB/s (about what our 15mbit connection can muster) and two when you click play, you see a little banner that says content delivered by: Telstra Unmetered.

Has anyone else noticed this? I'm going to give them a call today, but I expect they'll just say there are no guarantees that you will connect to the Telstra server and we'll be forced to pay the overage.

Ragnor

8223 posts

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#569775 17-Jan-2012 09:26

There are multiple domestic servers that content could have come from at near line rate (Orcon, Slingshot, affinity.net.nz).

Steam tends to uses multiple download servers (by design as data caps aren't a problem in the US and Europe generally) regardless of your primary setting in the download region options.

So unless you use a third party tool to limit connection or firewall rules to to block non Telstraclear servers you may be downloading from other domestic or international content mirrors.

You might want to re-read the Telstrclear's steam guides on the topic
http://www.telstraclear.co.nz/sub-sites/gaming-steam/
http://www.telstraclear.co.nz/sub-sites/gaming-steam/steam-faqs.cfm
http://www.on3network.co.nz/showthread.php?76566-Steam-Download-Tools

jb5

27 posts

Geek

#569780 17-Jan-2012 09:36

Steam said content delivered by: Telstra Unmetered for every game I downloaded.

Ragnor

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#569781 17-Jan-2012 09:40

jb5: Steam said content delivered by: Telstra Unmetered for every game I downloaded.

Again... unless you use 3rd party tools or firewall rules to block Steam from using non Telstraclear servers there is no guarantee Steam is using only the Telstraclear server.

Steam uses multiple servers when it can (to speed up downloads), the download region setting is just a guide and does not mean it's using only that server.

Zigg

388 posts

Ultimate Geek

#570506 18-Jan-2012 17:19

So it's pretty useless until you jump through several hoops.

jb5

27 posts

Geek

#570511 18-Jan-2012 17:26

I had previously read (on the Steam forums I believe) that the banner you see when you click play shows which content server you're connected to. According to Ragnor it does not. The other thing that made me believe I was connected to Telstra is that I'd never got even close to 1.7MB/s on Steam before, in fact I usually set my content server to USA because anywhere in NZ got me sub 250KB/s.

We called Telstra, they gave us a credit for a certain amount of overage this month.

meesham

973 posts

Ultimate Geek

#570650 18-Jan-2012 23:45

Zigg: So it's pretty useless until you jump through severalhoops.

Yes but they make that perfectly clear on their webpage and it's not their fault, it's a limitation of the Steam client.

I've had TCPView running while downloading off Steam to check that it's downloading from the correct server, the banner showed TelstraClear yet traffic was coming from both the TelstraClear server and a server with a US IP address.

Lias

5589 posts

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Lifetime subscriber

#570709 19-Jan-2012 10:07

As has been mentioned you need to use third party tools to force your steam client to only use the relevant ISP (in this case TelstraClear) steam cache. This is a steam issue, not a TelstraClear one. It's not terribly hard to add the relevant Windows Firewall rule manually rather than using external tools thou.

The other issue is that some (mostly newer) steam content is now distributed via HTTP, and this completely bypasses ANY steam cache content servers. You have no way to tell tell what method steam is using, and again this is very much a valve/steam issue.

I'm a geek, a gamer, a dad, a Quic user, and an IT Professional. I have a full rack home lab, size 15 feet, an epic beard and Asperger's. I'm a bit of a Cypherpunk, who believes information wants to be free and the Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it. If you use my Quic signup you can also use the code R570394EKGIZ8 for free setup.