ISP with fastest routing

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10 posts

Wannabe Geek
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#3153634 30-Oct-2023 11:26

Hi.

I'm piggybacking off this thread as it seemed pretty recent/relevant, but if it needs its own I can make a new one.
I'm also trying to find out who has a nice clean connection to the outside world. For reference, when I lived in Aus recently I had good speeds, but a fairly average ping and found I was being routed through my ISP in Melbourne some 2000km to the south. When I changed I found my ping dropped by 1/3, my speeds didn't change greatly on Ookla but my real life downloads of things like a Steam game were greatly improved.

I find myself in a similar situation here with Skinny.

Ookla will show my downloads at around 700Mbps, yet if I try a Steam download (regardless of what download country I choose) I'll get around 18MB/s as a maximum. A friend in Aus got me to do some sort of check (I really don't know the proper terms sorry) and he said there was a lot going on there to slow me down. He was hosting a file at about 40Mbps but I was bouncing around between 9 and 20. Another Ookla test still showed me getting high 600Mbps so there didn't seem to be a major issue at that time.

Here's the result of that test.
1 2 ms 1 ms 2 ms Aircove-514 [192.168.132.1]
2 11 ms 19 ms 12 ms 115-188-128-1-adsl.sparkbb.co.nz [115.188.128.1]
3 13 ms 10 ms 11 ms 222.152.41.161
4 11 ms 11 ms 11 ms 122.56.119.216
5 12 ms 11 ms 12 ms ae10-10.tkbr12.global-gateway.net.nz [202.50.232.29]
6 35 ms 36 ms 35 ms et3-0-0.sebr3.global-gateway.net.nz [122.56.127.50]
7 45 ms 44 ms 42 ms 103.13.80.121
8 * * 66 ms ae-2.au.sydnau05.au.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.9.219]
9 39 ms 42 ms 36 ms Bundle-Ether67.ken-edge903.sydney.telstra.net [139.130.40.245]
10 45 ms 46 ms 42 ms bundle-ether12.hay-core30.sydney.telstra.net [203.50.11.172]
11 44 ms 48 ms 47 ms ae10.ken-ice301.sydney.telstra.net [203.50.61.81]
12 45 ms 35 ms 39 ms 1.156.127.254
13 46 ms 51 ms 46 ms cpe-110-142-135-54.static.nsw.asp.telstra.net [110.142.135.54]
14 * * * Request timed out.
15 * * * Request timed out.

So my question is.....is there a provider here that might sort my issue out a bit like when I changed in Aus?

Thanks.

michaelmurfy

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#3153644 30-Oct-2023 12:06

Spark / Skinny are exactly the same provider (both Spark, just different billing). Ensure you don't have any VPN's active (I note your router is one designed for consumer grade VPN services in mind) and ensure in Steam also you've got your download location set to New Zealand if possible.

Spark are normally pretty good when it comes to Steam downloads but things like not using Sparks own DNS servers etc can impact this too.

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Grevelrash

10 posts

Wannabe Geek
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#3153656 30-Oct-2023 12:31

michaelmurfy:

Ensure you don't have any VPN's active (I note your router is one designed for consumer grade VPN services in mind) and ensure in Steam also you've got your download location set to New Zealand if possible.

Hi, thanks for taking a look.

My router is only a couple of months old and there's not been any performance change since I swapped it from the Skinny provided one. The PC is grouped in the "No active VPN" list. I actively changed away from the NZ Steam servers as I have found others provide a faster delivery....yet still fall far short of what others on this forum say they get whilst using Steam. I do notice when Steam reverts it back to NZ after an update though because it crawls.

michaelmurfy:

Spark are normally pretty good when it comes to Steam downloads but things like not using Sparks own DNS servers etc can impact this too.

I still can't work out why there is so much back and forth and choking of my download in that test to my friend's server in Sydney.

I had turned off the router based VPN (which only has a TV, Chromecast and Mesh extender active) and also ran Firefox in troubleshoot mode with all extensions disabled, with no difference. And there my skills end....while still getting low speeds.

Talkiet

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#3153686 30-Oct-2023 13:03

I'm on Spark (obviously), I have tested our Steam server and I got 900mbps+ to my standard FibreMax connection. No reason you shouldn't be getting the same with Skinny.

However if you are taking steps to stop Steam using NZ servers, no-one here can help you.

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.

Batman

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#3153687 30-Oct-2023 13:11

Talkiet:
For clarity, and from someone that knows what he's talking about - there is nothing alarming on the charts below, and certainly nothing that would cause me to have any concern about gaming on any ISP listed here (based on the reported latency - there are other reasons I would choose some RSPs over the others)

Is that ex Akl?

Fortnite from Dunedin in getting 51ms on Spark

Grevelrash

10 posts

Wannabe Geek
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#3153689 30-Oct-2023 13:14

Talkiet:

I'm on Spark (obviously), I have tested our Steam server and I got 900mbps+ to my standard FibreMax connection. No reason you shouldn't be getting the same with Skinny.

However if you are taking steps to stop Steam using NZ servers, no-one here can help you.

Hi.

Sorry, maybe I didn't make myself very clear but I have tried the NZ servers and get slower speeds than choosing East Africa for instance. Not much I admit....but obviously I should be seeing faster results going to NZ.

This is precisely what I am trying to fix. If the NZ performed for me even half as good as your tests, I wouldn't have even thought to change to other country's as an experiment. I'm not doing it to just be contrary....I'm experimenting to see what's happening because I'm at a loss as to why my performance is so poor.

I'm in the Bay of Islands btw....no idea if that changes any suggestions.

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Talkiet

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#3153691 30-Oct-2023 13:18

The latency for those game servers are a national average./

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.

Grevelrash

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Wannabe Geek
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#3153692 30-Oct-2023 13:20

My ping in Pubg consistantly sits around 38-40ms.

Talkiet

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#3153693 30-Oct-2023 13:23

Grevelrash:

Talkiet:

I'm on Spark (obviously), I have tested our Steam server and I got 900mbps+ to my standard FibreMax connection. No reason you shouldn't be getting the same with Skinny.

However if you are taking steps to stop Steam using NZ servers, no-one here can help you.

Hi.

Sorry, maybe I didn't make myself very clear but I have tried the NZ servers and get slower speeds than choosing East Africa for instance. Not much I admit....but obviously I should be seeing faster results going to NZ.

This is precisely what I am trying to fix. If the NZ performed for me even half as good as your tests, I wouldn't have even thought to change to other country's as an experiment. I'm not doing it to just be contrary....I'm experimenting to see what's happening because I'm at a loss as to why my performance is so poor.

I'm in the Bay of Islands btw....no idea if that changes any suggestions.

What sort of internet connection do you have?

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.

Grevelrash

10 posts

Wannabe Geek
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#3153703 30-Oct-2023 13:54

What sort of internet connection do you have?

Oops. Quite an important bit of info ommited haha.
I'm on a Skinny Unlimited Fibre Ultra plan current.

Thanks.

SpartanVXL

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#3153704 30-Oct-2023 13:55

NZ download servers are fine except in certain circumstances like release day or big patch days for popular games, but this can affect most regions anyway. Simply switching to Sydney, the next closest, is enough to avoid this.

It also depends on which games you are trying to download, popular ones are fine but older/obscure games may be pulling from somewhere else.

You also have to be sure Steam ‘downloads’ are actually downloading something. The progress bar isn’t specifically for internet speed, it can be affected by update progress (cpu/disk speed) as well. If you do not have free space on the targeted device then Steam will use other library locations (drives) that have spare space to work with when patching things, which will slow down if devices are slower HDD’s.

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Grevelrash

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Wannabe Geek
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#3153713 30-Oct-2023 14:27

SpartanVXL:

It also depends on which games you are trying to download, popular ones are fine but older/obscure games may be pulling from somewhere else.

If you do not have free space on the targeted device then Steam will use other library locations (drives) that have spare space to work with when patching things, which will slow down if devices are slower HDD’s.

Hi, thanks for the help.

My Steam drive is a pretty empty (new build) 4tb 7000MB/s read/write speed M.2 and last night I downloaded Cyberpunk Phantom Liberty and recently Starfield, so pretty new games.
I didn't specifically want to get hung up on the Steam thing though....it was just a known quantity that I'd thought might be useful as a reference. The new Router and PC don't appear to any different in download speed than what I was running a couple of months ago so I don't think I bollocked anything up by fiddling. Files from my friend in Sydney for instance are still slow and I could barely achieve half of his 40Mbps connection...but when he remoted in from a Bris pc to that same file, that one did.

Anyway, I just don't know what to make of it when Ookla gives me 700Mbps and 12ms on a Spark Auckland test....but Steam crawls.

RunningMan

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#3153729 30-Oct-2023 15:20

You should be able to hit 900Mb/s on a Speedtest to Spark's server(s). Perhaps not every time, but a max of 700 suggests your router or PC may be limiting things.

Have you seen this thread on the Aircove? Depending on the model and locale settings, it might not be allowed to be used in NZ.

From here

Without using any of the VPN features, the router’s baseline performance maxed out 312 Megabits per second (Mbps) in my tests. That’s quick, but is mediocre for a $200 device

Don't know how Steam works but if it's firing up a bunch of parallel connections, router might not be coping with them.

Talkiet

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#3153731 30-Oct-2023 15:25

RunningMan:

You should be able to hit 900Mb/s on a Speedtest to Spark's server(s). Perhaps not every time, but a max of 700 suggests your router or PC may be limiting things.

Have you seen this thread on the Aircove? Depending on the model and locale settings, it might not be allowed to be used in NZ.

From here

Without using any of the VPN features, the router’s baseline performance maxed out 312 Megabits per second (Mbps) in my tests. That’s quick, but is mediocre for a $200 device

Don't know how Steam works but if it's firing up a bunch of parallel connections, router might not be coping with them.

Agree that getting 700Mbps from a Spark speedtest server is likely indicating that the setup isn't performing optimally. I don't suppose the OP has a Spark/Skinny router around they could test with? I've lost count of the number of times I've heard people experiencing lower performance than expected with non ISP supplied equipment. It's USUALLY fine, but the routers supplied are certainly fine (and have been tested to work well with the specific RSP/LFC network configurations).

Cheers - Neil G

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.

Grevelrash

10 posts

Wannabe Geek
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#3153746 30-Oct-2023 16:02

Ok, well thanks for the suggestions everyone but I think I have it sussed.

Honestly, I was expecting people to tell me depending on where I lived, or what ISP I was with that my mileage for gigabit might vary. When we first moved in here just over a year ago, we had a fridge delivered and my router is up on the cabinet above the fridge. I just went in to swap back to the old router and run another test and wondered why I couldn't get much slack in the cable. I know I hadn't long changed it to the aircove, but I didn't give it much thought at the time.

It turns out that my cable wasn't in a conduit and the wheel of the fridge had slightly crushed it. I ran a new Cat6 cable (that will be going in a conduit) that I'd bought to run down the the bedroom TV and it now works as expected.

Thanks for your troubleshooting tips.

I can't work out image insertion but my test was 924.17Mbps down, 493.63Mbps up and 9ms.

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