International vs. national speeds

Forums › New Zealand Broadband › International vs. national speeds - a question

jesterz

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#10903 18-Dec-2006 20:55

Hi all,

I've got a question for the experts out there. I'm on Xtra Go Large and my domestic traffic speeds are good but my international traffic speeds are dismal.

To my simple brain, this would suggest a problem with Xtra rather than my connection or line. Is this the correct interpretation of my speed tests?

In fact, international speeds are so bad that no streaming video works and audio is poor as well. Is this an intentional result of the Go Large plan or are there other problems with my connect that I don't know about?

Thanks for any insights.

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35 posts

Geek

#55833 18-Dec-2006 22:13

Go Large customers are routed differently from the rest of Xtras and UBS traffic, yes. So, if you're trying to watch streaming video at peak time, prepare for bottlenecks, otherwise its something to do with your line.

How far away from the exchange are you? What are your line speeds?

jesterz

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#55886 19-Dec-2006 18:48

I've been doing a few speed tests tonight. All speeds are download speeds:

Auckland: 3677 kbps
Sydney: 258 kbps
LA: 393 kbps
London: 163 kbps
Yokohama: 268 kbps

I'm not sure about distance to the exchange, but I guess it's okay given the domestic speed test.

I'm beginning to think with Go Large that 'this is it' - large download ability but poor speed. More 'quantity' than 'quality'.

Anyone having similar experiences?

beefturkey

3 posts

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#55901 19-Dec-2006 20:50

Yea same problem can't even watch Youtube clips anymore without frezzing up every 4 seconds of watching. Still at least CS:S ping hasen't changed (proof that it xtra is managing the international traffic as I play on NZ servers). But poor me I can't stream anything anymore whicn before I could get speeds of 3.7m/bits/s

Jed

35 posts

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#55903 19-Dec-2006 21:34

Again, this is peak time traffic. Try running it at different times of the day.

You pay for quantity with Go Large. If you NEED peak time speed, try Go Express or one of the Pro plans. Also, Orcon have been known to guarentee speed, although I personally have never been with them and so can't comment.

powderedtoastman

26 posts

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#55908 20-Dec-2006 01:38

I have a feeling the speeds jesterz is reporting are not going to vary much between peak and off-peak. Also, the go large plan was not marketed as a quantity-over-quality plan (at least, not in any ads I ever saw). On the xtra site it describes the Go Large plan as being "best suited" for "Busy households using internet in different ways". So that's pretty much every household.

Considering that the next plan up is $30 more than GL and Go Express isn't very appealing with a 2GB limit for the same price, I'd say that Go Large has been positioned as the plan with the broadest appeal. So I don't think the "you get what you pay for" argument holds up here. It's perfectly reasonable for people to expect the plan to perform as it is described by xtra. Traffic management and fair use should not be crippling a connection to the extent that even HTTP traffic moves at dial-up speeds 24/7.

Some people dismiss Go Large complaints by implying that the plan's limitations should have been somehow obvious, but why would the average consumer have any reason to suspect the plan's performance would be any different than stated by xtra?

cokemaster

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#55916 20-Dec-2006 09:00

On the xtra site it describes the Go Large plan as being "best suited" for "Busy households using internet in different ways".

On the xtra site it also describes the Go Large plan as having a fair usage policy and a traffic management policy.

Traffic management and fair use should not be crippling a connection to the extent that even HTTP traffic moves at dial-up speeds 24/7.

Dial up speeds is fairly slow for a broadband connection, however did they give any indication of what speeds you should expect with 'managed bandwidth'? I haven't seen any. If I was a serious downloader and wanted to download a lot and fast... I'd probably fork out a bit more for the pro plans.

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beefturkey

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#55939 20-Dec-2006 13:22

Ha Now I can't even go on to any int. sites ands its not even peak time. MSN Messager won't even log on. And national sites take 2min a page

neilinnz

165 posts

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#55943 20-Dec-2006 14:26

My Xtra broadband is having severe problems too accessing international sites this afternoon (Wednesday).
I think they may have problems with their DNS servers as I can get to a UK site by IP address without any problem.

If it's not one problem with Xtra/Telecom it's another!!!

jesterz

97 posts

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#55969 20-Dec-2006 19:57

Well I decided to try a switch for a while - I've move to the 15 gig pro plan.

And guess what - all speeds are now good. Here are some download tests from this evening (peak time):

- Auckland: 3752 kb/s
- Sydney: 4025 kb/s
- LA: 2832 kb/s
- London: 1239 kb/s

I'm now back to being able to stream video and enjoy the broadband experience.

So Go Large was my problem. I'm not a huge downloader, so this increase in speed is what I'm looking for. If you're after quantity and not quality stick to Go Large, if not then move elsewhere.

powderedtoastman

26 posts

Geek

#56011 20-Dec-2006 23:14

On the xtra site it also describes the Go Large plan as having a fair usage policy and a traffic management policy.

Yep, and are you under the impression that the "traffic management" or "fair use policy" have behaved as described in those links you provided? I think it's pretty clear that the descriptions on the xtra website are wildly inaccurate.

Dial up speeds is fairly slow for a broadband connection, however did they give any indication of what speeds you should expect with 'managed bandwidth'? I haven't seen any. If I was a serious downloader and wanted to download a lot and fast... I'd probably fork out a bit more for the pro plans.

Do they give an expectation of what speeds you can expect on any plan, "managed bandwidth" or not? This is pretty much irrelevant anyway. Nobody would expect the speeds to be on par with dialup on a broadband plan, on a good line, period. I realize that the pro plan is now the best option for people who dislike crippling speed reductions. I'm not interested in what the solutions are, I know what the solutions are. I'm just commenting on how crappy the whole thing is from a consumer point of view.

cokemaster

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#56013 20-Dec-2006 23:36

Yep, and are you under the impression that the "traffic management" or "fair use policy" have behaved as described in those links you provided?

While I don't really like the layer 7 filtering applied to my connection, its a fact of life. I pay less than what I had for my 10GB package, I can download more, I have generally faster line speeds and most of the time faster downloads too.

I don't use my home broadband connection as much as I used to, and it does things in a timely fashion.

I think it's pretty clear that the descriptions on the xtra website are wildly inaccurate.

While they are not exactly the most specific, ie. You will get xxxkbps at all times (Find me an ISP that will say that without forking about a lot of Bread) . They do say that your connection is subject to the traffic management policies and that your activity may be 'managed', annoyed? Switch to a non-golarge type plan - both Xtra and other ISP's offer them. It probably doesn't help that there are a lot of heavy users trying to milk Go Large for all its work (as witnessed in another thread).

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execute22

66 posts

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#56014 20-Dec-2006 23:52

I totally agree (with powderedtoastman); I'm on go large and I can't find anything in the product description or terms that in any way suggests that my http traffic would be any slower than on any other plan.

The fair use policy doesn’t even come in to it.

I’ve never downloaded more than 700MB in 1 day between 4PM and 12AM. I manage my downloading so I never go over the 700MB. Fair Use policy. forget about it.

What about traffic management?

From the xtra’s traffic management policy:

“So if you are using the Go Large plan and run peer-to-peer applications during busy periods, we may manage the peer-to-peer and other 'non sensitive' traffic to limit the congestion it causes for other users.”

I get dismal international speeds 24/7 using http. Streaming video is not possible.
(Isn’t that the whole point boardband internet? To enjoy rich websites like never before?)

I get what you pay? No I don’t.

I pay for a DSL plan that is supposed to go as fast as my line (2.4mbps) will take it.
From my point of view xtra are rate limiting all traffic on the go large plan. That’s not reasonable. If the plan was advertised as Quantity vs quality then I would have nothing to complain about.

What I’ve got now is basically what I had 2 years ago, an all you can eat 256k plan.

How is that and I quote: “Maximum speed - as fast as your phone line allows.”

"They know that we're not being straight-up"

Yeah we know; and thats why we find our selfs ranting in forums like idiots.

cokemaster

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#56028 21-Dec-2006 08:59

I pay for a DSL plan that is supposed to go as fast as my line (2.4mbps) will take it.

No, you pay for a DSL plan that has a max (read: peak)speed of your line. No promises on average speed or daily speed - just that it can get up there potentially.

If you wanted a pure (ie. bandwidth assigned to you) 2.4mbps connection all the time, be prepared to dig deep.

....we find our selfs ranting in forums like idiots.

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grant_k

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#56033 21-Dec-2006 10:38

execute22:
From my point of view xtra are rate limiting all traffic on the go large plan. That’s not reasonable...
What I’ve got now is basically what I had 2 years ago, an all you can eat 256k plan.

Very few Go Large users who post in these forums are happy with their plan. The one notable exception seems to be Cokemaster.

The answer is simple:

1) CHANGE TO ANOTHER XTRA PLAN
or
2) LEAVE XTRA and join another ISP

Go Large users who have changed to an XTRA "Pro" plan with Max speed upload have reported good results.

Go Large users who have changed to another ISP are mostly happy. Examples:

a) Orcon Max/Max 15GB plan (refer to Brad's posts)
b) XNET Max/128k or Max/Max plans with variable data usage (refer to the WorldxChange forum)
c) TelstraClear Max/Max PDG plan

Each of these 3 examples have a majority (in most cases a substantial one) of users with positive experiences compared with XTRA Go Large where the user experiences are overwhelmingly negative. I have personally used all of the ISP's in these examples and am currently connected through XNET and TelstraClear at two of the sites I have responsibility for, so I can vouch for the quality of service provided.

There are many options out there in ISP land, it's not like XTRA Go Large is the only game in town. Have a good look around and you'll be pleasantly surprised.

freitasm

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#56035 21-Dec-2006 10:46

I am trying to stay away for these discussion involving Go Large plans. But I have to say Telecom New Zealand managed to create a mess with this product.

Advice? As said before, move away from it. If you need more traffic allowance you will probably need to pay a bit more, but then you will find it's much better in terms of performance.

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