Does MSN use international or national data?

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3g

341 posts

Ultimate Geek

#8044 30-May-2006 12:53

Quick question for somebody who knows how MSN video chat works:

If I'm in Christchurch connected via Xtra (ADSL connection) and want to video chat over MSN with a friend (connected via another ADSL provider who offers free "national" traffic), will the traffic be national or international?

I'm guessing that the data *may* get routed via a server outside of NZ, but that's only a guess (thus international usage/rates would apply).

Nigel H.

muppet

2571 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#37154 30-May-2006 14:30

Hard to say.

Best bet is to establish the video chat, then sniff the traffic.

Ethereal is the best free traffic sniffer out there.

You can then see fairly easily (assuming you don't have a lot of other traffic going on at the same time) the bulk of your traffic which should be the video traffic and see what the destination and source of it is.

I'd suggest if you're both on ADSL connections you're probably both NAT'd, so I think the traffic would go via a 3rd party NAT host that's probably international. But I don't know how MSN video works, so that could easily be incorrect.

PS: I didn't think Xtra made any difference if traffic is National or International, isn't it all billed against your usage?

3g

341 posts

Ultimate Geek

#37164 30-May-2006 17:03

Hi Muppet,

Thanks for the ideas - been using ethereal quite a bit lately for testing GPRS latency, so will put it to another use!

In response to your question regarding Xtra - they don't differentiate at all (and I'm on a 10GB plan, so I don't care too much).
But my friend is on a 2GB plan with free national traffic, so I didn't want to propose that we video chat to find out that I'm using up all his bandwidth.

Nigel H.

barf

643 posts

Ultimate Geek

#37168 30-May-2006 17:16

MSN communicates via servers in the .gbl top level domain
most, if not all MSN communication is via servers in the USA.
That includes file transfers, voice and other services presumably (although they used to be peer-to-peer!)

Sniffing the glue holding the Internet together

lokinz

298 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

#37230 31-May-2006 09:52

I know this is off topic but i couldn't help but ask. Are you THE Nigel H? (NetGuide Editor)