Slingshot slow browsing and p2p

Forums › 2degrees (including Slingshot, Orcon, Flip, Stuff Fibre, MyRepublic, 2talk and Vocus) › Slingshot slow browsing and p2p

jackk

53 posts

Master Geek

#66064 11-Aug-2010 21:54

Hi all,

recently i switched my broadband from telecom to slingshot (which now seems to be a bad move), i am on the pro plan and i am just wonder whether other users are having the same issue.

i found that browsing can be quite slow (both local and international websites) and sometimes they time-out, ping results to websites seems to be quite up and down as well.

torrent-wise, if i am downloading 5 or 6 files at the same time, the best COMBINED speed that i can get is approximately 50kbps after 2am. Where as previously on Telecom big time, i can get 400-500 kbps during night time without any issues.

Are these what u guys are getting as well?

I am getting 16,000kbps / 945 kbps connect rate so is not a physical line issue. Previously I have been on telecom go large / big time for 3 years so i have very good tolerance towards slow internet. But this is getting a bit too much.

testing has been done on various pc, no other downloading was being done at the time of the issue.

your thoughts?

Cheers
Jack

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28199 posts

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Lifetime subscriber

#366508 11-Aug-2010 22:07

Thats the way it works.

If you get public torrents then the cache will kick in sometimes if you are lucky and you get good speeds. I have to start torrents with a low speed limit at 00:30 - 00:45 to get a connection to the cache, and then the limit comes off at 2am when the free offpeak starts. Otherwise it never gets the cache connecting.

They spoof connection closed by peer responses to any tracker or other http: from known torrent user agents when you are using the connection, I guess to try to prevent any more peers being discovered.

DHT never gets more than about 200 peers for me on slingshot, unplug and connect to flatmates telecom connection and it goes to the 1000s in minuites.

Basically its cheap, you get what you pay for.

Richard rich.ms

Northland

111 posts

Master Geek

#366584 12-Aug-2010 00:46

yikes jack why did you switch if u dont mind me asking?

i was connected on slingshot this afternoon at home on my laptop it was going
really slow and pages were timing out or just not loading at all

now im at my friends with my laptop connected using dial up and its working faster
than my slingshot broaband at home never seen it that bad before

but generally its okay

animebuster

86 posts

Master Geek

#366599 12-Aug-2010 07:56

Yeah sadly this is a problem most of us have :( But the most annoying thing is a couple of months ago my torrents were going awesome in the free time. I was getting speeds of 1Mb/s+ even if the torrent wasn't cached, and I have spoken to some people who can still get that this speed during the offpeak.

For me the torrent limiting starts at around 8PM and lasts till around 9-10Am so that's 13/24 Hours they are limiting torrents and most of this time torrents are being limited to 30-50Kb/s. Imo this is ridicules, especially the fact that they fake errors on the trackers like connection closed by peer and no connection could be made because target machine actively refused it.

Ragnor

8223 posts

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#366795 12-Aug-2010 14:09

Classic case of "you get what you pay for"

Slingshot are offering lower prices and more (free off peak) data, they are able to do this by heavy use of caching proxies and by provisioning their international bandwidth at a high contention ratio.

No residential ISP provisions international bandwidth at 1:1 with users, you wouldn't be able to afford the plans if they did, dedicated bandwidth is expensive.

For example: Slingshot may only buy 10Mbit of international bandwidth for every 400 users (400:1 ratio), note I made this number up in reality it could be better or worse (we don't know)

ISP's like Slingshot (and Orcon) have a tendancy to attract primarily heavy users, they don't have many low non active mom and pop users, basically a demographics problem.

You'll notice Large ISP's with large numbers of inactive mom and pop users have plenty of spare bandwidth for heavy geek users to consume. (ie: Telecom or Telstra).

No ISP's in NZ disclose their contention ratios publicly sadly.

jackk

53 posts

Master Geek

#366944 12-Aug-2010 20:43

richms: i tried running torrent from 12am last nite on a low limit but the speed didn't pick up after 2am. May be i am doing it wrong, will try again tonite.

the reason why i changed provider was because telecom is getting rid of their big time plan. When i joined slingshot i thought the traffic management that they impose will be pretty similar to telecom. Which is something that i can live with. There must be some fine prints some where that i didn't read i guess.

2nd week into my 6 month contract. :( oh well, more research before changing ISP next time!

richms

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#366947 12-Aug-2010 20:56

If its not working for you, and you told them your requirements then its not fit for purpose.

Call, complain, ask to resolve, but at the end of they day you asked for something, they are providing something else.

Richard rich.ms

sep11guy

660 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

#366980 12-Aug-2010 22:28

I am also in a similar situation. with telecom now, big time ends 2moro and have nt made my mind yet. stories of poor service/speeds with slingshot tells me - no way.

i dunno how i will cater to the data usage!!?? any suggestions??

Sharesies

Trade NZ and US shares and funds with Sharesies (affiliate link).

lokhor

2858 posts

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#368018 15-Aug-2010 22:30

I just switched to slingshot and was not having any issues until tonight. International websites are so slow at loading that they basically don't work. Will complaining get me anywhere?

All comments are my own opinion, and not that of my employer unless explicitly stated.

sep11guy

660 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

#368021 15-Aug-2010 22:36

slingshot is going to launch a all you can eat plan in a while now. I have not migrated yet, but will decide after getting more feedback.......

lokhor

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#368026 15-Aug-2010 23:04

If it sucks more than the current Slingshot at peak time it will be useless. If they prioritised http it would be ok but I'm basically unable to load any international websites.

All comments are my own opinion, and not that of my employer unless explicitly stated.

jackk

53 posts

Master Geek

#368305 16-Aug-2010 18:51

same here mate, i been with slingshot for about 2 weeks and I already noticed browsing at night is slow, to a point that it times out. I have to VPN back to work and browse off there.

just logged a complaint, took me an hour through various reps, all i am asking for now is to terminate my connection without the early disconnection fees.

my point is that the plan that i am not on is not an all you can eat plan. And even if you do shape or prioritize traffic, you would have thought it is during day time where heavy download is impacting other users. But instead they choose to do it during the "off peak" period where it is suppose to be free. To me this is very cheeky. And if you go to their site, nothing is being mentioned about traffic management or whatever until you drill right down to terms and conditions.

At least with Telecom they are more upfront and honest. Damn i miss my big time plan. :P

nick496

52 posts

Master Geek

#368332 16-Aug-2010 19:31

Last night I couldn't even load Trademe, Stuff, Geekzone or even the University of Waikato (it's just down the road) starting at 10pm (on Slingshot) :(

I maybe it might be different tonight...

Now that they are going to offer an all you can eat plan, its going to get worse...

lokhor

2858 posts

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#368333 16-Aug-2010 19:34

Will running through a VPN fix the browsing issues?

All comments are my own opinion, and not that of my employer unless explicitly stated.

nick496

52 posts

Master Geek

#368335 16-Aug-2010 19:43

lokhor: Will running through a VPN fix the browsing issues?

For me? Maybe, but I have nothing to VPN into.

lokhor

2858 posts

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#368337 16-Aug-2010 19:50

Try a free one like ItsHidden

All comments are my own opinion, and not that of my employer unless explicitly stated.

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