You tube speed audit

[Zenarcher]

Probably way late to the party...but You tube is about to launch bona- fide channels like we all know from cable. Cable is about to implode since the model of raising rates to fund original program will end by 2020. So with Netflix and original programming my bet on my Roku looks like a good one on my 40 " plasma. I use a digital antenna and get pureland 1080i for breaking news about meteorites.

To thwart my plan and according to You Tubes speed audit---yes Google Analytics knows by deduction where you live without you telling them and advertisers use that to set the prices you pay online. Did you know that?

Anyway I trust them over what Verizon says I have as DSL consumer speedwise because they have no stake in my speed and Verizon does. You Tube says my server is in Point Pleasant, NJ . I live 30 miles from there. Why is not my server at the CO about a block from my house?

You Tube says my speed is schmutz. I happen to agree since i have to endure the stops and starts on Netflix and You Tube videos. Do you see where I am headed with this? I do not produce any ancillary revenue for Verizon i have twisted pair and will always have twisted pair since no fiber is ever coming here because of cherry picking.

It is in Verizon's interest to route me 30 miles away to preserve and protect the folks who are forking over a hunnadolla for their version of Triple Play.

This greatly incenses me and I see if the bait I have dangled gets any hits, thats what that meant before we had websites.
Then I'll call my Congressman....oh that'll get something going right?

[onefifty]

Something is awry- becauseI have wired conections at 55mbps....and YouTube is completely un-watchable. It will play for several seconds, then buffer for 10 minutes. **bleep** Verizon! I just got suckered into buying Verizon's "N" router for 80.0 too....Ugh.

[smith6612]

What you're likely seeing with the "server" deal is where your data is aggregating or where the block of IP addresses you're feeding out of is believed to be from. My connection for example says "Buffalo, NY" according to YouTube even though I'm a bit north of Buffalo, but that's only because the pool is assigned to the Buffalo/WNY region and all data aggregates in Buffalo before it heads off to New Jersey or New York City to transit to where it needs to go (even back to our area). FiOS routes the same way.

My Frontier DSL connectioon to put it in perspective shows my "location" about a two hour drive away, but that's only because that is where Frontier pipes and pools their IP addresses from. So, it's nothing different. GeoIP is only as reliable and decent as the databases and people-in-ownership supply.

The YouTube speed issue needs to be analyzed a bit further. For example, what is the IP/URL of the cache server the video is pulling from? Is everyone on Verizon reaching the same cache? Are competing ISPs hitting the same exact caches and seeing/not seeing issues?

A few days ago while at work, which is a Datacenter that peers directly with Google, YouTube was running just as bad as it was on Verizon. 240p on Gigabits of Fiber connectivity was struggling to load whereas we normally get 12+MB/s from them day and night. Now that can't be us slowing it down because I'd know if we were. It wasn't Google's network, because Google and other services that route over the same path are not showing down but were as quick as they normally are. When we went to load some videos that were popular, they loaded quickly. Less popular videos most of the time didn't load up quickly. So, what was the problem?

I'll explain this a bit more later on.

[digimon900]

This is interesting.

I do not subscribe to cable or Fios TV.

I have Westerndigital WDTV Live boxes on every TV set, the option for you tube TV is already active in the interfaces.

I use a streaming TV service from the UK that allows me to watch UK Television channels as they are broadcast, the WDTV live boxes are the only hardware that allows re-programming to emulate the end user hardware that would usually be issued to subscribers in the UK. At first there were issues with buffering and freezing, connection re-starting and accessing the DVR (which in Europe is an online function - rather than the US system of it being in the set top box). I was so confident that these issues were solely down to the Verizon connection as I had switched from using Comcast cable - which gave me no such issues. We tried many things, changed the Verizon Router, twice but things did not improve. When I ditched the Actiontec router in favor of my own WD 900, connected via Ethernet rather than the coax (moca) the results were spectacular. The picture is pure HD and I dont have to downgrade to a lower quality to get an interruption free experience. We can watch Netflix, Sony Entertainment Network, and on demand services without any problems. However when using You Tube to watch individual videos, it freezes and buffers, stops and starts. The You Tube Channels screen gives a message that says my connection is not adequate enough to view the service. This did not happen before I changed my equipment. When using youtube on my computer (Mac mini via Ethernet) it buffers and stops and does not play.

My devices are wired on a new gigabit network, each device pings between 2ms and 5ms when tested.

If I break my router's lease and directly wire the Mac computer to Verizon's ONT (point of service entry) the download of a HD video on youtube is almost instantaneous. the Red play bar moves slowly and the underlying gray bar zips across at lightening speed. It seems that You Tube's automation is confused by multiple points of access and home networks. Either that or the NAT table in individual routers is sensitive to whatever data Youtube/Google ping with the video stream to optimize it for your connection/equipment. If they are to start TV channels, these issues will either be ironed out or become blatantly apparent to their technicians as people disconnect in droves. I find it interesting that onefifty has difficulties with the Verizon router, when I got Youtube perfectly using mine and lost it when I changed.

For those readers wondering about the legality of wtaching British TV in the USA, I pay for my services in the UK, subscription and a Television license (required by the state for owning or using a TV set). I do not break any laws as long as I do not distribute the signal to any other parties or locations. The legal term is "placeshifting". And in case you ask, No you cannot do this yourself as you need to pass a credit check in the UK, have the UK equivalent of a social security number, a UK bank account, and a premises in the UK to which the services are delivered via an active UK IP.