How fast is the Internet at Google? Mind blowing. • Hacker News Board

Re: How fast is the Internet at Google? Mind blowing.

#91

Post by temp7266 » Sat, May 07, 2011, 1:10 AM UTC

forensic wrote: post #85

mahyarm wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your ISP? Youtube takes 10-20% of typical internet traffic (more than bittorrent) and competes with telecom TV offerings.

My ISP doesn't throttle, which is entirely why I picked them. I have access to a connection that downloads 20 megabytes per second from S3, and YouTube still buffers on that connection. Note that Vimeo doesn't buffer, and Vimeo has higher video quality usually. Also Netflix doesn't buffer. YouTube has been getting worse with time rather than better. Tons of ads and slow video. The issue is definitely on the YouTube e…

> My ISP doesn't throttle

That doesn't mean that they have infinite pipes to Google's edge caches, though (you're not exactly the only one pulling data through those pipes :-). Or that they're even pulling their data through the right pipes. I suggest talking to your ISP. If enough users complain to them, and the problem isn't in their network, they'll complain to Google.

Re: How fast is the Internet at Google? Mind blowing.

#92

Post by irq » Sat, May 07, 2011, 2:21 AM UTC

temp7266 wrote: post #91

forensic wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My ISP doesn't throttle, which is entirely why I picked them. I have access to a connection that downloads 20 megabytes per second from S3, and YouTube still buffers on that connection. Note that Vimeo doesn't buffer, and Vimeo has higher video quality usually. Also Netflix doesn't buffer. YouTube has been getting worse with time rather than better. Tons of ads and slow video. The issue is definitely on the YouTube e…

> My ISP doesn't throttle That doesn't mean that they have infinite pipes to Google's edge caches, though (you're not exactly the only one pulling data through those pipes :-). Or that they're even pulling their data through the right pipes. I suggest talking to your ISP. If enough users complain to them, and the problem isn't in their network, they'll complain to Google.

It's not just one ISP. I've seen the behavior described by the parent from multiple ISPs in separate countries. It's been driving me nuts for so long that I started collecting information about the connections I've seen it from. Years ago, on 512kbit DSL, it was MUCH better.

PAETEC DS3 (45Mbit/s) in San Diego, CA

Time Warner cable modem in San Diego, CA (20Mbit/s)

Colocation at AmericanIS.net (1Gbit/s via Level3.net) in San Diego, CA

Videotron DSL in Montreal, QC (10Mbit/s)

Teksavvy DSL in Montreal, QC (10Mbit/s)

AT&T 3G in San Diego, Detroit, Atlanta (varies)

Verizon 3G in San Diego (varies)

Rogers 3G in Montreal, QC (varies)

Re: How fast is the Internet at Google? Mind blowing.

#93

Post by lostbit » Sat, May 07, 2011, 3:30 AM UTC

forensic wrote: post #71

ChuckMcM wrote: post #70

When I read these I'm amused that people are surprised by Google's network. Its actual capability is nominally secret (my employment agreement and exit agreement both mention restrictions on revealing non-public details of Google's infrastructure) Except in this case there many publically available clues which should give you an idea here. Consider that Google is investing in undersea cables [1] which nominally provi…

While on the topic of YouTube... why does YouTube constantly buffer these days?

My Youtube connection has been strange for some weeks now. I'm in Brazil accessing Internet from very close to a core network (Terremark NAP). I started to notice the buffering after watching/listening to instant.fm by feross.

It's strange: sometimes a video downloads at 38Mbps - very fast - and some other it keeps buffering resulting in less than 1Mbps. I can see it with NetMeter (I love to always have a graph of my connection speed).

I analysed it a litte bit, all I could see was packet loss and retransmissions. It might be realted to the IP where I'm getting the youtube video, but I still have to dig it more.

Re: How fast is the Internet at Google? Mind blowing.

#94

Post by MartinCron » Sat, May 07, 2011, 4:43 AM UTC

dangrossman wrote: post #83

It's a bit depressing to think that some day we'll all have connections this fast, but unless we learn to violate the laws of physics, we'll never have single digit latencies around the globe. I like to imagine technology always getting faster, but the speed of light really starts to limit things.

I had a site user in the Netherlands insist that he should be getting 10ms response times from our server in Seattle. I told him that in AMERICA we obey the laws of physics.

Re: How fast is the Internet at Google? Mind blowing.

#95

Post by nrbafna » Sat, May 07, 2011, 5:30 AM UTC

runningdogx wrote: post #40

spiffworks wrote: post #38

And now for a bit of perspective, here in India I am working with a 512kbps connection, which is the only one I can get without any 'fair use' caps. The latency for the fastest DNS is about 350ms, and on weekends, my bandwidth can be as low as 200kbps.

Are you in a major city or a more outlying area? Is that a wired, or wireless, connection? Even wired access could have wireless backhaul... assuming yours is wired, is that the reason for the slowness, or have they really been mad at work all over India laying conduit with copper instead of fiber?

It is is same all over the country. That's the only plan without any 'fair usage cap'. You might get 4Mbps for $55, but after 15GB of usage, the bandwidth will be cut down for the remaining month.

Also, 3G just launched in India. No more than 50 cities have it, and the maximum they can provide is 32Mbps, again with some fair usage cap!

Re: How fast is the Internet at Google? Mind blowing.

#96

Post by mcdowall » Sat, May 07, 2011, 6:45 AM UTC

hxa7241 wrote: post #53

crocowhile wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He must be from Northern Europe. Scandinavian countries have the best deals with internet connections. As for the numbers, I think 12Mbs is quite an overestimation of reality: http://www.speedtests.net/world/europe/ In the UK the fastest one can go is with Virgin 50MB. Too bad then they force you to use their own cable modem which is a piece of shit.

> In the UK the fastest one can go is with Virgin 50MB . . . well, unless you move to Bradwell Abbey or Highams Park: then you should soon get FTTP at about 100Mbps. An Openreach guy was telling me this afternoon it should just be a few months.

We (Bournemotuth) were due to be getting Fibrecity, 100mb to the home but it looks like they switched on a few roads, dug up a whole lot more then tanked. There original big fanfare plan was to route the fibre through the sewer system rather than digging up the streets again...doesn't seem that panned out too well!

Re: How fast is the Internet at Google? Mind blowing.

#97

Post by ivenkys » Sat, May 07, 2011, 7:47 AM UTC

It would be interesting to see if someone from SG or South Korea can chime in - i lived in SG 10 years ago and got 100Mbps downstream consistently.

Re: How fast is the Internet at Google? Mind blowing.

#98

Post by moe » Sat, May 07, 2011, 11:57 AM UTC

Sorry, mind blowing? Plenty office buildings and universities have faster links than that. I could rent an 1 GBit/s fibre to my office for ~3000 EUR/month.

Also couldn't he come up with a more meaningful test than a questionable speed-tester site...

Re: How fast is the Internet at Google? Mind blowing.

#99

Post by JonnieCache » Sat, May 07, 2011, 12:03 PM UTC

dangrossman wrote: post #83

It's a bit depressing to think that some day we'll all have connections this fast, but unless we learn to violate the laws of physics, we'll never have single digit latencies around the globe. I like to imagine technology always getting faster, but the speed of light really starts to limit things.

There can be only one solution:

We must route fibre through the very core of the earth itself!!!

Re: How fast is the Internet at Google? Mind blowing.

#100

Post by crocowhile » Sat, May 07, 2011, 1:30 PM UTC

hxa7241 wrote: post #53

crocowhile wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He must be from Northern Europe. Scandinavian countries have the best deals with internet connections. As for the numbers, I think 12Mbs is quite an overestimation of reality: http://www.speedtests.net/world/europe/ In the UK the fastest one can go is with Virgin 50MB. Too bad then they force you to use their own cable modem which is a piece of shit.

> In the UK the fastest one can go is with Virgin 50MB . . . well, unless you move to Bradwell Abbey or Highams Park: then you should soon get FTTP at about 100Mbps. An Openreach guy was telling me this afternoon it should just be a few months.

If the service is as good as it is for Virgin 50Mb I really would not recommend it to anyone.