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Google Video Quality Report

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Re: Google Video Quality Report

#41

Post by ChuckMcM »

earlz wrote: post #3

Good. I swear youtube is throttled by Time Warner Cable for me. I stream Netflix, Hulu, etc and never have problems with them. I can confirm that I'm getting my speeds of 20MBit/s down, and yet almost every video on YouTube buffers. If I use youtube-dl to download the video, I can confirm that my actual connection speed is somewhere around 60KB/s. If I then use youtube-dl on my VPS with the same video, I get somewher…

Yup. This article is a not so subtle jab at this and trying to educate consumers that their poor video experience isn't Google's fault. Both Google and Netflix are raising the bar here, customer demand/complaints are providing the necessary energy and the ISPs are maneuvering to get more money out of someone.

Re: Google Video Quality Report

#42

Post by atonse »

sneak wrote: post #31
atonse wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you look at the actual requirements they're talking about, they aren't that crazy. Even for HD video, they're talking > 2.5Mbps. So for really good quality, it's probably 5-6Mbps. I have 85Mbps FiOS at home, and I still sometimes have issues streaming Youtube videos. If my ISP can't even guarantee 10% of what I'm paying for over a fiber optic line, then yes, they need to be called out and publicly shamed.

5mbps per user, times tens or hundreds of thousands of users in a metro area. Video is the thing that will finally get us faster IP networks, as it slowly replaces TV as the modern opiate of the masses. Even BitTorrent wasn't enough.

$60-80 a month for each one of those users (our bill is about $120 counting TV as well).

Not counting the fact that local governments subsidize the last mile. Also that routers and networking equipment keeps getting cheaper and faster.

It'll take a lot before I start to feel sorry for my ISP.

The thing is, I get amazing speeds from other sites and very good speeds from my EC2 boxes. Downloading MS/Ubuntu ISOs are just beautiful.

But those just aren't mainstream uses so I'm sure Verizon doesn't throttle those servers.

Re: Google Video Quality Report

#43

Post by tonfa »

johndl wrote: post #27

I'm unfamiliar with ISP scale networks - where is the actual bottleneck for them? One of the large ISPs in the UK is Virgin, and they have their own fibre network. They also throttle Youtube. Is there only so much data that can go down a fibre line? Is it the routers (I'm not sure if calling them routers is correct?) that lie between the main backbone and the network connecting a street/apartment? Is it the hardware…

Usually it's the peering between google/youtube and the ISP that is the bottleneck, internal ISP network and google CDN are usually fine there's just an unwillingness to upgrade the connection between them (usually because parties can't agree on terms, some ISP would like to be paid when peering).

Re: Google Video Quality Report

#47

Post by szager »

sneak wrote: post #28

In other words, Google thinks a PR campaign and angry customers is cheaper for the same bandwidth to edge networks than just paying the owners of those networks.

You might, for just a brief moment, consider a less cynical, equally plausible explanation.

Re: Google Video Quality Report

#48

Post by digikata »

b3b0p wrote: post #37
earlz wrote: post #3

Good. I swear youtube is throttled by Time Warner Cable for me. I stream Netflix, Hulu, etc and never have problems with them. I can confirm that I'm getting my speeds of 20MBit/s down, and yet almost every video on YouTube buffers. If I use youtube-dl to download the video, I can confirm that my actual connection speed is somewhere around 60KB/s. If I then use youtube-dl on my VPS with the same video, I get somewher…

Same thing happened to me with AT&T in Tulsa with their fastest offering (I think it was 24/3 at the time). All speed tests, downloads, uploads were almost always the advertised speeds, but I couldn't watch Netflix or HBO GO, or Hulu. I could, but it was unbearable. To the point of kicking over magazine stands and throwing Nintendo controllers at the TV. When I called support about this they claimed it was my setup.…

Similar prob with AT&T in SoCal, bad Netflix, Youtube, and actually, almost all large file transfers of any kind, including linux isos, apple dmgs & system updates, etc. Switched to an independent ISP carried over the same AT&T DSL lines and I could actually get the advertised bandwidth consistently.

I suspect the only reason DSL is accessible by third-party ISP is that it carries some regulatory access rules with it because only U-Verse can get to the higher tiers of bandwidth.

My broadband choices are lower speeds with third-party DSL 6Mbps, or higher speeds with AT&T U-Verse, or TWC both of which seem to selectively throttle competing video services like YouTube or Netflix.

Re: Google Video Quality Report

#50

Post by emehrkay »

earlz wrote: post #3

Good. I swear youtube is throttled by Time Warner Cable for me. I stream Netflix, Hulu, etc and never have problems with them. I can confirm that I'm getting my speeds of 20MBit/s down, and yet almost every video on YouTube buffers. If I use youtube-dl to download the video, I can confirm that my actual connection speed is somewhere around 60KB/s. If I then use youtube-dl on my VPS with the same video, I get somewher…

I feel like Verizon Fios does the same. I have 50 down and YouTube is painful most times
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