Why PS4 downloads are so slow

#1

Post by kryptiskt » Sat, Aug 19, 2017, 4:36 PM UTC

Why PS4 downloads are so slow
snellman.net

Re: Why PS4 downloads are so slow

#2

Post by ckorhonen » Sat, Aug 19, 2017, 5:14 PM UTC

Interesting - definitely a problem I've encountered, though I had assumed the issues fell more on the CDN side of things.

Anecdotally, when I switched DNS servers to Google vs. my ISP, PS4 download speeds improved significantly (20 minutes vs. 20 hours to download a a typical game).

Re: Why PS4 downloads are so slow

#3

Post by frik » Sat, Aug 19, 2017, 5:20 PM UTC

PS4 and Switch have at least no peer-to-peer download.

Win10 and XboxOne have peer-to-peer download - who would want that, bad for users, wasting upload bandwidth and counts against your monthly internet consumption. https://www.reddit.com/r/xboxone/comments/3rhs4s/xbox_update...

Re: Why PS4 downloads are so slow

#4

Post by derefr » Sat, Aug 19, 2017, 5:23 PM UTC

frik wrote: post #3

PS4 and Switch have at least no peer-to-peer download. Win10 and XboxOne have peer-to-peer download - who would want that, bad for users, wasting upload bandwidth and counts against your monthly internet consumption. https://www.reddit.com/r/xboxone/comments/3rhs4s/xbox_update...

It works well if both devices are on the same LAN. Like inside a corporate office.

What organization has multiple XBOs, though? Game dev studios? Hospitals? It must be much rarer than the Win10 case.

Re: Why PS4 downloads are so slow

#5

Post by cwyers » Sat, Aug 19, 2017, 5:25 PM UTC

derefr wrote: post #4

frik wrote: post #3

PS4 and Switch have at least no peer-to-peer download. Win10 and XboxOne have peer-to-peer download - who would want that, bad for users, wasting upload bandwidth and counts against your monthly internet consumption. https://www.reddit.com/r/xboxone/comments/3rhs4s/xbox_update...

It works well if both devices are on the same LAN. Like inside a corporate office. What organization has multiple XBOs, though? Game dev studios? Hospitals? It must be much rarer than the Win10 case.

My house.

Re: Why PS4 downloads are so slow

#6

Post by menacingly » Sat, Aug 19, 2017, 5:29 PM UTC

ckorhonen wrote: post #2

Interesting - definitely a problem I've encountered, though I had assumed the issues fell more on the CDN side of things. Anecdotally, when I switched DNS servers to Google vs. my ISP, PS4 download speeds improved significantly (20 minutes vs. 20 hours to download a a typical game).

I have slow downloads too (with google DNS), but I would think this wouldn't impact it much. It's not like it's performing a DNS lookup for each chunk, right?

Re: Why PS4 downloads are so slow

#7

Post by kec » Sat, Aug 19, 2017, 5:31 PM UTC

derefr wrote: post #4

frik wrote: post #3

PS4 and Switch have at least no peer-to-peer download. Win10 and XboxOne have peer-to-peer download - who would want that, bad for users, wasting upload bandwidth and counts against your monthly internet consumption. https://www.reddit.com/r/xboxone/comments/3rhs4s/xbox_update...

It works well if both devices are on the same LAN. Like inside a corporate office. What organization has multiple XBOs, though? Game dev studios? Hospitals? It must be much rarer than the Win10 case.

college dorms

Re: Why PS4 downloads are so slow

#8

Post by jsnell » Sat, Aug 19, 2017, 5:32 PM UTC

ckorhonen wrote: post #2

Interesting - definitely a problem I've encountered, though I had assumed the issues fell more on the CDN side of things. Anecdotally, when I switched DNS servers to Google vs. my ISP, PS4 download speeds improved significantly (20 minutes vs. 20 hours to download a a typical game).

Yeah, there are definitely other possible reasons. E.g. one workaround I found had Australian users block a specific IP in their firewall. Turns out the DNS configuration was bad, and they were getting an overseas CDN server every now and then. Due to the way the PS4 schedules the downloads (chunks downloaded serially, chunk boundaries at static byte offsets rather than based on time) having even one bad server in the rotation can really ruin performance.

But CDN configuration errors can happen to anyone. I think this client-side mess is a much more creative way to screw up :)

Re: Why PS4 downloads are so slow

#9

Post by tyfon » Sat, Aug 19, 2017, 5:37 PM UTC

ckorhonen wrote: post #2

Interesting - definitely a problem I've encountered, though I had assumed the issues fell more on the CDN side of things. Anecdotally, when I switched DNS servers to Google vs. my ISP, PS4 download speeds improved significantly (20 minutes vs. 20 hours to download a a typical game).

Personally I've never had any issues but I see people complaining about it.

I guess it's location more than anything. I have a fiber connection in Norway and it always downloads games at maximum speed.

Re: Why PS4 downloads are so slow

#10

Post by jumpkickhit » Sat, Aug 19, 2017, 5:39 PM UTC

I normally warm boot mine, saw the speed increase with nothing running before, so guess I was on the right track.

I hope this is addressed by Sony in the future, or at least let us select if a download is a high priority or not.