Internet Speeds since Netflix arrived

MsAli

MsAli

Hi All,

We're with iinet. The internet speeds have been shocking since Net Flix arrived. Iinet online said to check if our area infrastructure was being upgraded which wasn't the case so told us to call their customer support. I called them tonight and the wait times are >1 hr. They used to have a call back service and even that isn't there anymore!

I'm seriously considering moving to another ISP though it may cost a bit more, but at least we won't have these issues.

In the news I also read iinet was being taken over by TPG..so I was ready to see it go down hill!

Has anybody else faced these same issues off late?

Cheers,
MsAli
 
I'm with tpg and they are fine. I think most ADSL 2 connections will struggle with Netflix and the general use on internet these days. Do you have Nbn in your area yet
 
In my experience, TPG actually isn't that bad once everything is working.

At the same location, I have excellent, poor, not working and back to excellent over a period of several years.

It started off with excellent (1.7mbytes per sec) for about a year, then when new neighbours moved in and got connected with a phone line it got worse, when the neighbour a few doors down finally finishing building and moved in, connection got even worse (800kbytes per sec).

I had to endure this for a few years because TPG kept saying my line was fine and they couldn't detect any faults on their/Telstra infrastructure end and it must be on my end - cut outs every few hours, to no connections for long periods of time, every now and then i got lucky and maintained a stable connection for 1 week.

I was annoyed and frustrated that genuinely believed that TPG had over subscribed because it was slow and I was getting disconnected.

Earlier this year, the next door neighbour was having issues with his phone and a telstra technician came out to fix his line. While fixing his line, my phone line completely died.

I called TPG, the confirmed there was no signal, sent a technician out the telstra next day. Guy looks at it, goes to the little metal pole, opens it up and plugs my wire back in. Turns out the wire was previously loose and the technician the day before must have dislodged it completely.

Seems to me as each technician came in, they knocked my wiring loose and it eventually gave up.

Anyway, it was a good thing, because since that fix, my connection has been 100% stable, the longest I've stayed connected according to my modem is 3 months with an average download speed of 1.7mb - on TPG's unlimited plan.

Maybe its time to give TPG a go :)
 
No NBN in our area yet. Though surrounding areas have it. May be it will arrive soon?

Our contract with iinet gets over in November....

TPG - neK - that's a lot of experiences! I am wary of TPG due to just hearing others having said they've had major issues...

Thinking telstra, but they are at least $40 more exxy. We pay $70 right now and that includes 300 GB d/l and voice over IP phone. We never end up using 300 gb. More like 120-130 GB a month.
 
We're with TPG and we did have issues with speed and also watching US Netflix (buffering and random stopping) when Netflix first started here but over the last few days it seems to have improved a lot. Not sure why but that's our experience. Internet here is already pretty expensive. I wouldn't pay extra for what will likely be a very minor difference (unless it was NBN level difference, not just different ISP).
 
I am with Internode, which was taken over by Iinet and slowly we are getting worse and worse, had more drop outs in the past month than in the past 2 years.

They do still have a call back option that makes it better when complaining but if/when they amalgamate with TPG I assume it will continue to get worse.

One thing I learned from Internode is that if I unplug my modem from the phone line for at least 15 mins the port at the exchange will "close/drop out". When I log back on I will get a new port which may be better, this did fix my latest drop out.
 
Macca said:
I am with Internode, which was taken over by Iinet and slowly we are getting worse and worse, had more drop outs in the past month than in the past 2 years.

They do still have a call back option that makes it better when complaining but if/when they amalgamate with TPG I assume it will continue to get worse.

One thing I learned from Internode is that if I unplug my modem from the phone line for at least 15 mins the port at the exchange will "close/drop out". When I log back on I will get a new port which may be better, this did fix my latest drop out.
Click to expand...

Drop-outs doesn't sound like an ISP problem - that sounds like a line problem. I'd be calling Internode tech support and asking for some diagnostics on your line to see if there is excessive noise.

I'm with Internode as well - I'm also seeing a bit of a slowdown in the evenings these days too.

I suspect it's just general network congestion which they will eventually improve on - it's only been a couple of weeks and they'll still be analysing the numbers after the Netflix launch.

If network performance becomes a problem I suggest you do what iiNet are recommending and call tech support - that will help them locate sources of congestion and check that there is nothing else untoward happening.

MsAli - I honestly don't think you'll see any significant improvements by moving ISP at this point - everyone will be affected by short term increases in congestion while they sort out the Netflix effect. I'd stick with iiNet for now and call tech support like they are suggesting.
 
I'm with iinet and have no complaints.

Was with TPG previously and they were really good (just weren't available in the area we moved to).

Cheers

Jamie
 
HomePage said:
I'm with TPG and have not noticed any slowdown since Netflix showed up.
Click to expand...

Netflix signed agreements with iiNet and Optus which allowed them to unmeter content served from Netflix - encouraging users from those ISPs to consume as much content as they wanted without risk of using up their download allowance - which it seems they are doing with gusto. I will note that Optus is only starting to offer unmetered access from today.

Within the first week after launch, iiNet claimed that Netflix was accounting for over 15% of their internet traffic.

Congestion will generally be worst to overseas locations - my understanding is that Netflix content is streamed from OS and isn't cached locally (yet). Doing a traceroute to sites which are slow should confirm the source of the congestion.

Because different ISPs use different network links to overseas locations, not all ISPs will be affected equally by any congestion caused by a sudden influx of video streaming.
 
I've got a technician coming out soon as my internet has gone to **** over the last couple of weeks.

I'm getting a lot of drop outs and a line speed between 50kbs and 4mbs when the connection speed map for TPG says I should be getting 20mbs because I'm not far from the exchange.

I don't think it would be due to Netflix though. Probably a dodgey connection.

Besides that TPG has been really good over the years, plus they are unlimited, all the other ISP's are a joke with their data caps.
 
Cable internet with docis 3.0 (speed pack) is the way to go (if you can get it). 30-60mbps over wifi (depending on distance from router, upto 100mbps when connected by cable to the modem. With the nbn taking over the network and doing upgrades around 2017, this *should* be able to get up around the 500-1gbps mark. I hate slow internet, adsl2 has had its day.
 
Yeah, we're in a cable area which most likely won't be getting FTTN or anything like that ... given the horror stories I've heard from other people about congestions on the cable network making it almost useless at times, I'm hoping some serious upgrades are made to the system by the time they turn it on for us.
 
I'm seeing a lot of applications for 100Mps services in the cbd at present. Dealing with one crowd who's speeds are headed skyward. They make NBN look like a joke
 
oh no! I was all set to go back to naked DSL with iiNet once we move, having had to contend wtih crappy ADSL connections for the last 4 years. (no NBN in current or new place). I'll have to see if they're still offering it. iiNet service has always been brilliant IME, I'll be disappointed if it heads south.
 
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