Yet again another Shaw Internet problem

[dietpepsirocks]

So, last time I had an issue we had numerous tech support people come out, and like 8 different customer shaw representatives trying to fix the problem without any ability of being able to fix the issue.  Posts here from a handful of people helped Shaw find the problem, they patched it and fixed it on their end.

Here we are again Shaw.

I am a Streamer on Twitch.tv.  I have streamed at 1080p, 6000 bit rate, 60 FPS for over 7 months.  I have a 3900X 12 core CPU, and not a single setting on my computer has been changed.

The last few weeks (or so) the Bit Rate has been grossly inconsistent to the point that when I stream at 1080p 6000 bit rate, the bit rate drops from 2400 to 5800, down to 2600, jumps to 4500, and the graph of the bit rate is grossly inconsistent, resulting in up to 78% of my frames being dropped while streaming.  When I drop it down to 720p and 3000 bit rate, the dropped frames are around 10%.  This is because from what I can see on the data, the bit rate doesn't drop below 2400 often.  So, this makes sense based on what I am seeing.

So?  Your fault, yet again.  I have tried everything.  There isn't much to say, this is obviously on your end yet again.  So when are you going to fix it?

I pay for 600 mbps download and what is it? 25 upload?  Whatever it is, its more than enough to stream at 1080p, as I have done so for a long time and suddenly it stopped working due to the bit rate issue.  I also tried connecting to different servers within the US and Canada while streaming, which gave me the same issue.  Which means, its not some hiccup between my internet and a certain server.  Its the overall internet, is trash.

[mdk]

@dietpepsirocks -- suddenly, it stopped working ... the overall internet, is trash ... when are you going to fix it?

This is a "user-to-user" discussion forum, not an official path to Shaw Support. I recommend that you contact Shaw Support (currently, online-chat is given priority over telephone) and get them to trouble-shoot, including remotely logging-on to your cable-modem to view its statistics, such as "signal strength" and other performance numbers.

If you need faster uploads, see Shaw Fibre+ Business Internet, which offers 1000 download and 125 upload.

Note that a stream at 1080 * 6000 is 300% the rate of a 720 * 3000 stream. That's a great reduction.

[dietpepsirocks]

Ok?

25 mbps upload is way more than enough to stream 1080p at 6000 bit rate.  I have done it for a year without problems.  You do know, that you do not need anywhere near 125 mbps upload to stream at 1080p 6000 bit rate, right?  Do you understand, that on average, to be safe, 8 mbps upload is plenty for 1080p at 6000 bit rate?

What is unusual, is every speed test website owned by Ookla is showing 20 mbps upload, 600+ download, which is correct... but ANY other speed test not owned by Ookla is showed my upload is anywhere from 1 to 3 mbps, which is consistent with my problem.

[dietpepsirocks]

And the last time I had a problem like this, I came to these forums and there was probably only about 10 of us complaining about some weird unique problem we were having, and Shaw at first was refusing it was them, then they posted in our thread that it was patched, and it got fixed.

When you are Streaming, and even if you drop for 3 seconds at a time, this is something only someone who needs a constant perfect connection would notice, any average internet user wouldn't notice these things.

[dietpepsirocks]

Anyone have this problem?  For example do a speed test at Cira

[mdk]

@dietpepsirocks --  ANY other speed test not owned by Ookla is showed my upload is anywhere from 1 to 3 mbps ...

Open the Windows "Task Manager", and switch to its "Performance" tab, and click on the icon for your network connection. Minimize the window, and launch the Shaw Speed Test, and immediately restore the Task Manager window. What does the graph show for the upload (not the download) speed? 1? 3? 10? 15? 20?

The further (number of "hops" on the Internet) that those "other" sites are away from your computer, the more unreliable that those tests will be.

> Do you understand, that on average, to be safe, 8 mbps upload is plenty for 1080p at 6000 bit rate?

Thanks for the additional information. It adds to my understanding, and helps tailor my response to your problematic situation.

Some people, e.g., @rickatk , in this discussion forum have reported "smoother" Internet, on the multiple devices within their home network, after upgrading to Fibre+ Gig.

[mdk]

@dietpepsirocks -- Do a speed test at CIRA

I did:

CIRA:

Average upload speed: 13 Mbps
Maximum upload speed: 15.9 Mbps
Average download speed: 118 Mbps
Maximum download speed: 119 Mbps

Shaw Speed Test (to a Shaw site in Vancouver):

Upload speed: 16.2 Mbps
Download speed: 332 Mbps

$ tracert performance.cira.ca

Tracing route to cira-ipt-env-prd-v2.23rarjsxpq.ca-central-1.elasticbeanstalk.com [52.60.179.126] over a maximum of 30 hops:

  4    11 ms  rc1bb-be20.vc.shawcable.net [66.163.75.245]
  5    14 ms  rc1st-be25.vc.shawcable.net [66.163.69.198]
  6    24 ms  rc3no-be11-1.cg.shawcable.net [66.163.72.69]
  7    42 ms  rc2nr-be110-1.wp.shawcable.net [66.163.76.58]
  8    76 ms  rc3fs-be25.mt.shawcable.net [66.163.76.22]
  9    63 ms  66.163.66.70
 10   64 ms  52.93.3.22
 11   65 ms  52.93.3.31
 12   *     Request timed out.
 13   74 ms  150.222.246.15
 14   72 ms  52.94.82.122
 15   70 ms  52.94.83.149
 16   71 ms  52.94.83.180
 17   72 ms  52.94.82.213
 18   74 ms  52.94.83.33
 19   73 ms  52.94.81.144
 20   73 ms  52.94.81.137
 21   72 ms  52.94.81.0
 22   *     Request timed out.
 23   *     Request timed out.
 24   *     Request timed out.
 25   *     Request timed out.
 26   *     Request timed out.
 27   74 ms     ec2-52-60-179-126.ca-central-1.compute.amazonaws.com [52.60.179.126]

Trace complete.

______________________

As you can see, the CIRA site is somewhere beyond Montréal -- which definitely has affected the results.

[dietpepsirocks]

OK,

The distance will affect results a bit, but you shouldn't have 200 Mbps less speed just because its in another part of Canada, that is a little dramatic -- besides the point anyways.

On every other Speed Test website, I am experiencing 1 to 3.5 Mbps upload.  It is suppose to be 20.  Now, in real world applications, the slow upload is consistent with my problem.

I use inspector.twitch.tv and stream to a twitch server, and I am experiencing upload of 1 to 3.5 Mbps within the data that shows on the inspector website.

Sooooo???  This is consistent with like the 10+ other speed test websites I have tried aside from Ookla.

[dietpepsirocks]

It shows 20ish.

But when I do the same thing with testmy.net then I get around 3-4.  Which is consistent with my uploading problem of my live stream.

I mean I don't know what you are trying to say at this point, I streamed with this internet at 1080p, 6000 bit rate for 7 months straight without any issues at all -- now the last 2 weeks I cannot even stream at 720p 3000 bit rate.  Real world tells me something is wrong, and these other websites are consistent with what I am experiencing in reality.

Twitches inspector website shows the exact same poor upload speeds.

[mdk]

@dietpepsirocks -- The distance will affect results a bit, but you shouldn't have 200 Mbps less speed just because its in another part of Canada, that is a little dramatic -- besides the point anyways.

Those "52.94.xx.yy" IP-addresses are assigned to Amazon's "Elastic Cloud Services". As far as I know, their servers are located in the USA, not in Canada.  But, the point is that distance, and the number of "hops", really does make a difference.

> On every other Speed Test website, I am experiencing 1 to 3.5 Mbps upload.  It is suppose to be 20. 

When you test with the Shaw Speed Test server, your cable-modem is connecting ONLY on Shaw's network, and it is connecting to a server that is just 1 or 2 "hops" away.  So, you get the "20" that you are paying for.

When you cross-over to other networks, and then cross the CAN/USA border near Montréal, and then travel across the USA, to Amazon's servers in Seattle (Washington State), you won't get the "20" on that long path.

Where are you physically located? If you are in Vancouver, that "traceroute" may show a quite-different path, because Shaw usually does route from one of their routers in Vancouver (BC) to one of their routers in Seattle, where it "crosses-over" to the network where one finds Amazon's servers.

> when I do the same thing with testmy.net then I get around 3-4. 

My test to that site reports 13.3 Mbps -- out of the 15 Mbps that Shaw has configured into my HITRON cable-modem. Not bad, because that web-site is near Seattle. A partial trace-route:

Tracing route to testmy.net [104.26.4.115]

  13 ms  rc1wt-be40.wa.shawcable.net [66.163.68.18]
  12 ms  six.as13335.com [206.81.81.10]
  11 ms  104.26.4.115

Note the "11 ms" times, as compared to the other trace to an Amaon "E(lastic) C(loud)  site:

  74 ms     ec2-52-60-179-126.ca-central-1.compute.amazonaws.com [52.60.179.126]

Much faster!

> Real world tells me something is wrong

Without "traceroute" outputs for each of those "speed-testing" servers, it is impossible to find that "something".