Youtube Download Slowing Down Causing Buffer possible CDN issue

[roofed]

So For the Past Few Days I have Noticed Youtube Is not watchable i did some testing and nothing points to my connection having a problem this all points to youtube/rogers CDN servers failing as some "Stream Host" seem to be working but almost all of them dont. This problem is on browsers as for trying this on mobile android youtube app 720p60 seems to hold a stable 13mbps while on pc 1080p60 seems to start @ 50000kbps to a min 1000kbps. My internet speed is fine line quality is good while doing the test i had twitch.tv streams running on source no drops nothing in bandwidth flow same for downloading tested on multiple browsers Firefox| Chrome

Below is a gif showing what happens Notice how the "stream host" changes and bandwidth begins to drop

https://gfycat.com/GrimyGiddyKagu

***Edited Labels***

[AccordXTC]

@Joxer This thread needs to stay on topic, great that you're testing out VPN services. But there are other forums for that. Have you bothered to even call the points of contacts for this issue that I sent?

[Joxer]

Sorry @AccordXTC left messages for both as they didn't pickup, left contact number, no callback from either.  My CCTS is still ongoing.  The VPN is a proven work-around for anyone that just wants something to work.It's been at least 4 years so holding my breath isn't working.

First video of the day on Rogers - 426x240@30 instead of the 1920x1080@60, sub 300Kbps.  Even that ran out of buffer and froze a few times. Speedtest on my Mac shows 775Mbps down atm.

[AccordXTC]

Hey @Joxer got your messages, all good. Thanks for reaching out to those contacts. I get the same response from them as well, its also why I have been calling daily. One thing you'd think a communication company would know is communicating to people who leave messages. Oh well, the calls / emails will continue. 

I've also got a open CCTS and CRTC case. These emails and forums over many sites all spell a clear picture.  

[Ipse]

A +1 from me.
I went through all the hoops to explain Rogers that this cannot MY problem or my cable modem problem if everything works through a VPN.
The cold shoulder we're all getting means just one thing : Rogers is well aware and not only unwilling to do something, but actually enforcing the bottleneck.

They have no interest whatsoever in getting tons of traffic because of millions of YT 4k streams...so choking it makes financial sense.

90% of their subscribers will blame YouTube instead...how many do even know that the ISP has cache appliances provided Google?

I hate to be Debbie Downer but after 4-5 years it's clear to me that there is no fix coming.

I'm curious (not having a subscription anymore) if Netflix is the next to be forced down to 1080p...or maybe the consequences will be different, seeing how that one is a paid service.

[AccordXTC]

@Ipse I am working on it and was told I would have new early this week. They will be resolving this and I have been in constant contact with them. The best thing we can do is voice we are having this issue to the right people. I pay for YouTube Premium, so the paid side of things doesn't mean anything.

[Ipse]

Hmm...something wrong with posting these days. I don't see my reply.

Apologies if this shows up twice, but I was saying that I commend you for your perseverance and efforts.

I gave up quickly when I realized that VPN on the router or device us a simple answer....now you convinced me to resume the pressure on Rogers.

BTW, testing an iptables solution based on the DSLR thread...should be able to report tomorrow if that's an alternative for those that don't have a VPN, but have access to the router iptables.

Yes, that again a minority, so Rogers is the one that has to provide a fix  (cache bandwidth likely). 

EDIT: I experimented a bit and found mixed results: rejecting the subnets that supposedly contain the Rogers YT cache servers seems to help (no lag or buffering) BUT it had side effects. SOME videos don't play at all. Could not correlate that with popularity (and chance to be cached) vs anything else.

More work is needed to draw a conclusions, but I'm a bit apprehensive to start doing packet captures when firing the VPN on the Android STB is an easy fix.

[AccordXTC]

Hello @Ipse Thank you, I am continuing this effort for everyone as a whole who has been effected and told that its not an issue. I was sold Sunday they hoped to have this resolve early this week and the issue is there, so I'm thinking not. I've dealt with them long enough to not take anything at face value. 

Biggest key here is everyone to put there complaint in with the right people so they get the point this will not go away.  As for the VPN, that just effects your overall speeds and not your robing Paul to pay Peter. Fix one issue to create another. 

[AccordXTC]

*** Update ***

So the investigating continues into this matter. CCTS is now going to start the investigation on their end as well CRTC has now started their investigation with confirmation emails sent to both me and Rogers Communications.  This document will be posted on all other sites I am currently posting on. (Easy To Search)

I have reached out to the Office Of The President as well as Google informing of them of the current situation. I will update as things progress.

[VZ1]

@AccordXTC, appreciate your efforts. Many years with Rogers, I know sometimes their support is stubborn and hard to deal with.

I also having exact same problem with YouTube, troubleshooting it for weeks. Thanks god found this thread.

>> If anyone with the issue would like to PM me I can provide the contact information to the Rogers person working on this issue.

Sent in PM.

[AccordXTC]

***Update***

Rogers has now reached out to Google and is awaiting a response. I guess from the number of people now calling into Rogers they are taking things more seriously. Lets see how this progresses

[Maxhac]

Only took 29 pages for them to realise there was  a problem.

[AccordXTC]

Yes very sad, you see 29 pages. I have over 50 emails and 5 Rogers tickets and I lost count of calls into this myself. Check out the other forums on the internet of people having the same issue. 

Hopefully one day they fix it...........

[AccordXTC]

Could I ask anyone that knew about this issue to test YouTube now with 4K / 1080p and report back. I have tested at my work on different makes of TV's and do not see any issue currently.

There was changes made and will go into more detail once more people confirm this is now working. 

[57]

I just checked a couple of different videos and had no issues. The download bitrate was from 50-250 mbps on my 300 mbps connection. I'll try again this evening when the issues usually happened more frequently.

[VZ1]

Thank you @AccordXTC.
Same here. Just tested on my 300Mbps link, 4K HDR videos play without hiccups and the Connection Speed in stats is 45-55Mbps which is great.
Will need to test in evenings, as usually it goes down to 4-10 Mbps 7pm -12am.

[AccordXTC]

I tested this morning and afternoon with good results but after testing just now during peak busy time I'm getting the same issues still. I've reached back out to my contact and will see if that can improve things or the next steps. 

[Maxhac]

1080 stream. It still buffer...

[AccordXTC]

I just tried mine again for 4K and 1080p no problem and loads much faster. I supposed there is more to check on their end but its an improvement to what it was before. 

@Maxhac Are you using a device that is wired or WiFi?

[Maxhac]

Wired connection.

Ok i think it was only temporary.  I opened 2 4K videos at the same time and the buffer stay between 10 and 15 seconds.

I hope it stay like that.

[EugW1]

YouTube 4K buffering is a disaster today. I had a tech visit on the weekend to fix any line issues and my line stats are currently OK. (My previous setup was with legacy cable TV so I had a bunch of splitters which he removed and brought down the signal strength at the modem with an attenuator.) Currently with my XB6 I'm at -1 to +7 dBmV downstream with SNR of 35.4 to 41 dBm.

The YouTube Stats for nerds is saying the YouTube bitrate is frequently dropping below 15 Mbps, and sometimes even below 5 Mbps. Meanwhile Netflix is consistently over 200 mbps (at fast.com) with no problems with 4K Netflix. Testing is all wired, on a Gigabit plan.

Assuming this is all because of their YouTube caching servers, Rogers needs to fix them asap. They're terrible.

[KoN1]

Yup absolutely horrible today. 4k videos won't even load for me just a black screen.