Throttling Practices on Video Streaming

[JimHelms]

Ever wonder if video streaming is being throttled.

This document addresses the issue that some may find of interest.

A Large-Scale Analysis of Deployed Traffic Differentiation Practices.pdf

[BillA]

Ever wonder if video streaming is being throttled.

This document addresses the issue that some may find of interest.

A Large-Scale Analysis of Deployed Traffic Differentiation Practices.pdf

In my experience, most mobile carriers do throttle video streams.
While playing around with a regular proxy to get a static IP for unrelated purposes, I just so happen to find that watching YouTube through a proxy can bypass the annoying video throttling, so now I can watch it at any resolution without dropping down to 480p. It was a pleasant surprise, because I have always thought and read online that only a VPN could bypass video throttling (among other things). Guess not, and the big advantage of using a regular proxy, is that it will not slow down the connection like a VPN does due to real-time encryption (ex. OpenVPN). Nowadays, most websites use fast HTTPS/TLS encryption anyway, and that's good enough for privacy, no need for a more expensive and slow VPN.

I happen to use a private proxy called BestProxyAndVPN.com ($5/month), but any other proxy should do, just don't use some lame public proxy (slow speeds/latency, and could log all your activities).
There are two ways to use a proxy, it can be turned on for all websites, or selectively for specific websites only using a proxy manager such as Proxy SwitchyOmega in desktop Chrome (https://chrome.google.com/webstore/deta ... jomclgjgif). If you choose to proxy YouTube alone, interestingly including "*.YouTube.com" in the proxy manager's rules will not work, instead you would have to enter "*.GoogleVideo.com". Apparently the video stream is being carried over the googlevideo.com server and not the more obvious "*.YouTube.com".

I haven't played around with the proxy settings in the router (GoldenOrb/WiFix), so if anyone knows if this can be done by entering the proxy address along with the username and password authentication, please drop a line here (both a regular proxy and also VPN). The advantage of running a proxy/VPN in the router, is that it would globally proxy all devices connected to the router, both wired and WiFi.

[BrentV]

I would also be interested in running a proxy through the router

[SliverGT]

I have always had issues with my cellular connection being throttled on AT&T when streaming from Netflix and Amazon Prime. Both Netflix and AT&T deny they are doing any throttling. My download speeds are high enough to stream in 4k.

Netflix's fast.com speed test shows my download speed is being limited to ~4.5mbps. I have used ExpressVPN on a dedicated router to circumvent throttling but it was not very reliable. I would see buffering and dropped connections every 15-30 minutes.

To make matters worse Netflix has been cracking down on the use of VPN's and proxys to stop people from streaming content not available in their geographic area. Still looking for a solution to get around the throttling.

[eschmid2]

A potential free solution for throttling issues on Netflix and other services ...

I have found that internet browser Opera has a built in VPN, it must be turned on in order to go into effect - you can find this in settings. The solution is perfectly free and does not require configuring a VPN into your system - just downloading the browser and using it. I have found it very reliable. Fast.com which uses Netflix servers to test Netflix specific speeds shows in my regular browser (Edge) 4.5 Mbps download and on browser Opera about 67 Mpbs download.

The Opera browser is available for many different platforms ... I have found with VPN on that it does not work for Hulu (Hulu detects the VPN and gives an error) but it does work for Amazon Prime also - I have not tried others

Also, for Netflix, while Netflix video is streaming you can press CTRL - ALT - SHIFT - D at the same time and release and a data feed will be displayed onto the screen where you can actually watch Netflix resolution in real-time. This will disable other functions in Netflix so you have to enter the CTRL - ALT - SHIFT - D again to close the data screen feed when you are done watching the data feed

I have found that for me, resolution starts out low when first starting a video and then increases to higher levels of resolution over several minutes as Netflix seems to sense your bandwidth and tunes its resolution to what it is sensing as your available bandwidth situation. It has taken several minutes to get to 1080 p for example so you have to patient and let the system adjust

Hope this is helpful for some folks