The effects of deprioritization

[docj]

Since I use my AT&T Rural Homebase system outside its registration area we are always subject to possible deprioritization.  However, until last night I've not been able to tell that we were being impacted.  Typically I measure ~5-8Mbps on our tower during business hours and 10-15Mbps before and after work hours.  However, this being a holiday weekend and Rockport being a beach town I wasn't surprised that our speeds have sagged a bit.   At noon today my download speed has been more like 3-6Mbps.

However, last night was a whole different story because I could tell from watching a show on Netflix that we were having our resolution dynamically reduced to compensate for our slower speeds.  That's something I've hardly ever seen on this tower previously.   While this was occurring I opened the laptop and brought up my WiFiRanger's real-time usage display.   For nearly an hour I watched our instantaneous download speed hover between 0.5 and 1.0 Mbps.  During this period the video was reduced to SD levels (or less).  But what amazed me was that we never experienced a Loading or Rebuffering delay.  During the worst of the slowdown we even had to load a new program and I wasn't sure if the Roku could pull it off, but it did with only a  slightly longer initial loading delay than normal.  

This morning I looked at the Ranger's Usage data and it appears that at the worst of the problem our data rate had been reduced to ~400MB/hr which roughly corresponds to 1Mbps.  This contrasts to the 800-1000 MB/hr this same show consumes when there are no data limits.  

I have to admit that I don't have the slightest clue as to how the deprioritization algorithms for the carriers are being implemented.  But I was really surprised (and pleased) to have been able to sustain the video stream even with data rates as low as we were experiencing.  For most things I can tolerate a grainy picture as long as the audio is clear and I know that the graininess will probably resolve itself in a little while.  IMO that's far preferable to the stopping and starting annoyance of failing to maintain the stream.   Maybe sustaining a video stream at 0.5-1.0 Mbps isn't all that big a deal, but I was wondering if something about the way AT&T implements deprioritization might make it easier to keep the stream alive than might be presumed to be the case from from the data rate alone.  Maybe this speculation is totally without merit, but it sure seemed that way.

Joel (AKA docj)

[Jaydrvr]

It's been my experience that Netflix is the grand master of streaming algorithms and it seems Netflix will play when virtually nothing else will load. If the local tower is overloaded, I know I can always find something on Netflix until the congestion clears. I haven't noticed any other content provider come close in performance. Jay

[Smitty77_7]

Thanks for sharing your experiences with this. And yes, Netflix does seem to deliver more, with less bandwidth! But I also think that the 'unit' feeding the streaming helps to. Joel mention Roku, not sure what model, but I've noticed a difference between what our Samsung Smart TV can do vs our Roku. (At home, it is a Roku Premier, an aging but still good unit. Via CAT5 feed. Will upgrade when we upgrade this home TV probably in 2018. In the RV, it's a Roku Ultra via 802.11AC connected to the WFR GOac. (I'm a hifi buff, and prefer routing the PCM signal thru our Oppo DAC. The Ultra provides both HDMI and Optical out (Though I prefer coax.), so this was factor.)

It's the total connectivity handshake on getting Data out of the air, and fed to the your picture:)!

Best to all,

Smitty

[Dutch_12078]

I think the most important part of AT&T's "deprioritization" is that the slowdown only lasts for the period of the congestion, rather than the duration of the billing cycle like so many other plans. I'm still trying to determine the boundaries of our Homebase's "home area", but I haven't as yet seen any significant slow downs with either the Homebase or the Mobley. Once I determine that the Mobley can reliably handle our mobile Internet needs, I'll probably leave the Homebase in our "home area" at our Adirondack cottage anyway. We get pretty consistent 20-30Mbps speeds from AT&T there, so it should work really well for streaming the Dish Hopper w/Sling programming from there to us on the road to augment our onboard Hopper w/Sling.

[k4rs]

The vast majority of our streaming is via DirecTV Now.  I was VERY happy to discover that DirecTV Now data usage does not count toward the 22 GB threshold for deprioritization on our new Mobley hotspot. 

Safe Travels...

[RV_]

I normally don't share a lot of my streaming stuff here because it did not apply in the past. For folks that miss CNN and the regular cable channels we use Sling TV Blue. That lets us use up to three devices simultaneously. I am in my office at the moment on my 2720 which is effectively a 4k 27"screen. I use an external Hauppauge TV Tuner for our 22 OTA channels from our rooftop antenna, which is amplified by a high quality distribution amp fed to four rooms in our new house. We think it is worth 25 bucks a month in addition to Netflix and Amazon Prime just for CNN, Comedy Central, Food Channel several others. I was surprised to find an accurate online TV guide for Sling channels free. http://streamingtvguides.com/Index/2

We are not sports fans of anything but the Superbowl and winter olympics. So Blue serves us better Orange has ESPN but you can't watch on more than one device and it is only 5 dollars cheaper.

We have Sling TV on our phones and all tablets, as well as our computers and all three Amazon Fire TVs.

For OTA we use this, as ll I had to do was setup the zip code and select over the air: http://tvlistings.zap2it.com/tvlistings/ZCGrid.do?method=decideFwdForLineup&zipcode=71067&setMyPreference=false&lineupId=PC:71067&aid=zap2it

And no, I never signed up for or logged onto that  Zap 2it TV listings.

Hope all got through the storms OK. Lots of damage south of us here.

[Jack Mayer]

I've been using my Homebase for a couple of months now, and in about 12 states. I've yet to be "network managed", at least as far as I can tell. Speeds have ranged from a low of 5 mbps out in the hinterlands of KS, to over 60 mbps. It operates quite well.

I also just got a Mobley and will be activating and testing that against the homebase for the next few months.

[ms60ocb]

I use a Verizon Jetpack with metered Data at 4G LTE speed as available. Today is my best day since May 2. The speed nearly 10 times the prime time which is about 8 AM until sometime after I go to bed.7 days a week.

Today I get 12-15 Mbps Down and 1.5 - 4.3 Mbps Up. Sometimes on bad days, download is much slower than uploads. I down understand how screening works but have always suspected bigger packets??

Clay From a fringe area of AT&T