Anyone have experience with troubleshooting/resolving issues around streaming Netflix using Sonic's dynamic IP service? Ever since I switched from AT&T to Sonic on the 18th, I've had nothing but trouble. I'm not eligible for Fusion, unfortunately (3900 feet behind a remote terminal).
First, I have a Netgear DGND3300 Rangemax Wireless-N Modem Router. It's wired to two PCs (Vista and W7), and is wireless to a Roku1 HD, various mobile phones, and our Samsung HDTV (for file-viewing with PCs or external hard drives). Our bandwidth is roughly 3 down / .5 up (the same sadness as AT&T).
It's is a multi-layered problem I'm having.
Problem #1 - we can no longer continuously stream Netflix to our PCs in HD. Other websites (such as YouTube) with HD video play fine.
Problem #2 - we can no longer continuously stream Netflix via Roku at all. All other Roku services work fine (such as Hulu), and playback is in HD wherever possible. We have no problem streaming videos wirelessly from external drives to our TV, or through mobile phones.
I'm a pretty experienced computer user, so I've tried quite a bit of fiddling with this setting or that, and Googling what I don't know - and the only solution I can come up with is switching from Dynamic to Static IP. Hopefully someone else will have a more cost-effective solution =)
Troubleshooting for Problem #1 (computer):
-Originally, my Netflix video quality wasn't set at all - we just let them figure out what to stream based on available bandwidth. I've since adjusted my settings to ensure my Netflix account is set for "Best" playback, which hasn't made a difference. I don't see quality dots on the player, and the "allow HD" box is checked. Playback rarely starts in HD anymore. Even if it does, the video will bounce around between HD and what looks like around 2-dots worth of quality. When playback is in HD, the video is pretty choppy.
-One good piece of news, at least, is that playback is nonstop (see problem 2). Movies do take a lot longer to load, regardless of what quality they begin with.
-I've run Tracert through both Limelight and Akamai, and suspect I'm streaming through Limelight since Akamai ran up against a non-registered domain. It took 8 hops to get from Sonic to Limelight in Seattle, with little delay except for a very small one when Limelight transferred from San Jose to Seattle. I can post results for netflix-606.vo.llnwd.net if needed. Ping is fine, average 29 ms with 4/4 packets sent/received.
For Problem #2 (Roku):
-It looks like Netflix disagrees with the every-5-minutes renewal of my IP address. This is shown while streaming any video (TV or movies), as playback isn't just buffering, but actually reloading, every 5 minutes. When checking my router stats, it corresponds perfectly to my IP renewal time. The reload process takes 10-25 minutes, whether the video is in HD or not.
-HD video is hit-or-miss, mostly miss. On the Roku, I do get quality dots on the player. Sometimes HD will load, but more often than not, the video will load at 2 dots. Occasionally, the video won't load at all and will bounce back to the queue page.
- I ran a Tracert to netflix-822.vo.llnwd.net (the CDN Netflix uses with Roku). Same as with the computer, 8 hops, with a very minor delay when Limelight went from San Jose to Seattle. I can post these results as well. Ping is also fine here, same stats as with the computer.
I've tried just about everything I can think of (short of getting a new modem/router - I highly doubt that's the problem, considering this happened ONLY after I switched to Sonic and the problem occurs whether wired or wireless). I've done resets and power cycles on both the Roku and the router. I've deleted and re-added the Netflix channel on Roku, both with and without resets, and Silverlight is up-to-date on my browser. I have the most up-to-date firmware for the Roku and the router. I've tried adding the Roku MAC address and given it priority bandwidth and a fixed IP - no help, so I've since removed it. Roku/Netflix has a debugger hack which was showing us at only .5 bandwidth (of course, since bandwidth warms up to full speed), so I changed it from automatic detection to fixed at 2.0, 2.5, or 3.5 Mbps - 3.5 won't play anything, while the others will allow us to watch only up to 5 minutes of video.
I've tried disabling NAT, and NAT/firewall on my router, and that kills our internet connection completely whether wired or wireless. I tried to add a firewall rule to temporarily allow all incoming traffic, but I get a LAN server error message of "IP address is illegal" no matter what I try to enter. I've experimented with configuring the DNS servers to fixed addresses (Sonic's, OpenDNS, and GoogleDNS), and it doesn't make a difference. I've changed the router channel from 6 (what it's always been at) to 1 or 11 - no help.
I'd really like to think this isn't an issue with having a dynamic IP address, as surely I wouldn't be the first person on the entire internet to report it. But then there's that problem with the Roku and the IP renewal. Any ideas?
First, I have a Netgear DGND3300 Rangemax Wireless-N Modem Router. It's wired to two PCs (Vista and W7), and is wireless to a Roku1 HD, various mobile phones, and our Samsung HDTV (for file-viewing with PCs or external hard drives). Our bandwidth is roughly 3 down / .5 up (the same sadness as AT&T).
It's is a multi-layered problem I'm having.
Problem #1 - we can no longer continuously stream Netflix to our PCs in HD. Other websites (such as YouTube) with HD video play fine.
Problem #2 - we can no longer continuously stream Netflix via Roku at all. All other Roku services work fine (such as Hulu), and playback is in HD wherever possible. We have no problem streaming videos wirelessly from external drives to our TV, or through mobile phones.
I'm a pretty experienced computer user, so I've tried quite a bit of fiddling with this setting or that, and Googling what I don't know - and the only solution I can come up with is switching from Dynamic to Static IP. Hopefully someone else will have a more cost-effective solution =)
Troubleshooting for Problem #1 (computer):
-Originally, my Netflix video quality wasn't set at all - we just let them figure out what to stream based on available bandwidth. I've since adjusted my settings to ensure my Netflix account is set for "Best" playback, which hasn't made a difference. I don't see quality dots on the player, and the "allow HD" box is checked. Playback rarely starts in HD anymore. Even if it does, the video will bounce around between HD and what looks like around 2-dots worth of quality. When playback is in HD, the video is pretty choppy.
-One good piece of news, at least, is that playback is nonstop (see problem 2). Movies do take a lot longer to load, regardless of what quality they begin with.
-I've run Tracert through both Limelight and Akamai, and suspect I'm streaming through Limelight since Akamai ran up against a non-registered domain. It took 8 hops to get from Sonic to Limelight in Seattle, with little delay except for a very small one when Limelight transferred from San Jose to Seattle. I can post results for netflix-606.vo.llnwd.net if needed. Ping is fine, average 29 ms with 4/4 packets sent/received.
For Problem #2 (Roku):
-It looks like Netflix disagrees with the every-5-minutes renewal of my IP address. This is shown while streaming any video (TV or movies), as playback isn't just buffering, but actually reloading, every 5 minutes. When checking my router stats, it corresponds perfectly to my IP renewal time. The reload process takes 10-25 minutes, whether the video is in HD or not.
-HD video is hit-or-miss, mostly miss. On the Roku, I do get quality dots on the player. Sometimes HD will load, but more often than not, the video will load at 2 dots. Occasionally, the video won't load at all and will bounce back to the queue page.
- I ran a Tracert to netflix-822.vo.llnwd.net (the CDN Netflix uses with Roku). Same as with the computer, 8 hops, with a very minor delay when Limelight went from San Jose to Seattle. I can post these results as well. Ping is also fine here, same stats as with the computer.
I've tried just about everything I can think of (short of getting a new modem/router - I highly doubt that's the problem, considering this happened ONLY after I switched to Sonic and the problem occurs whether wired or wireless). I've done resets and power cycles on both the Roku and the router. I've deleted and re-added the Netflix channel on Roku, both with and without resets, and Silverlight is up-to-date on my browser. I have the most up-to-date firmware for the Roku and the router. I've tried adding the Roku MAC address and given it priority bandwidth and a fixed IP - no help, so I've since removed it. Roku/Netflix has a debugger hack which was showing us at only .5 bandwidth (of course, since bandwidth warms up to full speed), so I changed it from automatic detection to fixed at 2.0, 2.5, or 3.5 Mbps - 3.5 won't play anything, while the others will allow us to watch only up to 5 minutes of video.
I've tried disabling NAT, and NAT/firewall on my router, and that kills our internet connection completely whether wired or wireless. I tried to add a firewall rule to temporarily allow all incoming traffic, but I get a LAN server error message of "IP address is illegal" no matter what I try to enter. I've experimented with configuring the DNS servers to fixed addresses (Sonic's, OpenDNS, and GoogleDNS), and it doesn't make a difference. I've changed the router channel from 6 (what it's always been at) to 1 or 11 - no help.
I'd really like to think this isn't an issue with having a dynamic IP address, as surely I wouldn't be the first person on the entire internet to report it. But then there's that problem with the Roku and the IP renewal. Any ideas?
