Weird netflix connection issue [SOLVED]

Television services and online video discussion.
23 posts Page 1 of 3
by cooperquintin » Tue Jul 14, 2015 6:09 pm
I have been trying to debug a very very strange problem on my network for days now, and I need your help Sonic!
I have a Roku set top box hooked up to my TV and connected to my router. I am able to start watching a video on netflix, it will play for a minute or two and then suddenly kick me back out to the episode list. Interestingly, watching other streaming services from my Roku works just fine. Additionally, if I tether my Roku to my phone it plays netflix without a hitch. And the final weird icing on the cake is that Netflix works just fine from my laptop, or phone when connected to sonic! I have tried all basic troubleshooting steps including:
* static ip
* hard reset of roku
* hard reset of router
* wired and wireless connections
* changed DNS settings
* put Roku in the DMZ
* new netflix account
none of these steps have fixed the problem. Netflix tech support was unable to figure anything out at all.

Interestingly I have found other reports of people having this problem recently, every other report appears to come from a sonic user, (again only people having this exact problem where it plays for a bit then stops). They have been posting to the roku forum and can be found here:
http://forums.roku.com/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=87676

This problem appears to be localized to Sonic.net and it is super frustrating! I love you guys, but my wife is going to kill me if I can't get netflix working soon! Help me Sonic Techs! You are my only hope!

I am happy to do traceroutes or get packet captures or whatever we need to debug this issue.
by Guest » Tue Jul 14, 2015 7:07 pm
I have been experiencing this exact problem for over a week. Been on the phone endlessly with sonic, roku, and Netflix. Have tried all their suggested trouble shoots. The closest I came to useful information was from Netflix who reported that my wifi speed was insufficient. When I reported this to sonic they disagreed. I'm ready to move to another provider, but hope that sonic can come through.
by johns » Tue Jul 14, 2015 8:06 pm
I have been having a somewhat similar issue with Netflix/Roku/Sonic since upgrading to Fusion FTTN. About a minute into a show, it will re-buffer and usually downgrade the video quality. It doesn't happen all the time, but much more frequently than my old Fusion service, which was less than half the bandwidth. It's just a small annoyance.

Johnny
by cooperquintin » Tue Jul 14, 2015 9:08 pm
Update: I have been able to grab a tcpdump of my netflix stream, it looks like the stream goes along fine and then *BAM* the netflix video server starts sending TCP ZeroWindowProbe packets to the roku (indicating that the recieve buffer is full) and thats all she wrote, the show ends, netflix sends a fin packet, the connection ends and the roku sends a couple of rst packets.
Since I can't attach a pcap file here I have uploaded the file to my web server: http://cooperq.com/netflix-crash.pcap

Another update:
Sorry, I couldn't help myself. Here are the traceroutes to the two servers, from my laptop connected to my router:

Code: Select all

traceroute to 108.175.46.108 (108.175.46.108), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets # this is the broken one the roku is connecting to.
 1  homeportal (192.168.42.1)  0.670 ms  0.845 ms  1.056 ms
 2  184-23-16-1.dsl.static.fusionbroadband.com (184.23.16.1)  22.754 ms  23.211 ms  24.497 ms
 3  70-36-200-161.static.sonic.net (70.36.200.161)  49.334 ms  49.425 ms  49.495 ms
 4  ae1.cr2.hywrca01.sonic.net (50.0.79.161)  101.525 ms  101.566 ms  101.715 ms
 5  ae0.cr2.snjsca11.sonic.net (50.0.79.157)  47.770 ms  47.780 ms  47.913 ms
 6  51.ae4.gw.equinix-sj.sonic.net (142.254.58.190)  31.657 ms  25.040 ms  25.497 ms
 7  ae2.0.gw.pao1.sonic.net (50.0.2.13)  26.024 ms  23.429 ms  24.071 ms
 8  199.127.107.189 (199.127.107.189)  26.495 ms  27.298 ms  27.087 ms
 9  xe0-0-0-7.core2.lax.layer42.net (65.50.198.135)  40.996 ms  41.170 ms  41.347 ms
10  any2ix.coresite.com (206.223.143.215)  42.360 ms  42.372 ms  43.263 ms
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cooperq@chelsea-manning ~ $ traceroute 23.246.58.131 #the working one my computer is connecting to. 
traceroute to 23.246.58.131 (23.246.58.131), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets
 1  homeportal (192.168.42.1)  0.588 ms  0.825 ms  1.023 ms
 2  184-23-16-1.dsl.static.fusionbroadband.com (184.23.16.1)  23.064 ms  23.431 ms  24.559 ms
 3  70-36-200-161.static.sonic.net (70.36.200.161)  45.307 ms  45.387 ms  45.477 ms
 4  ae1.cr2.hywrca01.sonic.net (50.0.79.161)  38.926 ms  49.773 ms  49.791 ms
 5  ae0.cr2.snjsca11.sonic.net (50.0.79.157)  49.877 ms  50.015 ms  50.222 ms
 6  51.ae4.gw.equinix-sj.sonic.net (142.254.58.190)  31.638 ms  24.831 ms  26.389 ms
 7  netflix-peering.sonic.net (209.148.113.10)  26.798 ms  22.918 ms  24.196 ms
 8  198.45.62.9 (198.45.62.9)  25.407 ms  25.297 ms  25.417 ms
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cooperq@chelsea-manning ~ $ 
So yea, I think from here it looks like the problem is that my laptop connects to the netflix peering server and my roku does not... bummer...
by parker_day » Wed Jul 15, 2015 9:41 am
I was having the same problem with Netflix on my AndroidTV (Nexus Player). I just figured it was AndroidTV being "quirky." It happened for a few days. However, last night from 10pm-1am it was working fine for me.
by drudiak » Wed Jul 15, 2015 12:05 pm
I'm having the exact same Netflix/Roku streaming problem as described here (have older Roku 3), that arose only in the last 10 days or so. I'm also in Alameda County (Albany) as other complainers on Roku forum with this problem (Oakland, Berkeley, Alameda). Roku forum: http://forums.roku.com/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=87676

Just spoke to tech support, who says he also got a call from sonic user in Santa Rosa also complaining. Tech support says sonic has made no changes recently, so what the heck is going on?

Basic problem is try streaming Netflix show and after EXACTLY 2 minutes (always), it jumps back to the menu/episode screen. Like others, I can stream just fine on my laptop. If I try fast-forwarding beyond 2 minute wall, Netflix hangs permanently at 25% buffering and I can't use back arrow to exit. (but Home button still works)

I've tried the usual suggested things: direct Ethernet connection to modem, unplugging Roku to reboot, hitting Roku reset switch, resetting router/modem, throwing Roku at wall while cursing loudly--nothing helps.

Another weird thing is a few shows (maybe because of lower resolution) still stream OK. Thus was having "The Guardian" marathon viewing (2001-2004), and it continued to stream no problem. Also tried a Dutch show called "Rita" (2012), seemingly lower resolution, and it streamed OK. But other lower res shows (like old "West Wing" episodes) still do not stream.
by tksunnyvale » Wed Jul 15, 2015 8:25 pm
I'm having the same Netflix issue, but only with my Roku 3. I have a Roku HD on the same WIFI network
and Netflix works fine on it. As others have said, all the other streams on the Roku 3 work fine.
I did a factory reset of the Roku 3 which had no effect.
by Guest » Thu Jul 16, 2015 7:25 am
Same problem - notified Sonic about the Roku forums and received a brief response stating in essence that they are unable to re-create the problem, but engineers at Roku are aware of the problem. It seems both sides are waiting for the other to resolve. We're in the middle holding the bag. I've been quite happy with Sonic, and have dealt with terrible speed (<5Mb down) on principle, because I didn't want to deal with Comcast. This may finally change my mind.
by dherr » Thu Jul 16, 2015 8:01 am
Guest wrote:Same problem - notified Sonic about the Roku forums and received a brief response stating in essence that they are unable to re-create the problem, but engineers at Roku are aware of the problem. It seems both sides are waiting for the other to resolve. We're in the middle holding the bag. I've been quite happy with Sonic, and have dealt with terrible speed (<5Mb down) on principle, because I didn't want to deal with Comcast. This may finally change my mind.
Is FTTN not available to you?
by PS3 Too » Thu Jul 16, 2015 10:06 pm
I just got off the phone with support and was told to post here. I am having the exact same issues that everyone else has, except I am streaming to a PS3.

I was told that another customer was able to fix the issue by tethering to their phone and then playing. To me that is saying that the router/network is suspect. I started the upgrade process to a new type of line (VDSL I think?) and maybe this new connection will change things.
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