I've submitted a couple of times, including a post yesterday venting my frustration. I'm back to report that tonight I cannot even get 2 dots, and 1 dot buffers for a long time. But...

when I use my notebook computer, the quality is 1 dot at best. That's when the HP notebook is hardwired, and checking three speed tests confirms downloads of 1.7 at worst, and 2.9 at best (not blazing, but should be adequate). So it does seem to be a NetFlix problem more than a Roku problem, EXCEPT that the Roku box is inextricably bound to the NetFlix service, at least for now. I couldn't find a way to email this to NetFlix directly and didn't want to spend fifteen minutes waiting on hold for now.

But maybe the Roku folks can pass this on, though I know that it will just hit the bit bucket. Either NetFlix needs to fix this, or Roku needs to get more content providers, or <hands clasped in supplication> both.

EOM

THX

1. Richmond, KY - 40475
2. Time Warner - Road Runner
3. Cable
4. 4-5 mbits on paper, but right now:
Download Speed: 861 kbps (107.6 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 370 kbps (46.3 KB/sec transfer rate)
5. 20F843011798
6. Its been about a month since i started getting 3-2 and 1 dot streams; even at non-peak hours.
7. I am suspecting that Time Warner is shaping my traffic! Download speeds are pitiful and I feel like I am on glorified modem connection.

Tonight I called Netflix and talked to a customer support agent. He was extremely helpful in trying to figure out what is going on with my degraded performance.

He asked me to run a trace route against the following addresses:

movielicense.netflix.com
68.142.122.70
netflix-908.vo.llnwd.net

I'll post my results below.

Netflix has been getting a lot of complaints about this and apparently those experiencing this problem are being routed through some slow servers including some owned by AT&T and Qwest. He said specifically that he has seen a lot of problems with Qwest.

He told me to save the results of the trace routes so that I had them when I called Charter. After being dropped from my first call to charter, I finally got a hold of someone who finally decided that this needed to be escalated to their IT/Engineering department. She did mention that one of the Charter servers was down and that could be introducing an issue although I'm not sure why. She indicated that the server should be "fixed" within the next 48 hours and that should resolve my issues. I hope she's right although I'm not holding my breathe on that.

I'm experiencing this problem with both my Roku and Watch Now feature on my computer. I've ruled out my router as being an issue by connecting my computer directly to the modem. (Btw, Charter will try to blame your router or the service you are connecting to first so it's best to connect directly to their modem and call Netflix first.)

I encourage everyone having this problem to call Netflix first and then your ISP. Emphasize with Netflix that their watch now feature is being rendered useless and emphasize with your ISP that you are not receiving your paid for download speed due to poor routing.

Here are the results of my trace routes, and the times in the 100's are particularly poor.

I hope this info helps:

C:\>tracert movielicense.netflix.com

Tracing route to movielicense.netflix.com [208.75.76.20]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 14 ms 5 ms 7 ms 10.160.192.1
2 13 ms 10 ms 8 ms 24-217-59-9.dhcp.stls.mo.charter.com [24.217.59.
9]
3 10 ms 8 ms 9 ms 24-217-58-189.dhcp.stls.mo.charter.com [24.217.5
8.189]
4 46 ms 43 ms 41 ms 207.88.185.81.ptr.us.xo.net [207.88.185.81]
5 44 ms 43 ms 46 ms 65.106.4.233.ptr.us.xo.net [65.106.4.233]
6 140 ms 137 ms 134 ms dap-brdr-01.inet.qwest.net [63.146.26.173]
7 151 ms 146 ms 152 ms dal-core-01.inet.qwest.net [205.171.225.50]
8 175 ms 182 ms 190 ms svl-core-02.inet.qwest.net [67.14.12.54]
9 184 ms 178 ms 177 ms svc-cntr-02.inet.qwest.net [205.171.14.6]
10 179 ms 184 ms 187 ms 66.77.104.138
11 186 ms 186 ms 188 ms 63.236.56.164
12 188 ms 180 ms 172 ms movielicense.netflix.com [208.75.76.20]

Trace complete.


C:\>tracert 68.142.122.70

Tracing route to cdn-68-142-122-70.dal.llnw.net [68.142.122.70]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 13 ms 7 ms 7 ms 10.160.192.1
2 9 ms 9 ms 9 ms 24-217-59-9.dhcp.stls.mo.charter.com [24.217.59.
9]
3 10 ms 11 ms 8 ms 24-217-58-189.dhcp.stls.mo.charter.com [24.217.5
8.189]
4 45 ms 44 ms 44 ms 207.88.185.81.ptr.us.xo.net [207.88.185.81]
5 43 ms 42 ms 45 ms 65.106.4.233.ptr.us.xo.net [65.106.4.233]
6 43 ms 42 ms 43 ms 206.111.5.26.ptr.us.xo.net [206.111.5.26]
7 149 ms 147 ms 152 ms tbr1.dlstx.ip.att.net [12.123.16.146]
8 141 ms 148 ms 147 ms gar8.dlstx.ip.att.net [12.122.100.21]
9 150 ms 148 ms 148 ms 12.86.20.6
10 170 ms 148 ms 149 ms ve5.fr3.dal.llnw.net [69.28.171.105]
11 163 ms 154 ms 154 ms cdn-68-142-122-70.dal.llnw.net [68.142.122.70]

Trace complete.

C:\>tracert netflix-908.vo.llnwd.net

Tracing route to netflix-908.vo.llnwd.net [68.142.123.254]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 5 ms 7 ms 5 ms 10.160.192.1
2 9 ms 8 ms 7 ms 24-217-59-9.dhcp.stls.mo.charter.com [24.217.59.
9]
3 11 ms 11 ms 10 ms 24-217-58-189.dhcp.stls.mo.charter.com [24.217.5
8.189]
4 44 ms 44 ms 45 ms 207.88.185.81.ptr.us.xo.net [207.88.185.81]
5 45 ms 43 ms 45 ms 207.88.82.221.ptr.us.xo.net [207.88.82.221]
6 44 ms 44 ms 41 ms 206.111.5.26.ptr.us.xo.net [206.111.5.26]
7 128 ms 132 ms 138 ms tbr1.dlstx.ip.att.net [12.123.16.146]
8 152 ms 151 ms 148 ms gar8.dlstx.ip.att.net [12.122.100.21]
9 148 ms 150 ms 150 ms 12.86.20.6
10 149 ms 154 ms 153 ms cdn-68-142-123-254.dal.llnw.net [68.142.123.254]


Trace complete.

My endpoint for netflix content - netflix-822.vo.llnwd.net - is also Dallas. I wonder what portion of the people with problems funnel through Dallas?

tracert when things are slow:
6 52 ms 81 ms 85 ms pos-1-8-0-0-cr01.losangeles.ca.ibone.comcast.net
[68.86.86.13]
7 64 ms 85 ms 85 ms TenGigabitEthernet9-1.ar2.LAX2.gblx.net [64.209.
88.29]
8 64 ms 83 ms 82 ms 64.215.24.82
9 96 ms 84 ms 84 ms tge1-2.fr3.phx1.llnw.net [69.28.171.81]
10 96 ms 84 ms 83 ms tge1-4.fr3.phx2.llnw.net [69.28.171.98]
11 97 ms 83 ms 126 ms tge1-3.fr3.dal.llnw.net [69.28.171.130]
12 99 ms * 83 ms cdn-68-142-122-70.dal.llnw.net [68.142.122.70]

Perhaps this will be my new game when things are running slowly, comparing tracerts to various LL servers ...

SEATTLE
6 76 ms 53 ms 21 ms TenGigabitEthernet9-1.ar2.LAX2.gblx.net [64.209.
88.29]
7 24 ms 24 ms 24 ms 64.215.24.82
8 24 ms 20 ms 26 ms ve6.fr4.lax.llnw.net [69.28.171.206]
9 29 ms 27 ms 28 ms tge2-4.fr3.las.llnw.net [69.28.172.85]
10 27 ms 27 ms 26 ms ve5.fr4.las.llnw.net [69.28.172.18]
11 49 ms 49 ms 49 ms tge2-2.fr4.sea2.llnw.net [69.28.172.98]
12 53 ms 49 ms 49 ms ve5.fr3.sea2.llnw.net [69.28.171.77]
13 52 ms 49 ms 48 ms cdn-68-142-93-133.sea2.llnw.net [68.142.93.133]

SAN JOSE
7 209 ms 126 ms 30 ms TenGigabitEthernet9-1.ar2.LAX2.gblx.net [64.209.
88.29]
8 28 ms 29 ms 35 ms 64.215.24.82
9 29 ms 26 ms 24 ms ve6.fr4.lax.llnw.net [69.28.171.206]
10 44 ms 48 ms 36 ms tge1-3.fr3.sjc.llnw.net [69.28.171.118]
11 38 ms 38 ms 34 ms cdn-208-111-148-6.sjc.llnw.net [208.111.148.6]

DALLAS
7 28 ms 27 ms 25 ms TenGigabitEthernet9-1.ar2.LAX2.gblx.net [64.209.
88.29]
8 27 ms 25 ms 37 ms 64.215.24.82
9 35 ms 36 ms 47 ms tge1-2.fr3.phx1.llnw.net [69.28.171.81]
10 40 ms 37 ms 36 ms tge1-4.fr3.phx2.llnw.net [69.28.171.98]
11 64 ms 74 ms 72 ms tge1-3.fr3.dal.llnw.net [69.28.171.130]
12 61 ms 63 ms 61 ms cdn-68-142-122-70.dal.llnw.net [68.142.122.70]

See the directly related discussion on dslreports. It says it is about comcast throttling but it really turns out to be about dallas limelight degradation.

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r211061 ... -Answer-No

1) Austin
2) TWC
3) Cable
4) 4660 - TWC says 6000-7000 This is their standard cable speed
5) 20F84V012243 - one of the first boxes
6) began around October
7) I have not forced the quality
Comments: It seems to be consiently starting with 4 dots, rebuffers to 1 or 2 dots. I have had TWC out three times for other problem of bad router/modem (provided by TWC) previous to this problem. I had been losing the connection to the internet but that was finally solved by changing out the router/modem until I found one that worked properly. Now, I don't lose the internet connection but just have the video quality problem along with a lot of other people.

Carol

Does anyone know if Netflix is actually working on this problem?

1. Albuquerque NM
2. Comcast
3. Cable
4. Download Speed: 16175 kbps (2021.9 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 2447 kbps (305.9 KB/sec transfer rate)
from speakeasy
5. 20F854004857
6. Sometime in early tp mid November
left it unplugged for about a week or so -- download a movie, quality at 4 dots, as soon as it began playing, started buffering, down to 1 dot again

For what it's worth, after not using the box for several nights, last night at around 11:00 PM EST I tried automatic and got 4 dots and fast buffering, with no problems viewing the entire 44 minute episode. It all remains a mystery, and it would be nice to know what was going on before.

I'm still getting only one dot. I hope it works better on Tivo when that service begins.

1. Portland, ME
2. Time Warner cable http://www.timewarnercable.com/
3. Cable
4. 10 Mbps down / 1 Mbps up
5. 20F864007487
6. approx 20 Nov 2008. I was travelling and did not use the service for the two weeks priort to that.
7. I came to the forums because I was looking for some way to force the stream speed to 1 dot so that it would not shift up and down. I was not aware of the "secret" screen, but seems like that is what I want to look for.
8. Unit was purchased and installed in Jul 2008. I always had 4 solid white dots until last week.

For the past week the unit has been shifting up and down. It runs for about 5-15 minutes, then shifts speed.

For several days I assumed that the problem was ISP. However, I have run speedtest.net many times and performance seems good.

My service used to be good to excellent at all times now I can force 3 stars outside of prime time but during prime time , not a chance.

The paranoid part of me thought netflix was throttling, so i even increased my membership level as a test to see if that would make a difference. But made no difference.


1. Your geographic location (city/town and state is adequate)
Tacoma WA
2. Your ISP (internet service provider)
Rainier Connect (Click Network)
3. Type of service (DSL, cable, etc.)
Cable
4. Maximum speed of your service - if you are not sure, it is probably documented on your ISP bill or you can get a rough measurement at www.speakeasy.net/speedtest or any number of on-line speed test websites)

3 M Download

5. Your Roku Player serial number (ESN) - found in the settings under 'player info'.

20F867007278
6. Approximately when you began encountering this issue

3 - 4 weeks ago

7. If you tried to force the stream speed via the "secret" screen, did it improve things or did it make it worse? For example, were you able to get 3 or 4 dot of quality consistently again? Did it result in frequent rebuffering?

Sometimes it makes it playable, but most of the time it does not help.

traces done November 27th 9:15 PM pacific time

Tracing route to movielicense.netflix.com [208.75.76.20]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 12 ms 11 ms 11 ms 10.101.0.1
2 11 ms 11 ms 11 ms click_dtn_ge9-0-0.click-network.com [131.191.0.
]
3 14 ms 11 ms 11 ms 131.191.0.32
4 13 ms 12 ms 11 ms sl-gw4-tac-1-0.sprintlink.net [144.223.84.37]
5 11 ms 10 ms 11 ms sl-gw4-tac-4-0.sprintlink.net [144.232.2.8]
6 16 ms 12 ms 11 ms sl-bb20-sea-0-0.sprintlink.net [144.232.9.150]
7 11 ms 13 ms 12 ms sea-brdr-01.inet.qwest.net [63.146.26.197]
8 16 ms 16 ms 16 ms sea-core-01.inet.qwest.net [205.171.26.53]
9 33 ms 33 ms 33 ms svl-core-02.inet.qwest.net [67.14.12.10]
10 42 ms 33 ms 31 ms svc-cntr-02.inet.qwest.net [205.171.14.6]
11 34 ms 33 ms 33 ms 66.77.104.138
12 32 ms 33 ms 31 ms 63.236.56.164
13 33 ms 36 ms 34 ms movielicense.netflix.com [208.75.76.20]

Trace complete.


Tracing route to netflix-908.vo.llnwd.net [208.111.148.6]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 11 ms 14 ms 11 ms 10.101.0.1
2 11 ms 11 ms 11 ms click_dtn_ge9-0-0.click-network.com [131.191.0.
]
3 12 ms 12 ms 11 ms 131.191.0.32
4 12 ms 11 ms 12 ms sl-gw4-tac-1-0.sprintlink.net [144.223.84.37]
5 12 ms 11 ms 13 ms sl-gw4-tac-0-0.sprintlink.net [144.232.2.0]
6 36 ms 33 ms 33 ms sl-crs1-sj-0-9-0-0.sprintlink.net [144.232.20.8

7 36 ms 32 ms 33 ms sl-st22-sj-2-0-0.sprintlink.net [144.232.18.180

8 48 ms 36 ms 33 ms 64.212.107.149
9 42 ms 35 ms 38 ms limelight.po4.440.ar2.sjc2.gblx.net [64.211.64.
54]
10 35 ms 38 ms 36 ms ve5.fr3.sjc.llnw.net [69.28.171.209]
11 36 ms 36 ms 35 ms cdn-208-111-148-6.sjc.llnw.net [208.111.148.6]

Trace complete.


Tracing route to cdn-68-142-122-70.dal.llnw.net [68.142.122.70]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 11 ms 11 ms 14 ms 10.101.0.1
2 11 ms 14 ms 10 ms click_dtn_ge9-0-0.click-network.com [131.191.0.
]
3 12 ms 12 ms 12 ms 131.191.0.32
4 13 ms 11 ms 11 ms sl-gw4-tac-1-0.sprintlink.net [144.223.84.37]
5 12 ms 12 ms 12 ms sl-gw4-tac-4-0.sprintlink.net [144.232.2.8]
6 33 ms 33 ms 33 ms sl-crs1-sj-0-4-0-1.sprintlink.net [144.232.18.2
4]
7 33 ms 33 ms 33 ms sl-st22-sj-2-0-0.sprintlink.net [144.232.18.180

8 36 ms 35 ms 35 ms 64.212.107.149
9 37 ms 43 ms 37 ms limelight.po4.440.ar2.sjc2.gblx.net [64.211.64.
54]
10 71 ms 71 ms 71 ms tge1-1.fr3.ord.llnw.net [69.28.171.65]
11 94 ms 98 ms 100 ms tge2-1.fr3.dal.llnw.net [69.28.171.197]
12 95 ms 93 ms 94 ms cdn-68-142-122-70.dal.llnw.net [68.142.122.70]

Trace complete.

1. St Louis (city), Mo
2. Charter
3. Cable
4. 5 Mbps
5. 20F89C004722
6. two weeks ago?
7. no help
8. Rebuffering every 3-5 minutes with one dot quality. The debug mode reads my network as 0.4 mbps!!

gello101 wrote:

8. Rebuffering every 3-5 minutes with one dot quality. The debug mode reads my network as 0.4 mbps!!

Same here. After setting the debug option and starting a movie, I got a message saying something like "Playing 2.2 mbps on your 5.0 mbps network", then after a LONG period of buffering, followed by a couple minutes of play, I got a message that said something like "Could not play 2.2. mbps on your 0.4 mbps network."

I truly do have a 5 mbps connection though, and it's consistent.

Have been getting 4 dot downloads regularly for several months. Now I've joined this group of slow receivers.

1. Bellevue, Washington
2. COMCAST
3. Cable
4. 6 mbps
5. 20F855003739
6. 7 Nov 08
7. No
8. At movie start ROKU reports anywhere between 4
and 8 mbps network speed. After 2 or 3 minutes
of play Roku rebuffers and reports between 0.4
and 1.3 mbps network with commensurate drop
in dot quality.