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Level 1

110 points

ISP throttling bandwidth for Apple TV

I'm at my whit's end here... I've been experiencing several hour downloads for movies, and even longer downloads for HD movies. After extensive research, I decided to call my ISP and ask them if they were throttling my bandwidth... they told me that they don't throttle, but they have "filters" which make it fair for all internet users. However, we all know this is throttling - just with a better name.

Anyway, it seems as though there is no way around this... either I switch ISPs (which I can't because DSL is not available where I live yet) or deal with the fact that I can't get movies on my Apple TV (of even TV shows for that matter - they take forever too).

Is there ANYTHING I can do to bypass the throttling? Movies and TV shows download at blazing speeds in iTunes, likely because it is on an HTTP protocol. So why is Apple TV being confused with BitTorrent downloads?

I realize I can just download TV shows in iTunes and sync them to the Apple TV, but this still means that rentals are off the table... and there's nothing I can do about it.

Someone please help me 😟

PowerBook G4 1.5GHz & Apple TV Take 2, Mac OS X (10.5.2), 1GB RAM

Posted on Mar 18, 2008 7:15 AM

31 replies

Mar 18, 2008 11:46 AM in response to Ian Parkinson

Just to answer a few questions that have been raised.

I'm switching from BT to o2, I get a slightly reduced rate £ 15.00 to £ 10.00 because I have an o2 mobile account.

I don't live very far from the exchange (less than a mile) and they tested my line while I talked to them and I should get 14.6 Mbps, otherwise if I could have got more I would have gone for the 20 Mbps service.

Chenks

Level 5

7,435 points

Mar 18, 2008 11:38 AM in response to Winston Churchill

O2 aka Be Internet... a very big player in the LLU market.

Mar 18, 2008 11:42 AM in response to Chenks

I don't mind one way or the other with Sky.
If I could get 16Mbps from them in my area I would do.

Mar 18, 2008 11:55 AM in response to Chenks

I think Be might be another company, I did look at Be, but I think the £ 10.00 per month swayed me to o2.

Chenks

Level 5

7,435 points

Mar 18, 2008 11:57 AM in response to Winston Churchill

nope... O2 uses Be for internet services (may even own them now).
just like Sky uses (or now owns) Easynet for internet services.

Mar 18, 2008 12:01 PM in response to Winston Churchill

Ian, the o2 package has a contention ratio of 1:1, so I'm not sharing my service with anyone else and cannot interfere with anyone else's download speeds, o2 do reserve the right to suspend or terminate the service, but it would have to be for immoral or other misuses not for using it a lot.

Chenks

Level 5

7,435 points

Mar 18, 2008 12:04 PM in response to Winston Churchill

"immoral" use ???

i wonder what the entains.....

Fletsch

Level 1

100 points

Mar 19, 2008 7:27 AM in response to Chenks

sorry, whats LLU? I am with Tiscali in central London and hate them. Unreliable, slow at nights, etc. I was thinking of switching to Virgin, but they are expensive.

Mar 19, 2008 7:38 AM in response to Fletsch

LLU is the reform that allows other companies to utilise the equipment of the main telecommunications network. In the UK BT owns the exchanges and much of the network, LLU allows companies like o2 to enter the market place without building there own equipment.

These reforms do encourage competition and likely in the short term provide consumers with cheaper and better services, but in the long term I'm not sure it's the best way forward.

Message was edited by: Winston Churchill

Chenks

Level 5

7,435 points

Mar 19, 2008 7:41 AM in response to Fletsch

LLU = Local Loop Unbundling
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Localloopunbundling

it basically allows other companies to use the existing equipment in the exchanges to provide their own services.

if you are in london then you should have plenty of choices of LLU ISPs.

Fletsch

Level 1

100 points

Mar 19, 2008 7:42 AM in response to Chenks

and why do LLU ISP's give more stable service than non-LLU (as Chenks writes)?

Fletsch

Level 1

100 points

Mar 19, 2008 7:43 AM in response to Chenks

btw: sorry for hijacking this thread. I'll stop now.

Mar 19, 2008 8:09 AM in response to Fletsch

I'm not sure that they are anymore stable, maybe stable is not the right word, they do seem to promise a more consistent datarate but that's not quite the same as stability.

It's largely a matter of providing more bandwidth and better contention ratios than traditional providers, quite why the likes of BT can't compete and offer similar services is just beyond me, perhaps they have simply let too many LLU's use their equipment and are unable to properly supply their existing customer base with the equipment they have left.

Mar 19, 2008 8:19 AM in response to Fletsch

Ooops, double post

Message was edited by: Winston Churchill

Mar 19, 2008 8:19 AM in response to Fletsch

Ooops, double post

Message was edited by: Winston Churchill

ISP throttling bandwidth for Apple TV