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Speeding Up YouTube

So far this fix works for me as well, though I used DD-WRT to do the deed so it works on all PCs:

Code: 
iptables -A INPUT -s 173.194.55.0/24 -j DROP
iptables -A INPUT -s 206.111.0.0/16 -j DROP

I'm just worried I'll be unintentionally blocking other sites/services. Only time will tell.
 
Videos are loading faster, and I haven't had any issues with buffering since applying the fix.

It should be noted that this fix is intended for users with Time Warner Cable internet. It may work with other ISPs, but only if they also throttle Youtube's CDN.
 
I should do this on my router (provided by BrightHouse) so that all the wireless devices in my house can d/l videos better, including my iPhone and my wife's Galaxy.
 
I'll have to try this today. Youtube's loading performance is always really spotty for me, and I have reasonably stupid fast internet (60/15Mb down/up)
 
Charlie98 said:
For those of us code-challenged, what exactly does that do?
Click to expand...

The link explained that Time Warner Cable specifically, and perhaps other ISPs in general, are throttling Youtube's CDN, which is (as I understand it) a cached version of various videos that allows them to offload work from their main servers onto these CDNs that are more 'local' to the individual.

What this does is block your computer from checking those, so instead you request the video from youtube directly which will cause your computer to download the video in real time using your entire connection.
 
TheStu said:
The link explained that Time Warner Cable specifically, and perhaps other ISPs in general, are throttling Youtube's CDN, which is (as I understand it) a cached version of various videos that allows them to offload work from their main servers onto these CDNs that are more 'local' to the individual.

What this does is block your computer from checking those, so instead you request the video from youtube directly which will cause your computer to download the video in real time using your entire connection.
Click to expand...

Thank you... that made sense! 🙂
 
Stupid question, but why would downloading the cached version from another server not utilize your entire connection?

Wouldn't it essentially just be doing the same download from a local mirror transparently? The only decrease in speed I could see is if the main youtube distro servers were much beefier with much more bandwidth available than the mirrors. Why would your ISP throttle the local mirrors but not the main youtube servers?
 
Last edited:
Mushkins said:
Stupid question, but why would downloading the cached version from another server not utilize your entire connection?

Wouldn't it essentially just be doing the same download from a local mirror transparently? The only decrease in speed I could see is if the main youtube distro servers were much beefier with much more bandwidth available than the mirrors. Why would your ISP throttle the local mirrors but not the main youtube servers?
Click to expand...

That's the whole issue and the question of the thread. This shouldn't make much of a difference, and the ISPs shouldn't be throttling the CDN, but they are.

Can anyone that know more about this than me chime in with a reasonable explanation of why some ISPs do this? Other than 'TWC is teh devil!'
 
Charlie98 said:
...they are. D:




Is this the same sort of thing that is plaguing Netflix? Or something else entirely... 😕
Click to expand...

Is your netflix not working correctly?

More on topic: This seems to be working for me on Verizon FIOS, but I won't know for sure without wasting more time researching on youtube.
 
On a separate but related note, if you are tired of adverts, create a corporate GMail account for yourself. Its something like a few dollars a month, but I've never seen a single youtube advert because I'm always signed in using my business email.
 
Ancalagon44 said:
On a separate but related note, if you are tired of adverts, create a corporate GMail account for yourself. Its something like a few dollars a month, but I've never seen a single youtube advert because I'm always signed in using my business email.
Click to expand...

I just use Adblock and another couple extensions. Gives me a nice clean interface, auto-loads the 720p stream and auto-embiggens it too.
 
AnonymouseUser said:
So far this fix works for me as well, though I used DD-WRT to do the deed so it works on all PCs:

Code: 
iptables -A INPUT -s 173.194.55.0/24 -j DROP
iptables -A INPUT -s 206.111.0.0/16 -j DROP

I'm just worried I'll be unintentionally blocking other sites/services. Only time will tell.
Click to expand...

So how and where are you using this command in your router?
 
TheStu said:
Is your netflix not working correctly?
Click to expand...

Not to derail the thread... but,

Having some issues with Netflix streaming and image tearing. The new GPU didn't fix it, either, although it did improve streaming from storage. I have a thread about it in HTPC... 🙂
 
Batmeat said:
So how and where are you using this command in your router?
Click to expand...

As long as you've got DD-WRT installed, you can do it one of two ways:

1) ssh in and enter the commands one at a time

2) From the web management page, under Administration/Commands, enter them both on separate lines under Command Shell and press Run Commands at the bottom of the page.

I recommend making a backup (Administration/Backup) before and after running the commands, just in case something goes wrong. If you need to delete the rule, run the same command but with -D (Delete) instead of -A (Append).
 
AnonymouseUser said:
So far this fix works for me as well, though I used DD-WRT to do the deed so it works on all PCs:

Code: 
iptables -A INPUT -s 173.194.55.0/24 -j DROP
iptables -A INPUT -s 206.111.0.0/16 -j DROP

I'm just worried I'll be unintentionally blocking other sites/services. Only time will tell.
Click to expand...

what does this do? Is there a some more I can read about this. thx
 
I was getting the following error when adding via Power Shell Prompt:

One or more of the specified profiles is not valid. 'Any' cannot be specified if other profiles are specified.

I added "profile=private" to the end of the command and it was happy.

I can verify (using Verizon) that I suddenly can play any video from youtube and no longer have videos that seem to take forever to load/cache.

I'd always wondered why some vids would play fine whilst others would only work in low-res or not at all.

NICE!
 
holden j caufield said:
what does this do? Is there a some more I can read about this. thx
Click to expand...

iptables is a Linux IPv4 firewall, and since DD-WRT is a Linux based third-party firmware for wireless routers, we can use iptables to accept or drop requests based on rules.

In this case, since Time Warner Cable is throttling all traffic from Youtube's CDN (Content Delivery Network), that rule blocks (drops) all requests on my local network to the IP ranges that are used for Youtube's CDN. This forces Youtube requests from the local network to go directly to Youtube's main servers, and bypasses TWC's throttling. The original blog article discussing the issue is here, and the subsequent reddit discussion is here.

Running that command on my DD-WRT flashed router means I don't need to do anything with my PCs or smartphones, I don't have to worry about which OS they are running, and they are all getting the same benefit.
 
Crow550 said:
Anyone ever try enabling the Feather beta? http://www.youtube.com/feather_beta
Click to expand...

I remember reading about this a few weeks ago. What's ironic is that after rolling it out, they actually saw average load times RISE on the server they put it on.

The reason was that all of a sudden, people that had to wait 10-20 minutes for the page and video to load, were able to do it in 1-2 minutes, so they were actually letting the page finish loading. So, although average times increased, the people that needed it the most saw HUGE benefits.
 
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