PS Now: Can download but not stream games - custom internet settings?

[Jason Green]

Hello, community! 

I am located in Chiang Mai, and officially cannot stream games from PS Now, BUT I can download them via PS Now to the hard drive and play them. Strange! Unfortunately, about 75% of the games on PS Now aren't available for download. Whenever I try to stream a game, it keeps telling me: 

 

"Unfortunately your network delay might make PlayStation Now unusable. You can make sure by connecting a LAN cable and trying the connection test again." 

 

I am already using LAN cable. I have a 300 megabit fiber connection that is very speedy. When I test it from the PS4 it says: 75.9 Mbps down / 4.5 MBps up. Playstation website says you need 5 megabit download minimum. 

 

I spoke with Sony, and they told me to use some custom settings and unblock various ports. I called my ISP (3BB) and they told me to put the PS4 on custom IP, and use the DMZ setting on the router so the PS4 can send and recieve on all ports. Sounds great in theory! 

 

Problem is, this just doesn't work. The ISP tech even updated the SW on the router, still no go. At first I thought "OH, PS Now must just not be available in Thailand." But if that was the case, i wouldn't be able to login to PS Now and download/play games. It's like it TRIES to start streaming the games, but just ends up failing every time. 

 

Is there something I'm missing here? Pulling my hair out for days here! Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thank you! 

[tweedledee2]

When you spoke with Sony support did you tell them you were in Thailand? PS Now is available in the US, Canada and 17 other countries mostly in Europe. There no Asian countries on the list. Two years ago, I tried their 7-day free trial and my results were similar to yours. While you can download games without issues, you are downloading games through the PlayStation Store world-wide server network but trying to stream games from Now servers located in the US, Canada and Europe. This means your connection originates in Chiang Mai, goes thru Bangkok, then to the nearest PS server, which is in Singapore, then to a US PS server before being routed to Now's streaming servers. Then it is sent back on the reversed route. When your outgoing traffic goes thru the Singapore server they know you are in Asia. You could possibly use a VPN to channel your connection thru one of the VPN's US sever locations to connect to the PS Network and get Now to work, but there would be significant loss to your current internet speeds. You rate your internet connection as "very speedy" at 79.5/4.5. My 3BB 200/200 is 139.1/88 from my rural home 10 miles NE of Surin. 

[kekalot]

it's not the speed of your internet that bothers PS Now, it's the ping.

 

if you do a speedtest on sites like speedtest.net you are basically connecting to Thailand servers and getting high results

PS Now connects to US networks and if your ping is above a certain number (and it's not very high, maybe 100-150ms) then it just flat out refuses to let you stream.

 

here:

 

3BB 200/200 Fiber

vs 3BB (local): https://www.speedtest.net/result/8785954439

vs Telus (middle of Canada): https://www.speedtest.net/result/8785958154

 

it's fine for downloading files or streaming movies, but for streaming games no.

 

 

[Jason Green]

On 11/20/2019 at 2:29 PM, tweedledee2 said:

When you spoke with Sony support did you tell them you were in Thailand? PS Now is available in the US, Canada and 17 other countries mostly in Europe. There no Asian countries on the list. Two years ago, I tried their 7-day free trial and my results were similar to yours. While you can download games without issues, you are downloading games through the PlayStation Store world-wide server network but trying to stream games from Now servers located in the US, Canada and Europe. This means your connection originates in Chiang Mai, goes thru Bangkok, then to the nearest PS server, which is in Singapore, then to a US PS server before being routed to Now's streaming servers. Then it is sent back on the reversed route. When your outgoing traffic goes thru the Singapore server they know you are in Asia. You could possibly use a VPN to channel your connection thru one of the VPN's US sever locations to connect to the PS Network and get Now to work, but there would be significant loss to your current internet speeds. You rate your internet connection as "very speedy" at 79.5/4.5. My 3BB 200/200 is 139.1/88 from my rural home 10 miles NE of Surin. 

My connection tests out at those speeds within the PS4, my actual connection speed is 200/200 megabit 3BB fiber, and its very snappy. I did NOT tell Sony I was in Thailand, figured if it truly wasn't allowed here, then the service wouldn't half way work. The 3BB tech called Sony tech support in Bangkok, and they did not mention that its not supported here or in any geographic region. It just comes down to ping time, and all the way out here in Thailand, away from their closest server? Its definitely slow, despite having an otherwise speedy connection ????

[kekalot]

this is what you get from 400/400 Fiber from 3BB practically anywhere in Thailand vs in middle of America (as I said above)

and if you used a VPN you would make those results even worse.

 

so, not going to happen with PS Now until they have a Singapore (or otherwise) server I am afraid.

 

vs

[muratremix]

Can you download games to PS4 and play from there? 

[Jason Green]

On 3/17/2020 at 9:59 AM, muratremix said:

Can you download games to PS4 and play from there? 

The ones that they will let you download, yes. Sony only allows downloads of some games.

 

So the service WORKS! Partially... ????