Asymetric Degradation Of Overseas Uploads/downloads

[retiree]

I have 2.5M/512K TRUE ADSL. In the evening, this frequently degrades to 250K/400K for international download from / upload to the US (as measured by http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/). My in-country speeds stay relatively unaffected, so I assume this isn't a 'last-mile' problem.

If both downloaders and uploaders are contending for the same limited international bandwidth, why don't both download and upload degrade at the same rate? Is the pipeline itself not symmetrical? Are the download routers getting swamped? Or do I just have a faulty view of how international Internet traffic works?

Puzzled,

Retiree

[Crushdepth]

If both downloaders and uploaders are contending for the same limited international bandwidth, why don't both download and upload degrade at the same rate?

Very interesting question

One comment: For god sake downgrade your plan. Don't pay for what you aren't getting!

[autonomous_unit]

Most long-haul networks run full-duplex. This means that data is sent over separate paths/frequencies so "upload" and "download" will not impact one another. They each have a separate fixed capacity. This is true at the physical layer, e.g. with fiber optic links, and also at the typical logical management layer, where the available link and switching equipment capacity is managed as if it were a real physical circuit. There is nothing to say that these would have to start off with symmetric capacity, but it seems that it might in this case...

As for why they degrade asymmetrically then, it means Thailand on the whole consumes more internationally produced Internet content rather than exporting content that other countries wish to consume.

[Firefoxx]

As autonomous unit said, nearly all the international links Thailand has are symmetric, with the same upload and download bandwidth. Of course, since Thailand doesn't have that much content that the rest of the world wants/needs, there will be a much greater use of incoming bandwidth rather than outgoing (since the people in Thailand are mostly downloading from outside Thailand). The US, OTOH, is nearly the opposite. Most of the traffic is internal, and much of the international traffic is outgoing.

When I had True, speeds during the day were horrendous. No stability and very low speeds. It would improve late at night, and then get totally zonked again early in the morning.

[fxm88]

As for why they degrade asymmetrically then, it means Thailand on the whole consumes more internationally produced Internet content rather than exporting content that other countries wish to consume.

So what you're saying is that Thailand is a nation of leechers. I could agree with that.

[retiree]

Thanks, Autonomous and Firefoxx. Yes, I had a faulty idea of how the international link work -- I don't know what I wuz thinking when I thought it was a bus ;-) .

Retiree

[CobraSnakeNecktie]

Thanks, Autonomous and Firefoxx. Yes, I had a faulty idea of how the international link work -- I don't know what I wuz thinking when I thought it was a bus ;-) .

Retiree

another factor is that the Thai Govt filters and censors and as far as VOIP goes it creates latency for packets coming into Thailand. When I make a VOIP call to the states they say I am perfect sound quality but the voice packets coming back to me can be choppy at times. Its just a matter of resources but the Thai government should do a better job and not create a bottleneck....