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not another PSN is slow thread but still

PaulloDEC

Member
Started downloading XCOM last night (Phat 80gb PS3 over Wi-Fi, position of our router makes wired impossible). When I woke up 8 hours later, it was at 15%.

We've got crappy internet here, but it ain't that crappy.
 

BibiMaghoo

Member
My PC and Vita download faster on the same connection, also over Wifi the same.

So it is something to do with the actual PS3. The estimated speeds lie, I never get what it says I should.
 
Mine starts off pretty fast then after 10mins slows down. Pausing it and the resuming gets it back to proper speed for a bit.

It's seriously making me reconsider a ps4.
 

Seep

Member
7 hours for BF3 40 min install then get hit with a 2 gig patch that takes over an hour is quite pathetic, sort your shit out Sony.
 

Minions

Member
I download at 1-2MB/s wired on standard comcast package, so I don't have download speed issues. The store is always inherently slow, as is PS Home.

PS3 is pretty selective about routers. My wireless can do around 1 megabyte/second. I've had routers in the past that didn't agree with the PS3/PSP/Vita.
 

RedAssedApe

Banned
All digital future is a long ways off if its going to take people a full day to download a game.

So I was previously configuring my router to use Google DNS servers (8.8.8.8 and 4.4.4.4) instead of my ISP's DNS servers. PS3 Network Settings > Connection Test was showing 5Mbps download speed. I'm provisioned for 15Mbps down. Switched my DNS settings back to my ISPs and magical the speed test is 15Mbps. Weird right? Speedtest.net via PS3 browser both showed 15Mbps.

Just as an aside, took me a day to download BF3 12GB off PSN. 2GB patch (downloaded after DNS server change)took me 30 minutes to download. wtf? lol

I'm going to try some more downloads to see how they look. But yeah PSN has always been notoriously slow for me. Even firmware and app updates which are usually less than 200MB are slow as hell. Hilarious when you use Google to try and look up PSN download speed issues and there is ALWAYS one person in a thread who posts "get a better router"...

Any network saavy guys know why a modification to my DNS settings might cause this change? DNS servers just translate hostnames to IPs so was this just a big coincidence? Or is there a difference in speeds when downloading from Playstation Store versus updates?
 

jsnepo

Member
Still getting slow download speeds. One day it's fast, the next is as slow as a 56K connection. This is so random. Even the LBP trailer direct link is slow.
 

Moozo

Member
Just downloaded new Walking Dead episode on my Xbox. Man is it quicker than PSN. Been downloading the new PS Plus stuff forever
 

TRios Zen

Member
Yeah than it is probably because of the poor WLAN module in the PS3 or some of your router settings. Hopefully PS4 will be better in this regard, because Sony's servers are not the issue most of the time.

Not sure how we can definitively say this. I've connected wirelessly, hard-wired and even directly connected to my modem and never achieved a fast down-load from the PSN.

Hell at the advice of another GAF poster (forgot who) I even started the download, stopped and then restarted, as he thought that might ping a different, faster server (sadly it didn't work).

Because of this, I've only ever downloaded a single game from PSN, anything else, I buy physical. Conversely, on my other systems I buy digitally all the time as downloads/installs are quick and easy.
 

rapid32.5

Member
Downloaded GT Academy today in 3 min (1gb)

PSN is 90% of the time fast for me

I was downloading same demo it was fast (2MB/s) but then I tried to download BattleField 3 my speed was less than (1MB/s) it also depends on what content you download of PSN. Xbox LIVE yesterday was also slow during the summer sale.
 

jsnepo

Member
I was downloading same demo it was fast (2MB/s) but then I tried to download BattleField 3 my speed was less than (1MB/s) it also depends on what content you download of PSN. Xbox LIVE yesterday was also slow during the summer sale.

Battlefield 3 is indeed slow to download from PSN today.
 

Withnail

Member
All digital future is a long ways off if its going to take people a full day to download a game.

So I was previously configuring my router to use Google DNS servers (8.8.8.8 and 4.4.4.4) instead of my ISP's DNS servers. PS3 Network Settings > Connection Test was showing 5Mbps download speed. I'm provisioned for 15Mbps down. Switched my DNS settings back to my ISPs and magical the speed test is 15Mbps. Weird right? Speedtest.net via PS3 browser both showed 15Mbps.

Just as an aside, took me a day to download BF3 12GB off PSN. 2GB patch (downloaded after DNS server change)took me 30 minutes to download. wtf? lol

I'm going to try some more downloads to see how they look. But yeah PSN has always been notoriously slow for me. Even firmware and app updates which are usually less than 200MB are slow as hell. Hilarious when you use Google to try and look up PSN download speed issues and there is ALWAYS one person in a thread who posts "get a better router"...

Any network saavy guys know why a modification to my DNS settings might cause this change? DNS servers just translate hostnames to IPs so was this just a big coincidence? Or is there a difference in speeds when downloading from Playstation Store versus updates?

It's because when using Google DNS you will be connected to the PSN content server nearest to Google. When using your ISP's DNS you will be connected to the content server nearest your ISP. One obvious problem with the former is that everybody using Google DNS will all be hitting the same PSN content server!

I've mentioned DNS configuration in a few of the recent "PSN is slow" threads. I think this is actually a big factor on PSN because from what I can tell a LOT of people use OpenDNS or Google DNS on PS3, or they use something like unblock-us to get around Netflix region locking. All of these things will screw with the way you get connected to PSN content servers.
 

jsnepo

Member
It's because when using Google DNS you will be connected to the PSN content server nearest to Google. When using your ISP's DNS you will be connected to the content server nearest your ISP. One obvious problem with the former is that everybody using Google DNS will all be hitting the same PSN content server!

I've mentioned DNS configuration in a few of the recent "PSN is slow" threads. I think this is actually a big factor on PSN because from what I can tell a LOT of people use OpenDNS or Google DNS on PS3, or they use something like unblock-us to get around Netflix region locking. All of these things will screw with the way you get connected to PSN content servers.

I followed your advise last night and set my router to use my local IP's DNS for domains with playstation.net and it did work. I was getting the maximum download rate that my ISP is giving me. Unfortunately, it didn't last. Now it's back to having less than 100Kbps download rate. What you said may have a factor but it's not the only factor I'm getting this issue now. Besides, I've downloaded files from PSN since 2007 using OpenDNS and this is the first time I got this issue.

That LBP trailer link is still downloading fast though. I'm also downloading the Dust 514 patch with no problems. I think it's only Battlefield 3.
 
So how besides background downloads is Sony going to fix this slow download issue? I have never owned a PS3, but if I turn on my PS4 and try to download a FTP game and I get 300 kbps down, I won't keep the console.
 

Soler

Banned
So how besides background downloads is Sony going to fix this slow download issue? I have never owned a PS3, but if I turn on my PS4 and try to download a FTP game and I get 300 kbps down, I won't keep the console.
Sounds like you need to switch ISP if you get 300 kbps
 
This is what makes me doubt everything Sony says about psn on ps4. The download experience is terrible on PS3. The installs only amplify the issues.
 
It's because when using Google DNS you will be connected to the PSN content server nearest to Google. When using your ISP's DNS you will be connected to the content server nearest your ISP. One obvious problem with the former is that everybody using Google DNS will all be hitting the same PSN content server!

I've mentioned DNS configuration in a few of the recent "PSN is slow" threads. I think this is actually a big factor on PSN because from what I can tell a LOT of people use OpenDNS or Google DNS on PS3, or they use something like unblock-us to get around Netflix region locking. All of these things will screw with the way you get connected to PSN content servers.
I don't do any of that and PSN is still slow as balls for me.

Battlefield 3 took 2 FULL days to download, not an exaggeration; that's just crazy.

I know it's not my connection either, because Battlefield 3 downloads on Origin in a few hours using Wifi.

I'm using the PS3's Wifi, so maybe launch units just have shit Wifi. Or the PSN servers near me are shit.

Sounds like you need to switch ISP if you get 300 kbps
It's not the ISPs fault if he's getting good speeds using every other service.
 
Sounds like you need to switch ISP if you get 300 kbps

That's not my down speed, that is what a lot people trying to use PSN are saying is their max speed. I thought maybe this issue had fixed but if you google search it for results that are a month older or less and it still shows up as a large issue for a lot of people. So it's either a PS3 hardware issue or a Sony server issue. I could see folks like me who switch over from 360 to PS4 not being happy if the slow speeds continued.
 

Soler

Banned
I don't do any of that and PSN is still slow as balls for me.

Battlefield 3 took 2 FULL days to download, not an exaggeration; that's just crazy.

I know it's not my connection either, because Battlefield 3 downloads on Origin in a few hours using Wifi.

I'm using the PS3's Wifi, so maybe launch units just have shit Wifi. Or the PSN servers near me are shit.


It's not the ISPs fault if he's getting good speeds using every other service.
That's a severe downgrade from a "good" speed
I was getting 6 Mbps with my 26mbps speed
That's a pretty good download speed that was being brought down to a bad speed
500kbps is as shit as you can get
 

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
I just downloaded BF3 thanks to Plus as well. Took less than an hour. Still slower than my PC but much better than most people's experiences it seems.
 
That's a severe downgrade from a "good" speed
I was getting 6 Mbps with my 26mbps speed
That's a pretty good download speed that was being brought down to a bad speed
500kbps is as shit as you can get
And he's saying he doesn't want to use PSN if that's the kind of speeds he gets with it. I agree, getting those speeds on PSN is shit.

I personally get speeds worse than that on PSN; it's disgraceful but it's free.
 
I've always wondered why they don't let us choose our download server, like Steam does.

I'm sure it would solve a lot of the download speed issues.
 

jaypah

Member
PSN is fucking psycho. I used to get shit speeds but now I get decent speeds but I didn't change anything. Just years and years of shit speed and then out of the blue it just decides to love me. Maybe they changed something on their end.
 

Soler

Banned
And he's saying he doesn't want to use PSN if that's the kind of speeds he gets with it. I agree, getting those speeds on PSN is shit.

I personally get speeds worse than that on PSN; it's disgraceful but it's free.
I suggest opening your ports I was getting 5-8 Mbps
Now I get 12-18
 
I suggest opening your ports I was getting 5-8 Mbps
Now I get 12-18
I've tried that, and I've tried switching my wireless channels just incase the PS3 didn't like the one I was using. I've tried all sorts of stuff, the problem isn't on my end.

My friends get shit speeds too; I guess Sony's servers in my area are just shit.
 

Soler

Banned
I've tried that, and I've tried switching my wireless channels just incase the PS3 didn't like the one I was using. I've tried all sorts of stuff, the problem isn't on my end.

My friends get shit speeds too; I guess Sony's servers in my area are just shit.
Area? Yea it's a terrible situation
The ps3 network card is also very outdated
 

DietRob

i've been begging for over 5 years.
All I'm going to say is it better get faster or have selectable servers when everyone starts paying for it via plus.

Edit: I'm going to have to run some network cable to my basement and family room. This settles it.
 
My speeds used to be really slow when I was still using WiFi. I bought a powerline network adapter and switched to a wired connection and it solved pretty much all of my problems. My speeds are now almost as fast as they should be.
 
It took me 9 hours to dl and install catherine on my ps3... That's on a 120mb/sec connection over a cat5 ethernet cable. (during which you can't do anything else on the ps3, I tried watching some youtube on my tv through my ps3 and it paused the download)

PSN is just shit and the ps3 hdd is a piece of shit too.

Consoles are more than a decade behind pc when it comes to functionality and speed and ease of use.
 

Siegmeyer

Member
Does the available free hard drive space affect speeds? I have no clue when it comes to tech issues, but found out something interesting the other day whilst grabbing Saints Row 3.

I have a slim 120gb PS3, my housemate an old 60gb fat, and we have fibre-optic broadband.

After years on XBLA, after seeing all my free games, he signed up for PS+ last month.
Downloading XCOM was pretty quick on both machines. LoTR: WitN took about an hour on my PS3. He then started to d/l it on his machine. d/l speeds seemed identical for the first 20%, but then it took over 5 hours to dl the rest of it. We assumed it was just his older hardware.

Now this month he wanted to get Saints Row 3, which is about 7gb. He had to delete LoTR to make enough space (he actually needed about 15gb free space before it would start the dl). Again it was the same story, the dl got around 25% done at regular speed, but then slowed to a crawl. So as an experiment, he paused the dl, went and deleted some game data installs and freed up about 3gb. He then resumed the dl and it was back to normal speed, and stayed that way until the dl finished.

FWIW, I have never had dl speed problems on my machine, and I've always had at least 30gb free space. He has said that one of the reasons he barely used his PS3 (before we were housemates) was because of the painfully slow dl speeds. If he's always had little free space available, could that be the reason why?


This could probably have been said a lot more succintly, and I'll look like an idiot if this has already been mentioned in this thread, but thought it was worth sharing for those having issues.
 
Does the available free hard drive space affect speeds? I have no clue when it comes to tech issues, but found out something interesting the other day whilst grabbing Saints Row 3.

I have a slim 120gb PS3, my housemate an old 60gb fat, and we have fibre-optic broadband.

After years on XBLA, after seeing all my free games, he signed up for PS+ last month.
Downloading XCOM was pretty quick on both machines. LoTR: WitN took about an hour on my PS3. He then started to d/l it on his machine. d/l speeds seemed identical for the first 20%, but then it took over 5 hours to dl the rest of it. We assumed it was just his older hardware.

Now this month he wanted to get Saints Row 3, which is about 7gb. He had to delete LoTR to make enough space (he actually needed about 15gb free space before it would start the dl). Again it was the same story, the dl got around 25% done at regular speed, but then slowed to a crawl. So as an experiment, he paused the dl, went and deleted some game data installs and freed up about 3gb. He then resumed the dl and it was back to normal speed, and stayed that way until the dl finished.

FWIW, I have never had dl speed problems on my machine, and I've always had at least 30gb free space. He has said that one of the reasons he barely used his PS3 (before we were housemates) was because of the painfully slow dl speeds. If he's always had little free space available, could that be the reason why?


This could probably have been said a lot more succintly, and I'll look like an idiot if this has already been mentioned in this thread, but thought it was worth sharing for those having issues.
I don't think it's a space issue, as I installed a 500gig hard drive myself.

It might be an issue to do with the model of PS3 though; I have a launch 60 gig fat PS3. The first units might have had worse wifi adapters maybe.
 

RedAssedApe

Banned
Port forwarding shouldn't really be necessary. Unless you have an old ass router it should support upnp which is supposed to open up ports automatically. i've never had to do any manual port forwarding for torrenting on any of the routers i've purchased in the last 5 years as the upnp and console wise, always detected as open nat, nat 2.

Wireless should not be an issue unless your ps3 is actually far enough away from your router for speed drops. Also the wifi card in the ps3 only supports 802.11b/g so if you're provisioned for faster internet than what the max is for g or if you have non-g devices on your network you're not going to see max speeds regardless. If you're one of the lucky ones who gets something above 20Mbps you should use wired ethernet if you want ideal download speeds.

Of course I'm talking about the ideal and unfortunately even with us controlling what we can control on our end, PSN can still be terribly slow for some of us. It shouldn't take me 5 minutes to download a 50 MB Netflix app update on a 15Mbps :|
 

SScorpio

Member
My PS3s have always been wired and they normally maxed out around 8Mb/s on a 50Mb/s line. I saw another thread on GAF and someone mentioned setting up a proxy server. The PS3 only has a single connection to the server, where a proxy server can initiate multiple connections and keeps the PS3's single connection max at your full download speed.

It's not for everyone, but I have a home server which I use mainly for file storage. I installed a free non caching proxy server called privoxy. After getting it running I just went into the PS3's network setting and configured them manually, setup the proxy setting and it magically worked for me.

http://www.privoxy.org/

Before doing this I was downloading a lot of content from PSN and I left it overnight and it slowdown at some point and ended up downloading about 3GB in 7 hours. I setup the proxy server, and I downloaded about 15GB in 45 mins.
 

Withnail

Member
People don't seem to really understand this but when you download something from PSN it doesn't come from a Sony server. The content is hosted by a Content Delivery Network called Akamai. Akamai is one of the major players in the business and they have serious infrastructure. All of Apple's iTunes content is hosted by Akamai, and Akamai has also served content for Steam, Netflix and other big names in the past.

What I'm trying to say is the "shit PSN servers" thing is just a myth promoted by people who don't know what they're talking about.

Now I'm not saying that some people don't have slow downloads. They definitely do. But my feeling is that the majority of problems are caused by one or all of the following:

PS3's crappy wifi adaptor (use a wire, if you can't then at least disable media sharing)
Some weird compatibility issues with certain makes of router
DNS settings
 

Waqas

Member
Disable QOS, UPNP and use port forward instead, this solved the speed issue for me.

The WIFI card only plays nice with some routers, on my own dualband linksys I've dedicated one band for only 802.11G traffic, this boosts speeds compared to mixed mode...
 
PSN is always slow. ALWAYS.

It's well known by now that it's not slow for everyone.

Some people have routinely slow speeds and others have extremely fast ones

There's definitely an issue with the infrastructure since there's discrepancies but it does work as intended for many, including myself

Edit: just noticed the age of this thread. Wow
 
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