Xbox Live downloads being throttled or bottlenecked?

mykreau · Dec 13, 2018

Hi there-

I've been looking this up around the web for quite a bit and see a lot of folks in a similar situation, but can't seem to find a conclusive answer:

THE PROBLEM:

My downloads/updates on xbox live seem to throttled by MS and not my ISP or a lack of bandwidth.

Specifically, I have a fiber connection, and when I initiate a download, the speed starts out fast (~90mb/s) then within the first minute or so drops off to less than 5mb/s, and often will hover around 1.5 - 2mb/s for the entirety of the download.

THE SPECS:

I'm on a single-user, high-speed, network with 4 devices connected (including my xbox).

All devices have strong uninterrupted bandwidth.

I'm running a Google mesh wifi router in a single room building with direct line of sight to all devices.

Router report shows average down speed ~572mb/s and average up speed ~834mb/s (at the router).

Speed test on the xbox (wifi) during the last update showed a speed of 82mb/s (down) and 91.4 mb/s (up)

ISP is not comcast and not in the habit of throttling or capping data.

THE QUESTIONS:

Is MS throttling download speeds intentionally or unintentionally?

Is this the result of bottlenecking from too many concurrent users downloading from the same server (I imagine the initial spike in download speed makes a good case here?)

If so, is there a way to switch download servers mid download?

Are there additional settings in my xbox to take advantage of this lost bandwidth?

@MS can't Azure do better than this? I'm in your backyard and it took an hour to update a six-year-old game last night on a fiber network. Hardly the future of entertainment you promised.

:)

mykreau

Thanks Paul,

Typically, the speed starts off strong... full speed within the initial 30 seconds to one minute or so. That's an estimate. It's pretty inconsistent. I have had some updates stay consistently strong for 75-80% of the download then plummet for the remainder.

Almost always tho, once the speed lowers, it never recovers back to initial speeds.

mykreau

Hi Paul-

The console has been set up on wifi for the past 5 months. However, previously, this had been a recognizable issue on a wired connection in another setup.

Before, I was a comcast user with a significantly slower package (max 60mb speeds). Typically, my up/down speeds with a wired connection straight to the xbox would plateau, again, around 5-8mb/s. I had tried swapping cables several times, but because my
internet experience with comcast typically showed that speeds on all my devices seldom ever lived up to promised speeds, I didnt associate the xbox live with throttling it.

Fast forward to a new apartment, new ISP, new router... I have far more visibility on my network health and ISP, and far more bandwidth. So the performance dip here on xbox live is far more easy to see.

Back to your other questions:

Network tests on Xbox show ALL GOOD:

Specifically, the last check showed

down speed ~102mbps

up speed ~103mbps

Latency 24ms

Wireless strength 100%

packet loss 0%

MTU 1480

I have not prioritized the console on the network, but when I'm running an update or download on my xbox, I'm not multitasking on other devices. And with fiber bandwidth of over 500mbps down, it sure seems like I ought to be pulling in higher download speeds
than 5mb/s from xbox, especially when the console still reads data streams coming in around 100.

mykreau

Hi, Puppy. I am not on the Insider Program. I have seen other folks talking about this around reddit however, so I know I'm not alone. I thought I'd bring the conversation here as well.

Thanks for the link.

XBF Paul M

Thank you for responding so quickly to the message. When you see the plateau how far are you along with the update? Is it possible the slow rate you see might be the transfer/write rate from the hard drive? As well once you prioritize the console on the
network please let us know how it goes.

Tormaz

Hello!

I would guess there's some sort of ISP or connection issue you're experiencing. If it's consistently happening, it's possibly even an issue from your ISP to Microsoft, which usually your provider would have to resolve. I have a 100Mbps connection with
multiple devices, and typically have download speeds around 60-70Mbps on my Xbox.

Xbox Live downloads being throttled or bottlenecked?