Why is everything buffering on a 55Mbps connection with Zen!

I don't understand this!

We've had Zen Fibre 2 installed for under a month.
I'm using an ethernet cable to my PC and all the speed-tests from various sites consistently gives me no less than 50Mbps download and 17Mbps upload.
Yet, when i go to watch a Youtube video, it often buffers, even at 480P.
I've tried a Mac downstairs that's also reporting the exact same speed across several speed-testing programs and also has buffering issues.
I notice that the connection speed on YouTube videos seem to jump from around 40,000 Kbps to about 2000 Kbps randomly between videos.
BBC iPlayer/Demand 5 also buffers when using the built in TV on demand player.

Speed-test Result: http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/5385675350
Router info: https://gyazo.com/bafe656875756bfe8056c88cbd2222ff

I've spoken to Zen support over the phone and they weren't much help but have set up a graph to monitor my connection over the next two days using the ping function on my router. The only thing they really said was that my ping was rather high at 30ms instead of something like 15ms..

I can't work out what is going on...
This issue occurs at all times of day and yet the speed has never, ever, dropped below 50Mbps download and 17Mbps upload.

Post a link to a test done using http://labs.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest

If the tbbx1 line is lower than the httpx6 then you have your reason i.e. congestion is probably an issue. Almost every other tester does not do anything similar and aims just to give a nice high figure.

Zen also have an internal version of the test that runs on their own network, so can eliminate the wider Internet from the equation, they should be able to give you a link.

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

Post a link to a test done using http://labs.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest

If the tbbx1 line is lower than the httpx6 then you have your reason i.e. congestion is probably an issue. Almost every other tester does not do anything similar and aims just to give a nice high figure.

Zen also have an internal version of the test that runs on their own network, so can eliminate the wider Internet from the equation, they should be able to give you a link.

Wow,
I did the exact same test through the Zen website when talking to support yesterday and was getting my normal 55Mbps download and 17Mbps upload.
However when I do the speedtest straight through Thinkbroadband..
http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/results.html...

Really strange just how different the results are between speed-testing sites as all others will give me about 55Mbps download.

Update:
Something seems fishy here...
When I go to do the test through Zen's site using Thinkbroadband it gives me 55Mbps download and 17Mbps up...

Edited by deleted (Fri 10-Jun-16 17:25:01)

Nothing odd at all.

The test that is 'ours' but on a Zen address actually runs on a server inside the Zen network, so cuts out a chunk of the Internet. This points to a problem with data capacity for you as you leave the Zen network to the wider world.

Strange - After a router restart the ThinkBroadband speed test is now reporting equivalent speeds to all the others (53Mbps) and Youtube isn't buffering with a connection speed of about 50,000Kbps. I'll wait till I next have issues and then I'll give them a call

That speed test shows congestion and would cause all of the issues you expressed.

Zen has had lots of reports of this recently.

The only real fix is to either wait and hope zen fix it or to switch ISP.

A router restart can put you on a different part of the Zen network and thus clear up the problems.

I have found that it's rare for stopping and restarting the session to give improvements , it all will depend on where the problem lies, when i had peak time issues the Zen speed tester would give better results than think broadband and others, which i me was a bit odd as it was a overloaded svlan

In the time I was with Zen the Zen speedtest never once gave a reading that was anywhere near correct.

Here's the link to the TBB tester hosted on Zen's network

speedtest.zen.co.uk

Just dug it out from their KB as seeing a little bit of uneven throughput.

Edited by techguy (Sat 11-Jun-16 19:40:21)