Short version:

I switched from Rogers to DSL and now my "Apple TV" is a good 15 times slower to download anything.

Long version:

After getting HD movies "ready to watch" in about 2 minutes with Rogers High-Speed Lite, I switched to Start Communications 6Mbps DSL service and now it takes about 30 minutes for a HD movie to be "ready to watch".

I instantly thought it was throttling and contacted Start, but their support person said this:

"I checked on your account and it is not throttled and you have great speeds. You are getting about 5 Mbps on your line. I am not sure of the configuration for DSL on this device."

I can't find anywhere in the Apple TV settings to configure how it handles the network, the internal diagnostics comes back saying the device is working fine, and I've done a restart.

Any more ideas?

Sure sounds like your ISP. If they are a Bell reseller, perhaps its Bell that is throttling it.

Hmmmm... no, they aren't a Bell reseller but it is dry-loop DSL using a Bell line.

Can (would?) Bell throttle downloads when it's just their line being used but not their service?

- Try an online speedtest to confirm what the support guy is seeing
- Try connecting AppleTv directly to your dsl modem (router could be configured wrong or wireless is flaky)
- Check your DNS settings on AppleTV and Router
- Try resetting your router to default settings (items like MTU size etc... could be messing up your packets, port forwarding could be causing timeouts etc...)
- Check for unrelated issues such as changing channel on wireless setup (if AppleTV isn't hard-wired)

Could just be a fact of life for slower d/l speed. In addition to taking longer to download the bufffer, a slower connection will require a larger buffer. Not sure what the math is, but a half-speed connection could take 4x to load, since the buffer needs to be twice as big...

The unit is hardwired, so it's not a wireless issue.

When I check the DNS settings on the AppleTV and router, what type of "red flag" should I be looking for sepecifically?

Can (would?) Bell throttle downloads when it's just their line being used but not their service?

They can and do, but they shouldn't. Welcome to the world of Canadian service monopolies.

They can and do, but they shouldn't. Welcome to the world of Canadian service monopolies.
I asked Start if Bell could be throttling, and they said:

"Yes, that was an avenue I was investigating however it doesn't appear that Apple TV is using peer-to-peer, although I can't get 100% clarification on that."

I guess what they're saying is that they don't think Bell would KNOW if I was downloading movies because the Apple TV wouldn't be using a method that would alert Bell.

Guys,

Lets get a few things straight. This is NOT a Bell throttling issue. Bell and its resellers do not throttle non-P2P file sharing traffic.
I'm not too familiar with Apple TV so let me ask a couple of questions:

1. Are your movies being streamed via the Web or are they on your PC and being streamed as part of your home network?
2. Are you running wirelessly from your modem to Apple TV?
3. What kind of router are you using? And is it the same as when you had Rogers?

Anything can be throttled by bell, not just torrents.
We can hope they haven't moved on to other protocols, but I wouldn't rule it out simply because apple tv doesn't use torrent or p2p protocols..
I wouldn't keep on the topic, though, as there's nothing you can do if its the case.

What are your normal download speeds (i.e. just downloading a file on the computer?)
Perhaps you're only getting a 3mbps profile, as bell likes to 'forget' to increase after activation (or you simply are unable to get a higher profile)

Check here for more info if you're not getting 600+kb/s downloads on a '6meg' connection:
http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=103714

Edit: I should clarify, 600+kb/s on a well-served file. Like from microsoft or google.
Or perform a speedtest (something like http://speedtest.cogeco.net), in which you should get around 5100kbps on a 6meg dsl connection

recneps77 - I can confirm with 100% certainty this is not a DPI issue. ;)

Start has told me that Bell's throttling times are 4:30pm to 2:00am. I'm going to try a HD download tomorrow morning around 7:00am to see if the problem persists.

To answer some above questions:

1. I'm referring to movies being downloaded from the web. Anything being streamed within my internal network is working fine.
2. The Apple TV is connected directly to the router via ethernet cable.
3. The router is a Linksys WRT54GS... the same that I had with Rogers.
4. I haven't downloaded anything to my computer since getting the Apple TV, so I don't have a frame of reference. However, I will try a bandwidth test when I get home to confirm I'm getting 6Mbps (or close to it).

I sent you a PM offering you my help.

My guess is, you are not get 6MB. Either because your line is defaulted to 3MB or because you are too far from the CO/Remote to handle 6MB.

MTL, do you work for Bell?

Because I am curious what you can say in a PM that can't be said on the forum?

Lets get a few things straight. This is NOT a Bell throttling issue. Bell and its resellers do not throttle non-P2P file sharing traffic.

Unfortunately, that is what Bell said about p2p traffic in the past!

Yes i work for Bell.
I asked him to PM me his number. His profile was on 5MB and i changed it to 6.

FWIW, I run my AppleTV on Bell dry-loop DSL and I have no problems whatsoever.

I can watch HD movies within 2 minutes, and SD movies within 10 seconds. And I have never had so much as a blip or stutter in nearly two years since I have owned it.

Here's where I'm at after an evening and morning of testing...

1. During the "no Bell throttling" time frame, my Apple TV was marginally better. It was so marginal, that lets just say it was just as bad but maybe the Apple servers were less busy.

2. Using various bandwidth testing sites, my connection was routinely clocked at an average of 5Mbps... so Start seems to be giving me the bandwidth promised.

I guess I'm back to my router settings. Can anyone tell me what I'm looking for when I login to my router? What's the "red flag" that will tell me my router is effecting my Apple TV?

Thanks.

Before messing around with Router settings, why not remove the router and see if that helps.
Plug apple tv directly into your modem and see what happens.

My DSL requires account authentication, and I don't believe the Apple TV has a place anywhere for me to add the credentials. If I plug-in the Apple TV directly, I believe it will just say it doesn't have an internet connection.

I could be wrong about the above. I'll check the Apple support site.

drjohnnyfever, I was thinking about this and I don't think there is anything wrong with your AppleTV or your internet connection.

FWIW, I have AppleTV and use Primus. Recently I purchased a Season of Thirty Rock in HD from the iTunes store which was about 16GB. Total download time 12 hours on a 4 to 5 Mbps service.

In your situation, some back of the envelope math: A movie might be 1.5 GB. That's about 1,500 Megabytes or 12,000 megabits. At 5 megabits per second, that's 2,400 seconds or 40 minutes.

Half hour to download an HD movie might be about right.

Don't forget, you can begin watching before the download completes.