Chicago speeds and New York speeds.

[Elochai]

I use to rent a VPS here a few years back in New York. Servers were great, service was great. Of course I live in Canada and I went with a full box close by where I live. But I still love the service I got here at NFO and still have web services here.

Now I'm in the market once again for a single core VPS to use as a VPN. Where I live, the PlayStation network servers suck. I can't get speeds over 12 MBps, yet my connection can do 250 MBps (and yes it really can as I upload and download at them rates to my dedicated).

So after doing some research, I found I'm connecting to a server in Toronto that the PlayStation network is using for Canada. It looks like they only got to CDN servers in Canada; Toronto, and ottawa which are both crappy.

So I was thinking that I may be able to fix this issue by setting up a VPN in New York or Chicago, and making the PlayStation look for a CDN server in that area. Thing is, I want to make sure that the Server can give me the max speed back. So which is better, renting a VPS in New York again or Chicago which has premium by it. And what is the upload and download speeds of the network for the VPS's ?

[kraze]

I'd recommend picking a location closet to you, as this will help the overall VPN performance. All servers here are connected to 1Gbps port with plenty of dedicated capacity to actually achieve that amount.

[Elochai]

I just did a few trace routes on your test IP's, Chicago which is far away from me has less hops and a lower ping then New York. So my ISP has better routing to Chicago. I just hope that this option will work for me and allow me to get a PlayStation CDN server that can push out some real speeds then what they got here in Canada.

[kraze]

Thankfully locations moves are free and easy, so if one doesn't work out you can move to a new one.

[Elochai]

Well I just ordered a new VPS in Chicago, so tomorrow I'll set it up and hope for the best. Got to figure out how to install a VPN like PPTP.

[kraze]

I'd recommend using this guide.

viewtopic.php?f=46&t=11034

[Elochai]

I'll look into it but I'm not sure if my router supports OpenVPN. I have an asus RTU66U. So when I get off work I'll check out my router to see if I can use it

[Elochai]

Well let's start with the good news, my router supports OpenVPN and is easy to use.

The tutorial you linked me was great, had the server setup with OpenVPN in 5 mins without a glitch.

Bad news, connection to a PSN server in the Chicago area was worst then the two PSN servers in Canada. I only got a 6 MBps Download vs 12 - 14 here. The upload speed however went up by .5 but because of the lower download speed, PlayStation now couldn't steam games without lag and drops.

[kraze]

Can you post your client and server configs for OpenVPN?

[Elochai]

The client is my asus router software and the config is just the default generated by that script.

I don't think it the server or OpenVPN software. I just think it the host PlayStation is using for there CDN. Which is why I'm trying to find the best area to get the best CDN speeds from the PSN network.

[soja]

Are you able to monitor CPU usage on your router? If you're pushing over 100Mb/s over a VPN you may be limited by your routers CPU.

[Elochai]

Are you able to monitor CPU usage on your router? If you're pushing over 100Mb/s over a VPN you may be limited by your routers CPU.

Just connected to the PSN network using the VPN and ran the network speed test.

Peak load on the router CPU during the test was 37% and min load was 5%.

I really think it Sony host they use for the CDN's. I'm not sure if I'll find an area that has better rates as God only knows where Sony CDN servers are located to and who they got hosting them and what they got for hardware.

[Elochai]

Well sad to say that this didn't work out for me.

On my normal connection the network was only getting max 14Mbps on the PlayStation network using my 250Mbps line.

Using Chicago as a VPN in hopes of getting a faster PlayStation content server made my connection worst. I got 6 Mbps and that also included connecting to the server to upload / download files when not using it as a VPN. (I just figure I got a bad route to Chicago maybe).

So a few days after my new network equipment showed up and I now have Cat6A running through out the place and to every wired device, a new NETGEAR ProSAFE GS108-400NAS Gigabit Switch for the front room, and a brand new ASUS RT-AC5300 Router. Cost me about $640 for the whole works, the Asus Router being the most costly but I must say I love that thing.

So with the new gear, my network did boost in speed on the PlayStation network to 20 - 22 Mbps. Using the RT-AC5300 monitor, I found out that the PlayStation 4 would download a game around 20 - 22 Mbps for each file !, (so they must be capping the limit). So what this means is, if I download 2 games at the same time, both files will download for me at 20 - 22 Mbps each, other words I'll see a download speed of 40 - 44 Mbps download on the RT-AC5300 bandwidth monitor for incoming.

So I switch the server to New York to retry the VPN option to see what would happen. Just like Chicago, I got lower speeds then what I get without using VPN. But it was a bit faster then chicago at about 11 Mbps.

[soja]

Yeah I don't know what is up with Sony and their crappy game delivery. I recently got a PS4 and no matter what I do the PS4 downloads at about 25-30Mbps, with it being a little more consistent when the console is in rest mode.

This is well documented online and I doubt we will see sony change this.

[Elochai]

Yeah I don't know what is up with Sony and their crappy game delivery. I recently got a PS4 and no matter what I do the PS4 downloads at about 25-30Mbps, with it being a little more consistent when the console is in rest mode.

This is well documented online and I doubt we will see sony change this.

Well the company Sony uses is the same company Apple is using for content delivery. But for some reason Sony capping the limits and that company only has two clouds here in Canada. To be honest I don't know why as there a new server company here in Canada from the UK area who have 10 brand new fiber lines routing out to a bunch of backbones and areas. They are really making new backbones here in Canada and are getting more done then the telecom companies. You'd think they would add a few servers there with them, at least I know I hit my mark of 250 Mbps with them.

Who knows, there is another option for me tho. There 2 ISP's here, the one I'm with gives me 250Mbps download through cable/fiber called hybrid fiber DOCSIS. The other ISP costs almost double for a 250Mbps line but they are 100 percent fiber optics and do not have to connect to a node to convert the singles as the fiber line goes stright into the home to a fiber optic modem. Before they became fiber op and were just DSL; I use to get a better route off the island through there line. My buddy says he getting the speeds with them on his PS4, tho I think he bs-ing.

Problem is where I live the Fiber op ISP doesn't want to do hook ups as they need permission from the head office / building owners to drill into the walls and to add connections. Gonna see if I can get it tho just to test it out.