Slow premium download speed

[reanorius]

Can't seem to get past 4MB/s with MO2 on premium... I am on 300Mb/s cable, Steam goes 7+ times faster comparing to MO2 - 35MB/s and higher. I tried logging out of MO2, clearing cache, etc. It seems It's just Nexus? I'd love to have higher download speeds. If I get 2MB/s with free and only 4MB/s with premium, it doesn't really feel like premium... :sad:.

The thing that points to throttling by Nexus, is that I can run multiple downloads in MO2 simultaneously, but neither of them will ever go over 3.6MB/s on average, maybe less, but never more. Each individual download session seems to be throttled by Nexus. Downloading manually from Nexus mods website, outside of MO2, produces the same low download speeds. And it seems as bigger the download, as slower the speed is initially allowed, it picks up bit by bit, but never goes past the 3.6MB/s on average. Even while no other downloads are running anywhere, Nexus will never give me more than 3MB/s - 4MB/s download speed. I tested that my cable has a lot more capacity, while running manual download from Nexus (no MO) at 3.6MB/s, I can start STEAM update and 4.6 GB will give me 30+ MB/s - not that I do it usually. I always run nexus downloads separate from anything else.

Checklist results below:

Country: US

Internet Service Provider (ISP): Comcast/Xfinity

Average Download Speed (non-Nexus downloads): 34MB/s +

Download tests:

Amsterdam: 300KB/s

Prague: 250KB/s

LA: 2.6MB/s

Chicago: 3.2MB/s

Miami: 3MB/s

Premium CDN: 3.6MB/s

 

Example download:

Over 500MB:
https://premium-b.nexus-cdn.com/1704/23488/Arcanum%20-%20Main%20File-23488-4-0-1-1610256615.7z?token=DkvOQEM5BATGnusNTTmB-A&expires=1621885938&user_id=55885927&rip=73.12.81.211

1,390 KB/s - 57.3 MB of 511 MB, 6 mins left

Under 20MB:

https://cf-files.nexusmods.com/cdn/1704/5804/9.0.1%20A%20Quality%20World%20Map%20-%20Vivid%20with%20Stone%20Roads-5804-9-0-1.zip?md5=Skitu6RDSNZtxeddmSJHIA&expires=1621886259&user_id=55885927&rip=73.12.81.211

3.2 MB/s - 15.8 MB of 20.7 MB, 1 sec left

 

Traceroute

 

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.19041.685]

© 2020 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\WINDOWS\system32>tracert files.nexus-cdn.com

Tracing route to files.nexus-cdn.com [195.181.162.41]

over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 <1 ms 3 ms <1 ms 192.168.1.1

2 2 ms 2 ms 3 ms Docsis-Gateway.hsd1.va.comcast.net [10.0.0.1]

3 16 ms 15 ms 14 ms 96.120.18.121

4 13 ms 11 ms 14 ms 24.124.249.253

5 12 ms 11 ms 13 ms 96.110.200.41

6 13 ms 19 ms 18 ms 96.110.200.57

7 16 ms 17 ms 14 ms be-31522-cs02.ashburn.va.ibone.comcast.net [96.110.42.133]

8 14 ms 20 ms 14 ms be-1211-cr11.ashburn.va.ibone.comcast.net [96.110.32.110]

9 29 ms 29 ms 29 ms be-301-cr13.doraville.ga.ibone.comcast.net [96.110.32.1]

10 28 ms 30 ms 28 ms be-1413-cs04.doraville.ga.ibone.comcast.net [96.110.34.205]

11 29 ms 38 ms 27 ms be-1412-cr12.doraville.ga.ibone.comcast.net [96.110.34.190]

12 35 ms 34 ms 38 ms be-303-cr12.jacksonville.fl.ibone.comcast.net [96.110.36.250]

13 34 ms 34 ms 35 ms be-1312-cs03.jacksonville.fl.ibone.comcast.net [96.110.47.101]

14 34 ms 49 ms 38 ms be-1311-cr11.jacksonville.fl.ibone.comcast.net [96.110.47.98]

15 47 ms 43 ms 45 ms be-301-cr12.miami.fl.ibone.comcast.net [96.110.39.242]

16 44 ms 42 ms 42 ms be-1212-cs02.miami.fl.ibone.comcast.net [96.110.44.177]

17 41 ms 41 ms 43 ms be-3211-pe11.nota.fl.ibone.comcast.net [96.110.33.150]

18 46 ms 41 ms 42 ms 23.30.207.218

19 42 ms 41 ms 40 ms vl204.mia-cl2-dist-2.cdn77.com [185.229.188.69]

20 * 41 ms * unn-195-181-162-41.cdn77.com [195.181.162.41]

21 * 42 ms * unn-195-181-162-41.cdn77.com [195.181.162.41]

22 * 43 ms * unn-195-181-162-41.cdn77.com [195.181.162.41]

23 41 ms * * unn-195-181-162-41.cdn77.com [195.181.162.41]

24 43 ms * * unn-195-181-162-41.cdn77.com [195.181.162.41]

25 * 48 ms * unn-195-181-162-41.cdn77.com [195.181.162.41]

26 * 44 ms * unn-195-181-162-41.cdn77.com [195.181.162.41]

27 * * * Request timed out.

28 * * * Request timed out.

29 58 ms * * unn-195-181-162-41.cdn77.com [195.181.162.41]

30 45 ms * * unn-195-181-162-41.cdn77.com [195.181.162.41]

Trace complete.

[Dark0ne]

We cannot provide support for MO2 and you should do all testing with downloads through your browser unless specified otherwise. Can you confirm you get equally bad speeds through your browser?

 

So, first things first, comparing to Steam is pretty useless as most ISPs (and especially Comcast) will make use of Steam cache servers to ensure the traffic never leaves their network (i.e. Comcast will have servers within their data centres that host all of Steam's content and you will be served bandwidth from these servers, and not from Steam's servers, to massively reduce their bandwidth carrier fees). That's great for you, but basically means Steam can't be used as an indicator of good connectivity with the wider internet as it's actually just an indicator of your speed from your home to Comcast's servers, which is not the same thing.

 

Your results show us that your speeds are bad to ALL our servers. We have servers across multiple continents and with a LOT of bandwidth couriers. The "CDN" option uses an entirely different provider, as does the small file test. This shows you are getting bad connectivity to some major bandwidth providers around the globe which means it's very unlikely to be an issue on our end or with our providers (since none of our server locations are getting you adequate speeds, and since these are spread across hundreds of couriers all over the globe). Our recommendation whenever we see this issue where your speeds are slow across ALL our servers is to try out a VPN and see if the download speed improves. This will tell us if the issue is with Comcast's connectivity or not.

[reanorius]

We cannot provide support for MO2 and you should do all testing with downloads through your browser unless specified otherwise. Can you confirm you get equally bad speeds through your browser?

 

So, first things first, comparing to Steam is pretty useless as most ISPs (and especially Comcast) will make use of Steam cache servers to ensure the traffic never leaves their network (i.e. Comcast will have servers within their data centres that host all of Steam's content and you will be served bandwidth from these servers, and not from Steam's servers, to massively reduce their bandwidth carrier fees). That's great for you, but basically means Steam can't be used as an indicator of good connectivity with the wider internet as it's actually just an indicator of your speed from your home to Comcast's servers, which is not the same thing.

 

Your results show us that your speeds are bad to ALL our servers. We have servers across multiple continents and with a LOT of bandwidth couriers. The "CDN" option uses an entirely different provider, as does the small file test. This shows you are getting bad connectivity to some major bandwidth providers around the globe which means it's very unlikely to be an issue on our end or with our providers (since none of our server locations are getting you adequate speeds, and since these are spread across hundreds of couriers all over the globe). Our recommendation whenever we see this issue where your speeds are slow across ALL our servers is to try out a VPN and see if the download speed improves. This will tell us if the issue is with Comcast's connectivity or not.

Thanks for your answer. I tried ExpressVPN and results are below. My speeds didn't change much, except they got lower as further I went from US, which makes sense. So where is the throttling, on Nexus? How can this be resolved?

 

All the below results for the same link through a web browser:

 

https://premium-b.nexus-cdn.com/1704/20146/Skyrim%202018-20146-1-5-1579560286.7z?token=31be9D9Z9G9oSnaGNljFVg&expires=1624053189&user_id=55885927

 

VPN - USA Washington DC

2.9 MB/s - 20.5MB of 2.5GB, 14 mins left

 

No VPN

3.3 MB/s - 26.7 MB of 2.5GB, 12 mins left

 

VPN - Canada

504 KB/s - 6.6 MB of 2.5GB, 1 hour left

 

VPN - UK – Docklands

555 KB/s - 11.7 MB of 2.5GB, 1 hour left

 

VPN - Germany – Frankfurt

505 KB/s - 2.5 MB of 2.5GB, 1 hour left

 

So looks like Nexus is throttling me after all. Would appreciate a speedy resolution to this.

 

My best,

[reanorius]

Comcast's network engineer did a trace of my connection to the same as the one I provided above to your server and download location and found the following:

 

FWIW, the Comcast routing / webspace looks fine. What I do see is a routing loop issue in the backbone / transit routing that is in the CDN provider's webspace beyond the Comcast webspace / routing. Perhaps you should contact the web host / provider (cdn77.com) concerning your issue.

 

Please advise about the CDN transit routing loop issue.

[reanorius]

Can I get some response? I did everything you asked with VPN testing and results are above. I tried speaking with cdn77.com support and they won't talk to me because I am not the admin on Nexus portal. Would you be so kind and contact them and schedule a real time session? I can initiate a real time download, so they can trace where the issue is. Looking forward for an answer. Thanks in advance.

[MrMason]

I'm afraid the help we can offer here is quite limited. You're getting poor speeds from a number of different places, which tends to point to the problem being with your ISP. The reason Steam is fast is because they will have their own Steam cache server internally so your traffic never leaves their network.

 

The different links you put in above are all different servers/networks - for example links that start like this ...

 

https://cf-files.nexusmods.com/

 

are coming from the Cloud Flare network. If you are getting bad speeds from them then there is no chance you're going to be getting good speeds from other places.

 

We do no rate limiting at all on any premium CDN service at all - it's all raw traffic.

[reanorius]

Than

 

I'm afraid the help we can offer here is quite limited. You're getting poor speeds from a number of different places, which tends to point to the problem being with your ISP. The reason Steam is fast is because they will have their own Steam cache server internally so your traffic never leaves their network.

 

The different links you put in above are all different servers/networks - for example links that start like this ...

 

https://cf-files.nexusmods.com/

 

are coming from the Cloud Flare network. If you are getting bad speeds from them then there is no chance you're going to be getting good speeds from other places.

 

We do no rate limiting at all on any premium CDN service at all - it's all raw traffic.

 

How do you explain then that I can't get higher than 4MB/s speeds even if I connect through VPN? I mean look, Steam is just one silly example. I download things from many different places. I am not going to collect all the results of every location I download things from, but to give you a taste of speeds - I download 1+ Terabytes of data during a month from different sources in different ways, and no other place I download from, or stream in 4K from, have I noticed this kind of throttling that I have from nexus. Then I come to Nexus to download files, and I get poor 4MB/s. Another thing to consider, I already mentioned this, I can download MULTIPLE files from your network, MULTIPLE ok? at the same time, and they will all be throttled to 4MB/s speed. If my connection was in any way affected by the ISP, my speeds would all fluctuate and would be lower, as more files I download from you simultaneously. My ISP provides me with enough bandwidth to download as many files as I do, it's just all points to Nexus throttling.

 

I understand that you may be trying to protect companies interests, but even your support site description says that you are throttling speeds - read below I highlighted it for you. Yet you keep saying that premium downloads are uncapped. So which is it? And why I, as a paying customer can't get better than 4MB/s speed? Do you have another tier, that provides higher speed than 4MB/s? Let me sub for it for a month. I don't care if I'll pay 2-3 times as much, what I care about, is as a paying customer to receive quality download speeds that my ISP can easily handle. Can you perhaps escalate my issue? Does Nexus have escalation process? I just want to get to the bottom of this and get this resolved.

 

Why does Nexus Mods place a speed cap on downloads?

The download speed cap on Nexus Mods ensures we can budget for and keep our substantial bandwidth bills within an acceptable price range and aren't shocked (or utterly destroyed!) by spiraling bandwidth costs.

We use a global CDN to serve our files and our bandwidth is charged by the 95th percentile method. Essentially, that means we're charged based on the speeds we deliver, not the total amount of files that are downloaded. Thus, the faster users download from us, the more our bandwidth bills will cost. By limiting the speeds, we ensure that our expenses remain linked to the number of users who use our site and not the connection speeds of our user base. As a result, it's far easier to budget our bandwidth bills based on our active user base because more users typically means more ad revenue which means the increased bandwidth costs will be offset by the increased advertising income. If we didn't cap our downloads we could not budget in the same way.

[MrMason]

I understand your frustration, but I can assure you any limiting ( for premium users) is not on our end.

 

For premium users we've got

- own CDN ( Made up of all the listed servers above )

- Cloud Flare CDN

- Bunny CDN

 

These 3 CDNS are all entirely different software stacks, on different servers, in different locations, with no single point of connectivity. Cloud Flare and Bunny CDN don't even support speed limiting and on our own small CDN we are not limiting premium downloads at all. If you're getting low speeds from all 3 of these CDNs then I don't think there is anything at all we can do to make your speeds any better. If you're able to download multiple files at 4MB/sec then it shows that you are capable of getting those speeds from our servers, and I would think the limit is your single thread download speed. Most of our locations do support multi-threaded downloads so if your client supports it you might get faster speeds if you enable it.

[reanorius]

Just subbed today, thinking with my new ISP (Firefly) and a Gigabyte speeds I should be getting my downloads in no time... But hey it's always other services fault, not yours right?

Really tired from your download speeds. Even with a different ISP and a Gigabit fiber in comparison to the above old issue, your PREMIUM downloads are still as slow as they used to be, same issue as above, NOTHING has changed, while everything else is now flying, despite your claims that you're not throttling and that it's always someone else's fault. Why in the world do I continue to subscribe when I receive the same poor speeds as with free service? I really want a refund? I will never sub again...

[showler]

Just subbed today, thinking with my new ISP (Firefly) and a Gigabyte speeds I should be getting my downloads in no time... But hey it's always other services fault, not yours right?

Really tired from your download speeds. Even with a different ISP and a Gigabit fiber in comparison to the above old issue, your PREMIUM downloads are still as slow as they used to be, same issue as above, NOTHING has changed, while everything else is now flying, despite your claims that you're not throttling and that it's always someone else's fault. Why in the world do I continue to subscribe when I receive the same poor speeds as with free service? I really want a refund? I will never sub again...

Well, that's neither the way to run the necessary tests to find a problem nor the correct way to request a refund.