Streaming problems

[Rich Jones]

And, no, I'm not talking about urology!

About a month ago, my Comcast cable box went kaput.
Up until then, everything was fine and had been ever since we got Comcast
twelve years ago.
The cable guy came and replaced the boxes and remotes and the initial problems were resolved.
But then I tried my streaming services like Amazon Prime and Paramount+
The shows would be very slow to boot up and then constantly freeze in mid-sentence and I'll see a little ball going round and round for 5-10 seconds while the thing does whatever it does. It takes 90 minutes to watch a 60 minute show. This happens on both my TV's. When I stream on my laptop, everything is fine and lightening fast.
I've called them about it but they seem stumped and can't seem to fix it remotely.
Any advice from youse guys before I have the repair guy come again?
It worked fine before but I can't figure out why it's doing this now.
Thanks for any advice.

[StevenBauer]

Have them come back. You are not getting what you are paying for.

[Rich Jones]

Have them come back. You are not getting what you are paying for.

If they can't resolve the issue, I've have the phone company come in the Spring (when the ground thaws out) and run their underground fiber optic cable into my house. The locals are raving about how good the service is.

[Breakaway]

Since it works on your computer--the service works. I would look to my TV equipment as a cause.

Your TV's cache may be full. This is often a cause for buffering ( The term for the little spinning ball) in any device. Look to your TV manual, or YouTube, for how to clear the TV's cache. Same for any DVD or Blueray players, if they are the devices that connect to the TVs. ( Do you have smart TVs or smart players connected to older TVs?)

Kevin

[Paul Pless]

whats this 'cable box' of which you speaketh?

[Stiletto]

If your computer is streaming OK and it's difficult to resolve, a workaround could be to get a Chromecast and cast from your computer.

[Rich Jones]

Since it works on your computer--the service works. I would look to my TV equipment as a cause.

Your TV's cache may be full. This is often a cause for buffering ( The term for the little spinning ball) in any device. Look to your TV manual, or YouTube, for how to clear the TV's cache. Same for any DVD or Blueray players, if they are the devices that connect to the TVs. ( Do you have smart TVs or smart players connected to older TVs?)

Kevin

I believe I've already tried that. It was one of the possible solutions that the tech person on the phone talked me through. Push a bunch of buttons and delete all the apps. I than had to sign back into the apps. Still got the buffering problem.

[Rich Jones]

If your computer is streaming OK and it's difficult to resolve, a workaround could be to get a Chromecast and cast from your computer.

This is assuming that something is wrong with the TV? I looked up Chromecast and see I would 'cast' the app from my phone or android tablet.

It's just strange that streaming worked fine on both TV's a few weeks ago and now is constantly buffering.

[StevenBauer]

Have you run a speed test on your connection? What’re your numbers?

[Rich Jones]

Have you run a speed test on your connection? What’re your numbers?

Download: 14.70 mbps
Upload: 15.98 mbps

[Jimmy W]

Download: 14.70 mbps
Upload: 15.98 mbps

Download speeds less than 25 Mbps are too slow to be considered broadband or good home Wi-Fi. With these speeds, users may experience buffering when streaming video, difficulty connecting multiple devices and other internet connectivity issues.

https://www.allconnect.com/blog/inte...-fast-internet

[Hallam]

“And, no, I'm not talking about urology!”

Streaming solutions ?

[Todd D]

That is glacially slow. Even here on an island on the Maine coast my download speed is 270 Mbps+ and my upload is 60 Mbps.

Have you tried plugging an HDMI cable into your laptop and also into your TV?

[Rich Jones]

I checked the speed again using a few different tests and upload is only 23Mbps.
My laptop says that its WiFi speed is 1.2Gbps (whatever that means) and streaming on that
works just fine.

[hawkeye54]

Rich, I 'lost' all (most) of my technical wizardry when I retired in 2012, but think of it as 'orders of magnitude', similar to millimeter, centimeter, etc. Except , in this case it is K (kilobytes ), M (megabytes ), G (Gigabytes) . Imagine the difference, between using a garden hose to extinguish a fire - and a 2" or 4" fire hose ( or it could be that I am awake way to early )



Rick

[Rich Jones]

Rich, I 'lost' all (most) of my technical wizardry when I retired in 2012, but think of it as 'orders of magnitude', similar to millimeter, centimeter, etc. Except , in this case it is K (kilobytes ), M (megabytes ), G (Gigabytes) . Imagine the difference, between using a garden hose to extinguish a fire - and a 2" or 4" fire hose ( or it could be that I am awake way to early )



Rick

At least you once had the tech wizardry. I'm still a Neanderthal who has yet to crawl out of his cave as far as tech is concerned!

[Garret]

For streaming, it's the download speed that's most important. Upload & ping (latency) matter to a degree, but not as much in your case. Wifi speed is not the same as the cable. the 15MB speed for download is what's coming to the cable modem, the 1.2 GB is what's happening when the signal travels from the modem to your confuser.

15MB is really slow for Comcast - I'm at 125MB download on their system. I think Comcast needs to come back out & check again - onsite, not remotely. Obviously, something has changed since they put in the new hardware & they need to fix it. I'm wondering if they hooked the TV back up correctly.

@ Paul - VT has pretty horrible internet access in much of the state. While it's getting better there are still decent portions that only have dial-up (yes, dial-up) unless you go with a satellite system.

[Breakaway]

For streaming, it's the download speed that's most important. Upload & ping (latency) matter to a degree, but not as much in your case. Wifi speed is not the same as the cable. the 15MB speed for download is what's coming to the cable modem, the 1.2 GB is what's happening when the signal travels from the modem to your confuser.

15MB is really slow for Comcast - I'm at 125MB download on their system. I think Comcast needs to come back out & check again - onsite, not remotely. Obviously, something has changed since they put in the new hardware & they need to fix it. I'm wondering if they hooked the TV back up correctly.

@ Paul - VT has pretty horrible internet access in much of the state. While it's getting better there are still decent portions that only have dial-up (yes, dial-up) unless you go with a satellite system.

Garrett, how can his computer stream fine while the TV buffers? ( figuring you will know)

Kevin


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Garret]

Garrett, how can his computer stream fine while the TV buffers? ( figuring you will know)

Kevin


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

I'm not a network expert, but I can think of a couple of things. If Rich is comparing say YouTube with NetFlix, NetFlix is moving a lot more data so it'll buffer more. Another possibility is that they hooked up they TV differently than it was before. As an example, I run a cable to my TV rather than use the WiFi - much better performance.

In my (somewhat limited) experience with Comcast, the experience level - not to mention the "give a s***" level of the techs varies widely. One friend had to get the tech back 3 times before he got it right, another had a guy who was fantastic & took the time to get everything right on the first visit.

[Rich Jones]

That is glacially slow. Even here on an island on the Maine coast my download speed is 270 Mbps+ and my upload is 60 Mbps.

Have you tried plugging an HDMI cable into your laptop and also into your TV?

I just did this and it works great. Not something I want to do all the time, though.

I also found a Xfinity speed test that says my download speed is 343Mbps. The numbers are all over the place.

[Rich Jones]

I'm not a network expert, but I can think of a couple of things. If Rich is comparing say YouTube with NetFlix, NetFlix is moving a lot more data so it'll buffer more. Another possibility is that they hooked up they TV differently than it was before. As an example, I run a cable to my TV rather than use the WiFi - much better performance.

In my (somewhat limited) experience with Comcast, the experience level - not to mention the "give a s***" level of the techs varies widely. One friend had to get the tech back 3 times before he got it right, another had a guy who was fantastic & took the time to get everything right on the first visit.

I have noticed that different apps buffer more and some less. Paramount+ is the worst. Netflex and Prime Video not too bad and pretty good results with YouTube.

Garret, you mentioned that you run a cable to your TV rather than use wifi. Is that an ethernet cable directly from the modem to the TV?

[Jimmy W]

Garret, you mentioned that you run a cable to your TV rather than use wifi. Is that an ethernet cable directly from the modem to the TV?

Pretty sure that is what he meant.

[Garret]

Pretty sure that is what he meant.

Prezactly what I meant.

[Rich Jones]

Prezactly what I meant.

That's what I thought, but with technology you have to slap me upside the head then
speak very slowly and very loudly for me to understand it.

[Garret]

That's what I thought, but with technology you have to slap me upside the head then
speak very slowly and very loudly for me to understand it.

My arms are long, but they don't quite reach to Mt. Holly. Nevertheless, consider yourself slapped upside the head!


CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?

[Rich Jones]

My arms are long, but they don't quite reach to Mt. Holly. Nevertheless, consider yourself slapped upside the head!


CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?

I hear you loud and clear! Headed out tomorrow to buy an Ethernet cable I can run to the TV from my modem.
I'll use that until Comcast can come and deal with the wi-fi issue.

[Garret]

Just had to give you some grief

I need to say that I can't say for sure that the cable will fix it! So - don't spend a lot of $ on one. Also make sure both the modem/router & TV have ethernet jacks.

[P.I. Stazzer-Newt]

Is the modem/router reasonably close to the telly?

Mine isn't so I used a powerline extender to get an ethernet jack close to the TV and DVD.

The Chromecast however uses WiFi and works fine for Netflix despite us having only 30Mbps of download speed.

[Rich Jones]

The cable guy came today and was very helpful.
Long story short, he said (in so many words) that the Comcast cable box sucks at streaming. He sees the buffering problem all the time with customers.
I have a 2-year old Sony smart TV and (unknown to me) I can use the remote from the TV so access streaming which evidently bypasses the cable box.
He talked me through it and everything seems to be working fine now.
Good thing I have a good quality smart TV.

Thanks to all for your help and suggestions.

[hawkeye54]

I'm glad to hear you got a good 'resolution' on the problem, and that you found a knowledgeable 'cable guy' who knew some stuff ! !

[Rich Jones]

I'm glad to hear you got a good 'resolution' on the problem, and that you found a knowledgeable 'cable guy' who knew some stuff ! !

The guy had the guts to say that Comcast's cable boxes weren't fully up to the task and he was able to suggest an alternate solution. The various disembodied voices I spoke to at Comcast's tech support never once mentioned anything but trying to fix it through the cable box.

[mike9199]

Happened to me couple of times already and I am thinking to change the provider.
But of course before it comes to that I need to try everything in my power to fix the issues.
First step would be to update the kodi https://www.firestickhow.com/update-kodi-firestick.html and see if it makes any changes.
Same with the firestick itself probably- update and re-install all from the beginning.