YouTube Buffering

[fred]

Hi bagman
I disconnected the Asus last Saturday as per suggestions from the Virginmedia support forums to test out if teh Superhub was causing any problems and there has been alot of buffering occuring on Youtube on certain nights around 8pm.
I will reconnect the Asus router this weekend and try out your suggestion and see how things go.
If anything the buffering has been worse whilst using the Superhub on its own despite changing channel frequencies and jumping between 2.4 and 5ghz. I even set up a Thinkbroadband graph. Here is a snapshot of my network activity:
http://www.thinkbroadband.com/ping/share/d93bd2dc5397d22b03aa65edb270ad7e-14-02-2013.html

 

[Bagman]

As I said in my previous post, the problem isn't with the router, the problem is oversubscription at VM, which shows itself at peak times. If you are really unlucky, you are on an overutilised UBR that is simply stuffed to capacity and cannot carry the required traffic at peak hours.

Nothing that you do with the router will fix that. All you can do is complain to VM and wait for them to fix it. You might as well put the Superhub back into modem mode and reconnect the RT-N66U, as it is a much better piece of kit, especially with regards to wireless range and performance.

 

[fred]

Hi Bagman
I have now put the Superhub back in modem mode and reconnected the Asus. I sure missed using that router!! I will monitor the Youtube buffering again and see how it goes this week. I strongly suspect that you are correct in your opinion that it is indeed Virginmedia to blame.

 

[EskimoDragon]

I too have been having buffering issues with Youtube for some time now. I'm on Brighthouse Networks in Orlando. In the past this was due to using the ISP's DNS servers and I switched to other servers based on GRC's DNS Benchmark app. That helped clear it up for me on other routers I've used in the past (including my beloved RT-N16).

However, since moving into our new house and Brighthouse Service becoming available here, I upgraded my router to the N66U and have never been able to get Youtube to consistently buffer without issues.

One thing that's confused me on this router is the DNS options in the LAN vs the WAN...which one would I set if I wanted to set my own DNS server addresses. Will one conflict with the other if both set? In Tomato on the N16 there was only one place to put in three DNS ip addresses. I really could use some help on what the LAN vs WAN DNS settings mean. I've not found something concise in my searches so far.

Even though I've tried many different configurations between setting my own DNS to leaving all options blank, nothing seems to have helped keep buffering from happening. Occasionally, videos seem to load fine, but most times not. I have the 40 down 5 up service and speedtests are always usually 45/6 at many different sites. Pingtest.net results are great too.

I never have any problems with Netflix or any other services...just Youtube it seems. Thanks for the help.


Edit for clarification:
The reason I get confused with these settings is because when I leave LAN blank and only set WAN DNS then my devices report my DNS as being 192.168.1.1 but I assumed WAN DNS should be the one I set. On Tomato on the RT-N16 I always saw the 3 different DNS servers that I set myself.

 

[Ketschia]

Sorry to bother you mates, but I also have a weird YouTube problem and I do not know whether that is a bug. Since this is a related thread about YouTube error, i post it here and want a feasible answer. When I tried playing a YouTube video in my VLC Media player on Windows 7, " VLC is unable to open the MRL" popped up on my screen . The YouTube video was uploaded by myself from my PS4 recordings days ago. In this article, as you can see "http://www.videoconverterfactory.com/tips/vlc-unable-mrl.html", it mentions that I must change the video codec and formats for a better compatibility and only in this way can the YouTube video be played again. However, i do not literally want to use a third-party software or change any video parameters or launch a video format conversion since I know to convert a video's format always causes some video output quality loss or frame rate drop. My video is 720p and 30fps(I did not test it but I think it is smooth) which I think is quite perfect. So, I want to ask you guys is video conversion the only way to solve the MRL not opening problem? Are there any other better ways to handle this problem???