Not enough bandwidth to view youtube videos without pausing. [Archive]

toytown

06-06-2011, 14:42

I've noticed over the last few days that i can no longer watch youtube videos without having to click pause on them and wait until they have downloaded before i can view them, otherwise they just stop.

When i checked the speed test at youtube, it appears that VirginMedia's speed's have really taken a downfall in the last few days as well, anybody know if VM are acting to rectify this.
(http://chart.googleapis.com/chart?chxt=x%2Cy&chd=s%3AGIKMOQSUWYacfhjlnprvxz1358%2C46iq6TpguJ28z X6yox1qotiISE%2CACEGIKMOQSUWYacfhjlnprtvxz1358%2CU RQRPQRUPQQRSTVRRUTTWYWUVUTLJL%2CACEGIKMOQSUWYacfhj lnprtvxz1358%2CQOOONOPQNOOPPPQOOPPPQRQPQQPOON%2CAC EGIKMOQSUWYacfhjlnprtvxz1358%2CPOQQPPQONPQQUTQPTTT TURQQSSSSPO%2CACEGIKMOQSUWYacfhjlnprtvxz1358%2CPOQ QPPQONPQQTTQPSTTTURQQSSSSPO%2CACEGIKMOQSUWYacfhjln prtvxz1358%2COOPPPPPOOPPPPPOOPPPPPOOPPQPPOO&chxp=0%2C5%2C95&chxr=1%2C0%2C17.47&chco=000000%2CFFCC33%2C3072F3%2C80C65A%2CFFA6C0%2C E1E1E1&chs=550x300&cht=lxy&chtt=Speed+Comparison+over+Time&chxl=0%3A%7C05%2F07%2F11%7C06%2F05%2F11&chdl=Your+Current+Location%7CYour+ISP%2FNetwork%7C lichfield%7Ceng%7Cgbr%7Cglobal)

craigj2k12

06-06-2011, 14:52

try a speestest on www.speedtest.net

Welshchris

06-06-2011, 14:53

its not a Virgin media problem the issue is with Youtube.

I know users on AOL, 02, Sky and Talk Talk with the same problem.

Chrysalis

06-06-2011, 15:05

maybe maybe not, youtube have issues but it doesnt mean this specific issue is down to them.

Usually if its a popular video it should work fine as will be on local caching servers. So if its a popular video failing it could well be a VM issue.

---------- Post added at 15:05 ---------- Previous post was at 15:03 ----------

YouTube Video Speed History

Your average video speed at this location from 7 May 2011 to 5 Jun 2011 was 14.03 Mbps

toytown

06-06-2011, 15:11

try a speestest on www.speedtest.net (http://www.speedtest.net/)The speedtest is fine and downloading from anywhere else using this connection is fine, so the issue does not appear to be my VM line. It doesnt appear to be a youtube issue either as if i tether my android phone and use the same computer to browse youtube through O2 there is no problems.

Looking at the graph from youtube i posted, VM's network average speed took a real hit in the last few days, where all the other ISP's are averaging the same, so it does seem to point to a VM issue.

Chrysalis

06-06-2011, 15:13

probably transit/peering issues between youtube and VM then. As to which side to blame I dont know but that looks like the problem, mine has been poorer wihout my proxy, I have actually kept using my proxy since the routing/DPI farce last week as I found browsing and streaming to be significantly better.

Badders

06-06-2011, 15:51

I have the same experience. I can't run any youtube at 720 and above. It pauses. Below that is fine. I'm on (and get) 20MB/2MB.

TJS

06-06-2011, 19:47

I think that is down to youtube; because I can play 1080 fine and 720 can lag at times

philwhite100

06-06-2011, 19:54

I too get this problem and i'm on 50meg.

Synthetic

07-06-2011, 11:59

I also get this on 50meg, only usually in the evenings, speed tests show full 50meg, however youtube is painfully slow to load, its every night without fail, for the past few weeks.

I know its a VM issue and not youtube, as my sister on Be* can load the same videos fine, and if i connect through a vpn it loads fine too, which leads me to believe its a VM issue, posible shaping? Since the VPN fixes it...

techguyone

07-06-2011, 12:19

same here on 30 MB, 720 & up pauses, below 720 is fine

TJS

07-06-2011, 12:52

same here on 30 MB, 720 & up pauses, below 720 is fine

Try 1080, 1080 works flawless for me but 720 can buffer like hell; i think its because a majority of people have internet fast enough to play 720 fine but not 1080; so the servers that stream 720 are used much more; I could be well off with this though :)[COLOR="Silver"]

---------- Post added at 12:52 ---------- Previous post was at 12:50 ----------

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2011/06/123.png

mentalis

07-06-2011, 13:00

I've given up trying to stream HD from YouTube. Most of the videos I watch are small - around the 5 - 15 min mark. I usually watch the 480p version, and if the video is worth it I download the HD version (there are FireFox extensions for that).

Chrysalis

07-06-2011, 13:05

yeah I am leaning towards VM to blame now as recently especially in the past week lots of things going wrong as if VM are stepping up on DPI.

Mick Fisher

07-06-2011, 13:26

I don't watch much youtube. Mostly it works.

But often when I try to watch a link that been posted on cableforum it just seems to buffer forever before I give up with it. :shrug:

Ben B

07-06-2011, 13:33

I have this problem if I search the video and open it before selecting a HD resolution but if I click on the little square HD link under the video in the results first I have no issues :confused: on 20mb using IE9

EDIT: I also can't watch videos in 720p or above on vevo.com without it keep buffering

Synthetic

07-06-2011, 15:54

I have issues with 720 and 1080p, lower res videos dont load all that quickly too, not holding my breath for VM to do anything about it, obviously a network wide issue too

Charliedontsurf

07-06-2011, 15:58

This video should stream flawlessy in 1080p(assuming your device can handle 1080p) on a 50Mb connection.

Its a good one to test as is any new music video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhBorPm6JjQ

Welshchris

07-06-2011, 16:20

my speed average on youtube atm is 12.88mb and all seems to work ok for me at the moment.

AdamD

07-06-2011, 16:26

This video should stream flawlessy in 1080p(assuming your device can handle 1080p) on a 50Mb connection.

Its a good one to test as is any new music video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhBorPm6JjQ

50mb connection here, also having problems with youtube.

The Rhianna video stopped at 12 seconds and is buffering, restarted for 2 more seconds and is now sitting there with the spinning circle thing.

I usually get this with every video on youtube.

Charliedontsurf

07-06-2011, 16:30

50mb connection here, also having problems with youtube.

The Rhianna video stopped at 12 seconds and is buffering, restarted for 2 more seconds and is now sitting there with the spinning circle thing.

I usually get this with every video on youtube.

Its not scientific at all but I saw a piece on BBC-CLICK about how youtube ensure enough bandwidth for video for all users. The cache popular videos in various localitys.

Big new music videos are given massive priority and bandwidth resource to ensure they play well.

Also go here and paly the test video with onscreen realtime bandwidth reading http://www.youtube.com/my_speed#

For me that sits around 2000kps-3000kps, not enough to stream a 1080p video without buffering every 20 seconds.

pabscars

07-06-2011, 16:54

This video should stream flawlessy in 1080p(assuming your device can handle 1080p) on a 50Mb connection.

Its a good one to test as is any new music video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhBorPm6JjQ

Played fine for me, no buffering or even close to buffering, and I only get about 3.5Mbps from Sky

Edit: scrap that it was only 360 not 1080p

My bad

TJS

07-06-2011, 18:55

This video should stream flawlessy in 1080p(assuming your device can handle 1080p) on a 50Mb connection.

Its a good one to test as is any new music video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhBorPm6JjQ

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2011/06/121.png
Loading at 42 Mb/s seems about right for a 50 mb connection

Ignore what its showing for video FPS seems to drop just as the screenshots taken LOL

---------- Post added at 18:55 ---------- Previous post was at 18:49 ----------

It seems to vary video to video leading me to believe its down to youtube, not VM.

Lady gaga Judas (not a fan of hers just saw it in the suggested videos on the side :) )

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2011/06/122.png

Mick Fisher

07-06-2011, 19:23

Ben B

08-06-2011, 01:02

AaronCooper

08-06-2011, 01:15

Watched that Rhianna video fine in 1080p on 30MB, was fully buffered around 1 minute into the song.

Jameseh

08-06-2011, 02:54

It was working the best I've ever had it working up until this week where its been dire. Having to buffer on 480p videos is a pain.

AdamD

08-06-2011, 07:48

Must be a capacity issue with Youtube, just tried the Rhianna video again and it's playing fine at 1080p.

After about 6 seconds, half the video had downloaded/buffered.

Charliedontsurf

08-06-2011, 10:25

Must be a capacity issue with Youtube, just tried the Rhianna video again and it's playing fine at 1080p.

After about 6 seconds, half the video had downloaded/buffered.

Or maybe the fact you just tried it at 7am and last time you tried it was ealry evening? Indicating a Virginmedia issue?

Try it again this evening.

toytown

08-06-2011, 11:24

Must be a capacity issue with Youtube

Its an issue with VM, look at the graph in the very first post of this thread, in the last week VM have gone from delivering the best avg speed in the country to the worst according to google/youtube, all the other ISP's in the country seem around average.

my speed average on youtube atm is 12.88mb

If you are getting them details from the youtube speed test then its the last 30 days, not the current average. My last 30 days is 10.74Mbits........my last few days is showing approx 1.5Mbits.

I can't even stream 360p without buffering. All other sites are fine, speedtest shows 19.x Megabit. Tethered through O2 also loads the youtube videos without buffering.

Chrysalis

08-06-2011, 12:04

well we hear from multiple people that VM run their peering hot. It could have well have just reached the tipping point as we also now seeing packetloss every night on tbb graphs. VM seem to have developed an allergy to upgrading.

AdamD

08-06-2011, 14:22

Or maybe the fact you just tried it at 7am and last time you tried it was ealry evening? Indicating a Virginmedia issue?

Try it again this evening.

Hmm, but I still get full speeds on downloads, or would that be a seperate protocol/issue? heh

---------- Post added at 14:22 ---------- Previous post was at 14:19 ----------

The youtube speed link, shows

Your average video speed at this location from 8 May 2011 to 6 Jun 2011 was 11.46 Mbps.

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2011/06/43.jpg

AdamD

08-06-2011, 20:20

Slowing down again here at 8pm.

The Rhianna video is barely able to play with the 1080p stream.

qasdfdsaq

08-06-2011, 20:41

Charliedontsurf

08-06-2011, 21:07

Youtube have many servers which run at different speeds, in different places, and different utilizations.

Different video qualities stream in different ways from different servers.

Performance differs.

Internet performance is affected by a variety of factors. None of the above "my video loads slow" are remotely useful to confirming or diagnosing any individual problem.

Old news, nothing to see here. Move along.

Actually if a lot of Virginmedia users from various parts of the network are having trouble viewing videos on youtube whilts users on other ISP's are viewing the same videos trouble free that could indicate a problem.

Users posting the same common issue are very helpful to ISP's incase of problems that might not show otherwise. Also the yellow line on the graph clearly shows a drop in the AVERAGE speeds of user connecting from VM's network.

qasdfdsaq

08-06-2011, 21:49

Yet not one person has stated precisely what video, quality, and location they are testing. Nor done any scientifically accurate tests.

Charliedontsurf

08-06-2011, 21:55

Yet not one person has stated precisely what video, quality, and location they are testing. Nor done any scientifically accurate tests.

Well a few have said they have problems with different resolutions of video, this is just a few users posting an issue to see if anyone else has the same issue.

Find a single thread/post on here that states a problem and also has "scientifically" accurate test, or even go check the official VM Support forums you'll find the same.

If you think you have an issue you come here and make a post. You hope other will either state theyare not seeing the same issue as you or.....Maybe a few other have the very same problem.

What you don't want is someone stamping on your thread rubbishing it with absolutley no interest or no attempt to offer any help at all.

Anyway the the big yellow line from youtubes own graph showing a massive drop in VM users performance is an indication that all is not right? As Youtube would know straight away if it was an issue there end . If it only effected a few users it wouldnt cause such a drop.

qasdfdsaq

08-06-2011, 22:39

I have myself, and so have many others.

Regardless of what you think my motivations are for posting, nobody's contributed any useful information in this thread that proves anything is one way or another.

Yes, VM's line does dip. It also peaks. It's faster some days and slower on others. So is the rest of the world. Scotland, Edinburgh, and global lines also dip. Doesn't prove anything.

If you want to contribute something useful, go do some real tests that myself and others have detailed many times over so we can find out where the problem lies. Simply saying one resolution works and another doesn't means nothing. We already know different resolutions stream differently and therefore will differ nomatter what you do.

toytown

10-06-2011, 18:57

Speeds are back to normal here :)

Youtube is averaging approx 14Mbit.

Skie

10-06-2011, 20:14

Occasionally it will be slow (and judging by the graph there was a few days of horribleness) but generally I get decent speeds. You have to remember that videos are hosted on many different servers in different locations and performance can be incredibly variable.
https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2011/06/38.jpg

cook1984

15-06-2011, 19:33

I have been having this problem for months too. It is worst in the evenings. I verified that it isn't YouTube by watching the video in the same resolution on my phone over 3G, which works fine.

It is pretty lame when your broadband isn't as good as your 3G.

iPlayer is exactly the same. HD is a waste of time until after 10PM.

Virgin seem determined to steam ahead with headline speed upgrades while not bothering to actually put the network upgrades to support them in place. Their stupid STM policy doesn't help either - if you start watching before 9PM you can guarantee it will crap out at 9PM on the dot and take a good half hour to recover. Obviously everyone has their P2P software set to auto-start at 9PM when STM ends.

Worst of all it is easy to get punished with STM kneecapping just by trying to watch iPlayer in HD if there are a few users in the house. Happens regularly here. I would upgrade to 30 meg but I'm waiting for them to get the bridge mode firmware out, and even then I doubt it will fix the network issues.

AdamD

15-06-2011, 20:21

Watched a few videos tonight, all fine, then came across this one

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ix9h-hcCHkc&feature=related

It's still downloading, after 5 minutes.

Download is at the 1:08 mark.

Seems very intermittent.

Charliedontsurf

15-06-2011, 21:10

youtube has become a pain in the ass to me...

My teenage daughter constantly shouting..DADDDDDDDDDDDDDDD Youtube isnt working..............................

I even went to the lengths of installing an ethernet cable upto her room. WE NEVER HAD THIS ISSUE ON A ADSL2 LINE

qasdfdsaq

16-06-2011, 00:36

Halcyon

16-06-2011, 00:37

It is being very slow tonight. Hopefully it will be sorted tomorrrow.

qasdfdsaq

16-06-2011, 00:38

It is pretty lame when your broadband isn't as good as your 3G.
Upload speeds on my "fibre optic cable broadband" have been slower than my 3G since 2004.

cook1984

19-06-2011, 11:09

It isn't so much the headline speed that is an issue, it is the fact that two of the most popular web sites don't work on Virgin.

qasdfdsaq

20-06-2011, 03:23

Saying they "don't work" is so exaggerated it's verging on bull. While both Youtube and VM have their share of problems, it works fine for most people most of the time. No website or ISP is 100% perfect 100% of the time. It works better on VM than most other ISPs.