Having a techie brain fart, need some help

[pikingrin]

Let me start by asking has anyone else been experiencing issues with youtube lately? For at least the past 2-3 days videos either just won't load or it takes almost 5 minutes for a video to start. Doesn't matter if they are in youtube's page or imbedded anywhere else.

So far I have reset my router, cleared my net cache, etc, completely shut down and restart my laptop (after updating) and no dice. Anybody got any other suggestions? I've tried using both Google Chrome and Safari and neither give any different results.

Side question...wife and I watch a ton of Netflix, I play xbox live occasionally, and she and I are online quite a bit for school stuff. Is there a limit to monthly net usage that I'm not aware of that could be causing the youtube issue? (Netflix, etc, still work flawlessly). I've checked out what I could on Uverse and I don't see any limitations like that listed...

 

[Chili]

My cable company has limits, but I never even come close to it, even when working at home and doing webex, voip, etc all day long. I'll stream from amazon, too. The wife skypes, kids youtube, and we only do 90 gig out of 350 allowed.

I haven't seen any problems with youtube.

Maybe remove your router altogether and go from modem straight to your computer as an experiment.

 

[Bobbsy]

Whether there's a limit on your useage depends entirely on the contract you have with your ISP--but a lot do indeed have upper limits. My "unlimited" plan is for up to 500GB per month if I read the fine print.

If you do have a limit, it's pretty common for ISPs to throttle down your performance for the rest of the billing period, then back to normal when the next billing period starts. Throttled speeds do tend to show up worst on anything streamed like Youtube.

Netflix can be a killer but it depends on your settings. For example, if you're watching in full HD, that's a lot more data than standard definition.

I think Chilli's idea of bypassing the router for a test is a good one. Also, maybe visit an Internet speed test site and see what you're getting compared to what you were sold. You'll find such a site easily via Google (the one I use isn't much good to you because it's Aussie based).

If there IS a slow service then make a coffee and call customer service.

 

[Pinky]

From the computer having issues playing Youtube vids, go to speedtest.net and report back with the test results.

 

[ido1957]

It does sound like you may be getting throttled down. I agree - check your download speed on one of those Internet sites and see if your speed is as high as you're paying for.
Yesterday our Netflix wouldn't load anything. The loader went up to 25% and then it just hung there.
We get 150 GB a month and then we pay 5 buck / 50 GB overage. Our speed sucks on DSL compared to optic but it's fast enough to YT without all that buffering we had 5 years ago.

 

[Bobbsy]

Just to confuse things, the Netflix loader going to 25% then freezing is a known Netflix problem...if you go to their help forums there are hundreds of people querying this. When we see it we just try again and it usually comes good within two or three tries.

 

[pikingrin]

Well, I kind of forgot about this as I've been out of town more than at home the past few days...

Pinky, just ran the test and this is what the results came back as...


It's actually kind of irritating; I pay my provider a premium for their "best" internet package - supposed to be up to 18mbps. This is nowhere close, obviously. At this time, as I ran the test, this laptop is the only device in the house that is connected to Wi-Fi. Cellphone is in airplane mode, TV is off and shut down the desktop, too.

I will also say that Youtube, as of this morning, is loading and running just fine.

Bobbsy, we haven't had any issues with Netflix through my Xbox or the "smart" DVD player in the living room. The only issue, that really isn't much of an issue to me, is that the program will start before it's done buffering so the first 45 seconds to a minute is a little grainy but it clears up before it gets annoying.

 

[pikingrin]

My laptop doesn't have an ethernet port to plug directly to the modem... Sorry, didn't mention that in OP.

 

[Bobbsy]

Ah, those lovely weasel words "up to". My current service is "up to" 20Mbps" (the fastest they offer on copper here) but I get something between 3 and 4Mbps.

Hopefully I'll have a fibre link early in the new year--frustratingly the fibre now makes it to a box on my wall but the neighbourhood won't be "ready for service" for a few months more.

I'm tired of a 4 minute video taking 2+ hours to upload.

 

[BroKen_H]

I had a situation the last few weeks that was very similar. We have a new modem and new router. QOS kept showing my upload and download speeds in the low (3-5) kbps (get that K). Couldn't figure out what was different. Called the cable company (you all know how that works). Then I realized we'd brought the black lights home from church (use them for dramatic effects in some of our presentations) They're big 4' metal aberrations and I'd set them down on the cable from the wall to the modem (RJ45) and had stripped some of the coating off. Replaced the RJ45 and now everything is right with the world...sometimes it's the simple things.

 

[pikingrin]

I had a situation the last few weeks that was very similar. We have a new modem and new router. QOS kept showing my upload and download speeds in the low (3-5) kbps (get that K). Couldn't figure out what was different. Called the cable company (you all know how that works). Then I realized we'd brought the black lights home from church (use them for dramatic effects in some of our presentations) They're big 4' metal aberrations and I'd set them down on the cable from the wall to the modem (RJ45) and had stripped some of the coating off. Replaced the RJ45 and now everything is right with the world...sometimes it's the simple things.

I doubt that's the case here - at least I hope it's not. All my cabling is buried in my floor joists between the basement and the main floor under 1/2" sheetrock and R30 insulation... It was, at least, run through the joists and not just stapled to the bottoms of them. All that to say that it's highly unlikely that there's an issue with the cabling.