7 Tips to Deal with Buffering Issues

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7 Tips to Deal with Buffering Issues
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• Its a sight familiar to many cordcutters. No,
  not Richard Belzers face (although its hard not
  to be) that all-too-common buffering icon. The
  infuriating, interrupting spinning wheel that
  signals the end of a smooth viewing experience.
  For the rest of the episode, youll be putting up
  with constant stop-starts as your crummy internet
  connection tries to contend with streaming in HD,
  that wheel taunting you all the while. Buffering
  in all its forms from the pixelated downturn in
  streaming quality to just cutting out completely
  is the result of issues with your internet
  connection. Whether its overloaded, weak, or
  somewhere in between, thats the main culprit.

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• This is 2016! It shouldnt be an issue anymore!
  Youre quite right. In fact, there are ways to
  combat this scourge and make sure your weekend
  binge of your favorite flavor of Real Housewives
  doesnt keep freezing at the exact moment the
  shade is being thrown. Weve collated these top
  tips for reducing buffering when streaming
  television at home.

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1.Check Your Current Connection

• Before we can furnish you with a cure, we need to
  make sure of the diagnosis. First things first,
  when sorting out these buffering problems, check
  to see exactly what youre working with. There
  are numerous online services that can measure the
  current upload and download speeds your internet
  connection is giving you at any given moment
  that is, how much is being expended on putting
  stuff out there (sending emails, writing Facebook
  updates, etc.), and how much is spent on bringing
  data in (downloading web pages, streaming video).

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• Our friends at DigitalTrends have done an
  excellent job at rounding up the best internet
  sites to truly test your internet speed. Check
  out one or two of their suggestions to see what
  kind of numbers you end up with. Remember that
  the most important number for streaming is the
  download speed. Heres a recent picture of one of
  my tests.

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• With this information to hand, you can see if
  your upload/download speeds are especially
  terrible, compared to the data allowance given by
  your service provider. Depending on your plan,
  there could be a cap on your speeds which might
  explain the buffering problem, meaning you might
  consider shelling out a little more for a bigger
  allowance or there might be something else to
  blame for the holdup In case you are not
  satisfied with your results, it may be a good
  idea to call your internet service provider and
  ask about their advertised speed versus your
  current internet speed. 

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2. Get Up To Speed

• One more thing to get clear before moving forward
  with the buffering-busting. If you want to get
  streaming video at your desired quality, then
  there are requirements on how fast your internet
  connection is. For a streaming video service such
  as VIDGO, you at least need a broadband
  connection speed of 0.5 Megabits per second, with
  1.5 Megabits per second being the recommended
  threshold for video thats actually watchable.

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• Theres a curve upwards in proportion to the
  quality of the video, too. Around 3.0 Megabits
  per second is needed for standard definition
  quality, 5.0 Megabits for HD, and for that
  crystal-clear verging-on-4K picture? Youre
  looking at a massive 25 Megabits per second.
  Whether you can reach any of these requirements
  will depend on the strength of your signal, the
  data speeds in your area, and the allowance your
  service provider gives you. Is that all clear?
  Then we shall proceed!

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3. Close Everything Else

• The second screen experience is steadily gaining
  traction. Watching a TV show in and of itself
  isnt enough whilst youre streaming a show
  through your television, youre also looking up
  that supporting cast member you vaguely recognize
  on your tablet, tweeting your reactions to the
  latest plot twist on your phone, updating your
  Facebook, and so on. All of which is the
  equivalent of having a lot of tabs open on your
  laptop which is to say it has the cumulative
  effect of slowing everything down.

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• Makes sense, right? If you have too much going on
  at once, it becomes difficult to juggle
  everything. Not to mention its exhausting. So
  spare a thought for your poor internet
  connection, struggling to deal with downloading
  and uploading all of this data whilst also
  streaming in the high definition youve become
  accustomed to. This is the first thing to try if
  youre having buffering woes close everything
  else, have the show be the only thing your
  internet is dealing with. It probably pays to
  focus on the TV, too, you might catch something
  before Detective Munch does!

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4. Clear The Cache

• If youre still streaming stuff on your computer,
  theres a whole host of other issues that could
  be stopping you from having a smooth viewing
  experience. You may have noticed slow-down issues
  with your laptops performance in general, which
  more often than not has to do with the amount of
  memory youre working with. It doesnt
  necessarily mean you need to run out and upgrade
  your hard drive or RAM, however. Nope, it could
  be as easy as just clearing out the cache.

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• The cache is part of your computers internal
  memory which holds onto things like cookies and
  Temporary Internet Files. These things can be
  handy in loading web pages faster, remembering
  passwords, and that sort of thing. Ironically,
  though, they can also cause delays in processes
  like streaming because theyre taking up so much
  space. Clearing the cache is a doddle on both PC
  and Macs the former has a Disk Cleanup
  program, and on either you can go to your web
  browser of choice and clean things up in the
  options menu. (Heres a more technical
  explanation of cache, for those of you who want
  to dig deeper)

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5. Change The Channel

• Youve tried those simple solutions, and, still,
  theres that wheel separating you from that new
  episode of American Horror Story. We hear its
  really good this season. Now, were not
  suggesting you change the channel on your
  streaming service thats not going to help with
  a slow internet connection, .but this proposed
  solution to the buffering blues is almost as easy
  as pressing a button on your remote.

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• Except that in this case, its not the television
  dial youre adjusting, but your router. The
  little box that sits by your phone line and pumps
  out sweet wifi isnt always configured in the
  best way for your particular set up. The only
  problem is that sometimes your signal can clash
  with those of neighboring devices. Most routers
  have something like 13 channels to choose from,
  with the idea being that you can cease these
  clashes. Your internet service provider should be
  giving you detailed instructions on this quick
  fix.

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6. Invest In A Wifi Extender

• The channels fix is a neat one, and easy to put
  into action. In some cases, though, its just not
  enough. You could have the profound misfortune of
  watching most of your streaming television in a
  wifi deadspot, where the signal is constantly
  cutting out for mysterious reasons. The reasons
  for those places in your house with weak signal
  can be to do with interference from rival
  signals, thickness of walls, or simply because
  your wireless signal isnt quite strong enough to
  make it from the router to your device of choice.

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• There are a number of fixes to this, but the most
  elegant is probably just investing in a wifi
  extender. These little gadgets can help boost
  your signal in those hard-to-reach places. You
  simply plug it into a socket in an area with
  stronger wifi, preferably somewhere halfway
  between your router and the problem area, and the
  wireless internet will piggyback off the
  extender. Be warned, though this solution wont
  work for everyone, and because the extender is
  sharing the bandwidth of your router, your
  internet may remain just as slow.

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7. Try An Ethernet Connection

• It might seem antithetical to the whole
  cordcutting thing, but honestly if youve
  gotten this far and none of the solutions have
  worked, then introducing new cables to your house
  might actually be the answer. Especially for an
  app like VIDGO, the addition of new cables behind
  your television wont be all that much of a
  problem, aesthetically. It can feel like a bit of
  a throwback to be plugging your computer straight
  into your phone line (via the router, at least)
  its worth it, though, for that stronger
  connection.