Questions about Internet TV

[insite]

10 hours ago, jimeve said:

I'm sure PLDT are blocking my internet when I stream British TV. The streams work for an hour then buffering starts. It's really getting on my tits.

I pay PLDT P 2100, a month, getting 50 Mbps download yet it won't let me watch my iptv from the UK. It's not my wifi as I tested it and was good. I'm locked into pldt for another 12 months. 

Have you tried a ping / latency test ? Also a traceroute ? If there are timeouts showing that may be the cause of your freezing in which case you may need your UK service provider to route it through a different SP ( assuming they can or will ) - we have the same on and off here with PLDT whilst a friend on exactly the same streaming service using Globe does not have this problem ( he has both PLDT and Globe and can flick back and forth  for an instant comparison )

[insite]

These timeouts shown here freeze the picture for varying lengths .....

[jimeve]

13 minutes ago, insite said:

Have you tried a ping / latency test ? Also a traceroute ? If there are timeouts showing that may be the cause of your freezing in which case you may need your UK service provider to route it through a different SP ( assuming they can or will ) - we have the same on and off here with PLDT whilst a friend on exactly the same streaming service using Globe does not have this problem ( he has both PLDT and Globe and can flick back and forth  for an instant comparison )

Yeah, a guy who has the same iptv as me uses Globe and only gets 10 Mbps, but gets HD video buffer free.

Their servers are in London UK.

[hk blues]

14 hours ago, jimeve said:

Yeah, a guy who has the same iptv as me uses Globe and only gets 10 Mbps, but gets HD video buffer free.

Their servers are in London UK.

Based on Netflix, a speed of 5mbps would be enough for buffer free HD. I think that's correct as I had some buffering when I was on the 5mbps plan which probably gave me 3mbps in reality. 10mbps would be plenty for buffer free viewing. 

How much mbps do they recommend for your iptv, Jim? As we know here, the actual speed may be as little as 30% of plan speed 60% of the time, or something riduculous like that. That may be the simple answer to your issue.

[jimeve]

3 hours ago, hk blues said:

Based on Netflix, a speed of 5mbps would be enough for buffer free HD. I think that's correct as I had some buffering when I was on the 5mbps plan which probably gave me 3mbps in reality. 10mbps would be plenty for buffer free viewing. 

How much mbps do they recommend for your iptv, Jim? As we know here, the actual speed may be as little as 30% of plan speed 60% of the time, or something riduculous like that. That may be the simple answer to your issue.

Depends on what I'm streaming, I can watch 4 k videos on youtube and Netflix but I have 50Mbps sometimes only 10.

My iptv provider recomends at least 20 Mbps but even at 50 Mbps there's buffering even sometimes I get a message saying it can't play the video.

I'm convinced it's PLDT blocking my iptv. Because when I switch to other free stuff on my firestick it plays flawlessly.

[GeoffH]

1 hour ago, jimeve said:

I'm convinced it's PLDT blocking my iptv. Because when I switch to other free stuff on my firestick it plays flawlessly.

They're probably not blocking it but they may be prioritizing other types of traffic ahead of streaming video from the major sources (like Netflilx).

It's probably possible to tell but that's beyond my limited IT skill set.

Edited February 16, 2021 by GeoffH

[hk blues]

2 hours ago, jimeve said:

Depends on what I'm streaming, I can watch 4 k videos on youtube and Netflix but I have 50Mbps sometimes only 10.

My iptv provider recomends at least 20 Mbps but even at 50 Mbps there's buffering even sometimes I get a message saying it can't play the video.

I'm convinced it's PLDT blocking my iptv. Because when I switch to other free stuff on my firestick it plays flawlessly.

If 20 mbps is enough then there shouldn't be an issue at 50 mbps unless there are a few people using the internet at the same time in your home - the more users the slower the speed to each device. I have read that whilst 25mbps is ok for Netflix, for example, depending on how much the isp is throttling speed and what other users in your place are doing, you may need up to 50mbps for 4k video so you're kind of in that ball park. 

I've just had fiber 30mbps installed today and have upgraded to Netflix 4k plan which needs 25mbps so I'm borderline but will see how it goes. A quick trial earlier was fine but let's see over a few days how it goes.

I suspect there is probably not much you can do, Jim. One thing though, if you connect via wifi you may find a LAN connection more stable but not always comvenient with positioning of modem and TV.

 

[jimeve]

1 hour ago, hk blues said:

If 20 mbps is enough then there shouldn't be an issue at 50 mbps unless there are a few people using the internet at the same time in your home - the more users the slower the speed to each device. I have read that whilst 25mbps is ok for Netflix, for example, depending on how much the isp is throttling speed and what other users in your place are doing, you may need up to 50mbps for 4k video so you're kind of in that ball park. 

I've just had fiber 30mbps installed today and have upgraded to Netflix 4k plan which needs 25mbps so I'm borderline but will see how it goes. A quick trial earlier was fine but let's see over a few days how it goes.

I suspect there is probably not much you can do, Jim. One thing though, if you connect via wifi you may find a LAN connection more stable but not always comvenient with positioning of modem and TV.

 

I think you'er right about wifi, there's 4 people including me, sharing and I have a mesh expander hooked up to the modem.

A lan connection is impossible, my modem is upstairs. The only thing I could do is have my own internet but cost is an issue

 

[hk blues]

17 hours ago, jimeve said:

I think you'er right about wifi, there's 4 people including me, sharing and I have a mesh expander hooked up to the modem.

A lan connection is impossible, my modem is upstairs. The only thing I could do is have my own internet but cost is an issue

 

4 users all downloading at the same time may be too big a demand on your 50 mbps Jim, I think that's your problem.  I have my laptop upstairs too, and the modem is downstairs.  Luckily, the rooms are in line so I can drop the LAN cable out of the window.