Slow video buffering (YouTube)

[r00igev@@r]

Video and audio streaming is shaped. Max 30Kbps.

Nope, I watch youtube all the time without issues.

What I do most often is use xbmc to download the video and then play in later.

[Bursty-dude]

Ronald, then you are one of the few lucky ones who can actually watch Youtube vids.

Most Youtube vids take literally hours to buffer even at 320p.
Never had that issue last year. We could watch 2 hour long NHRA drag racing HD vids (either 720p or 1018p) with absolutely no buffering issues at all, now it's a case of downloading (which takes forever as well......) or taking a chance and hoping that it will buffer enough to watch 10 minutes of it (at 320p).

Edited to add: case in point is this vid which has been buffering for a last 4 hours (at 480p) and is now sitting at 19:42 minutes.......
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMJ5y...eature=related

720p setting just pops up with the dreaded error message.

[ginggs]

My YouTube Video Speed History 2012/04/13 - 2012/05/12

My YouTube Video Speed History 2012/07/03 - 2012/08/01

[ginggs]

Edited to add: case in point is this vid which has been buffering for a last 4 hours (at 480p) and is now sitting at 19:42 minutes.......

But dude, isn't your problem a congested tower?

[Bursty-dude]

But dude, isn't your problem a congested tower?

Yes, but try getting iBurst to acknowledge that fact. I have been struggling with this issue for almost 9 months now, but do you think they will own up and admit the issue is theirs and not mine? No a chance in hell.....

[Eyenstyn]

Proof please? If it is true, thanks for nothing iBurst.........

I currently use ASRock XFast Lan software to discern between different content using up bandwidth. The purple line indicates streaming speed, so no other data is being used elsewhere. The speed below shows 12.5kbps after 1 minute of playing a video. My iBurst signal is also 100%.

[Eyenstyn]

I might need confirmation on this but my assumption is that the instant a person watches a video on youtube it is loaded into a local RSA server cache "somewhere" so that the next person who views it can download it much more easily. So if your the first person viewing it, it might take a while.

I notice that Philip deFranco vids load up faster because he has a bigger fan base here.

My other assumption is that certain countries are given priority over others. For instance watching a vid from USA might be faster because most South Africans watch content there. Whereas if it was from Japan or China it might be slower because there is less priority given to those countries based on viewership.

But this might just apply to iBurst because of the 1mbps(average user) speed limit.

[r00igev@@r]

I agree with the assumptions (although I can't find it actually stated anywhere). Google does not have a very aggressive presence in ZA.

I also notice that vids attempted to load the first 15 to 20% at a rapid rate and then slow down. This is to buffer and load balance. With local vids the better latency makes up for the 1 Mb/s speed.

I might need confirmation on this but my assumption is that the instant a person watches a video on youtube it is loaded into a local RSA server cache "somewhere" so that the next person who views it can download it much more easily. So if your the first person viewing it, it might take a while.

I notice that Philip deFranco vids load up faster because he has a bigger fan base here.

My other assumption is that certain countries are given priority over others. For instance watching a vid from USA might be faster because most South Africans watch content there. Whereas if it was from Japan or China it might be slower because there is less priority given to those countries based on viewership.

But this might just apply to iBurst because of the 1mbps(average user) speed limit.

[Bursty-dude]

This vid has been buffering for the last f-ing 5 hours at 240p and is currently sitting at 21:56:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9Q0YGaXNpA

Downloading via 5 different vid download programs have all been failures at 12% on all 5 programs.
Worse than pathetic "service" that we pay 800 bucks a month for, and they still have the audacity to want us to pay in over 6K to cancel our contract?

Cannot wait until March 2013 then I will take this 2Mb modem and go make a bonfire and throw the modem in it and do a happy dance around the fire..........

[boyequal]

And here I thought were over this. YouTube slow again, with errors more often than not!

"An error occurred. Please try again later."

[Bursty-dude]

Youtube must actually change that error message to:

"Sorry, you are using iBurst. Please try another ISP that does not throttle the crap out of its customers."

[ginggs]

Youtube must actually change that error message to:

"Sorry, you are using iBurst. Please try another ISP that does not throttle the crap out of its customers."

With your congestion/signal problems, how would you know whether iBurst were throttling YouTube or not?

[Bursty-dude]

I was able to watch 2+ hour long 720p or 1080p Youtube vids with no buffering issues day or night before December 2011, and since then 240p vids take literally hours to load.

Yes, congestion at towers (that iBurst has done NOTHING about....) is an issue, but there are tons of complaints about the same Youtube problem. And some complaints are from people who have no issue with normal browsing, but any streaming is a major issue.
Unless iBurst can undeniably prove that they are not throttling Youtube (without the usual tech-speak mumbo jumbo), my thoughts will stand on the throttling issue.

[ginggs]

On iBurst, this video gives me the "An error has occured. Please try again later" message:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEoXaMPEzfM
It plays fine through my internet connection at work though.

This video played fine:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdIWKytq_q4
In fact it streamed faster than the video played. No buffering at all.

[warwickw]

4500 hits vs 16000000 hits could it maybe be that it's not active in youtubes content caches....