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Youtube not working on tablets

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philchaffee
New Poster

Youtube not working on tablets

Hi, I have been on Hughesnet for about 2 weeks now.  The speeds test out OK, generally internet is fairly fast on most sites including those with video...  Youtube streams to a Roku TV over wifi with only a few seconds of buffering at the beginning and occasionally a bit during a video.  Desktop is wired in to the Hughes router and also works for Youtube with only a few seconds of buffering. 

 

But, for 2 ipads and 2 fire tablets on youtube.com or the Youtube App when we try to watch youtube videos it buffers for a very long time before anything starts.  It has been as short as 3 minutes and as long as 51 minutes before the video even starts!  usually about 20-30 minutes on average.  Once the video starts, it usually plays through with little buffering.

This happens with all 3 tablets, at all times of day and night including the 2am-8am zone.  It happens on youtube regular and youtube premium.  It happens regardless of how long the video is or what the video quality is.

 

I was on the phone with customer support for 90 minutes and the first person was very helpful and tried adjusting all kinds of things on his end but ultimately, nothing helped the problem.  He passed me to a 2nd person who just basically said that there was nothing more they could do and that they would be doing some upgrades in the next few weeks and maybe that would help....

 

Anybody know of any solution to this besides cancelling and trying a different internet provider?

 

thanks 

6 REPLIES 6
GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV

@philchaffee

 

Through which radio (2.4Ghz or 5Ghz) are you connecting the devices in question?  Also, have you tried moving the devices closer to the modem to see if it might be a signal/range issue?  

 

Have you tried turning off, or pausing, the Video Data Saver?  

 

Also, keep in mind that during your first 20 days of service you're in what's known as a "relaxed bandwidth state", meaning that your monthly data allotment is frequently being refilled.  HughesNet does this as a courtesy, to allow customers to update/upgrade their devices to current without it affecting what would be their normal monthly data allotment.  After the first 20 days your data usage will start being counted.  This "relaxed bandwidth state" is explained in the Welcome email sent by HughesNet.  

 

I only bring the above up because it sounds like you might do a lot of streaming, and a lot of streaming will use up your data very quickly, at which point your speed will be throttled due to being subject to the Fair Access Policy.  

 

Using Netflix as an example, the approximate amount of data used for streaming is 3GB or more per hour in HD, 750MB or more per hour in SD, and 350MB or more per hour in LD.  

Hi, thanks for answering...

 

I have tried 2.4 and 5 Ghz with no discernable difference.  There is no difference between being a few feet from the modem and 50 feet away.  There is no difference between when the video data saver is on or off.

 

I did not know about the 20 day relaxed bandwith state.  I guess that explains why the usage graph wasn't making any sense!

Of course, that makes the outlook even less rosy....

GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV

@philchaffee

 

Hopefully someone with more experience with tablets will have a better idea of what to try and the will reply.  A rep will most likely reply, as well.  That it works when directly connected, but not with the tablets, would suggest that it's the WiFi, but with your Roku working via WiFi it would suggest otherwise.  I wonder if there are some settings in the affected devices that can be changed to make it work properly.  I don't have any experience with iPads or Fire Tablets, so again, hopefully someone who has experience with those will chime in.  

 

With this said, and though I don't know that it will make much difference, one thing you could try is power cycling the modem.  It's basically unplugging the modem from the wall outlet or power brick (NOT at the back of the modem itself), waiting at least 30 seconds, then plugging it back in.  Then, after about five minutes, which gives the modem time to be fully back up, give one of the affected devices a try.  It might also be a good idea to ensure that all of the other devices are off when trying one of the affected devices in order to ensure that nothing else can be sapping bandwidth at the same time.  I know that in regular practice you're not always going to have only one device on, but for testing purposes it should be the only thing that can be using bandwidth at that time.  

 

Regarding the 20 days of data resets, it was with the Usage Meter that I first noticed something was odd, data wise.  It was two days after I had upgraded to Gen4 in early 2016, and when I saw that the data used was all of a sudden reset to zero I came to this Community to ask why my Usage Meter wasn't working properly.   I thought it was "broken".  😛  

maratsade
Distinguished Professor IV

That's so odd. I have an iPad and YouTube runs great on it, on the wifi.  I hope someone can give you a solution. 

 

 

I have tried 2.4 and 5 Ghz with no discernable difference.  There is no difference between being a few feet from the modem and 50 feet away.  There is no difference between when the video data saver is on or off.

 


 

Likely has to do with the way the wifi is set up. 5GHz works best when it's set for 802.11ac and 3 extension channels. It's what gives it the extra bandwidth. Likewise for 2.4GHz and 802.11n and 1 extension channel.


* Disclaimer: I am a HughesNet customer and not a HughesNet employee. All of my comments are my own and do not necessarily represent HughesNet in any way.

Hi,

 

thanks for answering...  is there a link or can you tell me how to check and/or change the wifi setup?