Variable video streaming success

[#1]

I have an issue with broadband band width when streaming movies via Amazon Instant from a Sony Blu-ray player that has an integrated Ethernet and Wi-Fi receiver.
I had been getting very low throughput (approx. 0.5Mbs) until I moved my router (TP_Link dual band router), next to the player, connected the router to the first incoming phone line via a filter, and connected the player to the router via an Ethernet cable. I have established an Ethernet connection through the setup menu on the Blu-ray player. The player is picking up 100% signal strength from the router.
Last night (23 April) I tried again to stream a movie and was pleased to see that, with the router connected via Ethernet, the player receives at a maximum of 12Mbs (indicated by a graphic on the TV, whilst the movie is being streamed). Unfortunately, this high speed connection does not last, as about fifteen minutes in the movie freezes and the graphic that pops up indicates that the connection speed has dropped to a max. of 2.0Mbs. This situation lasts for about a minute, presumably whilst the movie buffers, until the connection speed returns to 12Mbs and the movie starts again.
This happened repeatedly last night until it became impossible to watch the movie and I switched everything off...cross!
What would cause this uneven connection speed? Is there a configuration for the router that I need to look at? Does PlusNet throttle down the connection and if so, would it cause this issue? I am on PlusNet Unlimited. Is this an issue with the Blu-Ray player, (I have contacted Sony and they obviously refute that it is)? Can you suggest any other configuration that would stop this annoying trend? Many thanks.

[#2]

Hi bigfish,
Welcome to the Forums!
Sorry to hear of the issue you've experienced!
Is this something that has only recently started to happen? What is your speed when you're not using Amazon Instant? Are you noticing any issues when you're streaming things on YouTube for example?

[#3]

Hi Linn K
Thank you for your reply. My experience of streaming has been good up until this point. I can stream YouTube videos without any trouble. I have periodically checked my speed by using the Broadband speed checker on the PlusNet site and it of course varies, but having just tried it, I am getting 19.1Mb/s down and 1.07Mb/s up. The download speed looks extremely good to me, which is why the drop whilst using Amazon Instant is a bit of a mystery. I have, since posting this, purchased two TP-Link ethernet Powerline plugs and relocated my router back to its original location, next to my Mac upstairs and plugged the Blu-Ray player in to one of the power line ethernet plugs downstairs. This means that the router is no longer connected to the first incoming BT socket, but this has never affected the speed of the connection before. I have just switched everything back on and checked the ethernet connection between Blu-Ray and router. I have since checked the speed again on Amazon Instant - this is showing a strong signal at 12.6Mb/s, which is fantastic, however, this doesn't mean that the speed will be sustained, so I am going to try it again tonight when I uses more people will be using the internet and local exchange.
When the router was downstairs, connected to the Blu-Ray player via ethernet, I wondered if having this configuration actually doesn't really solve the issue of signal strength as the router has to still communicate with the Mac to obtain permission to access the internet, and it would have to do this via wi-fi as the Mac is upstairs. As I don't really understand how the mechanics work, I am not sure of this theory, but I have been trying to determine where the weak link is in the chain, and it would appear to my limited knowledge that it could have been the wi-wi signal between the router and the Mac in this situation. Now that the router is plugged directly into the Mac via ethernet and the Blu-Ray player is connecting to the router via ethernet and a Powerline circuit, I am hoping that the weak links have been reduced.
I would be grateful for your knowledge on whether you think this configuration is a better one than I had before.
Chris

[#4]

Hi there,
In truth it's only a better configuration if it works better.
If WiFi is part of the equation here it would be worth changing wireless channels on the router: http://www.plus.net/support/broadband/wireless_broadband/wireless_signal.shtml