Buffering with full speed? YouTube, Plex BBC

[#1]

Hi all,

For the past 4-5 days we have been having issues with buffering, YouTube for example that I've never had buffering with before. What's strange is that this is not just limited to WiFi but wired as well. When I run a speed test I get full speed so I'm wondering if there are routing issues at the moment. 

I use a ASUS AC86u router with a Draytek Vigor 130, I have reset the ASUS AC86u to factory defaults to rule that out but it made no difference. I have included 2 speeds tests form my iPad Air 3 which shows my full speed so I'm not sure what is happening. 

Is there anything that can be checked to see what my issue is?

[#2]

I have obviously ruled out anything else downloading whilst I am having buffering issues and it isn't a usage issue, on the AC86U you can see real time traffic and saturation is not an issue when this happens. 

[#3]

Here is a picture of what watching YouTube is currently like, bare in mind that if I do a speed test I get full speed, my connection to YouTube is pulling 563Kbps. Constant buffering  

[#4]

No one else having issues with YouTube? Not every video but enough are buffering for it to be a big issue in my house. 

I plugged in the plusnet router and it made no difference, the videos that buffered before still buffer on the plusnet router. I would appreciate some insight on what I can do, or what can be checked. 

[#5]

I’ve tweeted your help desk with no response, can I get someone to look into my issue officially please. 

[#6]

I would like my exchange or cabinet checked for congestion, faults anything  I have full speed unusable internet  Buffering

[#7]

I’m also having problems. Youtube now often buffers where it never did before. Also, whilst generally my speed is about 68mb it is now 3-4 times a day down to 28mb. I wondered if it was related to the recent flooding problems. I’m in Calderdale. 

[#8]

I've started to noticed that recently as well, in fact today I just switched my phone to 4G cause I couldn't load a 480p video stream. Same on my wifi as in wired
Amazon video / Netflix seems fine in my case it's just YouTube

[#9]

My issues now all fall to just YouTube, not all videos, some work at full speed but others just have a really poor connection, it seems like a lottery on whether it will play or not. 

[#10]

I’ve been having the same problem for a few days as well.

[#11]

There are definite routing issues at the moment, I have tried on here, I have also tweeted their support. Looks like I will have to ring. YouTube still bad, I see other posts with people saying certain things won’t load. Needs looking into properly

[#12]

I did a ping and a route trace to youtube and BBC and it seems fine ping is around 12-14ms which wouldn't have an effect on anything, so it doesn't appear to be an issue with Plusnet to rule them out, could however be congestion at the fibre cab if so would require Plusnet to test for that.

Pinging youtube.com [172.217.169.78] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 172.217.169.78: bytes=32 time=13ms TTL=54
Reply from 172.217.169.78: bytes=32 time=14ms TTL=54
Reply from 172.217.169.78: bytes=32 time=13ms TTL=54
Reply from 172.217.169.78: bytes=32 time=14ms TTL=54

Ping statistics for 172.217.169.78:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 13ms, Maximum = 14ms, Average = 13ms

Tracing route to youtube.com [172.217.169.78]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1     1 ms     1 ms     1 ms  PNHUB1 [192.168.1.254]
  2     5 ms     4 ms     4 ms  172.16.18.35
  3    12 ms    12 ms    12 ms  133.hiper04.sheff.dial.plus.net.uk [195.166.143.133]
  4    13 ms    13 ms    13 ms  132.hiper04.sheff.dial.plus.net.uk [195.166.143.132]
  5    13 ms    13 ms    13 ms  195.99.125.140
  6    13 ms    13 ms    13 ms  194.72.16.74
  7    28 ms    28 ms    28 ms  109.159.253.3
  8    14 ms    14 ms    14 ms  216.239.40.87
  9    16 ms    13 ms    13 ms  172.253.66.101
 10    13 ms    13 ms    14 ms  lhr48s09-in-f14.1e100.net [172.217.169.78]

Trace complete.

Pinging bbc.co.uk [151.101.0.81] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 151.101.0.81: bytes=32 time=12ms TTL=57
Reply from 151.101.0.81: bytes=32 time=13ms TTL=57
Reply from 151.101.0.81: bytes=32 time=12ms TTL=57
Reply from 151.101.0.81: bytes=32 time=12ms TTL=57

Ping statistics for 151.101.0.81:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 12ms, Maximum = 13ms, Average = 12ms

Tracing route to bbc.co.uk [151.101.64.81]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1     1 ms     1 ms     1 ms  PNHUB1 [192.168.1.254]
  2     5 ms     4 ms     4 ms  172.16.18.35
  3     *        *       11 ms  129.hiper04.sheff.dial.plus.net.uk [195.166.143.129]
  4    14 ms    13 ms    12 ms  128.hiper04.sheff.dial.plus.net.uk [195.166.143.128]
  5    13 ms    12 ms    13 ms  core1-BE1.colindale.ukcore.bt.net [195.99.125.132]
  6    26 ms    28 ms    27 ms  peer3-et-0-0-1.redbus.ukcore.bt.net [62.172.103.238]
  7     *        *        *     Request timed out.
  8    13 ms    13 ms    13 ms  151.101.64.81

Trace complete.

[#13]

I'm having this issue as well

[#14]

Exact same issue here. Some will play at full speed while others buffer on 144p videos.

[#15]

I find that watching YouTube on Plusnet is frequently prone to buffering and unexplained stalling.

I set up an IPv6 tunnel on my router, and now all devices in my house access YouTube via IPv6 and NEVER experience buffering.

I can toggle whether IPv6 is enabled or not,  and it is like night and day,  Plusnet IPv4 = buffering, Hurricane Electric IPv6 tunnel = no buffering.

What I don't know, is whether problem is being resolved by the use of the IPv6 protocol, or if it is that the tunnelled data going via another ISP is bypassing a routing/caching problem in Plusnet's "NEW NETWORK" ?.

For what it's worth, here is my IPv6 traceroute to YouTube -

$ mtr -r -w -c 100 youtube.com

HOST: MyPC                                      Loss%   Snt Last   Avg  Best  Wrst StDev
  1.|-- MyRouter.MyDomain.uk                     0.0%   100 0.2   0.2   0.2   0.3   0.0
  2.|-- MyTunnel.tunnel.tserv5.lon1.ipv6.he.net  0.0%   100 9.4   9.4   8.6  10.7   0.2
  3.|-- 10ge3-16.core1.lon2.he.net               0.0%   100 7.2  10.0   6.8  29.0   5.3
  4.|-- 2001:7f8:4::3b41:1                       0.0%   100 7.5   7.8   7.1  15.5   1.0
  5.|-- 2001:4860:0:1100::1                      0.0%   100 8.1   8.2   7.8   9.6   0.2
  6.|-- 2001:4860:0:1::248f                     12.0%   100 8.1   8.9   8.0  16.9   1.7
  7.|-- lhr25s25-in-x0e.1e100.net                0.0%   100 7.8   7.7   7.2   8.7   0.3 

At this point I have a solution that works for me, and I can't be bothered to help diagnose Plusnet's never ending network niggles, as they have made no effort to fix any of the many issues that I've reported and provided diagnostic traces for in recent years.

I will be amazed if Plusnet actually come up with a fix for anyone reporting problems in this thread.

My suggestions for anyone to try are -

Configure your router to enable an IPv6 tunnel, giving your home network IPv6 capability.

I use the free  Hurricane Electric IPv6 Tunnel Broker 

Adjust your router's upload and download QoS to minimise bufferbloat on IPv4.

Use  DSLReports Speed Test  to experiment with your router's optimum QoS setting

Make sure that your modem, router, LAN, and networked devices, are each using optimum MTR values.

If your router can't do all of these things, then get a new router !