Netflix via Xbox360 buffering - Hardwired - Fibre

[#1]

Hi, since moving onto 40mb fibre two months ago, have been experiencing buffering watching standard Netflix on Xbox. Have spoken to Netflix who suggested reloading the app and also to Xbox support who cleared caches and a few other files. Xbox feel it is an ISP problem, but this has also been checked by PN with no errors identified.

Currently, I am seeing 25 to 30 mb down and 2mb up, but using the PC I have a 20ms latency but xbox reports 160ms latency. Xbox support feels that the high latency is the issue. The Xbox is wired via a TP link AV500 (Powerline). Have also set the router to make the Xbox go via DMZ on the router, but this not made any difference.  

At a bit of a loss of what else I can do.

Thanks

[#2 · Accepted solution]

My guess is that its the powerline as your PC is getting a decent connection and you are getting high pings on the Xbox it looks likely you are suffering from high packet loss due to how the xbox is connected.

Powerline adapters are bit notorious for this as they are reliant on the quality of the power cabling installed in your house as well as how it is looped.  

There are a few things you can try:

First and foremost, if you can try and connect the xbox directly to the router just to test that this improves things it will confirm that its how the xbox is connected that is the problem (I appreciate this is probably not feasible long term)

Plug the PC into the powerline as well and see if you get the same problems

Make sure both adapters are plugged straight into the wall and not an extension lead as this will almost certainly result in connection issues

Try a couple of different wall sockets to see if this makes any difference

Give that a whirl and let us know the results.  If it is the powerline, you probably want to think about how to get a wireless connection stable or better still a cable direct to the router if you can.

[#3]

Hi Tokey, thank you for taking the time in replying and for your advice.

So I have tried a number of things:

1. Powerline on a long extension lead (as I don't not have a long network cable), with both Powerlines on the same extension (Trying to remove a lot of the potential mains issues) - still got the same problem.

2. Powerline plugged into different mains plugs at both ends of the powerline, - still got the same problem.

3. Used the wireless on the Xbox (removed the direct Powerline link) - Still got the same problem - Note the wireless shows a slightly lower speed, but the same (within a few milliseconds) latency.

4. PC plugged into the Powerline, no problems seen with Netflix.

[#4]

Try without the extension lead at all as this nearly always causes some sort of problem.

Are you able to setup the xbox near the router so you can cable directly for testing?

[#5]

Hi Tokey, so brought a 30mtr network cable today and have watched two films with no buffering. Thank you so much for your advice.

[#6]

If you want to try and get it up and running without the long ethernet cable you might take a look at one of these:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00X7H35WI/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=NPW7G1Q4CG6F&col...

It placed correctly in your house, it should extend your wireless and hopefully deal with any pack loss which would have been causing the buffering.

Obviously if you are happy to run the long cable (my wife would never allow this sadly) its by far the best solution technologically, if not aesthetically 

[#7]

Thanks again Tokey. Will leave the wire in place at the moment and see what the wife says 🙂

[#8]

having used several powerline plug sets in the last few years I can confirm that many types of them suffer from this problem more so if you have more than a single pair of plugs on the same network, I spent several days conversing with various companies about their product(s) because of signal loss and buffering between the plugs and the router(s)/ devices

in the end I drilled holes all over the house and ran wires through trunking so it doesn't look totally gash, what I would of preferred was having them hidden completely but that wasn't an option / however since I went fully wired no more problems with signal drops and buffering complaints all over the house

[#9]

wired networks...  they are the future 

I only use powerline adapters for short term fixes now, they just arent reliable enough, which is a pity as they sure are handy...