My take on the Youtube problems over FIOS
Glad to see I'm not the only one with this problem. I live in NJ about 30 minutes from NY. Its seems to have started around 2 or 3 weeks ago. YouTube works great all day and then around 6:30pm-ish I notice the dramatic slowness on Youtube only. Netflix, Hulu and Crackle all stream perfectly. So as I said it starts around 6:30 and last past midnight. The next day all is well again. The time frame of when it happens - Its the only thing that is consistent with this issue.
I use OpenDNS so naturally I thought that might be the problem. I turned it off and changed my DNS to the default automatic Verizon DNS. This did not help at all.
I tried updating my Flash, browsers and even tested IE 9 in Parallels. Still the slowness continues.
Last night I called Verizon. The first level of support tech confirmed that my internet speed was more than an acceptable level (25DL/6UL) over wireless for viewing streaming video. He did a remote session and tested Netflix which worked perfectly. Then he tried a few different youtube videos and each video stops playing after 2 seconds every time. I asked him if FIOS was doing any type or throttling or packet shaping. He said Verizon would never do that. I was not convinced otherwise after an hour or trace routes and speed tests I just had enough.
I went back to googling and found a few ways to test and prove its a Verizon issue.
The first thing I did was use my iphone to view that same videos over AT&Ts 3G network. Even on AT&T with crappy service the youtube videos play pretty smoothly.
The second thing I did was view the same videos via a free proxy website.
proxy*****DOTCom
See for yourself. Youtube with the Proxy plays great. Without the proxy it just hangs.
So I guess you say I have a work around with the proxy sites but lets face it, its not a real fix but it does prove that its a verizon issue.
The last thing I will leave you with is a step by step on how to block certain Youtube caching server IPs. Some people online have said this works and other say its useless. You be the judge.
http://www.worldofashishb.com/2013/04/youtube-buffering-fix-for-verizon-fios.html
I tried this a few nights ago and it did not work. Maybe it will for one of you.
Good luck to all of you.
D