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Why is YouTube so slow on the iPad?

For what it's worth, I also have this problem. I don't think I should have to change the DNS server to make my iPad work.

I can only hope iOS4 for iPad will fix this.....
 
tibi08 said:
For what it's worth, I also have this problem. I don't think I should have to change the DNS server to make my iPad work.

I can only hope iOS4 for iPad will fix this.....
Click to expand...

Changing the DNS server has nothing to do with the iPad. The DNS server is out in the network. If it is not responsive you will see network performance problems. This is a network problem not an iPad problem.

Most problems with youTube performance are due to poor network performance. You will note that many posters here have no problems with youTube. In fact, most iPad users are not having youTube problems.

Giving some specifics about what ISP, router, etc. that you are using might help in providing useful advice.
 
jimHdk said:
Changing the DNS server has nothing to do with the iPad. The DNS server is out in the network. If it is not responsive you will see network performance problems. This is a network problem not an iPad problem.

Most problems with youTube performance are due to poor network performance. You will note that many posters here have no problems with youTube. In fact, most iPad users are not having youTube problems.

Giving some specifics about what ISP, router, etc. that you are using might help in providing useful advice.
Click to expand...

What you say seems to conflict with above posted comments where people have changed their DNS to OpenDNS IP addresses and resolved their YouTube problems.

I have another thread running with my iPad woes and did/do strongly suspect some elements are router-related. I am in the UK with Sky (ISP) and a Netgear DG934G router with proprietary Sky firmware (which is the latest firmware). My Macbook Pro has absolutely no problems with this setup (nor does my PC desktop) - and I have never noticed issues on my Iphone 4, although I don't tend to watch YouTube on it. On the iPad, the SpeedTest.Net app tells me that I have a 4mb connection and yet YouTube stutters and won't re-buffer. I also get random Wifi drop outs regularly.
 
tibi08 said:
What you say seems to conflict with above posted comments where people have changed their DNS to OpenDNS IP addresses and resolved their YouTube problems.
Click to expand...

There is no conflict whatsoever. Changing the DNS IP address means that a different DNS server on the internet will be used to resolve IP addresses rather than the ISP-provided DNS server. This is a network issue. People having this problem (which is solved by changing the DNS server) should inform their ISP provider about it.

tibi08 said:
I have another thread running with my iPad woes and did/do strongly suspect some elements are router-related. I am in the UK with Sky (ISP) and a Netgear DG934G router with proprietary Sky firmware (which is the latest firmware). My Macbook Pro has absolutely no problems with this setup (nor does my PC desktop) - and I have never noticed issues on my Iphone 4, although I don't tend to watch YouTube on it. On the iPad, the SpeedTest.Net app tells me that I have a 4mb connection and yet YouTube stutters and won't re-buffer. I also get random Wifi drop outs regularly.
Click to expand...

Yes, there could be router problems which affect youTube performance. By the way, a 4mb download connection is not particularly fast.
 
count me in as one of those who was getting real irritated with youtube on ipad...just changed setting to off for automatically ask to join network..videos now load instantly and play with no buffering..just like on imac
 
jimHdk said:
There is no conflict whatsoever. Changing the DNS IP address means that a different DNS server on the internet will be used to resolve IP addresses rather than the ISP-provided DNS server. This is a network issue. People having this problem (which is solved by changing the DNS server) should inform their ISP provider about it.
Click to expand...

If this were the case, then these people would be experiencing exactly the same problem on all their computers. They aren't - it only happens on the iPad.

Yes, there could be router problems which affect youTube performance. By the way, a 4mb download connection is not particularly fast.
Click to expand...

4mb may not be "particularly fast" but it is sufficient to watch a YouTube video. That is clearly the case since I have absolutely no problems watching YouTube videos on my MBP. The iPad handling of YouTube videos is so bad, that when it runs out of buffer, the video just stops. It could at least re-buffer and continue.....
 
tibi08 said:
If this were the case, then these people would be experiencing exactly the same problem on all their computers. They aren't - it only happens on the iPad.
Click to expand...

It's not clear that all of those for whom this solution worked didn't also have problems on their other computers, but, yes, this is unusual and the solution of changing DNS servers may not really precisely address the real problem but just change something in the network path that causes the symptoms to go away.

tibi08 said:
4mb may not be "particularly fast" but it is sufficient to watch a YouTube video. That is clearly the case since I have absolutely no problems watching YouTube videos on my MBP. The iPad handling of YouTube videos is so bad, that when it runs out of buffer, the video just stops. It could at least re-buffer and continue.....
Click to expand...

Have you measured the network speed on the MBP? It may be faster. However, problems with video streaming are usually due not so much to raw network speed but, rather, due to interruptions in the continuous flow of information and network latency problems.
 
For me, changing my DNS to OpenDNS solved a lot of the issues on all 3 of my idevices. Occasionally, there are videos that just buffer really slowly. That could be due to problems on Google's server side. Also for those claiming no issues on a computer, maybe it's because it's in flash instead of HTML5 format for the iPad. Just maybe:confused:
 
doboy said:
For me, changing my DNS to OpenDNS solved a lot of the issues on all 3 of my idevices. Occasionally, there are videos that just buffer really slowly. That could be due to problems on Google's server side. Also for those claiming no issues on a computer, maybe it's because it's in flash instead of HTML5 format for the iPad. Just maybe:confused:
Click to expand...

Good point.
 
NO MATTER WHAT, it is a "piss poor" YouTube implementation on the iPad that won't buffer a video when it loads slowly, WHATEVER THE REASON for the slow loading. End of story.
 
nardo50 said:
count me in as one of those who was getting real irritated with youtube on ipad...just changed setting to off for automatically ask to join network..videos now load instantly and play with no buffering..just like on imac
Click to expand...

Thanks for this tip. I had tried everything and nothing helped, but this did actually improve things quite a bit. Still not as fast as my computers, but way better than before.
 
i think youtube on ipad is poor - too slow loading.

is there a link to apple where we can all report this?
 
In iPad settings for your wireless network change the dns server to googles dns server 8.8.8.8
Fixed it for me
 
Smacky said:
In iPad settings for your wireless network change the dns server to googles dns server 8.8.8.8
Fixed it for me
Click to expand...

I first tried the OpenDNS trick, but my iPad was already set that way. I tried 8.8.8.8, and it actually seems to work now. YouTube had been unusable before.
 
Same issue here. No problem with YouTube on my Macs and iPhones, but nearly unusable on both my iPads (mine and the wife's). And I've got 50/20 Verizon Fios service, so it's not an issue with my network connection not being fast enough or my Time Capsule not being configured correctly (and FWIW, I've bypassed the crappy coaxial Verizon wifi router completely; my Time Capsule has a direct ethernet connection to the Fios optical terminal).

However, changing the iPad's DNS server to Google's public DNS (8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4) has helped it tremendously.
 
More Trouble

Just so you guys know this is also an iPod Touch problem. My youtube worked fine for a while but has recently become very slow.

Also for those of you hoping apple will release an update to fix the problem i've seen threads complaining about this since at least 2008.
 
thatboy said:
Just so you guys know this is also an iPod Touch problem. My youtube worked fine for a while but has recently become very slow.

Also for those of you hoping apple will release an update to fix the problem i've seen threads complaining about this since at least 2008.
Click to expand...

If YouTube worked fine for you and now doesn't then you can bet that something has gone amiss on your iPod Touch, your router, router channel conflicts, your network or your network performance (now busier), etc.. Try a different network for youTube access to see if you get better results. Some people who have had problems have seen improvement by changing their network DNS server (search this forum for "dns youtube"). Others have speculated that this problem is associated with certain router types and/or router configuration settings or even YouTube throttling. You might want to check to see if there is newer firmware for your router available on the manufacturer's support web pages.

For what it's worth YouTube works great for me on my iPod Touch 3rd gen using OS 4.1 (and previous OS levels). This is with an 802.11g router (Netgear WGR614v10) and a cable modem (Comcast).
 
xraydoc said:
Same issue here. No problem with YouTube on my Macs and iPhones, but nearly unusable on both my iPads (mine and the wife's). And I've got 50/20 Verizon Fios service, so it's not an issue with my network connection not being fast enough or my Time Capsule not being configured correctly (and FWIW, I've bypassed the crappy coaxial Verizon wifi router completely; my Time Capsule has a direct ethernet connection to the Fios optical terminal).

However, changing the iPad's DNS server to Google's public DNS (8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4) has helped it tremendously.
Click to expand...

My experience is very similar. There have been plenty of times where Youtube works great on the computer but not on the Ipad. While some people complaining about YouTube speed just have poor connections, we have admit there a bigger problem. However, the Google DNS has also helped me tremendously.
 
Meh, just tried the google dns 8.8.8.8 and youtube is just as useless as it was before. Meanwhile, The Netflix, Hulu Plus and ABC Player apps work perfectly fine.

If 4.2 doesn't fix it I'm going to assume it will never be fixed.
 
noty said:
Meh, just tried the google dns 8.8.8.8 and youtube is just as useless as it was before. Meanwhile, The Netflix, Hulu Plus and ABC Player apps work perfectly fine.

If 4.2 doesn't fix it I'm going to assume it will never be fixed.
Click to expand...

I have exactly the same feeling, except I am running the 4.2 beta and it's the same.
 
Hi people.

I'm the original poster. I seem to have cracked the problem with my wireless being a fraction of the speed it should be. This made YouTube playback terrible (see my original post and my subsequent ones).

All i did (having purchased a better router!) was to go to the network settings and change from DHCP to Static. I put in the same details as on the DHCP page and voilà. I now get the full 12mbps download speed that my iMac and other devices get. Youtube is now silky smooth. No more buffering.

Worth a go for those with problems. For me, swapping to Static from DHCP has finally fixed my problem. I'll make sure I reserve the specified IP in my router settings now.

Let me know if this helps any other people.
 
Thanks Uncle Pinny!

I have tried most solutions. Multiple different DNS entries, turning off Ask To Join Networks, etc and nothing has worked. Except for changing to a static ip. I did just like you did and copied dhcp settings to static on the iPad and it immediately and constantly (most important) helped. Thanks again!
 
STidrvr said:
Thanks Uncle Pinny!

I have tried most solutions. Multiple different DNS entries, turning off Ask To Join Networks, etc and nothing has worked. Except for changing to a static ip. I did just like you did and copied dhcp settings to static on the iPad and it immediately and constantly (most important) helped. Thanks again!
Click to expand...
Is there some type of guide you can direct to me, how is it done?
 
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