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Why is YouTube so slow on the iPad?

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.



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.....
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this is not necessarily correct. Youtube is feeding multiple version for different devices.. it is possible the routing is differen based on mobile devices.. ergo providers may nt have the same resolution times or paths
 
Changing "ask to join networks" to off seemed to really speed things up.
Very strange!

I'm also tempted to look into setting up a static IP for my iPad. Again that's something that should not increase performance, but at this point who knows!

Anyone else test the static IP set up?
 
Yeah it's a bit crap that it's implemented badly on the iPad (in fact, not only the iPad but the same for my iPod Touch 2nd gen). Sure it's not the case on all routers and maybe there is some sort of pattern.

And, for the record, this isn't just a Youtube issue. You notice it mostly on Youtube due to that being the one place you tend to stream a lot of video (and therefore push your internet connection).

All I know is that by reserving an IP address via the router config pages specifically for each device (iPad/Touch etc) and therefore turning of DHCP for that device, the problem is immediately solved. No idea why this would work but it makes Youtube buffer correctly and also gives correct internet speed readings via SpeedTest etc.

It's really not a subtle difference between working correctly and not - that is to say if you're thinking "it seemed to speed things up" then chances are it hasn't. It's really easy to check. Just download and run the Speedtest app and you'll see crappy irregular sub-normal download speeds before, compared with regular correct-speed download speeds afterwards. For me, on an 11Mbps connection I was getting awful 0.5Mbps-3Mbps download (varied hugely). Upon doing the static IP fix my results bounced to a very regular 11Mbps without fail.
 
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Uncle Pinny said:
Yeah it's a bit crap that it's implemented badly on the iPad (in fact, not only the iPad but the same for my iPod Touch 2nd gen). Sure it's not the case on all routers and maybe there is some sort of pattern.

And, for the record, this isn't just a Youtube issue. You notice it mostly on Youtube due to that being the one place you tend to stream a lot of video (and therefore push your internet connection).

All I know is that by reserving an IP address via the router config pages specifically for each device (iPad/Touch etc) and therefore turning of DHCP for that device, the problem is immediately solved. No idea why this would work but it makes Youtube buffer correctly and also gives correct internet speed readings via SpeedTest etc.

It's really not a subtle difference between working correctly and not - that is to say if you're thinking "it seemed to speed things up" then chances are it hasn't. It's really easy to check. Just download and run the Speedtest app and you'll see crappy irregular sub-normal download speeds before, compared with regular correct-speed download speeds afterwards. For me, on an 11Mbps connection I was getting awful 0.5Mbps-3Mbps download (varied hugely). Upon doing the static IP fix my results bounced to a very regular 11Mbps without fail.
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Fascinating. So your setting up static IPs within the router the disabling DHCP entirely!?

What kind of router do you have?
 
Again

Could someone please post a guide for those of us that aren't so internet savvy on how to assign this static ip and turn off DHCP?

I know how to get into my Linksys router settings via IP address into the web search bar but after that I'm lost.
 
Here's my experience:

I have Comcast's fastest internet available in my area with the modem connected to an Airport Extreme and an Airport Express extending the Wi-Fi in the room with my iMac in it. I regularly get 30+mbps on my iMac, watching YouTube videos on the iMac is no problem, even in HD it only takes a few seconds to buffer then it plays perfectly fine with no interruptions whatsoever. My iPad 2 and iPhone 4 however, struggle to play YouTube videos, sometimes taking up to 20 minutes to buffer a 5 minute YouTube video. I've tried nearly everything to "fix" the problem including using open DNS and Google DNS settings to no avail. Resetting network settings on both the iPad and iPhone does not work for me either. I have fast internet and the BEST routers on the market and YouTube is still incredibly slow for me. This HAS to be a problem with iOS (it's been like this since I had my iPhone 3G!) I really hope this issue is addressed in iOS 5.
 
My iPhone doesn't seem as problematic as the iPad 2

I'm going to try some of the suggestions on this thread though

I usually have to hit reload a few times

xMClass said:
Here's my experience:

I have Comcast's fastest internet available in my area with the modem connected to an Airport Extreme and an Airport Express extending the Wi-Fi in the room with my iMac in it. I regularly get 30+mbps on my iMac, watching YouTube videos on the iMac is no problem, even in HD it only takes a few seconds to buffer then it plays perfectly fine with no interruptions whatsoever. My iPad 2 and iPhone 4 however, struggle to play YouTube videos, sometimes taking up to 20 minutes to buffer a 5 minute YouTube video. I've tried nearly everything to "fix" the problem including using open DNS and Google DNS settings to no avail. Resetting network settings on both the iPad and iPhone does not work for me either. I have fast internet and the BEST routers on the market and YouTube is still incredibly slow for me. This HAS to be a problem with iOS (it's been like this since I had my iPhone 3G!) I really hope this issue is addressed in iOS 5.
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U tube

From past experience it depends on the time of day and day of the week, Apple's you tube app is not the best and if you goto youtube via browser you have better luck most of the time.

I know I posted on Google/Youtube and asked about this and a rep said that there servers are being upgraded all the time and will not say its not them causing the delay but they also said that Apple wrote the application so you would need to contact them .

It is said that watching youtube video's on my iphone 3g look better and download faster then on my iPad2 via wifi or 3G.

Who knows maybe this will be fixed in iOS 5 and then again maybe NOT.

Also Netflix is NOT the best on the iPad either.
 
So this was working fine. I changed my ip to static on my iPad and immediately the performance increased. This went well for a week. Last night I was watching a video on YouTube and didn't finish watching it. I paused the video and pressed the screen lock button and went to bed. When I got up today I did some browsing and the returned to YouTube and started the video over. Now YouTube performance is back to slow and laggy again. I've tried both in the app and the browser and performance is the same.

I haven't tried setting static ip in the router itself, so maybe I'll try that. I did check to see if my iPad was still set to static and the right ip was in there too.
 
iOS YouTube app still doesnt compare to the YouTube on android devices :mad:

When I watch a YouTube video now I go to my android phone with gingerbread rather than using my iPad 2. Dammit Apple do something!!!!!!
 
Read this to fix slow YouTube over wifi on ipad

I found this solution on another site and wanted to post for everyone here. Follow the steps below and be sure to try all the codes. The 208 number did not work for me but I'm having much success with the 8.8.8.8. The slowest video took around 3 seconds to buffer, but most of them loaded almost immediately. I tested this out on 1 minute, 5 minute and 10 minute videos - all in HD/HQ. All saw vast improvement in connection speed.

1. Access Settings on your device.
2. Locate Wi-Fi on the left side and tap on it.
3. Tap on the blue arrow next to the current wireless network
4. Tap on the DNS field there and enter the DNS servers 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220 for Open DNS or 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 for Google Public DNS.

P.S. I've read a lot about this being an issue with many Verizon fios users. I do have fios (wireless connection) and as with others, this issue only occurs on my ipad2. I have zero issues on my hp laptop.
 
Wow I didn't know there was a whole thread for this! Can't believe there isn't a fix for this yet.
 
can anyone tell me if it is possible, and if it is how, to sort videos on the ipad's youtube app by date?
 
Anyone found a solution? What's the cause of this happening?

I have iPad one, and iOS 5 and it's still slow over wifi! It's painful!

Jordan
 
3lionsbecks said:
did you miss the part when I and many others have said we have no issues with Youtube at all. So obviously your issue is with your internet connection and not your ipad.
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Its not an internet provider problem! I have 2mb download sped on both my mac, and iPad, yet youtube is Slooooow! Its 100% something with the iPad!

I have changed the DSN numbers, and none of them speed my connection up to youtube!

My broadband is with sky!

Jordan
 
Nope no solution. Sometimes it works ok, But most of the time not. The other night, around 4am, it buffered almost a half a 9min video in the first 30secs. Although that rarely happens.
 
Check your router's wireless 802.11 settings.
I found that in my particular case, having my router set to 'N', made my data speeds slow, with my A4/A5 iDevices(no such problems with my friend's 3GS).
I set my router to 'B' & 'G', and everything is fine.
 
BergerFan said:
Check your router's wireless 802.11 settings.
I found that in my particular case, having my router set to 'N', made my data speeds slow, with my A4/A5 iDevices(no such problems with my friend's 3GS).
I set my router to 'B' & 'G', and everything is fine.
Click to expand...
I have just checked these and my router is set to "mixed b and g.
Chanel - auto scan, region - europe!

Still no joy!

I'm guessing this is apple error with something?

Jordan
 
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