Techy advise: I-Player/Video Stream problems

[The Archer]

Anyone any good with this sort of thing?

Basically whenever I try and use I-player or watch a match on a stream it freezes after a few seconds, then starts, then freezes etc etc and I get that circle thing going round on i-player.

I did a connection test and the results were that the connection speed was woeful, but I also ran another thing that said I had 678 errors or something on Active X but you had to pay for the software (PC-Fix I think) that claimed it would sort it.

I’ve tried disabling and enabling Active X but it doesn’t solve anything.

I’ve not always had this problem, but its been bugging me for the last few weeks and I’m shit at owt techy.

Any ideas how I can fix it, or do I need to cough up for the software?

[PTR]

Run the test here, and reply back with the result, as I've done below

http://www.speedtest.net/




Oh, and DO NOT PAY FOR ANY "WE WILL FIX IT" SOFTWARE. Its more likely to break things than fix them.

[The Archer]

Originally Posted by PTR

Run the test here, and reply back with the result, as I've done below

http://www.speedtest.net/



Oh, and DO NOT PAY FOR ANY "WE WILL FIX IT" SOFTWARE. Its more likely to break things than fix them.

Ta, I'll have to wait til I get home cos I'm at work at the mo.

When I ran the test on the BBC site it said the speed was literally in KBs not MBs. According to one of the sites I read a slow connection can mean the signal gets interrupted and causes the stuttering?

As I said though, it used to work OK.

[PTR]

Originally Posted by The Archer

Ta, I'll have to wait til I get home cos I'm at work at the mo.

When I ran the test on the BBC site it said the speed was literally in KBs not MBs. According to one of the sites I read a slow connection can mean the signal gets interrupted and causes the stuttering?

As I said though, it used to work OK.

Lets see the figures, then work from there. There's a lot to check if its bad.

[The Archer]

Originally Posted by PTR

Lets see the figures, then work from there. There's a lot to check if its bad.

That sound ominous...



I'll check tonight and post them.

[PTR]

For anyone else who's going to offer advise, here's his speed:





Ok, so that's a shocking internet connection. Could you tell me your postcode so I can see how far you are away from the BT exchange?

If you don't want to put in on here, go to here: http://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange_search - find the postcode of your exchange.

Then go to google, put the postcode of the exchange in, go to Maps, then do a route to your house and report back how many miles.



Also, remove ALL telephones and anything else that is plugged into a telephony socket. Then find you master BT phone socket. Get a screwdriver and take the face-plate off.
There is a slot behind it known as the master socket.

Plug your router into that. Wait 5 minutes, then go online again. Once you've browsed a few sites, repeat the speed tests and report back.



This tells us 2 things:

1 - What you can expect your Broadband speed to be
2 - If there is a problem with your telephony wiring

From that we can decide next steps.

[Wilfy]

Am getting this.



Does the upload speed affect much?

[PTR]

Originally Posted by Wilfy

Am getting this.



Does the upload speed affect much?

Not really. Unless you're interested in ratio torrents.

[Wilfy]

Originally Posted by PTR

Not really. Unless you're interested in ratio torrents.

Very rarely use torrents, so won't affect me.

[Hetzkes Ballet Teacher]

1) get a linux live CD (eg. Ubuntu) and repeat the speed test when booted from it

2) if it's still bad, check all your telephone points and make sure nothing else is plugged in

3) if it's still bad, try a different telephone cable between ADSL modem and telephone line, and (if you can) try moving it to another telephone point

4) if still bad, call your ISP, there's probably a line fault