Streaming Quality Bad: It’s happened to us all. You’re streaming video on your TV, enjoying watching a movie on Netflix, or videos on YouTube. However, instead of relaxing in front of your show or movie, you find that your streaming services all just keep buffering. You’re stuck with low streaming quality, slow-loading, and pixellated pictures. This is annoying, especially when you’re paying so much to access all these streaming services!
Nobody should have to deal with this irritation, especially when they’re paying for it. If you’re struggling with streaming quality, and want to improve your streaming experience, you need to work out why the services are running so slowly, why they keep buffering, and what you can do to make it stop.
To put it in simple terms, a poor internet connection is the main culprit for making your streaming service of choice, whether it’s Netflix or Amazon Prime, blurry, buffer, or have other problems. There are lots of different things that could be the cause of your poor internet connection.
To get you started with your troubleshooting, it’s useful to understand what kind of internet connection you need to have a high-quality, reliable, enjoyable streaming experience.
How Fast Do You Need Your Internet Speed To Be For Streaming?
Every streaming service has their own recommendations for the best internet streaming speed for streaming video successfully. According to Netflix, you need:
- 5 Mbps per second – Required broadband connection speed
- 1 Mbps per second – Recommended broadband connection speed
- 3 Mbps per second – Recommended for SD quality
- 5 Mbps per second – Recommended for HD quality
- 25 Mbps per second – Recommended for Ultra HD quality
For Disney+, you should have 5 Mbps of download speeds to enjoy HD content, and 25 Mbps for 4k.
If you’re noticing low-quality, buffering, or other issues with your streaming, start out by testing your internet speed to see if this could be the problem. If it is, this could be the simplest fix. Though each of the mainstreaming platforms has its own recommendations for the best internet speed, in reality, you might need more than their recommendations.
When you are looking at the top internet providers for your home, you sign up for a particular speed. That represents the total speed. So if you have several devices around the house all connected to the internet at once, they will need to share the bandwidth. Most of us have more than one device connected at once, especially if you share your internet with the family or with housemates. Multiple connected devices also mean that you are using more data. Some internet service providers will cap your data usage. In fact, if you stream enough 4K video, you could find that your internet use gets capped and throttled by your provider. Choose a reliable provider, like Centurylink Internet, and speak to them about your use like what we do in the shadows vampire council
How To Improve Stream Quality
If you’ve tested your internet speed, and your connection is fine, there are other options to explore to improve your stream quality.
- Restart the streaming service. Log out, and close the program completely. Reboot the device you’re using.
- Reboot your home network. Sometimes just rebooting the router is all you need to do.
- Move your WiFi hub and router. Put it somewhere central and away from any obstructions.
- Disconnect some devices from the network.
- Disable your VPN. when you’re using a virtual private network, your connection will be rerouted along the way, which can cause problems with lag.
- Change tour DNS server. Sometimes a third-party DNS server will be faster than the default option. Try a few to see what works best for you.
- Upgrade your hardware. This could mean upgrading your router, WiFi hub, smart TV, or streaming device, depending on what you use to watch your streaming services.
- Upgrade your internet connection. It might be that you have too many devices connected to your internet, so upgrade to get more bandwidth. Fubar optic broadband usually gives the best speeds.
- Upgrade your internet plan, especially if you often find that you are hitting your data cap. Ask your internet provider for more bandwidth.
What Can I Do Next?
If you’re still having issues, it might be time to switch to a new internet provider in order to get the speed that you need in order to improve your video streaming experience. Make sure you shop around to find the best fit and the best deal for your money before you decide.
