IE 8, Windows Vista Home Premium, Dell Inspiron 531, 3 Gigs of RAM.

I'm having problems playing videos. Instead of just playing through, it
plays for a few seconds, shows a rotating symbol and says "Buffering", plays
for a few seconds more, and repeats the process. A 5 minute video can take
half an hour to play, and is hard to follow.

Any suggestions?

Thanx,

Buddha

 

What kind of internet connection and how fast?

"Tom Ponta" <thomasponta@att.net> wrote in message
news:F1E45561-E9C7-408E-9CFA-AD532EC645C2@microsoft.com...
> IE 8, Windows Vista Home Premium, Dell Inspiron 531, 3 Gigs of RAM.
>
> I'm having problems playing videos. Instead of just playing through, it
> plays for a few seconds, shows a rotating symbol and says "Buffering",
> plays for a few seconds more, and repeats the process. A 5 minute video
> can take half an hour to play, and is hard to follow.
>
> Any suggestions?
>
> Thanx,
>
> Buddha
>

 

Hi Tom,

Try right clicking on the 'Player' on the web site and selecting the
Settings context menu (if it is available). There may be an option there to
increase the amount of disk space allocated to buffering the videos in Flash
players.

Ultimately video performance will in part depend upon your installed Video
card. Post back with the web address of the site if you continue to have
problems.
Drivers are also updated via Windows Updates, so if your machine is not
up-to-date you may be missing important driver updates.

Regards.

"Tom Ponta" <thomasponta@att.net> wrote in message
news:F1E45561-E9C7-408E-9CFA-AD532EC645C2@microsoft.com...
> IE 8, Windows Vista Home Premium, Dell Inspiron 531, 3 Gigs of RAM.
>
> I'm having problems playing videos. Instead of just playing through, it
> plays for a few seconds, shows a rotating symbol and says "Buffering",
> plays for a few seconds more, and repeats the process. A 5 minute video
> can take half an hour to play, and is hard to follow.
>
> Any suggestions?
>
> Thanx,
>
> Buddha
>
>

 

It's DSL from AT&T. Speakeasy reports a download speed of 0.20 Mbps and an
upload speed of 0.65 Mbps, which seems slow to me.
"Jerry" <ChiefZekeNoSpam@MSN.com> wrote in message
news:eI8SMJG%23KHA.3628@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
> What kind of internet connection and how fast?
>
> "Tom Ponta" <thomasponta@att.net> wrote in message
> news:F1E45561-E9C7-408E-9CFA-AD532EC645C2@microsoft.com...
>> IE 8, Windows Vista Home Premium, Dell Inspiron 531, 3 Gigs of RAM.
>>
>> I'm having problems playing videos. Instead of just playing through, it
>> plays for a few seconds, shows a rotating symbol and says "Buffering",
>> plays for a few seconds more, and repeats the process. A 5 minute video
>> can take half an hour to play, and is hard to follow.
>>
>> Any suggestions?
>>
>> Thanx,
>>
>> Buddha
>>
>
>

 

You need to contact AT&T. 0.20 Mbps is too slow for streaming (as you
have found out). Chances are you are paying for 768 kbps (almost four
times faster what you are currently getting). Or maybe you are paying
for even more.

FWIW, I use Cavalier Telephone DSL. My figures from the Speakeasy site:

Download = 1.05 Mbps
Upload = 0.76 Mbps

Until you improve your speed, one thing you can do (if you have
patience) is to hit the pause button and wait until the entire video has
downloaded and then play it.


Tom Ponta wrote:
> It's DSL from AT&T. Speakeasy reports a download speed of 0.20 Mbps
> and an upload speed of 0.65 Mbps, which seems slow to me.
> "Jerry" <ChiefZekeNoSpam@MSN.com> wrote in message
> news:eI8SMJG%23KHA.3628@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>> What kind of internet connection and how fast?
>>
>> "Tom Ponta" <thomasponta@att.net> wrote in message
>> news:F1E45561-E9C7-408E-9CFA-AD532EC645C2@microsoft.com...
>>> IE 8, Windows Vista Home Premium, Dell Inspiron 531, 3 Gigs of RAM.
>>>
>>> I'm having problems playing videos. Instead of just playing
>>> through, it plays for a few seconds, shows a rotating symbol and
>>> says "Buffering", plays for a few seconds more, and repeats the
>>> process. A 5 minute video can take half an hour to play, and is
>>> hard to follow. Any suggestions?
>>>
>>> Thanx,
>>>
>>> Buddha

 

Thanx for the reply. AT&T is supposed to have someone here tomorrow
afternoon to help me resolve this mess. The whole thing started when I
moved to another apartment in the same comples (a physical move of about 30
feet). I had a saved Speakeasy report I did a screen capture on from before
the move, and it reported this:

Download = 0.75 Mbps
Upload=0.63 Mbps

So my download speed definitely got hosed somehow.

"Daave" <daave@example.com> wrote in message
news:uLz6F7J%23KHA.5164@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
> You need to contact AT&T. 0.20 Mbps is too slow for streaming (as you have
> found out). Chances are you are paying for 768 kbps (almost four times
> faster what you are currently getting). Or maybe you are paying for even
> more.
>
> FWIW, I use Cavalier Telephone DSL. My figures from the Speakeasy site:
>
> Download = 1.05 Mbps
> Upload = 0.76 Mbps
>
> Until you improve your speed, one thing you can do (if you have patience)
> is to hit the pause button and wait until the entire video has downloaded
> and then play it.
>
>
> Tom Ponta wrote:
>> It's DSL from AT&T. Speakeasy reports a download speed of 0.20 Mbps
>> and an upload speed of 0.65 Mbps, which seems slow to me.
>> "Jerry" <ChiefZekeNoSpam@MSN.com> wrote in message
>> news:eI8SMJG%23KHA.3628@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>>> What kind of internet connection and how fast?
>>>
>>> "Tom Ponta" <thomasponta@att.net> wrote in message
>>> news:F1E45561-E9C7-408E-9CFA-AD532EC645C2@microsoft.com...
>>>> IE 8, Windows Vista Home Premium, Dell Inspiron 531, 3 Gigs of RAM.
>>>>
>>>> I'm having problems playing videos. Instead of just playing
>>>> through, it plays for a few seconds, shows a rotating symbol and
>>>> says "Buffering", plays for a few seconds more, and repeats the
>>>> process. A 5 minute video can take half an hour to play, and is
>>>> hard to follow. Any suggestions?
>>>>
>>>> Thanx,
>>>>
>>>> Buddha
>
>

 

Daave <daave@example.com> wrote:
> You need to contact AT&T. 0.20 Mbps is too slow for streaming (as you
> have found out). Chances are you are paying for 768 kbps (almost four
> times faster what you are currently getting). Or maybe you are paying
> for even more.

Is that kind of speed still offered by AT&T?

Here in the Netherlands, the slowest ADSL you can order is 8000 kbps,
which may downgrade a bit when you are on a very long line.
The next higher rates are 16000 kbps and 20000 kbps.
People are expressing sad feelings when they are not able to order 16000
at their location...

 

Comcast Cable download speed of 2.0 Mbps and an
upload speed of 2 Tbps,

"Jerry" <ChiefZekeNoSpam@MSN.com> wrote in message
news:eI8SMJG#KHA.3628@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
> What kind of internet connection and how fast?
>
> "Tom Ponta" <thomasponta@att.net> wrote in message
> news:F1E45561-E9C7-408E-9CFA-AD532EC645C2@microsoft.com...
>> IE 8, Windows Vista Home Premium, Dell Inspiron 531, 3 Gigs of RAM.
>>
>> I'm having problems playing videos. Instead of just playing through, it
>> plays for a few seconds, shows a rotating symbol and says "Buffering",
>> plays for a few seconds more, and repeats the process. A 5 minute video
>> can take half an hour to play, and is hard to follow.
>>
>> Any suggestions?
>>
>> Thanx,
>>
>> Buddha
>>
>
>

 

Rob wrote:
> Daave <daave@example.com> wrote:
>> You need to contact AT&T. 0.20 Mbps is too slow for streaming (as you
>> have found out). Chances are you are paying for 768 kbps (almost four
>> times faster what you are currently getting). Or maybe you are paying
>> for even more.
>
> Is that kind of speed still offered by AT&T?

Until recently, yes (in the US).

> Here in the Netherlands, the slowest ADSL you can order is 8000 kbps,
> which may downgrade a bit when you are on a very long line.
> The next higher rates are 16000 kbps and 20000 kbps.
> People are expressing sad feelings when they are not able to order
> 16000 at their location...

Nice speeds!

 

Daave <daave@example.com> wrote:
>> Here in the Netherlands, the slowest ADSL you can order is 8000 kbps,
>> which may downgrade a bit when you are on a very long line.
>> The next higher rates are 16000 kbps and 20000 kbps.
>> People are expressing sad feelings when they are not able to order
>> 16000 at their location...
>
> Nice speeds!

It is caused by competition with Cable.
The Cable companies offer up to 120 Mbps and the ADSL providers had to
offer free upgrades many times to keep a share of the market.