cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

4G Dongle Youtube / Netflix playback

robdood
Level 1: Joiner
  • 5 Posts
  • 2 Topics
  • 1 Solutions
Registered:

Ok, so I'm experiencing a strange issue with my 4G dongle on my Windows 10 desktop. 

 

Speedtest.net reports a download rate of 30Mbps.  

 

If I watch a youtube video, 'auto' quality setting will default to 480p.  If I manually up it to 720p, it constantly buffers.   Netflix is similar, although there are no quality settings to play with, the video quality is low resolution. 

 

If I watch a stream on Twitch, I can stream 1080p60 without any problem.  Strange, right? 

 

It gets weirder.  If I load up my VPN, then go to youtube, I can watch 1080p60 with no problem.  Netflix plays at full quality. 

 

Any ideas if I can get proper playback without having to use a VPN..?

Message 1 of 4
1,209 Views
1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Accepted Solutions

MI5
Level 94: Supreme
  • 143422 Posts
  • 632 Topics
  • 27489 Solutions
Registered:

@robdood O2 heavily compress data for streaming so that will probably be contributing to your issue. They also employ traffic shaping at certain times of the day so using your vpn is probably your safest method to get decent quality.

I have no affiliation whatsoever with O2 or any subsidiary companies. Comments posted are entirely of my own opinion. This is not Customer Service so we are unable to help with account specific issues.

Currently using:
Pixel 7a (O2 & Lyca), One Plus 6 (Sfr), iPhone 12 Pro Max (Vodafone)

View solution in original post

Message 2 of 4
1,204 Views
3 REPLIES 3

MI5
Level 94: Supreme
  • 143422 Posts
  • 632 Topics
  • 27489 Solutions
Registered:

@robdood O2 heavily compress data for streaming so that will probably be contributing to your issue. They also employ traffic shaping at certain times of the day so using your vpn is probably your safest method to get decent quality.

I have no affiliation whatsoever with O2 or any subsidiary companies. Comments posted are entirely of my own opinion. This is not Customer Service so we are unable to help with account specific issues.

Currently using:
Pixel 7a (O2 & Lyca), One Plus 6 (Sfr), iPhone 12 Pro Max (Vodafone)
Message 2 of 4
1,205 Views

Anonymous
Not applicable

@robdood

 

On the face of it this sounds like either congestion or some form of traffic management.

 

I'd probably lean toward the latter.

 

HD video can use up a lot of bandwdith and the likes of the Youtube app will use as much as it can to improve audio and video quality, if you have a lot of users doing this in an environment that is subject to high contention such as a mobile network, things can slow down for everyone on that cell very quickly.

 

Is this something you have just recently experienced?

 

 

Message 3 of 4
1,201 Views

robdood
  • 5 Posts
  • 2 Topics
  • 1 Solutions
Registered:
I've been using this dongle for a few weeks now. I was giving it time to see if it would improve but no luck. It's fine if that's how it's supposed to be, save me data and at least I have a workaround.

Thanks for the replies, people!
Message 4 of 4
1,196 Views