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YouTube Slow on iPhone through Wi-Fi – RESOLVED

By Ian Lee on Mar 3, 2009 in iPhone

YouTube Slow on iPhone Wi-FiAfter a few hours of testing (& hair pulling), I was finally able to use an iPhone to view YouTube videos on a Wi-Fi connection without the dreaded buffering problem. For those who are also suffering from slow YouTube connections on your iPhones over Wi-Fi, here is a fix.

There is more than enough evidence out there that when using an iPhone over Wi-Fi, YouTube videos are barely (if at all) watchable. Here are a few of these discussions:

Something is bottle-necking the connection and most videos are extremely slow to load or they simply time out. Ironically, the hang ups do not happen when viewing YouTube content on the slower 3G network; the problems only occur over Wi-Fi. Having read quite a few online discussions about this problem, I began methodically testing variables on our Linksys WRT54GL wireless router.

Here are some of the most relevant settings that were tweaked:

  • Afterburner
  • Frame Burst
  • SecureEasySetup
  • Wireless Channels
  • Bradcasting SSID
  • Wireless Network Mode

Currently, the wireless network is set to G-Only since this was the best setup for our office. It was only when I switched the Wireless Network Mode to B-Only that YouTube videos began watchable again. None of the other settings had any effect.

YouTube Videos Play Fine on Slower 3G Network; Not Wi-Fi

So why would watching YouTube videos on the slower 3G network play fine but not over the speedier G-Only Wi-Fi? While on the 3G network, the lower resolution of YouTube videos are downloaded while on Wi-Fi, the higher resolution of the video would try and load. So the reason why video would play well on the slower 3G network is because a lower resolution video is being loaded.

iPhone YouTube Wi-Fi Slow – RESOLUTION not SOLUTION

Sure, B-Only wireless settings allowed the iPhone to view YouTube videos but the Speedtest.net iPhone app does show slower speeds while the router setting was on B-Only versus G-only. Not only just for the iPhone but using B-Only would slow down the entire wireless network in the office. Although B-Only was a fix, it was not a solution. Needless to say, after finding this fix, our router was re-setup for G-Only.

After hours of testing, I believe this hiccup has something to do with Safari on the iPhone and its ability to run YouTube videos properly over Wi-Fi on 802.11g. Everything seems to work smoothly over 802.11b.

Let’s hope Apple has a fix on the next update! In the meantime, if you really need to watch YouTube videos on your iPhone, try using the built-in YouTube app on your iPhone to view them or set your wireless router to B-Only mode.

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  1. 9 Comment(s)

  2. By Richard Doran on Apr 16, 2009 | Reply

    Had the same problem with iphone 3G and Belkin Mimo router. Left 802.11g/b on and turned off QOS 802.11e, as apple site states iphone is only g & b compatible. Now it flies on wifi, youtube loads instantly and videos play with no lag. Downloading from app store no longer times out, and my hotmail app works perfectly. I have also installed Skype and this runs without problems too.

  3. By Adrian Jackson on Jun 17, 2009 | Reply

    Appears to have been fixed in 3.0

  4. By G on Aug 3, 2009 | Reply

    I found a tweak which is to use m.youtube.com from Safari instead of regular youtube site.

  5. By tori on Jan 7, 2010 | Reply

    Thanks for this article. I had the same exact problem with iPhone OS 3.1.2 and always thought it’s my internet. when I set my Linksys router to B only, youtube loads faster and more importantly, ALL the way. also, iPhone speedtest app showed about 5 times faster speed (2.5 mbps vs 200-400k before)

    I only have one linksys router so I am not sure if this is just linksys router problems

  6. By Adam on Jan 31, 2010 | Reply

    All this solutions didn’t help me. My app is still so slow that it is unbelievable. Sometimes it doesn’t load movies at all. I have brand net 3gs with os 3.1.2 and nothing is fixed and nothing help. I tried all solutions from whole web. Damn apple. It is always one thing that doesn’t work. But always.

  7. By LeCerc on May 12, 2010 | Reply

    I have still the same problem. If someone finds a solution, please post it here.

  8. By Rick on May 13, 2010 | Reply

    I have the same problem too.

  9. By Clod on May 25, 2010 | Reply

    Disabling Wi-Fi Multimedia (WMM)in a D-Link 300 (i.e. the same Doran suggested about QOS 802.11e) seems to be working for me. A little bit at random, though. Sometimes it works excellent and simetimes the same crap.

  10. By JC on Jul 17, 2010 | Reply

    .. I just got 2 iphones last week (3gs – 8gig)& same buffer problem on almost Every WiFi I can find at any store or home!!!!Even called ATT & their tech gad the same problem on her i4 …I can play only if i hit ‘pause’ & let the buffer run through a third of the video – then it may not catch up for about 5mins – seems like the FREE wifi does not work smoothly for video – but the PAID 3g WiFi works fine on my phones – am switching to a couple og Droids this Sunday & hope I do not have the same problems… Good luck Apple John C

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