TV streaming problem at parent's home

[drummaman1]

Hey all,

My Dad bought a subscription for a new service that streams live TV feeds from Greece. The house already has an existing wifi connection, but my parents missed the "computer" boat, if you will. I have to handle all the setting up and troubleshooting. There is a small set top box that comes included with the service, and it uses the wifi connection to stream the channels. Easy enough, setup took a bit but no problem.

Some days it works well, and some days it is unbearable to watch. Buffering is the big problem, but it sometimes pixilates or video is 30sec. ahead of audio, but the buffering is really bad sometimes. There are two laptops that use the wifi as well, but it buffers even when no other device is sharing bandwidth. I thought signal strength might be an issue so I bought a range extender. It has helped a little, but has not solved the problem entirely.

My questions are: Do I call my ISP and ask them to upgrade the signal? Right now usual speed is 15-20mbps. I was told by the Greek TV provider that it would only use about 1.5 - 2mbps in bw so it wouldn't interfere with our wifi use, and vice versa.
Next thing I could do is move the original signal next to the set top box. That would involve some cabling, but would it fix the problem?
Do I ask the Greek TV provider to give a stronger signal?
Do I just deal with it, because it's wifi and it will do it no matter what?

Thanks for reading, and I look forward to what your thoughts are about this issue.

[shafty]

First thing is to check other streaming services on your parents setup. For instance if your in UK check out iPlayer, if your in the US then check out Hulu. If you can stream without problems then the problem is with the bandwidth of the Greek feeds. Also check who else is using the WiFi. For instance is someone else in the house downloading or watching Youtube at the same time?

If you free up resources your end then the problem has to be from the provider. If alternative providers are slow then maybe your WiFi needs upgrading to a faster service.

Good luck.

[bob]

What is the service your watching? If we know then i can take a look for you!!!!