Constant buffering?

[gray2018]

So on my Note 9, whenever I'm in my back bathroom, I noticed while on youtube, even with full service, my phone constantly buffers. Sometimes when I turn on Wifi, it stops. What gives with this? It's mostly at certain times of the day like later on in the evening. My old phone did this too though. So I'm guessing it's not a phone issue and maybe either service or youtube related? Like I said, whenever my phone does this it always has 4-5 bars. And I don't really have this problem normally. Any ideas?

 

[Cynthia Johnston]

How often do you restart your phone? I start getting that same situation if I leave it without restarting it periodically.

 

[debsawyer]

If you are on Sprint it's probably them. I have the same issues not only with Sprint, but Google WiFi/Nest WiFi. If it's not Sprint it's my wireless. When I upgraded and added the Nest WiFi one of my pods think it's still a router. So I have intimate connection issues. When that happens I switch to mobile. That does not do any good because Sprint data sucks now.

 

[Cynthia Johnston]

If you are on Sprint it's probably them. I have the same issues not only with Sprint, but Google WiFi/Nest WiFi. If it's not Sprint it's my wireless. When I upgraded and added the Nest WiFi one of my pods think it's still a router. So I have intimate connection issues. When that happens I switch to mobile. That does not do any good because Sprint data sucks now.

I'm on Sprint too, but my buffering only happens with extended uptimes.

 

[tireboy66]

Restart your phone occasionally and your modem.

 

[debsawyer]

Yes i do that twice a week, and more. You are talking to a Tech Girl .

 

[tireboy66]

Network issue ???

 

[Cynthia Johnston]

Network issue ???

Yes, a network issue, but not a network-WIDE issue.

 

[gray2018]

I'm on T-Mobile. And I actually have my phone off at certain times off the day regardless, especially early in the morning. Wouldn't this constitute technically it being restarted? Or should I try restarting my device when this happens? And why is it only in my bathroom normally when it happens... especially when I'm showering lol could something be blocking the signal even though it says I have full service?

 

[Cynthia Johnston]

... I actually have my phone off at certain times off the day regardless, especially early in the morning. Wouldn't this constitute technically it being restarted? Or should I try restarting my device when this happens? And why is it only in my bathroom normally when it happens... especially when I'm showering lol could something be blocking the signal even though it says I have full service?

No, phone with screen off is NOT the same as restarting it. Hold the power button down and SELECT 'Restart Phone'.

The bathroom reception thing? Might be a 'sink' for the radio signal the phone uses in that room - no pun. Similar to how TV reception - way back when - would be worse when you took the rabbit ears from a specific spot and tried to move them. You're in the same general area for station signal, it's just that precise spot is interfering with the signal so it's fuzzy garbage. For an analog TV, that meant staticky picture and bad audio; with your cell phone, it equals repeated reloads, as the clear signal it picks out is only a fraction of what you usually get.

 

[Rukbat]

Buffering should be labeled "waiting for more data from the server", because that's what it is. "Full service" may not be full service - a dead spot can be as small as 12" in diameter (I've never measured a smaller one but theoretically it should be possible to have one only 1" at some 4G frequencies). It's always due to a slow path somewhere, though - it doesn't have to be a bad signal to your phone, it could be that the path from the server is passing through some congestion point. (An internet connection can't transfer data any faster than the slowest part of the path.)

 

[B. Diddy]

Do you have an unlimited data plan? If so, exactly how much data do you use per month? Carriers will still throttle users who use a huge amount of data -- I think T-Mobile starts throttling when you hit the 50 GB mark in one month.

 

[gray2018]

Do you have an unlimited data plan? If so, exactly how much data do you use per month? Carriers will still throttle users who use a huge amount of data -- I think T-Mobile starts throttling when you hit the 50 GB mark in one month.

I have unlimited and usually use 25-30 GB a month.

 

[B. Diddy]

It still may be worth calling T-Mobile and asking them if you've hit some sort of data cap.

 

[pizza_pablo]

Yes i do that twice a week, and more. You are talking to a Tech Girl .

I restart my phone after so updates, so a few times a week.

I do not usually restart home modem & router, unless I have issues.
Do you recommend restarting both, weekly are more often even?

Anybody else do this?

 

[B. Diddy]

I don't reboot any of my devices unless there's an issue. I have a Google Wi-fi mesh system which has been extremely reliable. My Pixel 3 XL gets automatically restarted every month for the security update, but other than that, I rarely have to initiate a reboot.