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How Do I Stop Buffering?

How to improve TV streaming quality on NUMedia

Don’t suffer through annoying pauses or blurry, low resolution. Here’s how to get better streaming from your smart TV using your Amazon FireStick on NUmedia

Few things are more annoying than a hard break while the NUmedia app buffers and loads during your latest binge.

If you’ve suffered through slow loading, playback pauses and low resolution while streaming Netflix, Amazon Video, Hulu or MuMedia, it’s not necessarily the service’s fault. It could be your internet connection.

Fortunately, there are some steps you can take to improve the connection on your TV, streaming device or game console. For the most part, the faster the Internet, the better your streaming quality.

If you are experiencing any buffering with NuMedia please follow these steps;

Contact NuMedia Tech Support by clicking on the chat button in the bottom right corner of www.1numedia.com . and let support know the steps you have already taken. They may ask you to uninstall the NuMedia App and download an updated version, clear the cache on your Fire Stick.

Here is a short Video that will walk you through uninstalling and reinstalling to make sure you have the latest version:

Below are some additional steps you can take…

Google lets you test your speed simply by typing in your search

If you find your speed to be low, here’s some options to consider:

1. Upgrade your internet speed

This is certainly the most obvious, but when was the last time you asked your providers about how fast their offerings are now? If it’s been a few years, they likely have new services (maybe even fiber optic -the fastest) that could greatly increase your download speeds.

You need at least 15Mbps for 4K streaming, but really, you want a lot more than that. It’s also possible there are new providers or services from other companies. When a friend of mine moved into his new house, the phone company had the best option, a pretty fast DSL line that was way better than the local cable provider. Now, said cable company has 6 times the speed at 60 percent of the price. He was able to save money and increase his internet speed quite dramatically.

This is the first place to start.

He was paying $60.00/month with a national provider for their “Internet 75” 75 mbps (million bita per second). However, even when running their speed test he never saw more than 30mbps, and usually it was 20 to 25mbps (even though he was paying for 75!) . So step #1 is to check and see if you are actually getting the speed you are paying for. He switched to another providers internet only package with 150mbps service for $59/mo and now he gets 130mbps even on his phone! This eliminated 99.9% of all buffering for my friend. Below is a screen shot of the speed test on his phone connected to the new WiFi service. This is representative of what the Fire Stick on his Samsung Smart TV sees when streaming through the NUmedia app.

2. Upgrade your router/hub

The Wi-Fi router that you get for free from your Internet provider is likely terrible. Think about it! They give out hundreds of these every month and are not going to give you the better device if it’s going to cost them more money. They’ll give you the minimal viable product.

My friend thought he was having problems with NUmedia when that wasn’t the case. The first problem he solved was that he upgraded his router. He instantly noticed a significant improvement.

Keep in mind that some providers even charge monthly for these lower quality routers, so you could save some money long-term by buying a good one outright and reducing your bill a bit each month.

Internet providers usually charge you a monthly rental fee for modems. He saved $55/month in rental cost by purchasing his own modem from Amazon for a one time cost of $159.

MAKE SURE THE MODEM/CABLE ROUTER YOU BUY IS COMPATIBLE WITH YOUR INTERNET SERVICE. YOUR INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDER CAN HELP CONFIRM THIS. THEY DO WANT TO KEEP YOU AS A CUSTOMER EVEN IF IT JUST FOR THE INTERNET

You’ll also likely get better range and better signal throughout your home with an upgraded router. So if you’ve always had a bad connection in the back of the house (or wherever), a better router might help that.

A new or different router might also give you the option to connect via the 5GHz range (“normal” Wi-Fi is 2.4GHz). 5GHz is generally faster and has less chance of interference from other devices. However, it doesn’t go through walls as well.

3. Switch to Ethernet

Though convenient, Wi-Fi can be quite slow. Ethernet (wired internet) is a lot faster and doesn’t have issues with walls, interference or distance (well, not in a house anyway). Though running wires can be annoying, it provides the most reliable connection. The second problem my friend ran into in his own home was that he had what his friend (who was an owner of a local Internet Service Provider) called the “wall of death”. What he meant by that was that he had one wall in his home that was especially difficult for the WiFi signal to get through. Usually that occurs when there’s too much metal or glass. Those things will stop the signal dead in it’s tracks.

The good news is that you can get an Ethernet adapter for your Fire Stick. It eliminates the whole issue of interrupted signals.

If you want to use a wire, check your device. Most inexpensive streamers like the FireTV products and Google Chromecast lack the Ethernet port required for a wired connection. With this adapter you can solve that problem. Most Smart TV’s these days come with an Ethernet connection as well.

Here is a little tip that made a big difference!
My friend’s wife was watching her favorite Daily Soap Opera “General Hospital”
on ABC channel 5. It was buffering like mad about every 60 seconds
for about 30 seconds, over and over again. The Fire Stick on the TV is “hard wired” using an ethernet adapter
http://bit.ly/fire-stick-adapter

his network speed was 150mbps so he knew speed wasn’t the problem. FYI http://bit.ly/wifiVSwired

Here is the FIX! He went to “Home” on the Fire Stick, then “Settings”, then “Manage Applications”, then “Numedia” and then “Clear Cache”. At that time, the used cache was at 83mb. After clearing the cache, it dropped to 12kb, and the buffering stopped completely!

4. Move stuff

I don’t mean your TV but moving your Wi-Fi router could help a lot. If it’s on or near the ground, in a closet, or at the far end of your house, you could be limiting the signal and speed without even realizing it. Wi-Fi can go through walls but being high up and with fewer walls between the router and streaming device will help. If the router has antennas, positioning them correctly can also help.

The same is true on the other end. If you’ve got the streaming device in a cabinet, that’s not helping either. In a perfect world, the streaming device would have a direct line of sight with the router. This isn’t necessary, of course, but everything you place between the two of them decreases the signal and potentially lowers the speed.

An alternate version of this would be to get a Wi-Fi booster, or run Ethernet to a second Wi-Fi router. If your house is long or large, there are lots of options beyond the scope of this guide.

5. Kick the kids (off the Wi-Fi)

Think of your internet connection as a pipe full of water. There’s only so much water to go around. If you’re trying to stream in the living room, but the rest of the family is also trying to stream in other rooms, there might not be enough “water” to go around. Everyone will have issues.

Who gets priority in that case, I’ll leave up to you. No way I’m touching that one.

Test your results. With each change you make, test again and see how it affected the signal.

Many streaming problems can be solved with the steps described above. The key is getting the device the fastest internet possible, by any means necessary.

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REMEMBER: Contact NuMedia Tech Support by clicking on the chat button in the bottom right corner of www.1numedia.com . and let support know the steps you have already taken. They are there to help you if you continue to have problems. Spend time NOW to make your viewing more enjoyable. There are thousands of customers using and enjoying NuMedia’s streaming service!