# Are Youtube's downloading speeds sucking for anyone else? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 18, 2013, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-youtubes-downloading-speeds-sucking-for-anyone-else/650664 "2013-02-18T03:32:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-youtubes-downloading-speeds-sucking-for-anyone-else/650664/1 "2013-02-18T03:32:21Z")
It seems lately videos get stuck and buffer constantly. Granted I have DSL but unless it was a long clip I used to not have very many problems. Anyone else finding it is not so good lately? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-youtubes-downloading-speeds-sucking-for-anyone-else/650664/2 "2013-02-18T03:41:25Z")
Same here. Even the lower resolutions(480) barely play . ---
**Author:** ![ReticulatingSplines](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@ReticulatingSplines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ReticulatingSplines)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-youtubes-downloading-speeds-sucking-for-anyone-else/650664/3 "2013-02-18T04:15:35Z")
Thank god, I thought it was my router. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-youtubes-downloading-speeds-sucking-for-anyone-else/650664/4 "2013-02-18T05:31:02Z")
Same here. I thought it was just because I was watching a favorite, popular web series episode (Marble Hornets) within an hour of its release, but tonight even a low-rez, 45-second long obscure video had to buffer a couple times during play. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-youtubes-downloading-speeds-sucking-for-anyone-else/650664/5 "2013-02-18T05:33:24Z")
Me, too. ---
**Author:** ![Crocodiles\_And\_Boulevards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ee7513/32.png) [@Crocodiles\_And\_Boulevards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crocodiles_And_Boulevards)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-youtubes-downloading-speeds-sucking-for-anyone-else/650664/6 "2013-02-18T16:44:26Z")
Old trick for you. Not sure if it works still. If your videos are buffering slowly and you live in the US, try switching your region to Canada. I’m not sure if this works for other countries, but it used to be that switching to Canada led to noticeably faster buffering speeds. That being said, I haven’t had any buffer speed problems on Youtube for a few months now. Even on 1080. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-youtubes-downloading-speeds-sucking-for-anyone-else/650664/7 "2013-02-18T18:29:27Z")
Today, sucks big time. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-youtubes-downloading-speeds-sucking-for-anyone-else/650664/8 "2013-02-18T18:43:27Z")
> [@Crocodiles\_And\_Boulevards](#): > > Old trick for you. Not sure if it works still. If your videos are buffering slowly and you live in the US, try switching your region to Canada. I’m not sure if this works for other countries, but it used to be that switching to Canada led to noticeably faster buffering speeds. > > That being said, I haven’t had any buffer speed problems on Youtube for a few months now. Even on 1080. More specifically, I think this works: Change the URL to from [www.youtube.com](http://www.youtube.com) to [ca.youtube.com](http://ca.youtube.com) I’ve been having buffering problems but at first I attributed it to my lackluster DSL speed. ---
**Author:** ![Dorjan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorjan/32/12440_2.png) [@Dorjan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorjan)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-youtubes-downloading-speeds-sucking-for-anyone-else/650664/9 "2013-02-18T20:47:52Z")
I’ve been noticing issues lately as well. ---
**Author:** ![R3d\_Anonymous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/aeb1de/32.png) [@R3d\_Anonymous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R3d_Anonymous)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2013, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-youtubes-downloading-speeds-sucking-for-anyone-else/650664/10 "2013-02-19T01:54:25Z")
It is irritating my ass. I am trying to just fucking watch a symphony but no, the thing keeps freezing up! I have good Internet, 12 Mbps. So I my Internet speed isn’t the problem. I don’t know what is. Even 240p is freezing up which is just pathetic and unacceptable. ---
**Author:** ![Tixenfleaz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9a140/32.png) [@Tixenfleaz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tixenfleaz)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2013, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-youtubes-downloading-speeds-sucking-for-anyone-else/650664/11 "2013-02-19T04:42:31Z")
Same here. very slow. I noticed that the commercials are playing just fine, though. ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2013, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-youtubes-downloading-speeds-sucking-for-anyone-else/650664/12 "2013-02-19T04:47:57Z")
I thought it was just me! So relieved, yet still incredibly annoyed.