This movie could not be played - You Tube and iPlayer

Frostygills · 16-10-2009, 8:19 AM

Hey all,

I'm pretty sure this problem is either my WiFi router or something on my iPhone, but hopefully someone can help.

I have a iPhone 3GS not jailbroken and up to date on firmware. When at home on my wifi network, I can not play video from you tube or iplayer. They either start to come down then stop after a few seconds or don't play at all giving the message 'this movie could not be played'.

I've connected to an Edge source while at work and you tube plays fine, obviously can't test iplayer.

I'm thinking it could be my wifi router (i have a netgear WNR200 N router on a 20mb Virgin Media line), I downloaded the speedtest app and the results were shocking. I was either getting 1mb or less download and very little upload. The wifi router was only in the next room to me, okay I have pretty thick walls, but my laptop seems to pickup a half decent signal.

Any ideas?

TIA
Frosty

Sean_Hale · 16-10-2009, 9:32 AM

This maybe daft but are you sure you are connected to the wifi network? Only a mate of mine assumed he was conected to his router(netgear) and it turned out it wasn't. The wifi on the phone was on but he was surfing via edge.

Frostygills · 16-10-2009, 10:12 AM

Thanks for the reply, Yeah I'm pretty sure. The WiFi symbol is displayed at the top of the screen and I've disconnected and reconnected to my wifi.

Fuzzmo · 16-10-2009, 2:13 PM

If it works over Edge but not WiFi then it probably is your router. Have you tried standing next to it and playing YouTube etc? The fact that it does work but not in your house does point to Router WiFi issues...

MarkieT · 17-10-2009, 12:09 AM

Hi,

Just wondered what sort of Security do you have set on your Router? I used to have a similar problem with my Router until I changed the setting to WEP and decided to set a 32 Bit Incription.

Hope that helps.

Frostygills · 18-10-2009, 11:47 AM

Hi guys,

I've been doing a bit more testing today, got the laptop and my iPhone sat in front of the router both connected via wifi and doing speedtests. The laptop never drops before 17mb on several tests, the first test on the iPhone general give 7-10mb connection, everyone subsequent gets less and less until less than 1mb.

So I know it's not the router/wifi, but that iPhone talking to the router.

Also, youtube doesn't seem to play at all now, got a msg saying the format wasn't compatible (that's a lie cos it's that same video I played above on the Edge network) and just tried iPhone and that started to play the program, gets about 30 seconds. Then the pic freezes, the counter of time continues for about another 20seconds, then it completly stop and won't re-start.

That might be a good call MarkieT, just got a new N router and set it up on WPA-PSK + WPA2-PSK, I will try dropping it down to WEP as I can't get the Mrs DS to hook up on WPA.

RobM · 18-10-2009, 11:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frostygills

That might be a good call MarkieT, just got a new N router and set it up on WPA-PSK + WPA2-PSK, I will try dropping it down to WEP as I can't get the Mrs DS to hook up on WPA.

If it's on WPA-PSK + WPA2+PSK then drop it down to WPA-PSK first, as most modern WiFi devices support this and it's more secure than WEP.

Ultimately few forms of WiFi encryption are secure, but do try and keep it at the highest level your devices support.

Frostygills · 18-10-2009, 12:34 PM

Just knocked it down to WEP, done a few network tests and about 5 in a row came back ~8mb, then next two below 1mb, then back upto 8mb.

Tried youtube, stayed connected this time, but a very small video stalled playing 3 times while it downloaded. iPlayer was much the same. Werid why it's so erratic and fine on the laptop.

I'll try upping it to WPA and see what we get then.

Frostygills · 18-10-2009, 12:49 PM

Right, getting fed up of this now! On WPA, and it's back to how it was originally. Picture freezes when streaming but the counter and time line keeps going. Looks like it'll only work on WEP.

Frostygills · 18-10-2009, 1:11 PM

Okay, pretty odd or could be a red herring..... Just reset the modem and router, and now seems to stream okay on iPlayer. Hopefully it'll stay that way.

Thanks to all who tried to help.

RobM · 18-10-2009, 2:02 PM

Some routers, especially domestic ones, don't fully adopt the new settings until rebooted. So I'd imagine it will be linked to the problem you were having.

Fuzzmo · 18-10-2009, 8:35 PM

Another thought - it's not a netgear dgn2000 is it? They are known to cause huge problems with the iPhone. So much so that my friend returned his the next day. Another thing you could try is to go to a friends house and see if YouTube and iplayer works there?

If not then it could point to a dodgy component inside the phone. If it does work at your friends house and you have decrease your router down to wep etc. then personally I would change the router (if possible).