Unblock-US and Hulu on a portable device - who is doing that successfully?

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Unblock-US and Hulu on a portable device - who is doing that successfully?

lchiu7

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#136338 23-Nov-2013 20:55

I have been trying lately to watch Hulu on my Galaxy Nexus, Transformer 700T and other mobile devices. I use Unblock in the router (Telecom VDSL) and of course I am using WiFi. My WiFi signal is pretty strong (in fact I have even tried sitting right next to the router).

So far I can bring up the Hulu menu, browse shows and even watch the opening ads. But as soon as the show tries to start, I get buffering messages, switching to a lower quality and it never plays the video.

OTOH no problems playing the same content on a PC or PS3 (both hard wired) though the quality never reaches HD. Interestingly no problem with HD content on Netflix on any of my devices.

I see to recall when I was on cable I could watch Hulu on a phone so I wonder if it's Telecom?

Just wondering if anybody is actually doing what I have described and it is successful for you?

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/h/wellycbd PM me and mention GZ to get a 15% discount and no AirBnB charges.

skewt

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#939641 23-Nov-2013 21:05

I have watched hulu on an iPhone 4 and netflix on a cheap tablet

both worked fine and were using UnblockUS

This was on snap UFB

stevenz

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#939759 24-Nov-2013 08:52

Works fine for me with Telecom VDSL. If I use the PS3 then I even get "Super HD" mode, although I really can't tell the difference between that and 720P unless I look real close.

I've also had it working via 3G, not ideal though as it requires using an APN with a public IP.

Works perfectly.

I manually set the DNS for my home Wireless to the Unblock-US IP on my Android device & iPad though, it's per-connection so saves me using their DNS for everything by default which may not always be desirable.

@KnightNZ

newbellies

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#939796 24-Nov-2013 10:30

Slightly off topic, but anybody noticed netflix/hulu performance diminished in the last week? A few weeks ago I made the switch to Telecom VDSL, and now I get more rebuffering / adaptive stream quality changes, than ever. I had no problems before. Quick speed tests on LA traffic to http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/ show that I have about 2.5 Mbps down, and to http://www.telecom.co.nz/speedtest shows about 30 Mbps down.

Wondering if that's a Telecom VDSL thing, an unblock US thing, a netflix thing, or just random (thing).

lchiu7

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#939819 24-Nov-2013 12:14

stevenz: Works fine for me with Telecom VDSL. If I use the PS3 then I even get "Super HD" mode, although I really can't tell the difference between that and 720P unless I look real close.

I've also had it working via 3G, not ideal though as it requires using an APN with a public IP.

Works perfectly.

I manually set the DNS for my home Wireless to the Unblock-US IP on my Android device & iPad though, it's per-connection so saves me using their DNS for everything by default which may not always be desirable.

I guess I must be having wifi issues then though I have tested with 4 different WiFi AP's including a TPLink, D-Link, the AP in the VDSL modem and a Linksys, all of the time sitting pretty much right next to the device.

Netflix is fine - can do that with no streaming issues and what looks like HD though the mobile versions don't tell you what quality you are getting.

On the PS3 I get SuperHD (by the way are you sure you are getting SuperHD for Hulu - I am not sure their app displays quality that way)?

Just can't do Hulu+ using the Android app. See the programmes, can see the ads and then buffering and no video for the programme itself.

OTOH on my PC I can watch Hulu in HD as well as on the PS3 and my Sony BDP-S390.

You would think it could be a WiFi issue except Netflix is fine.

I do have a Telecom LTE wifi device so might try that when I get the chance. That's pretty easy to setup with Unblock-US and a phone or tablet.

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/h/wellycbd PM me and mention GZ to get a 15% discount and no AirBnB charges.

lchiu7

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#939821 24-Nov-2013 12:18

newbellies: Slightly off topic, but anybody noticed netflix/hulu performance diminished in the last week? A few weeks ago I made the switch to Telecom VDSL, and now I get more rebuffering / adaptive stream quality changes, than ever. I had no problems before. Quick speed tests on LA traffic to http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/ show that I have about 2.5 Mbps down, and to http://www.telecom.co.nz/speedtest shows about 30 Mbps down.

Wondering if that's a Telecom VDSL thing, an unblock US thing, a netflix thing, or just random (thing).

Same for me - but it's random. Three consecutive tests gave me

5.66/7.69
3.28/7.69
7.29/7.69

No wonder the performance goes good and bad all the time.

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/h/wellycbd PM me and mention GZ to get a 15% discount and no AirBnB charges.