Hacks to Stream Your Favorite TV Shows from Anywhere & Overcome Streaming Issues

Gone are the days when the only options for watching television was via cable TV and satellite TV signals. With the advent of streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime, online streaming now dominates the world of media.

Today, a lot of streaming companies and startups are using Cloud for streaming Live TV shows and programs. For this, one first needs to go for a data center decommissioning and reverse logistics in order to get rid of all the physical hardware and storage devices. Here, an expert like “Dataknox” can be of great help, if you’re based out of Newark CA.

Cost and convenience are cited as the top reasons people use streaming services. But while streaming is more convenient than cable TV whose signals reach your TV via a cable and satellite TV whose signals get to you through a satellite dish, streaming comes with its own share of downsides. 

Streaming Problems and Issues

Some of the most common issues faced when streaming television shows online include:

I. Slow Connection/Buffering

Nothing ruins a movie or tv show more than buffering. One moment, you’re watching a tense scene in the latest blockbuster, and next, you’re begging your Internet to speed up so the movie stops buffering.

I think most people relate to the pain that buffering causes, and it’s easily the worst part of moving to online streaming.

II. Mediocre Video Quality

Bad connections don’t only bring buffering. If your Internet is fast enough to avoid buffering, you still run the risk of suffering from low video quality.

For example, depending on the speed of your Internet, Netflix may not load a 1080p video in 1080p for a few minutes, opting to keep it at a 240p-480p.

And the video quality dropping in the middle of the show is extremely annoying.

III. Tracking Logins

The days of cable saw us scrolling through a TV guide, hoping that the show we wanted to watch was on.

Online streaming allows us to watch whatever we want, whenever we want. But at a price: logins.

You might be signed up to so many streaming services that you don’t know which login is for what; and keeping track of all these can become really difficult.

IV. Rising Prices for Streaming

Depending on how many streaming services you’re subscribed to, online streaming is much cheaper than paying for cable or satellite. For $10 a month, you can buy a basic Netflix subscription, giving you access to hundreds of shows and movies.

Problem is, these subscription services raise their prices every once-in-a-while, making the services more expensive than people are used to.

V. Restricted Content Due to Geographical Location

A big reason why streaming services usurped cable and satellite TV years ago is because of the convenience. Watch what you want, anytime. No strings attached.

As time passed, however, much of the content lying within these streaming services became geographically restricted—a practice known as geo-blocking. This means that, depending on your location, you won’t be able to watch certain content.

Solutions for Common Streaming Issues

While streaming issues can be very frustrating, you can fix them without having to sign up for a subscription to Comcast—no one needs to go back to cable!

1. Check Your Connection

Probably the most obvious tip on this list, I recommend you check the quality of your connection. There are plenty of reasons your Internet may be acting up, causing your shows to buffer.

Restart your network devices (router, modem, gateway, etc.) and maybe bring your devices closer to the router (if possible).

2. Switch to Ethernet (If you can)

Another way to avoid the pitfalls of buffering and mediocre video quality is to switch to an Ethernet connection instead of a Wi-Fi connection.

Wi-Fi is convenient, but when you’re streaming video, you risk buffering and loss of video quality due to the inherent inconsistency of Wi-Fi.

A wired connection (Ethernet) allows you to rid yourself of the inconsistency that Wi-Fi brings, meaning better quality and less performance drops!

3. Use a VPN

Let’s talk geo-blocking, which restricts access based on a user’s location on earth. No one likes it. It restricts the type of content you can watch just because you live in a certain country, and that’s pretty annoying. 

Fortunately, there are ways to circumvent geo-blocking. One of them is using a VPN. A VPN app allows you to trick services into believing you’re in a different location than you actually are, allowing you to completely bypass geo-blocking.

4. Take Advantage of Free Sites

Now let’s discuss the price issue many streaming services seem to be experiencing. Paying more for the same amount of content is understandable—owning the license for all of those shows and movies isn’t cheap—but it can be quite annoying for most of us.

Depending on what you watch, you may be able to cut out some payments and use free streaming services. For example, if you’re into older movies and shows, you can go onto The Internet Archive and watch many of them for free!

5. Use a Password Manager

Like I mentioned earlier, keeping track of all of your passwords for each streaming site can become an extremely annoying tradition. Fortunately, there are programs that help you make logins much easier, and all you need to do is download a simple program.

What program? Password managers, of course! Password managers allow you to store login info in a secure program, keeping all of your passwords encrypted.

This way, you don’t need to write down all of your passwords and enter them manually. It’s a pretty nice tradeoff for…a few seconds of downloading a program.

With these hacks, you'll be able to enjoy your favorite streaming shows hassle-free from anywhere!