YouTube is often slow for me. Is there a solution?

Question

I've heard of many people complaining about the speed that YouTube streams videos lately. Even low quality videos go extremely slow on my system sometimes whereas they seem to be fast in other systems. I do not think that there is any problem with the internet connection I have, as it handles other websites and downloads very well. Are there certain settings I could check to fix this issue or is it a problem with YouTube's distribution servers itself?

• I am in the United States using Time Warner's Road Runner cable.
• I access the internet over ethernet through a DD-WRT router (Linksys WRT54G)
• I use an HP laptop; 1.6GHz Core Duo with 4GB ram on Win XP Pro.

Answer 1

Poor YouTube performance may be due to the following issues:

1. Poor internet connectivity (500Kb/s is recommended).
2. Server load on YouTube, which can be caused by too many simultaneous viewers.
3. Issues with your browser cache.

Issue # 1 can be addressed by signing up with an ISP which provides faster internet connectivity. Issue # 3 can be addressed by clearing your browser cache.

Answer 2

I have also noticed that YouTube videos tend to load slowly. I haven't found a complete workaround, but I have installed an extension that allows me to have YouTube videos start buffering in the background when they are opened so that when I choose to watch them I can do so without them constantly stuttering.

The name of this script YouTube Enhancer. It can be found here. It has many other options for YouTube videos including "Download Link + Quality Selector + Rollover Preview + Media Controller + Media Resizer."