iPhone 3G + wifi + YouTube = Slow!

Same problem here. YouTube is fine over 3G, but completely unusable when connected via WiFi. This is the first time in my Apple-loving life that I've actually been genuinely disappointed with an Apple purchase.

I miss my old iPhone running the old software...such a beautiful and reliable device. Slower, maybe...but completely reliable.

Same problem with my iphone 3G on Telstra here in Adelaide.
Wifi is slow also (or connection times out trying to connect) with Google and Wikipanion mini apps downloaded from apps store.
Generally safari seems ok and things like stocks and weather are gps seem ok.

I have no problem streaming off iPhone+3G or wifi from YouTube. You may want to check your Broadband connection speed; and then your router 802.11g speed. I know for instance that Linksys is very slow with those that subscribe to very high-speed broadband rates from Cox or Comcast. So it could be a router issue.

You might want to test your iPhone speed with http://testmyiphone.com/ both for 3G as well as wifi.

I've got the same problem. The wifi-speed itself is fine, but YouTube is completely unusable. I have to wait several minutes before I can start a 1-minute clip.

Same problem here !

Iphone 3G, firmware 2.1 (was same with previous firmwares)

same problem here! also had the first generation iphone and it worked perfectly, but with the 3g (and now firmware 2.1) YouTube is very slow + it doesn't show how much has been downloaded of the video you are watching...

Same problem here. Video bumps on the wifi net. When I turn the wifi off and use the cell phone network it works perfectly (the quality is in inferior quality but viewable). Perhaps it’s a bug to transfer more money in to the cell phone carrier’s account 🙂
But I hope they fix this bug soon!

Plenty of other people out there experiencing the same thing.

Believe it or not, walking away from the access point until signal strength is poor and/or switching the AP to 802.11b only (not g) seems to fix the problem. It's as if the iPhone has a problem when the available wireless connection is too fast.

Definitely looks like a bug. Let's hope it's on the list to be fixed in 2.1.1 ....

I can confirm that changing my wireless router from 802.11 b+g to 802.11 b only fixed the slow YouTube performance for me too. Not ideal, but I'll live with it until apple sorts it out...

I don't want to modify my default network-or-whatever settings. And cannot when not on my wifi network.

Anyone has more news on that bug ?

Until I have updated my ipod Touch software to 2.1 version, I could use youtube with the same performance as my desktop using the same WIFI connection.
I confirm that, after this update, ONLY YOUTUBE GOT SLOWER. There are others internet video sources for iphone in Brazil that are working fine. Try it and compare with youtube: http://m.video.globo.com

Same problem here to in the uk then. Mine is really fast on wi-fi my speedtests show over 9meg. watching bbc iplayer on wi-fi really good quality. watching youtube on wifi through the iphone is rubbish, it stops and starts but the quality looks really good. Come of wi-fi on 3g it play's the video fine but in bad quality. Come on Apple Sort It OUT!!

Yep same here.
Major problem that still hasnt received a comment or fix from Apple.
youtube flies on 3g and is unusable over my (quite fast) wifi connection.
Whats going on?!

Just an update on this. I was still having this issue, but I THINK I have solved it. I came across a blog post mentioning that someone had very slow general wifi access (ie weird safari browsing slow downs) from their iphone. But it was only the iphone that had the issue, nothing else. He discovered that he had local DNS settings on all his computers, but of course, the iPhone was using the DNS settings via DHCP from his router. The DNS server he had configured there was dodgy and not responding reliably.

On the off-chance, Ive just set up my router using OpenDNS rather than my local ISP DNS servers (which I have occasionally seen to be slightly dodgy during my day job at a solution provider). So far, its looking very promising, with several YouTube videos streaming for over 1 min via Wifi. Conversely, last night, streaming the same 10 min video, it would pause every 5 secs.

I am running a time capsule Time Machine backup at present, so will see how it goes after that.

Grumble. Must have been working better coz Time Machine was slowing down the connection or something. Back to its old tricks of lasting only a couple of secs before having to hit the play button again 😟

Also tried taking it outside, or hiding behind car in garage. If Im down to 1 or 2 bars, it will stream faster than realtime. At full strength in same room as Time Capsule, it just wont stream.

Will play with setting the Airport down to 802.11b next and see what that does.