Your internet connection is the problem

If YouTube or Netflix also stutter on the same device, the subscription is not the cause and no setting in the IPTV app will fix it.

How much speed do you actually need?

• SD: 3 Mbps
• HD: 8 Mbps
• 4K: 25 Mbps

Per device, at the moment you are watching — not the number on your contract. Test at fast.com on the device you watch on, while everyone else in the house is doing whatever they normally do.

The five fixes that work

1. 1Restart the router. Unplug for 30 seconds. Routers accumulate half-open connections and slow to a crawl after weeks of uptime.
2. 2Use the 5 GHz network. Most routers broadcast two names; the one ending in _5G or _5GHz is faster over short distances.
3. 3Move the box closer, or use a cable. One wall between the router and the TV can halve the throughput.
4. 4Check who else is on the connection. A phone backing up photos or a game console downloading an update will take everything.
5. 5Ask your provider about the line, not the speed. Packet loss and jitter break streaming while the speed test still reads fine. The words to use are: "I have packet loss in the evenings".

If your connection is genuinely slow

Set the app to prefer SD or HD versions of channels rather than FHD/4K. In IPTV Smarters and TiviMate the channel list carries several qualities of the same channel — the SD one will play smoothly on a connection where the 4K one cannot.