Surfshark causing IPTV issues?

So, I use three different IPTV services. In the last few days, I’m noticing that if my Surfshark is on and I’m watching anything random at any variable time of day, the stream starts buffering/stuttering or gets a 404 error and stops. If I turn off the VPN, the streams are fine.

Running on Formuler Z11 Pro Max

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Can you run a speed test with your VPN on and share the results? Also with it off if you can.

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I’m directly wired in vs wifi, but yes.

Currently as of 13:30
VPN off: 73 Mbps down/ 7 up (1 minute later 116 down/ 19 up)
VPN on: 49 Mbps down/ 13 up (1 minute later 58 down/ 18 up)

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That should be good for speed for IPTV. I would check with your IPTV provider. They may be able to reset your line and it may flush out any connection issues. You may want to play around with your SS locations/settings too, just to see if you can improve anything on your end.

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I’ve tried a couple of different locations on SS to include local US server, CA server and multi-hop (US via CA).

I’ve already had one of the IPTV providers clear out the multitudes of countries from my available lists, but this is persisting across my different IPTV providers.

I live in a semi-rural area using Starlink (no obstructions).

I tried on my phone using IPVanish (haven’t installed SS) and using wifi. Speeds were 71 down both with and without and 15.5 up without and 5 up with it on.

I used IPVanish for a long time before SS. Unfortunately, I hadn’t been using IPTV, yet, before I switched.

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I have SS,have a couple of services and use IPTV extreme player.1 service plays mostly fine and loads quickly.The other service takes forever to open/download guide- so much so that I usually just turn off SS, load the guide,then turn SS back on.But also the service won’t play with SS on sometimes-alot actually-unless I go thru 3 or 4 different locations until finding 1 that works.So it is quite annoying sometimes,so much that I just turn off SS and use free proton VPN and it seems to work fine.

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I have the same problem as surfshark. I can’t get no stream from my PT service I have to shut off the VPN turn the VPN back on two or three times finally I’ll get the service from the ipt service. It’s just something about surfshark that it does that. I’ve complained about it but no resolve. Also guys you can’t mention IPTV Services by name unless you’re on the ipt services category.

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Please no IPTV service mentions here.

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That was my mistake on the mention. Def won’t happen again.

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I’m having no problems streaming on Kodi, so it’s evidently something with the live stuff.

I’ll try different SS locations, but I guess what is my potential issue if I use IPV vs SS?

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Did you see if your IPTV service is ip locked? That may be your problem.

Nope, not locked services.

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Try wireguard protocol out of Newyork, Tampa, Chicago, LA, Dallas, KC… usually one will work. For me its usually NY and im on the Gulf coast.

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Also on SS seemed liked my speed was getting slower and causing some buffering so checked the ‘protocol’- have read best to use wireguard which it was set on,however now there were/are 2 wireguards that are able to be checked,so checked the other 1 and seemed speed did improve just a bit.

I don’t have ANY of these issues using Proton.BOTH my services run smoothly along with Kodi. my advice would be to use a european or asian server during the day and a canadian or south american server at night.works for me!

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I know people like the Wireguard protocol, but definitely try Open protocol. That solved problems for me. Now switched back to Wireguard and all is well.

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I use SurfShark daily and will have 2 to 3 different iptv services streaming at the same time all running SurfShark usually connected to a U.S. server. Wireguard protocol. No issues. Must be your iptv provider.

I experienced some issues the last couple of days with 2 of my providers where they would not load with SS enabled. My other 6 services seemed unaffected. I did talk with SS regarding the issue and they suggested change my DNS, but for some unknown reason it corrected itself. So I never messed with the DNS.
However, I was experiencing some weird stuff with my UI and remote on my Nvidia at the same time as the SS issue was going on. I fixed most of the issues by researching the issue and finding some partial solutions. What I finally narrowed down to what was causing the UI and remote issue was the Smart Tube and Smart Tube Beta Seems some update they pushed out has some type of intermittent adverse affect. Anyway, I uninstalled Smart Tube and the UI issue went away. I don’t know if that issue was connected with the SS issue or not. But uninstalling the Smart Tube apps and everything went back to normal.

The issue with the UI and remote was the TV/device would wake on its own, the scrolling would only go left and right but not up and down, the channel I would be watching in Tivimate would jump top another and then when I tried to reselect the channel it would scroll up to the top of the list. I could not back out of the app and had to use either my Mouse toggle or my remote on my phone to get to settings. Then I could reboot and everything would be okay for a bit. Then the same thing would happen all over again. Also, at this time I started noticing when using the Smart Tube app the bar on a video to advance forward would stutter trying to advance for no reason. That’s when I figured the Smart Tube Beta was the culprit.

Check any app that you just recently updated and clear cache and force stop. Then see if you can connect. I truly do not believe this is a SS, Tivimate, or my iptv services fault. So far, I believe it was some update with Smart Tube that caused all of this, but not sure. The problem was the issue was intermittent and hard to isolate.

Anyway, here is a invite to the SS Discord if you would like to join.

Sorry carlbs, this post was meant for @sherbear97124 …hope they see it.

There have been 8 ppl I know with identical issues. I have been unable to isolate the issue. So many different setups and equipment being affected. like you they resolved themselves.

I weird! I hope it was just that Smart Tube app and once he pushes out another update hope it gets fixed. He pushes out updates on his beta a ton., almost daily. So far the issues are gone :crossed_fingers: