Hulu sucks -- how to make it work better?

[slag]

We watch Hulu (when we can) through both wired and wireless connections. 2 are wireless, one is wired, all through roku devices. Doesn't matter though, because its all but unwatchable between the hours of, say, 8 am through 8 pm. Why is this?

Before 8 am and after 8 pm, hulu works great. Occasionally has a stutter or two, but for the most part, loads up fine and even the commercials are fine.

All that changes though in the "other" hours. Commercials fail to load or buffer every 2-3 seconds for up to 30 seconds at a time. Shows load slowly and are sluggish. It's not my connection -- I can go run bandwidth tests and still download well over 70 mb/second and wireless is fine as well. I can switch to Sling or netflix and watch shows there fine as well. It's just that damn hulu app. Why does it suck so badly and how can I fix it? I'm guessing it has to be a load problem on their server. Anyone else experience this? It was noticeably worse over the Christmas break when everyone in the world was home watching TV. I have the problem even when I'm home alone and I am sure no one else is using the network in my house except me. Also, like I said, other apps on roku stream fine, netflix, espn, sling, amazon prime, etc. GRR, I just want to finish up season 3 and 4 of BSG and can't even start watching it until around 8 pm.

 

[Crono]

Overloaded regional servers, maybe? I'd say try using a VPN in another region to see if it affects quality, but I can't remember if Hulu blocks VPNs like Netflix does.

 

[slag]

Overloaded regional servers, maybe? I'd say try using a VPN in another region to see if it affects quality, but I can't remember if Hulu blocks VPNs like Netflix does.

I can try that on my desktop but I don't have a router configured for VPN usage as it messes up stuff on other devices.

 

[13Gigatons]

What magic happens at 8pm that it suddenly works fine?

 

[slag]

What magic happens at 8pm that it suddenly works fine?

It's normally around 8 ish. Last night when I checked hulu at 6:30ish, it was working fine. I'm guessing its congestion somewhere along the network out side my house? Normally the ads are the first to go to shit. Then not long afterwards, buffering of the program starts.