The Most Common Hulu Problems, and How to Fix Them
So you’re deep in the throes of a gripping Hulu original series or your favorite reruns, and right as you’re about to get to the best part, everything just crashes. As a Hulu user, this has happened to the best of us at one time or another and is one of the most dreadful things that can plague you while you’re in the middle of a show or movie. Buffering, low video quality, freezing videos, connection errors, playback failure, and skipping are all common Hulu problems, and they all can have a variety of causes. Not to mention that dreaded fix Hulu error code. Here’s how to troubleshoot the problem so you can get back to your show quickly, no matter what device you’re using.
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Hulu may be down
It’s not unusual for the whole Hulu service to go down or for it to go down just for specific users. Before you try some at-home streaming fixes, make sure the problem isn’t out of your hands and in the hands of Hulu technicians. An excellent site to check in your browser for outages is DownDetector.com. While there, you can check out a live outage map and read complaints from other viewers. A quick search for #huludown or #hulu on Twitter often will let you know if there are problems in a pinch, too.
Quick fixes for Hulu problems
If you’re now sure that you don’t have a problem caused by Hulu, you can try some at-home remedies. Here are some steps that have worked for us before, and if one doesn’t work for you, keep going down the list to see if the next tip will help.
Step 1: Completely close the Hulu app on your streaming device and reopen it.
Step 2: Restart your device.
Step 3: Try resetting your router. If you don’t know how, here’s our simple guide to resetting a router.
Step 4: Make sure you have the latest version of the Hulu app. Go to the app store and see if there’s an update or newer version available for download.
Step 5: Uninstall the app and reinstall it.
Step 6: Remove your device or console from your account and re-add it.
Step 7: Check that VPN or Proxy services are switched off (for U.S. customers).
A more advanced fix
If Hulu still isn’t working, your internet might be too slow to stream the shows. Run a speed test on your internet connection to check if your service is moving data quickly enough for Hulu. Hulu recommends 3.0Mbps for watching the Hulu streaming library, 8.0Mbps for watching live streams, and 16Mbps for watching 4K content. If you don’t know how to check, Hulu has a guide on doing a speed test for multiple devices, such as computers, various smart TV models, iPad streaming, mobile device streaming, and game systems.
If you have other devices using your Wi-Fi, then they might be lowering the internet speeds you need to stream Hulu. If you’re using Wi-Fi, you may try connecting your device directly to the router using an Ethernet or HDMI cable or adding a Wi-Fi repeater to your network to get rid of signal dead zones.
If nothing seems to be working, you can also Google the specific Hulu error code you’re receiving or go to the Hulu Community to see if others have found solutions to similar problems.
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