What is buffering, and why does IPTV buffer so much?

Buffering is the spinning-wheel pause between the player downloading data and the player showing video. Your player always downloads a few seconds ahead (the "buffer"); when that buffer empties faster than the network can refill it, playback stops and you see the wheel.

The three real causes of IPTV buffering

1. Your internet is congested. ISPs oversubscribe their networks during peak hours (7–11pm local). Your 100 Mbps service might deliver 8 Mbps at 8:30pm on a Saturday.
2. The provider's CDN is congested. On major sports nights (Champions League, NFL playoffs) every subscriber streams the same feed. Providers with underprovisioned CDNs crumble.
3. Your Wi-Fi is weak. A 100 Mbps internet line is useless if the TV connects over 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi through 3 walls and gets 12 Mbps.

What to check first

1. Run a speed test on the TV itself (not your phone sitting next to the router). If the TV sees <25 Mbps at the moment you're buffering, the problem is your LAN/Wi-Fi.
2. Plug in an Ethernet cable. If buffering stops with Ethernet, the Wi-Fi was the problem.
3. Compare to Netflix. If Netflix also buffers, it's your internet. If only IPTV buffers, it's the IPTV provider's CDN.