Are you stuck solving disconnection issues with Prime Video?
Welcome to the club! You wouldn’t believe how many people encounter this same issue daily and are left nothing short of confused.
I know how annoying this can be, especially considering that you’re paying for a monthly subscription. The least you’d expect for your money is a stress-free experience.
But don’t worry, you’ve come to the right place for answers.
Below, you’ll find a list including several fixes you can try to address this issue. I’m sure one of them will hit the nail on the head.
The 6 easy fixes for solving disconnection issues with Prime Video are:
Keep reading to leave this situation in the rearview mirror!
The first thing I want us to check is that your connexion is ok.
Although Internet service drops have decreased dramatically over the last decade, they still happen now and then.
The tricky part about diagnosing a bad connection is that sometimes, even when you have one, you won’t be completely cut off from the Internet. In some cases, you might still be able to do some light browsing or chatting while also having trouble solving disconnection issues with Prime Video.
Why? Because of the platform’s requirements.
Texting your friends and family about your day is a lot easier on your network than streaming your favorite content online.
As a general rule, Prime Video needs a minimum internet speed of 5 Mbps to stream in Full HD resolution (1080p), and a whopping 25 Mbps for 4K (2160p).
Solution: For larger families, I always recommend having a plan that’s 5-6 times faster than your favorite platform’s minimum requirements. For example, if you want to stream Prime Video in Full HD, you’ll need a connection that can offer at least 25-30 Mbps.
If you live alone, you might be able to get away with something slower.
If your current plan is already fast enough, you might want to try giving your provider a call and asking if they’re having coverage issues in your area. Provided that they tell you that everything’s fine on their side of the fence, you could try resetting your modem and see if that works.
Here’s how you can go about it:
Next, I want us to check the status of the platform’s servers.
As you probably know, these are responsible for storing important information and providing millions of Prime Video subscribers with the service they expect for their money.
Given how essential they are to its everyday operations, the company has put a lot of elbow grease into designing them to be as resistant as possible. And while I’m not saying that you should expect server failure every 5 minutes, I’d be lying if I told you that they’ve managed to make them failproof.
In fact, things that seem unimportant, such as a bad hard drive, a coding bug, or even minor hacking can greatly impact the platform’s performance and affect its features.
The most obvious signs of these events are login difficulties, subscription verification issues, endless buffering, flickering, out-of-sync audio/video/subtitles and, you guessed it; constant disconnection issues
Solution: Not a lot of people know this, but there’s a quick and easy way in which we can check the real-time status of the platform’s servers to rule this out or confirm it as the source of the situation.
Here’s what you need to do:
Sadly, if the platform’s servers are, in fact, down, there’s little to nothing you can do.
That being said, I wouldn’t lose any sleep over it. The people in charge of the IT department over at Prime Video are highly capable, and to my knowledge, there’s never been an instance where the service wasn’t fully restored within a day.
Moving on, let’s talk about your VPN.
I think we can both agree on the fact that these virtual private networks are great at providing us with secure browsing and opening up a world of possibilities.
… which makes it a real shame that streaming platforms hate them.
In fact, several of them, like Disney Plus, Prime Video, HBO Max, Netflix, Hulu, and many more, have been outspoken about their dislike for these, even getting to the point of blocking subscribers who use them or targeting them with bad performance.
And believe it or not, there’s a very good reason for it.
You see, a lot of the content on these platforms is only licensed to be streamed in certain countries and regions. Since VPNs allow people from outside these areas of the world to access said content, streaming companies have to either take action or face dire legal consequences.
If you can’t live without using a VPN while watching Prime Video, I’d recommend getting a premium subscription from a provider that offers obfuscated servers.
These will make it much harder for Prime Video to detect your VPN traffic, thus decreasing the chances of being blocked or targeted with poor performance and constant disconnection.
Solution: The best way to tell whether your current VPN provider is to blame for the situation is by disabling it and streaming without it for a couple of days.
If you no longer find yourself solving disconnecting issues with Prime Video, it’s time to start looking for VPN alternatives.
If you read the title and felt like I was suddenly speaking another language, that’s perfectly fine, very few people are familiarized with cache & cookies. But now that you’re here, I’d love to take this opportunity to shed some light on the concepts, starting with the cache.
This is where your favorite apps store important information. In it, you’re likely to find audio, video, preset configurations, user preferences, and sometimes even login credentials.
By keeping this data handy, Prime Video can load much quicker on startup and provide you with an enjoyable experience.
Cookies, on the other hand, are tools used to make your browsing more efficient and increase the accuracy of targeted ads. They’re the reason why you’re suddenly bombarded on social media with ads for cupcake molds right after looking up the recipe for the perfect Strawberry Shortcake.
Most of the time, leaving them both untouched will do more good than harm. However, on certain occasions, this could also be the reason why you’re stuck solving disconnection issues with Prime Video.
In that case, you’ll have to clear them.
Solution: In general, this should be a very simple process. You should be able to easily delete your cookies and cache in every major browser and operating system out there.
For this example’s purposes, I’ll show you how to go about it on Google Chrome and an Android OS.
On Google Chrome:
On Android devices:
This is completely optional, but you might want to write these steps down, as knowing how to frequently clear your cache and cookies is a good practice that will save you a lot of trouble down the line.
I know what you’re thinking, “There’s no way that keeping my apps outdated is such a big deal!”.
Well… it is!
You see, with every new release, app developers try to keep as much backward compatibility as they can, but it’s not always possible. Using an older version of the platform’s software on a fully updated streaming device could explain why you’re stuck solving disconnection issues with Prime Video.
Normally, automatic updating should make this no concern of yours. However, sometimes network interruptions, background process crashes, or even strict device privacy settings can get in the way and leave the pending downloads stuck in Limbo.
In that scenario, you’ll have to manually install the latest software version of the platform to your devices.
Solution: There are hundreds of different streaming devices out there, so if I were to guide you through the process of updating Prime Video within each one, we’d be here all day.
And while I don’t mind it, I’m sure you’ve got an extremely busy day!
Instead, I’d advise going to Google and searching for “How to update apps on <Your Device’s Name Goes Here>”. You should be able to find several resources with detailed steps for your specific case.
That being said, I don’t want you to leave this section empty-handed, so here’s what the process looks like on iOS and Android devices, as well as on Roku.
For iOS devices:
For Android devices:
You may be prompted with a notification asking for your permission to proceed with the updates. If so, simply accept and be patient.
While keeping your favorite apps fully updated will greatly improve your situation, what will truly drive this whole thing home will be to also keep your streaming devices in the same condition.
Not unlike with the app, this should normally be done automatically. However, if it isn’t, you’ll have to interfere again.
Solution: Here’s how to update an Amazon Fire Stick to paint you a picture of the broad strokes of the process:
Solving disconnection issues with Prime Video can sometimes be challenging and annoying. After all, the last thing you want to do while streaming is to troubleshoot and figure out solutions for a problem that shouldn’t even exist in the first place.
What a disaster!
Luckily, as I hope you’ve learned in this piece, addressing most of the causes behind this situation is fairly simple and rarely ever time-consuming. More often than not, simple actions, like using the right VPN, and making sure that the platform’s servers are not failing, should do the trick.
Thank you so much for sticking with me all the way to the end. If you found this article helpful, you’ll be glad to know that we upload new content every week. Please be sure to check out all our other wonderful resources below to become a Tech Detective yourself!
Best of luck to you.
Detective ‘Gerry’ Molina is one of the most prolific detectives on our TechDetective team. He’s known for his ability to crack down on multitudes of tech crimes on behalf of you – the citizens of the internet. Molina is often the first point of contact for many cases, working to help free victims from the tyranny of tech issues.
