Fire Stick Freezes

Same exact problem and work around… 

After a few more weeks of freezing on all my FireTV's and Fire Sticks, I've been able to come up with a pattern mostly related to commercials. My wife likes to watch the Discovery channels (HGTV, Food Network, Science, etc) and it's a guarantee it will happen every time we watch. The actual show is fine, as soon as a commercial comes on and it gets to the very end of said commercial, the app freezes. Hit the play/pause button twice and it goes to the next commercial (already in progress) and then freezes at the end of that commercial, this usually continues to happen during the entire commercial break although there have been times the first 3-4 commercial play fine and then it starts the freeze up or the last 3-4 play fine and the show starts without a hitch. If we do nothing during the freezing, things will start up again on their own (maybe 20-30 seconds) but the freeze pattern continues, usually at the end of one commercial and before the other starts. Once it gets back to the actual show we're watching (either on its own or by pressing the pause/play button) the next show segment plays fine and then when the commercial comes on, it starts again.

It never does this on local network channels and all other firetv/fire stick apps are fine, but there's something with the commercials, at least on our Xfinity app/Fire combos. One thing I have found, if I go to the very end of the Xfinity channel guide where the TV GO channels are listed and watch HGTV, Food Network, etc from there, there is no freezing problem. I know there are less commercials due to not all commercials playing on TV GO channels, the stream is active, just no commercial playing for a 30 or 60 second slot, screen reads (commercial break in progress). An Xfinity expert noted in a different thread the reason for the "commercial in progress" screen being displayed is the HGTV TV GO channels are an internet feed directly from the provider. Comcast only authorizes a connection to the link and has nothing to do with the 'break' (commercial) in progress. I'm assuming this would be the same for all the TV GO channels listed in my channel guide. Seeing there is no issue using the firestick with the HGTV TV GO channel from the channel guide and the commercials don't freeze, it seems to be pointing back at an issue with the Xfinity stream app, or at least something to do with the commercial feed. I know it makes no sense (at least not to me), but this is what we've been able to observe after a couple of weeks. Sadly have to keep the remote in our hand the entire time to be able to watch the shows we like.

Same issue. I have multiple devices and only Comcast beta freezes. None of my other streaming apps freeze. I have unplugged from tv and power. I have deleted app, cleared cache, and  reloaded and still freezes. I have deleted unused apps from my firestick and forced quick and cleared cache on all my other apps to increase the space on the firestick and still the Xfinity app freezes. What gives? This is truly frustrating! We pay over $240 a month for Xfinity. They should provide a seemless service! You can’t even talk to them without having to rehash your life story. This is terrible service! 

Let's get to the obvious problem and solution: (1) we, and probably many thousands of xfinity Streaming service customers, have the identical problem with First Sticks (regardless of whether they are external or internal to the 4K Smart HDTV); (2) we have also gone through the multiple service calls and just had a technician replace all the cabling from the pole to the router/modem, replace the Netgear modem with an xfinity modem at higher cost, and the problem continues; (3) the xfintity technicians are very poorly trained to not ask if we are using Fire Sticks instead of repeated trying to restart the modem and sending technicians to try worthless fixes; (4) the obvious solution is for senior Comcast managers and senior Amazon managers to set up a working group to explore programing and/or hardware fixes in the interests of customer satisfaction.

We, as subscribers, are the most important stakeholders for both companies. Canceling xfinity or not buying Fire Sticks are very poor solutions to a very well-known problem that xfinity is ignoring and wasting valuable time and resources to resolve using inadequate repair checklists.

Please acknowledge this email and stop just asking what steps have we tried to resolve the issue. That is just a continuation of the ignorance or avoidance of the real problem; incompatibility with Fire Sticks' firmware and/or software. Find the source of the problem and fix it cooperation with Amazon.

Thank you very much.

Just to update everyone. I went to the xfinity complaint site and sent them this forum string as an attachment with the same suggestions I made above. Their email address failed! However, I cc'ed the CEO of Comcast and received a phone call from a regional corporate representative in West Palm Beach, FL.

He indicated that he understood the issue and would forward the concerns to the support staff and IT for appropriate follow-up. At my request he also gave me his contact number and promised to keep me advised on what steps they were taking to address the problem. As I specifically told him, the very first item on the tech support manual whenever a customer complains about their xfinity streaming service freezing (or buffering) is "Are you using a Fire Stick?" That one question would save their staff, and their customers, thousands of hours of wasted effort, futile service calls to homes and businesses, lost subscribers and lost goodwill. I would estimate that the overhead costs of their inadequate training would be millions of dollars over time. I requested a credit for the six lengthy service calls to tech support and the time and aggravation I spent yesterday with a service tech replacing all the cables and being without service. He was very "generous" in giving us a $20.00 credit. I hope they could spare it. :)

Chalk up another one having the same problem.  All other apps stream - no problem.  Only streaming xfinity on the firestick is freezing....starting....freezing...starting.   I uninstalled the app, then reinstalled the app.  No change.  

XFINITY......HELLOOOO....WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO FIX THIS PROBLEM????

I have the exact same problem. They blame the issues on my Amazon Fire but I have some of the same and additional issues using my iPad. I am getting extremely frustrated and am pretty convinced Xfinity doesn’t care about their customers and prefer they pay for additional equipment and use their cable box. I have seen so many apps created, including Direct TV streaming app that doesn’t have the numerous customer complaints. I am starting to think Xfinity has joined other cold corporations that don’t care and participate in the loss of humanity.  

I have exactly the same issue with the Fire Stick, it freezes all the time for as long as 40 seconds. I couldn't describe the issue better than you did.

"On certain Xfinity channels the picture and audio freezes.  It will unfreeze on its own after so up to 40 seconds.  One way to get unstuck is to double punch the play/pause button on the Fire Stick remote.  My freezing has a pattern: it freezes after going to commercial and will freeze a few more times during the ads and then a couple more times after returning to the program being watched, and will seem to be okay after that 2 or 3 freezes into the program until the next set of ads start. "

 I also have a Roku and I do not have this issue with the Roku. Maybe is time to buy another Roku.

OMG---I am up at 2 in the morning because I am having the SAME EXACT issues--the programs freeze during commercials in a pattern; after every 2 commercial breaks and on the last 3 commercials that air before the program comes back on. I, too hit the play/pause button to stop this from happening. Another issue I'm experiencing--I can't scroll past channel 100 before it freezes and the app crashes altogether, sending me back to the home screen for my Fire Stick.

This is EXTREMELY irritating. I have uninstalled the app and re-installed..tried all different kinds of tricks...what's the use of having this service (which yes, this is one LONG A** Beta period) if it won't function?!?!

I don’t think Comcast wants to work on this app …or fix it since it has been a beta app for many years.   You are better off to find other freeTv apps and use them. 

frustrated too using xfinity streaming beta app 

It's simple. They want you to rent the box or buy a RUKU.

They are manipulating us.

I have the same issue as you describe with freeze ups. But I have a channel scrolling issue that will not go away and makes the firestick useless with xfinity beta channel lineup. I have tried working with xfinity tech support with no resolve. This last time the tech support person went AWOL while on chat. Once they figured out my exact problem. They just went silent. Never had that happen before. Still have my problem with all my firesticks. Maybe I should just quit cable tv. 

Exactly the same here!  I am seriously thinking about moving on. I just read that someone had a customer support agent go AWOL during their chat. I had the same thing happen twice. I don’t think the agents can be truthful nor pretend that their app is any good. They just exit the conversation. Blaming everyone else for the app issues can go so far. 

I went to xfinity store and told the person about buffering and channel scroll issue. She gave me the newest xfinity box. Which didn’t work correctly would not connect to xfinity. Went back and got another new xfinity box and that worked. My channel scrolling is fixed. I’m not sure about buffering during commercials but hopefully it all works. This is my 4th box in 8 months. 

I came looking for answers to the same problem. Before buying a Roku, I pulled out an older Firestick and solved the problem. The 4K FireStick was the problem. Yo, Xfinity. Update your software.