Dropped Connections

Well, I've spent an unedifying few hours trying to resolve an issue with my Roku services, namely that a number of livestreaming channels have suddenly had their livestreams vanish from their apps.  The apps load and come up, but are lacking the livestream to click on.  Number one suspect in this are Plusnet's DNS servers, which have been falling over with monotonous regularity of late.  This tends not to affect my laptop, where I have the network adaptor set to alternative DNS servers, (indeed, the channels in question stream without issue from their websites on the laptop).  Unfortunately, changing the DNS servers on either the Roku box or the Plusnet router is a far more complex procedure and well beyond my tech confidence levels.  As a compromise, the Roku box is currently getting its wireless connection via the laptop's wireless hotspot, thereby coming via those alternative DNS servers.  Even with this method, getting even one of the problem Roku apps to stream properly required not just deleting the app, reseting the network, then re-installing it, but also a device reset for the Roku box.  I've a nasty feeling that I'm going to have to do this every time I want to watch this particular channel.  Which is a real pain.

Unreliable DNS servers seems to have been a problem afflicting a number of ISPs of late, (to be fair, Plusnet's DNS servers have always been poor, which is why the laptop is set to alternative servers).  With moves to try and push more and more terrestrial broadcasting onto streaming, (so that they can sell off more of those valuable airwaves to mobile providers), you'd think that ISPs would be investing in better DNS services, otherwise a lot of viewers are going to end up disappointed and frustrated.  Whether it is down to DNS problems, I don't know, but the move to shift everyone's telephone landlines to Voice Over Internet Protocol, (VOIP), certainly hasn't impressed me, with the converted lines frequently cutting off mid-call.  My mother's line was switched a few months ago and sometimes we can be cut off three or more times in the course of a call - it then requires multiple attempts to call back as her receiver has dropped its connection and is effectively dead.  Everyone else I've spoken to who has been switched to VOIP have experienced the same problems.  It is particularly worrying for my mother, who is in her nineties and doesn't have a mobile - if she has a medical emergency and her phone cuts off like this (sometimes it is dead when she tries to call anyone), what is she supposed to do?  Modern technology - in the UK, at least - really can be utter shit these days.