Thank you for the quick response.
- When did the issue occur?
As I said, it's been off and on for some time. When we use Roku it tends to be in the evening between about 6 and 9 pm (PST) if that helps. The most recent occurrences were on Monday the 27th.
- Is the issue happening on all content or channels, or is this isolated to one content or channel? (Specify)
I didn't think to notice that. We have been using several apps, but I have not noticed if this behavior is particular to one of them. I will start paying attention.
- Are you getting any error messages or error codes while trying to play content?
No, no errors. As I said, the UI acts as though I had clicked the Pause button. It does not look as though the buffer ran dry. There is no slowing down, no degradation of picture quality, no sound dis-coordination. And no error code. The playback just spontaneously pauses itself for no apparent reason, and resumes instantly without difficulty as soon as I click the remote to unpause.
- How far is your Roku device from your network router?
It is at the other end of the house. Roku reaches the router through two chained Unifi wifi access points. The intermediate access point has an ethernet connection to the router.
No need to point out that a more direct connection would be preferable. I am well aware of that, but in my house that would require paying for a second cable connection. The current solution is the result of considerable experimenting and it has been quite reliable for years now. Not perfectly reliable, but but very good. If I put an iPad near the Roku device and do a speed test I see about 99Mbps up and 11.8 Mbps down. (Yes, this is DSL. I'm switching to fiber later this week.) We had TiVo for years on this setup, and then a different Roku device. The pausing we see on this Roku Express is new to us.
- Do you have cellular data, so we can try connecting your device to your hotspot?
Yes, my phone can provide a hotspot, and I'm willing to try connecting to that. What will that experiment tell us?