Connecting to 5 GHz Wifi - Roku Stick+

Keeping it simple ax is wifi6 (newest standard from a couple of yrs ago). ac is wifi5 (this is the dual band 2.4/5.0gz network).  wifi6 is supposed to replace wifi5.  Gets a little technical with device compatibility, backwards compatibility, supported speeds, etc. AX=Gbbs, Ac=Mbps.

Older routers would have the 5gz set to a/n/ac Mixed or ac/n Mixed setting.  This is example of the wifi5.  These are the ones I own and use.  You can try selecting that option but supposely ax is compatible. If it were me, this would definitely be in my troubleshooting steps.

Kind of assumed it had something to do with mesh network planning.  Oversimplifying, these are just automatic/app-configurable wifi extenders in a nutshell.  They are mostly designed to be plug and play (although configurable somewhat, a lot of it is automatic assigned to ensure the mesh router devices work together to blanket wifi throughout house).  A lot of it is app driven, no need to get into your router's admin panel to configure settings.  And as you are finding out, they are getting designed so minimizes user setup/configuration.  If, indeed, "planned" then one of their automatic settings will trigger a broader selection on channels, even if not a particular desired channel. (ie. one that works for our needs)

Lowering the bandwidth will give greater access to number of channels of that frequency.  It of course though decreases speed. (whether noticeable or not)  Normally have 2.4gz at 20, and set the 5.0gz to 40.

Generally speaking, the lower the setting in 5gz say 20mhz, you are going to get more non-overlapping channels/less interference. At 40mhz, less non-overlapping channels, but probably faster performance, and 80mhz and above least number of channels/more interference. This is channel bonding.

This was going to be one of the suggestions i was going to give you when I saw the 80mhz setting in your screenshot yesterday but detoured after seeing problem with your router "degradation".  If router isnt going to be fixed to allow manual channel configuration, then try lowering 5gz to 40 and see if you get channel 149.  If not lower to 20.  It should be discoverable at 40 though.

Post back what you do.  One of these things will work for you.  After you find out which changed setting will give you the result you are seeking, then can optimize from there.  Again, reboot after every change.  Just change 1 thing at a time though.  

Starting condition:  Router at 52 and 100 with N/AC/AX and 80 MHz

Changed the option to AC/N and did a software reboot, the 5 GHz radios came up on channels 56 and 100, but still unable to connect the Roku at 5 GHz.  Did another software reboot.  Router came up again on 56 and 100. (There was a post on the AT&T site that said a software reboot has a 50/50 chance of coming up on a non-DFS channel, but I’m not seeing that behavior.)

Changed back to N/AC/AX and software reboot again.  Still came back on 56 & 100, and I’m back to the starting condition.

Test 2: changed from 80 MHz to 40 MHz.  Before any soft reset the radios changed to 64 and 112.  All my devices moved to the 2.4 GHz band.  Software rebooted the router.

After the reboot, the router would not connect to the AT&T network.  Everything was still on the 2.4 GHz band, but the router would not connect to the AT&T GPON network.  I’m guessing that this is not due to the change to 40 GHz, but more of a port flapping problem.  (guessing rebooting the router too often makes AT&T unhappy.)  Error code NAD-3302 – Network outage.

After about 10 minutes, I changed it back to 80 MHZ and power cycled (hard reset) the router.  Router came back up and I’m back to the starting condition.

It’s looking more like I have 1 of 3 options:

1. Wait for AT&T “fix” to make 5 GHz channels manually assignable.  (Need to verify they are working on this.  There seems to be a difference of opinion as to whether they are “fixing” this.)
2. External router
3. Put non-Roku 2.4 GHz devices on the guest network, turn off the 2.4 GHz radio, which will reboot the 5 GHz radios in the non-Mesh configuration

And i take it toggling that BEST CHANNEL box did nothing? It did not cycle your channels?

I think you stated your 3 options correctly.  Although the 4th would be to contact ATT and ask if they can give you the router @renojim uses, the BGW210 which is still an ATT router that still allows for manual configuration of the 5gz.  (or to see if they can provide you with one that allows manual config)

I mean, your Roku will run fine on the 2.4gz channels.  I keep my RokuTV on the 2.4 even though capable of 5.  My Ultra is ethernet.  I also have a Premiere that has to operate on 2.4.  Sure, maybe a little slower in loading a channel, but once it does, runs great.  We are talking seconds here, not minutes.  I am also limited to 25Mbps broadband where I am, so I am not paying for or expecting fiber speeds.

Keep us posted what you decide and if they ever do revert that capability back.  They definitely have some angry users over there so maybe they will do something about it.

EDITED: Yes after reading @atc98092 , you could also buy and add a seperate configurable access point, which is another good option/workaround.

Thanks for all your help with this and the information. 

Hi, I just recently switched out my AT&T Wi-Fi Modem to their new AT&T Internet Air which uses 5G and line of site to their nearest cell tower. My download speeds have increased dramatically except my Roku. I've been reading your replies to various questions. My signal strength on my Roku states "excellent" and my mbps registers as 110. I'm not quite sure how to switch channels within Roku that you mention with your "The nine 5 GHz channels supported by Roku devices are 36, 40, 44, 48, 149, 153, 157, 161, and 165." advice. You reference buying an additional device that will allow the ATT 5G hub to use another gateway or other that Roku would then recognize as a faster Wi-Fi connection? Sorry, a bit of a newbie on this tech. thx K

It's a little confusing, but the 5G connection you have on the Cellular side is actually 5th generation cellular technology and has nothing to do with the WiFi (in-home) connection.  As far as I know, the Roku will try to first connect to the router on a 2 Gigahertz band (2G) and not on the 5 Gigahertz (5G) band for this in-house connection.  The 2 GHz band is quite a bit slower.  So how do you force the Roku to choose the 5 GHz connection for the WiFi side.  There are only two ways as far as I know:  1) go into the router and turn off the 2 GHz radio or 2) use a different SSID for the WiFi 2GHz band vs. the 5GHz band, then go into the Roku and only give it the 5 GHz SSID as the WiFi connection.  Make sense.  I'd be curious to know how much this improves the Roku, since I'm contemplating option for this AT&T 5G service too.

Just a clarification. The lower WiFi radio band is 2.4 GHz. And I agree about using a different SSID name on the 2.4 and 5GHz bands to ensure which band is used. 

Kela62 don’t expect your Roku to reach your full network speed seen on other devices. If you’re seeing 110 Mbps, you’re doing quite good, and I’m sure you are using the 5Ghz band. My Roku players on 2.4 GHz can’t come close to that speed. My Ultra can hit 230 Mbps on 5GhHz, but it’s within 5 feet of the access point. But that’s the limit for the Roku, as it can’t come close to my gigabit Internet connection speed. That’s a hardware limit of the Roku.