Channels & viewing

[twohearts]

I have Roku Ulta 2018 model which is suppose to be dual band. I cannot seem to get it to connect to 5 ghz and as a result the mbps keeps fluctuating to as low as 9 mbps. Is this suppose to happen. None of my other devices has issues finding 5 ghz? Any solutions please. I have T-Mobil Internet and SlingTV.

[makaiguy]

This MIGHT be your problem.

The nine 5 GHz channels supported by Roku devices are 36, 40, 44, 48, 149, 153, 157, 161, and 165. 

The channels assigned to the 5 GHz band in ranges 50-64 and 100-144 are shared with other uses such as military, radar, and weather. These channels are termed DFS (dynamic frequency selection) channels and routers are supposed to automatically switch to a different channel if they detect one of these channels is in use in your area.Roku and many other home use devices avoid this whole issue by not supporting these DFS channels.   

Many home routers don't include DFS channels, but some do.  Make sure your router is not using these DFS channels, and that it is not using an auto select option that could choose a DFS channel.

[twohearts]

Thank you for all the information. At this point it doesn't seem to be selecting DFS channels as it is on either 3 or 5 which is 2.4 GHZ. It doesn't seem to find the 5 GHZ channels.

[makaiguy · Accepted solution]

If your router is using one of the DFS channels that the Roku can't use, Roku won't even know it's there.  On those other devices (phone, whatever) that connect to the 5 GHz band, what channel do they say is being used?

Another thing that may come into play is that some people find their Rokus always connect to the 2.4 GHz band when the router uses the same network name (SSID) for both bands.  If your router allows you to name these bands separately you can always choose which one to connect to.