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44
Channel Surfer

Slow Internet Download Speed on Roku TV

I have a Gig of Internet speed from Verizon FIOS.  My Roku TCL TV (new) is hard wired (ethernet) to my router but Netflix constantly buffers and my TV Internet Download Speed is only 91Mbps!

Why is the new TV with a GIg of connection only getting 91 Mbps?  Not wireless, but wired.

Verizon said it is not them, Netflix says it is not them.  Thoughts? Suggestions?  Help?

Thank you for any consideration!

41 REPLIES 41
boogernose
Roku Guru

Re: Slow Internet Download Speed

Hook the ethernet up to a laptop and go here; https://www.speedtest.net/

use the middle two Ethernet ports on your Router.

---A problem clearly stated is a problem half solved---.
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44
Channel Surfer

Re: Wired TV Slow Internet Download Speed

Thank you,

Yes, my speed test is 935/929

But if my TV connection is only 94 right now...not sure why the TV speed is slow being directly wired to my router.

Will try the middle ports.

atc98092
Community Streaming Expert

Re: Slow Internet Download Speed

I seriously doubt the TV has a Gigabit Ethernet port. It most likely has Fast Ethernet, and your measured speed of 91 Mbps would be exactly what would be expected. I've never seen any TV with a Gigabit port. What exact model TV do you have?

But that's not your buffering issue. Netflix tops out at 16 Mbps with UHD material, and is fine even with no more than 10 Mbps speed. If you are only experiencing a problem with Netflix (no other channel buffers) you might be encountering something that happened to me a number of years ago. I didn't have buffering, but my Netflix would have issues ramping up to higher resolutions. Sometimes it wasn't even DVD quality (640), and I would almost never reach UHD (2160). After my ISP kept insisting they were doing nothing, I finally filed a complaint with my state AG's office. That made my ISP finally investigate. What they found was that some entity on the Internet (not inside their firewall) was throttling my Netflix stream, but nothing else. They could never identify who/what was doing it, and several months later it went away. It was probably some hacker somewhere deciding they didn't like Netflix, so they were going to disrupt their service. 

If you have buffering issues with more than Netflix, then it's likely something within your network. I found that one of my routers (configured as an access point) just was worthless in actual thoughtput. It tested fine, but with real streams it was choking at less than 60 Mbps. And because I was using it as a network switch as well as an access point, it was bottlenecking my entire network. 

Dan

Roku Community Streaming Expert

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44
Channel Surfer

Re: Slow Internet Download Speed

Ok thank you.

And I have a new TCL 6-Series.   And according to TCL it is not a gig port like you mentioned.

dkcarmona
Channel Surfer

Re: Slow Internet Download Speed on Roku TV

I have the same problem.  I have ATT Fiber and get 600/600 speed but Roku TV is showing 99mb.  I assume this is why I am having problems with slow Roku channels and freezing on Sling channel.

Visitor45763
Roku Guru

Re: Slow Internet Download Speed on Roku TV

@dkcarmona , 99mb should be plenty to stream. The problem (in descending order of probability) could be:

1. Roku's poor software development. There's so many software problems -- and apathy or hubris from the company -- that this would be first explanation to reach for. (The "boy who cried wolf" phenomenon. The obvious disregard Roku has for its software. Just a couple weeks ago, at the height of people complaining about how their antenna tv was broken by the latest untested update, Roku changed at least my screensaver to a broken antenna tv. It's like they're proud. They certainly don't care. There's problems that have existed for years.).

2. Your 600/600 internet service my have quality issues? That definitely happens, and has been a big problem the past year of lockdowns, etc. You should check your speed & latency.

3. A wifi issue? If your tv is connecting to 2.4g there could be congestion issues (interference from other devices, neighbors, etc.). If it connects to 5g, and the router is a large distance, that could be an issue. (Not the reported speed, which sounds ok to me. But, quality of signal. dropped packets.).

I'd put my money on #1. The quality of Roku's software is flat-out bad (unstable, bugs not tracked, updates not tested).

"People are often amazed at how much we’ve done with the number of engineers we’ve got." (Roku CEO Anthony Wood, Austin Statesman, Oct 4, 2019). "Amazed" is one way of putting it.
dkcarmona
Channel Surfer

Re: Slow Internet Download Speed on Roku TV

I've also tried ethernet connection to no avail.  On WIFI connection my TCL TV's connect at 5GHZ -- at least that's the connection my ORBI Mesh routers indicate they are getting.

I have no problems with Roku Sticks on other TVs.  The problem exist on both my two TCL Roku TV's.  I even hooked up a Roku Stick (thru HDMI port) to my TCL Roku TV (Roku in a Roku 🙂 ) and the Stick worked fine on both TCL Roku TVs. It would be nice if I can eliminate Roku interface on TV and just use the stick.  Having a Roku in a Roku requires 2 Roku remotes and it becomes confusing (for example volume works on 1st remote and not the second)

I agree the firmware on the TCL Roku TV's is probably the culprit. 

atc98092
Community Streaming Expert

Re: Slow Internet Download Speed on Roku TV


@dkcarmona wrote:

I have the same problem.  I have ATT Fiber and get 600/600 speed but Roku TV is showing 99mb.  


Roku devices only have Fast Ethernet, which is 100 Mbps. You'll never see a higher speed with a wired connection. And there's almost nothing streaming online that requires more than around 25-30 Mbps. 

Dan

Roku Community Streaming Expert

Help others find this answer and click "Accept as Solution."
If you appreciate my answer, maybe give me a Kudo.

I am not a Roku employee, just another user.
Visitor45763
Roku Guru

Re: Slow Internet Download Speed on Roku TV

@dkcarmona , It appears Roku's external streaming sticks are good. This licensed marriage to TVs has more problems. Nobody knows what's going on. 

IMO, this is a case of unintended consequences. I bet someone at Roku has a brainstorm: "We can get in more homes without depending on people conscious buying our product." It probably sounded like pure genius at the time. All upside. License the software to tv makers. "Bundling! Instant marketshare! Hitch a ride on what people are already in the market to buy!"

It appears nobody gave much thought to how that would work when there's 15 brands, dozens of models (various revisions of models). Maybe there was no hardware spec for the tv makers to follow (no test suite to certify compliance). Maybe Roku isn't developing to that test suite (cutting corners for its own benefit). Maybe Roku expected tv makers to validate software updates (and it's not happening). Maybe nobody even thought of it. They thought it would be like their very limited-hardware, curated walled-garden of external sticks.

I'm sure it's something like this. Nobody's responsible. The tactics of collusion seem to benefit both Roku and the tv makers. (Nobody has to investigate/fix anything. People buy new tvs sooner. That reduces the amount of hardware variations Roku has to continue supporting.).

Even if Roku is the victim of careless partners it licensed the software to, what would you do if you were being tarred by your partners? I'm sure it would be a delicate matter. You wouldn't want to publicly denigrate your partners. But, you wouldn't enable them by continuing to do what's obviously not working well. You wouldn't be averse to bug tracking & formal resolution.  What Roku's doing is playing the game with their partners (at the expense of customers). If I had to choose between partners and customers, I'd choose customers. The fact that Roku can choose the way it does (against customers), I think that adds to the conclusion that a business guided by such integrity is capable of anything. It may not even be the TV makers at all. It could be entirely Roku's lack of concern for the customer. We've already established that exists. Now, we're just quibbling about degrees.

You may have already read: what I've done is factory reset without internet connect (tell the setup you'll do that later, but never do it). I've connected a $22 Firestick Lite to my HDMI port. I should have a Sofabaton F2 universal slip-on remote today, which I have been told will work. 

You could use an external Roku stick instead. Maybe that would be easier to control both a Roku TV and stick. (The enhanced voice remote wouldn't work, I don't think. The tv wouldn't have wifi which the remote uses? Or, do those remotes use bluetooth?). 

My point is: if you look at the history of this forum, there's not a lot of hope that you'll be fixed. There's no bug tracking. Just "please give us your model info" and then you'll hear nothing about it ever again. Other threads with the same problem with be treated like it's the first time anyone's heard of it. Everyone's left to hope & wonder if it will get better (for as long as they wish to hope & wonder).

"People are often amazed at how much we’ve done with the number of engineers we’ve got." (Roku CEO Anthony Wood, Austin Statesman, Oct 4, 2019). "Amazed" is one way of putting it.
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