Network - Wireless & Wired Connections

[John_in_Edmonds]

Dear Roku,

I have two Roku 2 XS players and I think they are great little devices. However, I have had the first since August and would regularly have streaming failures unless I double NATed through an ActionTec router (best on wireless), even then I would have errors but less frequently. When I got the second device I thought I should really figure out what's going on. Both boxes have wired Ethernet (100mb) to my primary router. That router is a MikroTik/Routerboard as I do some pretty sophisticated network management at times (MikroTik provides commercial grade features at a consumer price). I always had troubles going direct to the Mikrotik regardless of wired or wireless connections. [The Internet is 25/25 Mb over fiber on the WAN side of the router.]

What I found out probing around the web is that some others have had similar problems on other routers and solved it by using the Roku MAC address to reserve and assign the same IP lease over DHCP, but for some reason had to restart the router after the Roku got its lease. (The MAC reservation avoids duplicate leases to other devices on the LAN.) So I gave it a try and things seem to be working much better. To avoid having to restart the router frequently due to lease renewals, I set the lease timeout to 180 days, meaning I'll have to restart it every 90 days or if there is a power drop to the Rokus.

It would be so much simpler if Roku would support a static configuration for IP address, default gateway, and DNS servers. I would even set it on a command line interface by telnet, if an onscreen interface was to much of a bother. (I'm a very experienced networking and Unix/Linux guy.)

I also have my DNS set in the DHCP options to query first on the router's built-in DNS server, then secondarily to Google's DNS servers, since that provides a little caching as well as I have some LAN based servers for which a DNS name is useful, however, I also read that Roku has trouble with some ISP DNS servers. If I could set the DNS servers on the Roku as well that might eliminate another possible failure.

I have plenty of application space (8GB MicroSD) so if there is an application that could be loaded that would be an acceptable option.

Thanks.

[jontyrees]

I'm probably going to set up my mother-in-law with a Roku for Xmas, but she'll also need a router. Her TV is not in the same room as her PC and Internet connection, so it'll need to be wireless. She has a solid Internet service (Time Warner Roadrunner cable), and an HDTV with HDMI, so this should work well for her. My question is around what router to get - I see N150, N300 and N600, and a selection grid on Fry's.com suggested I would need N600 for HD video streaming, which pushes the price up. Do I really need N600?

At my house, I'm using the 2.4ghz band of a dual band Netgear WNDR3400 router for the Roku, and it works fine, but I'm not sure if that's N150, N300 or N600.

Any router reco's? Netgear has worked for me in the past pretty well.

[stratcat96]

"jontyrees" wrote:
I'm probably going to set up my mother-in-law with a Roku for Xmas, but she'll also need a router. Her TV is not in the same room as her PC and Internet connection, so it'll need to be wireless. She has a solid Internet service (Time Warner Roadrunner cable), and an HDTV with HDMI, so this should work well for her. My question is around what router to get - I see N150, N300 and N600, and a selection grid on Fry's.com suggested I would need N600 for HD video streaming, which pushes the price up. Do I really need N600?

At my house, I'm using the 2.4ghz band of a dual band Netgear WNDR3400 router for the Roku, and it works fine, but I'm not sure if that's N150, N300 or N600.

Any router reco's? Netgear has worked for me in the past pretty well.

I'm assuming that are all Belkin part numbers, and any one of them will work just fine. Fry's and any other retailer will of course suggest the most expensive one, and no you don't need to get that one

[jontyrees]

Thanks, I figured I dind't need the most expensive router to stream video. The N150, N300 and N600 designations seem to be part of a standardized nomenclature for N-routers - looks like all the manufacturers use it. I'm thinking of going with a refurb Netgear WNR2000 from newegg.com at $22 shipped. Seems pretty well reviewed.

[flyer57]

Help me out guys. Not certain what the problem may be. I have had two Roku's with a Roku 2 currently working perfectly on the wireless network. Bought a second Roku to use in another room. Tried to set it up wirelessly. It found the network but during the setup process it connects to the wireless successfully but fails at the local area network step and suggests checking the password and gives an error code 014.

I set it up through the wired Ethernet connection successfully getting the new software update and I then reserved an IP address for its MAC address in my wireless router. Tried again to set it up through the wireless network only to have it fail again and again. I have a 4G wireless hotspot which it connects to flawlessly so I know the radios,etc are working. I just don't understand why it won't connect to the home wireless network?

Any thoughts?

[knuckle]

Hi flyer----

not mikrotic equipment by any chance is it?

[flyer57]

No. The router is a belkin. Very frustrating!

[nick1]

Had a similar problem connecting my roku wireless to my network....would not connect to local network even though it recognized the network and the correct password was entered. The solution was quite simple...with the help of Roku customer support....change the router's channel. To do that simply type the following in to your web address bar 192.168.1.1 which allows you to get into your routers set up. Look for the wireless tab, click that and you should see wireless channels. Try changing the channel to 11 or to some other channel other than the one you are currently on.....mine was on channel 6. Worked perfectly for me and my Linksys 54gs router.

[rawfish]

FYI, I had the same issue with no wireless connection after the initial firmware update. There is nothing wrong with my router as the wireless scan would not find any routers in my neighborhood. After several resets and updates, I'm finally able to get wireless working by turning off the clock display as suggested in this thread. So hope this helps whoever has this problem.

[FX4]

Just an FYI for those playing with wireless router channels. In the U.S. the only useable channels are 1, 6, & 11. All the others will cross talk with other routers and wireless devices.