Remotes

[thegranes3]

What is the operating frequency for the Roku remotes that use RF instead of infrared? If my remote uses WiFi-Direct, is the operating frequency at 2.4GHz? 

[atc98092]

I can't say for certain if they only use 2.4 GHz, but I believe that's accurate. When I scan the WiFi bands while I sit here in my chair, I see several "hidden" WiFi devices. I'm pretty certain they are all Roku remotes. Most of the ones I see are on the 2.4 GHz band.

My scanner shows any reported vendor, and all of the 2.4 GHz hidden devices do not report their vendor, while the few I see on 5 GHz report as Technicolor, which is a router manufacturer. My guess is all the blank vendor devices are Roku remotes. One is showing a 100% signal, and I have a Roku remote within a foot of my laptop. The Roku it controls is hard wired, so it's not using WiFi for its network connection. 

[renojim]

It uses the same Wi-Fi channel that your Roku device uses.  If you're using a wired connection, I think it will try to use a 2.4GHz channel, but I'm not sure about that.  I'm pretty sure in the past I had my remote using a 5GHz channel with my wired device, but the one I just checked is using a 2.4GHz channel.

[atc98092]

I just switched my Ultra 4800 to WiFi to see if the remote changed bands. Using my WiFi scanner program, I did not see any unknown connection on 5 GHz to match my Ultra's connection. So it appears the remote stayed on 2.4 GHz. Also, it appears to be using a channel other than the nearest WiFi access point, likely to reduce interference. I have two access points near the Roku, one on channel 1 and the other on channel 6. The Roku remote appears to be using channel 11. I have an AP on channel 11, but it's at the other end of the house and is a good 20+ dB lower in signal strength from the two nearer. I removed the batteries from the remote to see if the unknown connection went away, but it did not. So I'm assuming it's scanning the base station, not the remote itself.

The wireless MAC address doesn't match the 4800 though, so perhaps the connection used by the remote is distinct from the data connection. When I do a web search for the MAC address, it comes back unknown, and is apparently some randomized number so as not to conflict with the data connections. 

Media Access Control (MAC) address randomization is a privacy technique whereby mobile devices rotate through random hardware addresses in order to prevent observers from singling out their traffic or physical location from other nearby devices.

[renojim]

You can see your remote's MAC address under Settings->Remotes & devices->Remotes->(voice remote)->About.