Danny from Roku, your reply is really annoying as it is not helpful to keep repeating the same support mantra that we need to review the guest mode instructions. The answer to our problem is not found in that link.
Other users who have a Roku TV or Roku TV Wireless Soundbar should try using the advice found here for "Fast TV Start" - https://support.roku.com/article/360011064094
All of us Roku users who provide the Roku Guest Mode to guests staying in our homes have read and re-read the instructions provided at https://support.roku.com/article/360015612834. I have three Roku devices in my family vacation home and have this problem every time I switch the devices to guest mode so that other family members can use their own subscriptions.
The following steps are taken when I am finished using the Roku device for my own subscriptions (using wireless network.)
Steps to recreate:
1. Enable Guest Mode on Roku device
2. Device restarts and Guest Mode Welcome screen appears
3. User is prompted to click "Get Started"
4. This brings the user to the "Select your check out date" screen, which defaults to December 31, 1969.
PROBLEM: The calendar uses December 31, 1969 unless the Roku device immediately connected to the wireless internet ID. The user cannot change the year, but can only scroll through 53 years of months to get to the current date.
5. One way that I have figured out how to restore the date to the current date is to press * to go to Settings and look for the wireless connection, click OK and then go back to the Get Started welcome page. This is troublesome because it involves many further steps that the older members of my family have the most trouble with. I am trying to make their viewing experience as easy as possible by offering Roku devices, but these additional steps are not easy or intuitive for elder or tech-challenged people.
Unfortunately, we are all experiencing the same issue regarding the Roku device not auto-connecting to the home's wireless network which then causes the Roku Guest Mode date to default to December 31, 1969. I have tried waiting up to 2 minutes to see if the device would automatically find the network (as it should) but waiting didn't change the outcome. It has nothing to do with signal strength or proximity to the router, so please don't try to school me on that. This doesn't happen when the device is already logged into my account, so why is this a problem only with Guest Mode??
Roku software fixes would repair this problem:
December 31, 1969 is the Linux epoch date in the western hemisphere. For users with programming experience, you'll notice that this error is typical when the programmer does not store a date properly and the software "sees" a date of 0. Roku programmers should start there.
OR at the very least, change the calendar/date selector so that the guest can select the YEAR as well as the month and day instead of making the guest scroll through all of the years.
Next month when we go the the vacation home to celebrate Easter together, I will try one last thing - a Fast Ethernet adapter. (See Roku support page - https://support.roku.com/article/360058027813) Sadly, this can only be used with one of our devices as the other two are not located near an ethernet port. At least for the main living room device, I am hoping this ethernet adapter will offer two benefits of reducing the bandwidth used on my wifi as well as offering a way for Guest Mode to work the way Roku intended without encountering the date from 1969.
