Solving playback issues

[JJL1962]

Today, I upgraded my network from 100/100 to 300/300.  I have confirmed that it is over 300/300.  When reconnecting my Roku devices (Ultra, Steaming Stick +, Streaming Stick), I noticed all devices indicated Excellent signal strength but much slower connection speeds.  As a result, YTTV it very slow compared to last night.  I've done all the typical checks and reached out to Verizon.  Verizon rebooted the router and confirmed that the speed is 300/300 (actually faster).  The tech indicated that it might be an issue with the devices' age and perhaps they could not handle the speed.  How can this be confirmed?  Otherwise, I might just go back to 100/100 as I wasn't haven't any issues. Thanks.

[RokuEmmanuel-D]

Hi, @JJL1962.

Welcome aboard to the Roku Community!

We understand that after you upgrade the speed of your internet, you are starting to have playback issues with your channels. No worries; we're here to help you sort it out. 

You are welcome to try the following troubleshooting steps provided below to see if they can help improve your current situation:

• If it happens to all channels inside your devices, try rebooting the Router again. Unplug the Router from the power outlet, then plug it back in after a few seconds. Sometimes, fluctuations from the internet may hinder the channel from playing. 
• Reboot your Roku. To do that, go to Settings > System > Power. (If you don't see an option for Power, skip it and proceed to System Restart.) This will restore your Roku's normal operation. 
• If this doesn't resolve the issue, try resetting your network connection by navigating to Settings > System > Advanced System Settings > Network Connection reset. You may need to set up your internet connection again and reconnect it to your current Wi-Fi. 

For more detailed information, visit this support FAQ on How to resolve a channel playback issue.

Let us know how this works.

All the best,
Emman

[JJL1962]

Thank you but I have already tried these tips multiple times.  My real question is why would my signal strength be Excellent on all three Rokus yet the connection speed is much slower than when I was at 100/100.  My Ultra is about 15 feet from the router and typically was over 80mbps.  Today at 300/300, with an Excellent signal, it is below 30 mbps.  Are there any limitations to the Rokus, especially if it is more than a few years old?  And is there anyone I can talk to as it's much easier and faster to resolve an issue?  Thank you.

[Strega2]

What are you streaming?  A typical HD stream needs about 5Mbps.  A Netflix 4K UHD stream is about 16Mbps.

For what it’s worth, I’ve seen the same Roku get 120Mbps or 23Mbps depending on which channel I set the router for.  (The channel that produced 23Mbps is the one that a Wi-Fi analyzer showed the least interfering networks on.)

By the way, these tests were on 1000/1000 Internet connections. A laptop near the Roku got around 460Mbps on the first channel and 490Mbps on the channel that produced 23Mbps on the Roku.  That’s one of the joys of Wi-Fi – inconsistent results across different devices. 

[JJL1962]

Just streaming the usual apps like YTTV, YouTube, QVC.  Up until last night, we had no issues for as long as I can remember.  Today, we switched to 300/300 and all of these apps are either not loading or buffering.  The connection speed was usually above 70 for the Ultra, sometimes up to 90.  Today, I'm getting connection speeds under 10.  I have another Ultra coming tomorrow.  If I still have an issue after installing the new Ultra, I'm calling Verizon for help or to have them take out the new router and I'll go back to the stability of 100/100. 

[RokuTakashi · Accepted solution]

Thanks for keeping us posted, @JJL1962 

As @Strega2 advised, If your internet download speed is consistently greater than the values below, you should be able to reliably stream content with the listed resolution.

• Standard definition, or SD: You may need 3Mbps or more.
• High definition, or HD: You may need 5Mbps or more.
• 4K Ultra HD, or 4K UHD: You may need up to 25Mbps.

Additionally, we recommend checking if you are connected with your router's 5GHz frequency band since this is the optimal channel that you can connect with your Roku devices to achieve a faster internet connection. You may want to make sure that your router is close and within range with your Roku devices.

Further, restarting your modem/router can also help.

Let us know how it goes.

Best wishes,
Kash

[JJL1962]

I could never stream on 5mbps. If my Ultra is not at 70, there is latency. Once again, the only thing that changed was an upgrade to my router from 100/100 to 300/300. I could connect at 80mbps with 100/100 and had no issues. With 300/300, I’m connecting at less than 40mbps with significant latency on multiple apps. The router and Ultra are in the same exact spots.  No issues with any other devices other than Rokus. Are there any techs in this community that are experts on the Rokus?

[Strega2]

Interesting.  Back around 2015 I was streaming with a bottom-of-the-line Roku Express on a 1Mbps DSL line.  This configuration definitely produced very noticeable artifacts and buffering. 

Around 2017 I switched to cable internet which was either 30 or 50Mbps.  With that, HD streaming became clear and trouble-free.  I was still using the original Roku Express and it was getting around 8Mbps from the Wi-Fi.  This was using Netflix, Paramount+ and Prime Video.  All just HD – not 4K.

These days my Roku Express 4K+ is getting about 120Mbps from fiber optic internet.  (If it’s on the “right Wi-Fi channel”.) But I haven’t noticed any change since the 8Mbps cable.  Nor would I really expect any based on published streaming info.  Not for “mere HD” at least.

[atc98092]

Roku hardware itself has a limit of around 220 Mbps. I've tested this with fixed bitrate videos playing from a connected USB stick, so no network involved. If you're connected to a 2.4 GHz WiFi (if it shows channels 1-11 it's 2.4 GHz) you will never see anywhere close to that speed. There's too much interference on the 2.4 GHz band to get the potential best bitrate speeds, and some routers are really only good for maybe 150 Mbps.

You need a 5 GHz WiFi connection (channel number higher than the teens) to have any chance of higher speeds. My Ultra is within 3 feet of my 802.11ax access point, and the WiFi connection test comes back around 225 Mbps. So I've reached the hardware limits of the Roku (my Internet speed is Gigabit). 

How can you ensure you are using 5 GHz? Make sure your WiFi uses a different SSID for the two bands. I've never seen a dual band router/access point that did not allow using different names on the two radios. For mine, I add the number 5 on the end of the SSID for the 5 GHz radio.

[atc98092]

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@JJL1962 wrote:

I could never stream on 5mbps. If my Ultra is not at 70, there is latency. Once again, the only thing that changed was an upgrade to my router from 100/100 to 300/300. I could connect at 80mbps with 100/100 and had no issues. With 300/300, I’m connecting at less than 40mbps with significant latency on multiple apps. The router and Ultra are in the same exact spots.  No issues with any other devices other than Rokus. Are there any techs in this community that are experts on the Rokus?

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I think you have some network issues then. Back when I only had about 5 Mbps DSL my Roku devices would not have any issues with streaming content from Netflix (the primary use I had at the time). Netflix streams HD content at around 3-6 Mbps at most. They use adaptive streaming and can determine the highest speed your device reports as stable. They offer 4K/UHD starting around 9 Mbps, and it maxes out around 16 Mbps. YouTube is the only place I've encountered bitrates exceeding 20 Mbps, and there's very little of that. 

When you upgraded your router, it's probably using a different WiFi channel than your previous unit was using, and the channel in use now sounds like it has some interference (other routers nearby using the same channel). I use a WiFi scanner on my laptop to see what channel is in use near my router location and manually assign a channel that has the least interference.