Suggest a Feature

[Amoller]

It was there before as a hidden feature. Please bring back the bitrate override. I live on a boat and use my phone as a hotspot. Before I would be fine as long as I kicked down the bitrate. Now it's unusable for several channels. Don't understand why Roku would choose to make their product less functional. Firestick you can select between three bit rates don't see why Roku would do the same.

[Warwagon]

I 2nd this. My parents have a bandwidth cap as does my girlfriend. I only just now learned that this feature has been living in a hidden menu in Roku but no longer works. They say it's not a bug because it was in a section that a user should not have had access too. Ok Fair enough. So let's bring it out of hiding and put it in the settings menu.

A-One person said, "I don't know of any other stream box that had this feature" ... he's correct, which is why if Roku were to add this feature it would make Roku even more special.

So please add a bit rate monitor in the setting menu, it that would be extremely awesome.

[Mishlz]

Agreed. I have a data cap, as I think most people do. I have looked into it, and most routers do not come with bandwidth monitoring or control tools, you have to purchase or download them separately. Not everyone is that tech savvy. People should have control over the speed at which they stream at they source of streaming, or wherever they want. Be it the Roku, Netflix, wherever. We are the ones paying for it, it should be our choice. I bought the Roku, I own it, Roku no longer owns the device, if I want to change the bitrate I should be able to. Same thing with streaming speeds with Amazon, Netflix, etc. But that would effect their bottom line in some way, and sucking the most amount of money out of people is always their goal. I’ve had to turn down my TV to 720p to save on data.

[Boz]

What's the status of this issue?  I am one of the many with an internet data cap with no other internet option available.  Amazon Fire TV allows a bandwidth setting. When is Roku going to fix this issue?

[Ksander]

The fact that roku doesn’t allow users to pick bit rate is unfathomable. It’s 2020. This should have been a feature a long time ago.  Yes, some channels you can currently,  but it should be a select it once and be done all around. 

[Jremund]

Using all my Hotspot data. Please enable bitrate options for Metered Networks. Your killing my wallet. Considering switch to Fire Stick. Roku Streaming Stick + (3810, 3811 series)  

[Jay8anks]

I just placed an order for a competing product because it will let me limit the streaming rate. I'm a long time Roku user. The hidden menu bandwidth settings worked great and were exactly what I wanted. I have resisted leaving Roku just because they weren't Google/Amazon, but the only thing that talks is money, and this issue just cost them some.

Also, in digging around I noticed they have a "Bandwidth Saver" option now. It must have been slipped in while I wasn't looking. This is something else I always wanted in Roku, because I hate it streaming half the night if I fall asleep. And guess what? The only available time limit is 4 hours. Gee, there is a saver for you. Even with it on, it still streams half the night if I fall asleep.

I'm actually a programmer, and I would be glad to fix a few things for you guys.

I'm not the world's biggest google fan, but I will say, they absolutely seem to have programmers that are head and shoulders above the rest of the crowd.

[Warwagon]

2 years ago I went to a store called "it's $5" where everything you find is $5. It's a bunch of Amazon returns I think. I found an edge router a pretty nice $150 one for only $5 although I'm sure the $50 version would do what I'm about to tell you.

So I took it to my GF's house, hooked it up and went into the web interface and went to the WAN settings, and throttled the WAN port to 10 meg. Then I plugged the WAN port into her main router. Then I plugged her Roku TV into the edge router. Now even though she has 150 meg down, everything she streams is limited to 10 meg. It works great!

The same can be done with a Ubiquity Unifi AP. Create a new wifi group and throttle it to your preferred speed.