Wi-Fi & connectivity

[EricWD]

My 5-month-old Roku Premiere has beed in the same location, same distance from the router the entire time. Suddenly, all streaming services started to buffer and, after troubleshooting, I found that the device has trouble connecting or gets only a poor connection.

For comparison purpose, my phone connected to the same 2.4GHz router in the same location as the Roku gets a -50dBm signal strength and well over 100Mbps. Regardless, I followed all the troubleshooting steps, reset the router to factory setting, changed the channel assignment, switched off legacy mode, reset the Roku network settings. Nothing fixed the problem.

Verizon thinks it's a problem with the device, Roku tech support insists it's a network problem. I see a number of similar posts with no resolution. Suggestions on what to try next?

[Karenroberts915]

I am having the very same issue this customer is having it is frustrating and someone better come fix this mess real quick because I am not going to sit ideally by and do nothing

[AvsGunnar]

@EricWD 

While the specs of the newer Premieres are the same from a couple of yrs ago, I cannot say for sure if they still contain the hardware/manufacturer of those previous yrs so cannot definitely rule out a device issue or software issue.  That being said, and if you have tried all the standard troubleshooting like it looks you have, maybe try adjusting the following settings in your router...  

If you have a single SSID, suggest you split them. Name your 2.4gz differently than your 5gz.

1.  Under the 2.4 gz Wireless, set your bandwidth to 20mz. (this will broadcast wider)

2. Under the 2.4 gz Wireless, enable g/n or Mixed Mode. (still leave b disabled)

3. Set Security to WPA/WPA2.   (Can also use No security for troubleshooting) [no password]

4. Verify your radio is Enabled/On/Broadcasting

Kind of thinking that some 5gz wifi devices in the home may be switching to the 2.4gz band adding interference to the Roku devices.. As such...

5. Under the 2.4gz Wireless, lower the Transmit Power(Tx) to Medium. (I know, sounds counter-intuitive, but trying to minimize amplified interference from all the 2.4gz connected devices and steer the 5gz devices to 5gz band with next step)

6. Under the 5gz, assign a channel. (Try something between 149-161.  Do not use Auto here.)

7. Under the 5gz, set mode to a/n/ac or n/ac (Mixed).   (Get as many 5gz devices to use this band as possible, although a is a bit dated).   Auto bandwidth is fine here.  Tx Power to High.

If you have continuing problems getting Premiere to connect, temporarily disable your 5gz Radio from broadcasting, then try to get your Premiere to connect.

Make a note of your original router settings when making these changes.  Save everything, Restart your router, let fully load, then System Restart your Premiere.  

Feel free to post back results, better, worse, what you noticed was different.

[EricWD]

Thank you for your detailed reply. Step-by-step notes below. Not all options are available on Verizon G3100 router. I'll add that most of my devices use ethernet instead of wifi, that I live far enough from my neighbors not to get any signal from their router, and that I did those tests early morning when kids were asleep, so very little if any bandwidth usage.

1. Changed from 20/40 to 20, no effect.
2. Option not available.
3. Done (that was default set up).
4. Not sure what it means, but other devices can connect to the router.
5. Changed from 100% to 50%. This dropped the strength from -50dBm to -60dBm and Roku was not able to connect at all.
6. Done (yesterday)
7. Only option is a/n/ac/ax, power at 100%. No effect.
8. Disabled guest wifi. No effect.

Question: would QoS or WMM setting affect the Roku?

[EricWD]

Another related note. When testing the connection on the Roku (channel 6) with wifi analyzer on my phone, there was a sudden spike of a new unnamed network (-20dBm on channel 6). It had almost the same MAC ID as the Roku (ca: instead of c8: ). It looked like the Roku was trying to set its own network.

[AvsGunnar]

Good troubleshooting and reporting.  I will look into the router specs for the Verizon G3100, it of course has to be a mesh router.  There are going to be some automatic settings going on here.  Have a little family function going here this am but will post back shortly.  I think you have a single/merged network issue going on.  There is a bit of automatic steering going on regarding devices.  

Do you see 2 distinct SSID names (network names), or just 1 when you are connecting to wifi?  If you are not seeing 2, then under 2.4gz Wireless, change the SSID name, (just add something to the end so it is different from your 5g Wireless name).

Remember to Reboot your Router after every change whether it asks you to or not.

In the meantime, do the above regarding the renaming, then toggle Tx between med and high if your network becomes discoverable.

That other network you said "spiked" with similar MAC id is your Roku remote control. (wi-fi direct)

Be back shortly, others free to join in with suggestions while I am gone.

[AvsGunnar]

Ok, after looking into your G3100 router manual, and looking into some 2.4gz connection issues with this router, seems like typical mesh configuration. Because these mesh routers are configured to automatically steer devices onto the 2.4gz when 5gz signal strength is dropped, the 2.4gz often gets crowded and then causes problems with 2.4gz devices like your Roku and other household appliances.  Basically, these mesh routers are automatically configured as one network with devices bouncing around between bands so you dont "lose" your 5gz connections...it simply moves to the 2.4gz band when signal becomes weak.  I have provided link to the manual for you to download and reference for the steps suggested below.

The steps below are going to create a seperate 2.4gz network and seperate 5gz network by disabling the router's SON feature(Self-Organizing Network) that is creating this automatic band steering.  Since most of your other devices are ethernet, this is going to give you much better control of your network and isolate problems to the network easier.  It will also probably speed up non-ethernet 5gz devices by making sure they stay on the 5gz band.

Under your Wi-fi...Advanced... (p.42)     https://i.imgur.com/rMVUtFV.png (reference)

2.4 gz...

1.  Broadcast> Enable (this will broadcast the 2.4gz network radio)

2. 802.11 Mode> Switch to Legacy (This should broadcast b/g/n)

5gz...

1. Broadcast>Enable

2. 802.11 Mode>Compatibility (This should enable a/n/ac/ax)  

Other Advanced Options...

1. MeshWi-Fi Enabled>Switch to OFF. (This should disable SON, the merged network)

2. Transmit Power> set both 2.4 and 5 to High (100%)

Basic Settings

Rename your 2.4gz and 5gz Network SSIDs here. (ie. something and something5G).  Can keep your passwords the same.  [You should now have 2 distinct seperate networks, a 2.4gz and 5gz that is manually assignable regarding devices.

You may have to fiddle with channels but try Auto first on the 2.4gz.  Then go back and manually assign a channel.

**Leave the Qos and WMM as is, you can read about them in info provided, but shouldn't affect anything. (p.46)

Restart Router, Restart Roku.  If no network detected, press SCAN AGAIN.  You may have to "forget" your Network also.  Settings...System...Advanced System Settings...Network Connection Reset.  Then do a System Restart and try your network again.

Long post I know.  Great job with the last detailed reporting of steps taken before.  Update when you get a chance.

Verizon G3100   https://www.verizon.com/support/residential/internet/equipment/routers/fios-router

[EricWD]

Thanks again. I'll try that in the morning when no one is using the network.

My G3100 is on firmware 2.0.0.6 which was released about a month ago (from what I gather) and I don't know when it was pushed to my router. This may explain the sudden change.

[EricWD]

Updated router to separate 2.4 and 5GHz as 2 separate networks. Still poor connection.

Lowering Tx only makes things worse.

Switched channels. No effect.

Secret screen reports:

Channel: 11 RSSI: -98 dBm noise: -107 dBm SNR: 13 dB
JoinsL 5 tries: 5 reconn:  aps: 1 sec: WPA2

Note that my phone in the same location sees -50 dBm for that network.

[AvsGunnar]

---

@EricWD wrote:

Updated router to separate 2.4 and 5GHz as 2 separate networks. Still poor connection.

Lowering Tx only makes things worse.

Switched channels. No effect.

Secret screen reports:

Channel: 11 RSSI: -98 dBm noise: -107 dBm SNR: 13 dB
JoinsL 5 tries: 5 reconn:  aps: 1 sec: WPA2

Note that my phone in the same location sees -50 dBm for that network.

---

The RSSI (radio strength) is definitely reporting a bad signal. (45-87 a good average).  The noise/interference reported is good (the closer to 120 the better, depending on the chip).  The SNR is just the difference between Noise and RSSI (107-98=13). This is the Strength reported.  A good SNR would be at least 25(higher the better).

What are the antenna strengths looking like in your Secret Screen.  Should have numbers for Antenna 1 and Antenna 2 as well as some bars with either red, amber, or green bars?

If you use a wifi analyzer app on your phone, you can scan for better channel to use.  Also, your router has that built in feature (wifi analyzer in its menus.)  Additionally, though, the app wifi-analyzer will analyze surrounding RSSI strengths.

If you have your router configured in manner from above posting, then both Tx powers are set back to high.

But, in your case, if you are sure that both the mobile phone and the Premiere are connected to the 2.4gz network SSID and you are receiving different RSSI strengths, (a little different deviation is fine depending on chipsets), then most likely the internal radio receiver in the Premier is either (a) too far from the router to receive the signal or (b) is failing to receive an otherwise strong signal being broadcast (chip is bad or antenna is bad) or (c) there is a miscommunication in encoding/decoding of the signal between the router and the Premiere (here, both router or Premiere could be at fault).

Just make sure you are not connected at 5gz on your phone, and 2.4gz for the Premiere when analyzing the numbers. (need to be on same SSID).

The only real solution I see is to get another Premiere (or other Roku device) and see if it fixes problem.  If no change, then there is a compatibility problem between the G3100 and Premiere.  It could be the latest firmware update to your router is causing an issue with the Premiere's wifi chipset or vice-versa.  If your router wasn't so expensive, I would suggest using another router (non G3100) to test further.

Next step may be contacting Verizon or the G3100 forum boards and seeing if they are getting reports/known issues.