Wi-Fi & connectivity

[Carolynmil]

I looked at streaming channels all yesterday (Saturday) and nothing changed in my wifi environment....same router, etc. All of my other devices connect to wifi which has a very strong signal. The Rokus have stopped connecting to Wifi. I have done everything except a "system restart". I spoke with my internet provider and they can't isolate anything simply because all of my other devices are connecting to wifi. I contacted the Roku team. A guy came on and had me disconnect the television, router and roku device for 10 minutes. I disconnected them for at least 20 minutes and never heard back from him. The next thing I heard was a dial tone. I heard that the Roku folks are not strong in the customer / technical support area. This was pretty evident since he never came back and the problem still persists.

The only common denominator is the roku boxes. Both going south at the same time? That's pretty darn suspect.  What's the problem here?

[renojim]

What happens when you go through the procedure to connect to Wi-Fi?  Any error messages or codes?

A "System restart" just reboots the device.  It isn't significantly different than unplugging the power for a few seconds and is nothing like a "Factory reset" that is like starting all over.  There's no reason not to perform a "System restart" when things aren't working properly.

I see you posted in another thread.  It's not helpful to post the same problem in different threads.

[Carolynmil]

I receive an error code: 014.30. I am pretty techno savvy and have talked to both my internet provider and Roku. Roku support did not follow through. Had me perform an action and then left the conversation without notification. 

Why should I do a factory reset when another person experiencing the same problem performed a reset and the issue did not resolve itself? 

Both boxes stopped working. If one box stopped working, a factory reset would make sense because it would suggest something was off kilter with that particular box. But to have both boxes generate an error code that suggests the internet is unavailable (when it is), just makes no sense. And, changing all of the parameters by doing a hard reset will not alter that fact. 

[atc98092]

Who is your ISP? Do they provide your router/modem, or is it one you purchased? If the ISP provides the router, they can control it remotely, and some have been known to change settings that can impact a Roku connecting. 

Assuming both of your Roku devices are the Ultra (you didn't tell us the models) they support both WiFi bands. But, if the router is using a DFS channel (49-148) your Roku won't see the 5 GHz radio at all. If they have the 2.4 GHz radio set to Mode G/N, some Rokus have issues with some routers in that configuration. There's no known list of devices that have that issue, but the quick fix is to change the mode to B/G/N. 

Channel assignment on both radios in your router are probably set to Auto, so it selects its own channel based on potential interference with other routers in your area. I manually set the channels used on my access points after scanning the neighborhood to see where other routers are set. There are free WiFi scanners that can be installed on a Windows laptop and also a handful that can be installed on a phone. Just make sure you don't assign a 5 GHz channel within the DFS block so your Ultra can see the 5 GHz radio. 

[Carolynmil]

My provider is Xfinity. On the phone with them right now and was on last evening. They provided the modem/router. Both are Ultra. 

[atc98092]

Yep, Xfinity is one of the guilty ISPs for making changes to their modems that can impact Rokus. And they don't even tell you they've done it. Also, the channel selection and mode settings I mentioned cannot be altered by you as Comcast has you locked out of those settings. I finally got so fed up with them not giving me control I put my Xfinity Gateway into bridge mode and installed my own router to be my home firewall and control my network. The only reason I rent their modem is because it's actually cheaper to rent their modem and get unlimited data then to buy my own modem and then pay extra for unlimited data. 

It's highly unlikely you can convince the Comcast support people to change those settings I mentioned. They seem to think they know what's best for your network, which is a position I completely disagree with. While I recognize I have far more networking knowledge than most of their customers, they still shouldn't enforce settings that they have been told cause problems for some users. 

[RokuTakashi · Accepted solution]

Hi, @Carolynmil 

Thanks for the post.

We're aware of the issue, and this has been coordinated with Xfinity. In the meantime, we recommend to create a separate Wi-Fi channel with 2.4 GHz network from 5GHz. Then, connect your Roku streaming devices to the 2.4 GHz network temporarily as the internet service provider is working on the issue.

For your guidance, you can visit Xfinity's official support on How to change your home network's WiFi channel selection or mode

Additionally, we advise to continue working with Xfinity's support for a workaround or an update regarding the issue.

We hope for your patience and understanding as we work on this.

Best wishes,
Kash