Wi-Fi & connectivity

[brtilak]

Do we know if the OP is in a region where DFS is open to general consumer use?

It does seem that Roku should honor what's offered by the local infrastructure and assume things are under control, but I wonder if there is something (a legal liability? tech support issues like intermittent problems?) that would put Roku in a delicate position if it honored DFS channels in certain regions.

[mwyson]

I hate that Roku doesn't give the option to turn off one or the other.

[atc98092]

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@mwyson wrote:

I hate that Roku doesn't give the option to turn off one or the other.

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I am not aware of any WiFi devices that have such an ability. For the access point/router, yes in virtually all cases you have control of the radios. But for the device that connects to the WiFi, I've never seen any such ability. 

[dwhitebsc]

I have a basic consumer unit wifi box, went into the direct edit access like for making a new password.  Took a deep breath before looking for all this SSSSID business.  Clicked on a tab that was labeled 5ghz.  Nothing much there except a button labeled 'split' on off.  Pressed it on.  Two lots of name and password opened up, one for 2.4, one 5.0.  The 5.0 name simply had 5g added to the name.  Same password.  So I simply connected the Roku to the one with 5g on the end.  Disappointingly easy, I was going to make a night out of figuring this one out.

[Kela62]

Hi, I just recently switched out my AT&T Wi-Fi Modem to their new AT&T Internet Air which uses 5G and line of site to their nearest cell tower. My download speeds have increased dramatically except my Roku. I've been reading your replies to various questions. My signal strength on my Roku states "excellent" and my mbps registers as 110. I'm not quite sure how to switch channels within Roku that you mention with your "The nine 5 GHz channels supported by Roku devices are 36, 40, 44, 48, 149, 153, 157, 161, and 165." advice. You reference buying an additional device that will allow the ATT 5G hub to use another gateway or other that Roku would then recognize as a faster Wi-Fi connection? Sorry, a bit of a newbie on this tech. thx K

[patricka02]

It's a little confusing, but the 5G connection you have on the Cellular side is actually 5th generation cellular technology and has nothing to do with the WiFi (in-home) connection.  As far as I know, the Roku will try to first connect to the router on a 2 Gigahertz band (2G) and not on the 5 Gigahertz (5G) band for this in-house connection.  The 2 GHz band is quite a bit slower.  So how do you force the Roku to choose the 5 GHz connection for the WiFi side.  There are only two ways as far as I know:  1) go into the router and turn off the 2 GHz radio or 2) use a different SSID for the WiFi 2GHz band vs. the 5GHz band, then go into the Roku and only give it the 5 GHz SSID as the WiFi connection.  Make sense.  I'd be curious to know how much this improves the Roku, since I'm contemplating option for this AT&T 5G service too.

[atc98092]

Just a clarification. The lower WiFi radio band is 2.4 GHz. And I agree about using a different SSID name on the 2.4 and 5GHz bands to ensure which band is used. 

[atc98092]

@Kela62 don’t expect your Roku to reach your full network speed seen on other devices. If you’re seeing 110 Mbps, you’re doing quite good, and I’m sure you are using the 5Ghz band. My Roku players on 2.4 GHz can’t come close to that speed. My Ultra can hit 230 Mbps on 5GhHz, but it’s within 5 feet of the access point. But that’s the limit for the Roku, as it can’t come close to my gigabit Internet connection speed. That’s a hardware limit of the Roku.