Wi-Fi & connectivity

[Csimpson80]

The Chat Room technicians were not helpful.  Both of them seemed to be unable to understand that it is not a Wifi problem.  One of them ended in saying it was a router problem.  The second one said it was an ISP problem.  I have also gone the email route and heard nothing back.  Having no phone number has made this exceptionally frustrating.

[Csimpson80]

As far as I can tell, no one at Roku acknowledges the problem.  Their customer service is laughable.  I just went out and bought a "Chromecast for Google TV" to see if this was a better option.  Whoa!  The set up was pretty easy -- at least in the digital world.  And, I downloaded a Play Store version of Ookla to check the speed and yes, Roku is the problem.  My ISP speed is over 10 MBPS.  My Wifi is excellent.  My Roku shows 2 MBPS on three separate device.  My Chromecast for Google Tv show 11.3 MBPS.  Something Roku has done with a Update has totally messed with the internet download speed.  This has to be fixed or Roku is toast.  I have been with Roku for over 5 years.  I bought (during that time and for two separate houses) 6 TCL Roku based TVs.  I am done.  Please understand that if you have a small and older set up, Roku may still work.  With a Series 8, 65 inch TV the 2 MBPS doesn't work.  At this point my Roku degrades my 10 MBPS by over 80% of my ISPs download speed.  Good bye Roku.

[thatguybunger]

Csimpson80

This is where I'm at.  I'm just using a different device where I can until Roku gets it fixed.

I've spent probably 10-20 hours over the last week between 6 devices, and I've managed to get 3 of them working, but not the other 3.  And it's inconsistent at best.  It happened all of a sudden, while every other smart device works just fine.

[Csimpson80]

Yes.  I believe they have a bad update and most folks haven't noticed because their system can work at fairly low internet speeds.  It is eventually going to be obvious and Roku has a HUGE problem.

[HelpfulDad]

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@Csimpson80 wrote:

Yes.  I believe they have a bad update and most folks haven't noticed because their system can work at fairly low internet speeds.  It is eventually going to be obvious and Roku has a HUGE problem.

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They wouldn’t be the first company to pi$$ away marketshare because of hubris or arrogance that makes them think support is unnecessary.  They are delusional if they believe their “content” is compelling.  It’s little more than aggregation, where AppleTV plus is also playing.  The HBOMax debacle was another and the Disney+ UHD problem is yet another.

The only advantage I see with Roku is being able to buy Vudu movies in their app.  Picture is better on AppleTV too

[HelpfulDad]

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@RokuDanny-R wrote:

@Breezy1

Thanks for the post.

Please answer the following questions so we can get a better understanding of what you are seeing:
- Have you tried changing the wireless broadcast channel on the router to see if this will allow your device to connect? 
- Have you tried moving the device closer to your router to see if you can get connected? 
With more information we will be able to assist you further.

Thanks,
Danny

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Have you read all the posts in this topic?  Roku clearly has a fundamental flaw that sharply underutilizes available bandwidth regardless of connection attributes.  Any wireless channel or speed and Wired even as the only node on the network yields the same problems.

what is Roku doing about this?

[thatguybunger]

Roku still isn't doing anything about this.

[thatguybunger]

Here is an interesting update I found:  So I went in and manually changed how I received the NTP in my router and forced it to choose one.  Reset router, boom, Roku TV started working, as did two of my boxes (I didn't check the two other Roku TV's).  Today my wife says it isn't working again. 

I believe that something in the last update they did has issues syncing with some sources of NTP reception.  Maybe even within some routers/modems.  I do have an apple router I am going to hook up and see if the problem continues.  

At the end of the day, even if it is an issue with the NTP syncing with Roku, the issue still lies on their end as no other smart devices in my house are having the issues, but maybe Roku can look into this part of it and get it fixed for everyone.

[Csimpson80]

Just to add to the confusion:  about a week ago my three roku devices began working correctly again.  I had given up and had begun using Chromecast for Google TV (which had always used all of the ISP speed available.)  I checked the ISP speed again about a week ago and my Roku was using 100% of the ISP speed as well.  I then checked my other two roku devices and they said the same thing.  It seems to have been resolved by something Roku did because I had, as I said, given up and changed nothing on my end.  I wish they would be more transparent and send out some sort of bulletin regarding this issue.

[thatguybunger]

I don't have a new update.  And I'm still battling it, but it at least seems that changing where I got my NTP helped the problem a bit.  But then again, it had been working for about a week before when it started acting up again.