Wi-Fi & connectivity

[Karenatl]

In my home, I get “poor” wifi without the extender, and “excellent” with it. The router/modem is 2 floors down, but can’t be moved, as that is the access point to the house. Stick was purchased earlier this year. As I mentioned, the Sony TV’s wifi connects to the”excellent” wifi with no problem, but the Roku connects sometimes, and sometimes not, and sometimes connects and then stops working for no reason that I can determine! Clearly your Cox gateway is better than my ATT one, but Cox is not an option here.

[ReporterARR]

I'm having the same issue.  Says connection is Excellent but won't connect.  I have Comcast and 2.4 GHz.  What can I do to watch?  It's been out all week!

[TrooperDada326]

Every modem can be relocated. It's very easy. Where is the modem located? In the basement? 1st floor? How large is your home? Are you using the WiFi entender cable that came with your Roku stick? Which model is it? Hook the Roku Stick to a TV closer to the modem. Connect to the modem. How does the Roku behave? If it behaves fine then there is nothing wrong with the Roku. Go to the Roku network settings. Run a connection check. What does it say? 

[TrooperDada326]

@ReporterARR  can you elaborate please on which device you are using? Which modem do you have from xFinity? 

[AvsGunnar]

@Karenatl 

From your other posting in another thread, I thought you had AT&T as ISP, and using a Netgear Extender. Also thought you had a disconnection issue and 14.50 error which is normally a password error.   If this is inaccurate, please clarify as there are different steps for different issues.

Regardless, many of these AT&T routers are triband and set in a mesh mode. (Automatic configuration and placement of devices on the network.)  As a result, the devices may switch between the two 5ghz bands and then onto the 2.4ghz band.  Additionally, these routers seem to like to use DFS wireless channels (52-140) on the 5ghz bands which Roku cannot see or use.  As a result, disconnections can routinely occur.

To complicate matters, the user may be locked out of adjusting these settings (or at least limited) in the changes available when using the AT&T supplied router.  Sometimes, users may actually have to disable the 2.4ghz in order for the 5ghz channels to be adjusted.  This seems to still be the case for BGW320 routers.

Depending on your clarifications above, it may be that your RokuTV is connecting to your 2.4 ghz band (stable connection), while your Roku Streaming Stick is connecting to your 5ghz band and experiencing disconnections from your extender because the router is automatically switching to an unsupported DFS channel causing a disconnection.

Try connecting both your devices to the 2.4 ghz connection and see if your connection stabilizes between the router and your extenders. You can tell if you are connected to the 2.4ghz after connecting by going into Roku Settings..Network..About (Wireless channels 1-11 are 2.4ghz).

Post back your results from the RokuTV and Roku Streaming Stick and we can see if any adjustments can be made.  Also post back your router model number.

[AvsGunnar]

@ReporterARR 

Most likely you just have to enter your router's settings and change the Wireless Network Mode to b/g/n to resolve your issue. (Xfi app or using web browser 10.0.0.1)  

Xfinity/Comcast instructions - https://www.xfinity.com/support/articles/change-wifi-mode-admin-tool-xfinity-xfi and https://community.roku.com/t5/Network-Wireless-Wired-Connections/Error-014-30-stuck-for-three-days/m...

Restart both your router and Roku after performing above steps.

Post back with an update or if you need more help.

[Karenatl]

Thanks @AvsGunnar I was using a Netgear mesh extender but I was able to borrow an AT&T extender (4920, which is a smart Mesh extender as I understand it ) so I am using that now. I thought using all A&TT might fix the issue, but unfortunately it has not. The problem is exactly the same, which makes me think it is not the network or the extender, but something to do with the stick- or how the stick plays nice with an extender.

On your thoughts/questions:

I don't believe it is a password error as sometimes it will connect, and then it will disconnect and I won't be able to connect again (even after restarting router and roku). I just tried it now and it connected without any problem and I could get to netflix, prime and they streamed fine. 

I am using a 5268AC router (from AT&T) and it is dual mode. The extender has a poor connection for 5gHz (it is 2 floors above the router) but excellent for the 2.4 gHz. When I look at the network info on the Roku (both TV and Stick) and it says 2.4gHz is on channel 6. However, I noticed when I look at the wifi channels through the router configurator (not Smarthome app, but on my computer (through 192.168...) it says that the 2.4 gHz is channel 1. Not sure if that is significant or not - I know just enough to be dangerous here 🙂 

One more note- My stick is the Streaming Stick 4k/ I have two (one is closer to the router/modem, so don't need an extender) I swapped the two sticks and I get the same problem. 

[TrooperDada326]

You keep going around and around. The best thing to do is to relocate the modem. You never answered me. Is the modem in the basement? 1st floor? Behind concrete. There is absolutely no reason unless you have a 3000+ sq ft home that you should have a poor 5.0 signal. My 5.0 reaches about 200+ feet. Your trying so many things and blaming Roku. Any decent ISP or even an electrician can relocate your equipment 

[Karenatl]

@TrooperDada326

Thanks for your note. I do have more then 3000 sq ft so I guess that is the problem 🙂

Sorry, but given that there is no issue for anything other than the Roku stick, I don't think getting someone to relocate the modem is my first choice of actions. I am not blaming, I am trying to get technical advice from people who are having similar issues.  I do not believe the issue is the network performance (which as I said shows as "excellent" on both the roku stick and a roku tv nearby, and the speed test shows that the performance is good and all other network connected devices work just fine). 

[TrooperDada326]

But Roku cannot solve the issue of poor WiFi signal in your home. Hire a real tech to come to your home. I see stuff like this all the time. And yes equipment can be relocated. I moved my uncles modem from the basement rec room to the middle of the first and 2nd floor. Fished the wires up the wall. Was all very easy. What does the check connection test say for a speed?