Wi-Fi & connectivity

[BigerJohn]

Wow, was about 2 days overdue canceling DISH.  Glad I didn't and this happened.  Taking this thing back for a refund.

[BigerJohn]

Also in a 1 month trial for youtube TV.  It is awesome.  So much for cord cutting.

[jimalso]

Recently my rokus have also started displaying 'not connected' after having connected without problem for years. I too many times went through the process of rebooting rokus and modems. Every time I would 'set up connection' it would connect to modem but not internet. I went through a number of rounds with roku support via email where I was instructed to test my internet speed and and reported 6Mbps. I was told 'You need a minimum of 15 Mbps internet download speed.' Here in rural America few of us have that and my rokus had worked for years with 6Mbps and as the service goes, often much less. Though we do not detect modems other than our own I decided to switch my modem channel from 'auto' to 11 and Voila! the rokus connect. Since that time my rokus have on occasion reverted to the dreaded 'not connected' and switching to another channel (even back to previously used channels) has allowed them to reconnect. Note that this is not a *solution*, it is a *workaround* (it's like treating the symptoms but not actually curing).

As others have mentioned in this thread, it is solutions that make a product better. Support
nonsense like '15Mbps required' that was given in a 'and that's that' way more-or-less is *NOT* a solution - it did not solve my problem, that is obviously a Roku problem, it did not even provide a workaround. When I troubleshoot (I program various devices) I do assume that any recent changes are a good place to start in finding a problem. Given no changes in my system (modem and attendant internet service unchanged) *and* no other devices experiencing connectivity problems and only the roku is having a problem and the roku problem is new then the roku itself must have changed. Of course, the roku does not provide a method to revert to earlier firmware (much less the access to earlier firmware) so I have no way to test this.

Roku could take a tip from the Raspberry Pi forums: I frequently see the RPi *engineers* chime in to solve problems and on many occasions actually act to change the RPi OS to fix problems called to their attention by problems brought up in the forums. Now *that's* helpful!

[dollilocks]

@jimalso @BigG @ChrisSmith62481 @Eris0303 @Gpm @RSBRIZ 

I resolved this problem a while ago and I've not had any problems since.   

I went into my ISP account internet section (in my case it's Xfinity), checked for connected devices, located the Roku M.A.C. address (you will find the M.A.C. address on the Roku About screen), and set the internet permission for the M.A.C. Address to "ALLOW" it. 

After that, EVERYTHING WORKED.  It re-connected and that was that.

Once you see and confirm the M.A.C. address and ensure the internet service is set to "allow" the device, you're done.  Go thru the steps to connect again (give it a little time to update the permissions), and it should resume the communication and connection with the Roku device.

[ClayClai]

My Roku Express device has been installed and running for over2 years. Today it lost connection and refuses to see my wifi. It sees other nearby wifis but not mine. My other wifi devices (phone, laptop, tablet) see my wifi (2.5G) just fine. I have rebooted and then power cycled my router with no joy. Nothing here speaks to my problem. My router is a Linksys WRT1200AC running OpenWRT 18.06 and my ISP is Spectrum. I had been connecting to the 2.5G Marvell 88W8864 802.11bgn radio using mixed WPA/WPA2 PSK (CCMP) encryption. I have been in IT since 1970 and a Linux Systems Administrator since 1998 so I'm not exactly wet behind the ears on this stuff. I suspect a recent firmware update from Roku as nothing else on my network has changed or is failing. I see more than 34 complaints with my profile starting in June 2020, with no solution from Roku.

[dollilocks]

@ClayClai 

New to this stuff or not there is a resolve.  My devices have been installed 4 years with no problem prior to the lost connection and refusal to see my wifi.  I also did have a dialogue with Roku's support, and finally figured it out myself.  Firmware update?  Most likely. The beauty of tech is the rapid changes. 

It's not an internal network issue.  It needs to be addressed with Spectrum (in your case).  I didn't need to get on the phone with Comcast and quite frankly, I don't like grinding up my time when I do a better job navigating this stuff myself. 

In any event, call them up and discuss that M.A.C. address and make sure it is being acknowledged on their side.  Whatever Roku changed (firmware etc...), doesn't matter.  Get that M.A.C. address squared away.  It's not anything with the router. 

My devices (and I have plenty as well), had no issue.  My firestick even connected with no issue.  Again, call them and get that M.A.C. address acknowledged.  It's a pain in the **bleep**, but you'll be back in business once that permission is granted (on their side).  I don't know why the update has set off a rejection on the service provider side, nor do I care, these things sometimes happen with updates as you well know.

[ClayClai]

The problem I have with that is a wireless device should connect to the router even if the router isn't connected to the Internet. Now my Roku Express doesn't even see my SSID anymore. How can Spectrum be responsible for that?

[ClayClai]

Okay, I just tested my thesis. I disconnected my modem from my router. Then I disconnected the Samsung Galaxy S8 from the router wifi, and reconnected it with no problem - of course it warned me that I had no Internet, but it certainly saw the SSID and connected to it. Same with an HP notebook. Disconnected, reconnected, of course no Internet, but I could ping addresses on my LAN. Tried to connect the Roku Express to the router with the modem disconnected - so no Spectrum involved - it still wouldn't even see my router SSID. Maybe you are using a Spectrum supplied router.modem combo? But that's not my situation. I supplied my own modem, and that has been the only MAC address I ever had to register with Spectrum, and I run a lot of devices off that router.

Obviously, I can't use the Roku without Internet, but why would it refuse to see the router wifi without a route to the Internet. Is this some sort of Roku bug?

[renojim]

This thread has become a mixture of two completely different problems.  Most people don't understand the difference between a Wi-Fi connection and an Internet connection and that you can have the first without the second, but not the second without the first.

I hate to say it, but I'd expect someone wet behind the ears to call 2.4GHz "2.5G".  🙂  I don't know if anyone knows why a Roku will suddenly not see an SSID that it previous connected to, but you can try a few things with the 2.4GHz Wi-Fi settings.  I'm using an older version of OpenWRT, so the settings may be different, but I can choose between N and Legacy under Mode and 20 or 40MHz under Width, not to mention trying different channels.  I have mine set to N and 20MHz.  None of this may make a difference, but it's something to try.  There's also the Wireless Security stuff, but I don't know if any of that would have any effect on whether or not the SSID even shows up in a Roku scan.

[ClayClai]

@renojim 

Yea, by bad calling it 2.5G. I made that mistake because I named it ecosmos-2.5G, b/c I already had a ecosmos-2.4G and needed a new name. Okay, I'll try screwing around the the 2.4G wifi settings, although I hate to because everything else works as is. Does anybody know what Roku sw ver 9.4.0 likes. I'm using mode N, 40Mhz. What are you using?