ChefZ
Streaming Star
Joined 6 years ago
User Profile
User Widgets
Contributions
Re: Feature request: disable wifi broadcast to reduce wifi interference - re-enable P2P down setting
rmongiovi- oh lol. I wasn't giving Roku an out on this one to say its irrelevant [to them]! You are kinder than I am 🙂 My self-service improvement since they won't give me back the firmware feature on my 3 roku ultras was to open em up, tear out the antennae, prevent a short circuit with electrical tape, and move on. So frustrating2.9KViews1like1CommentRe: Feature request: disable wifi broadcast to reduce wifi interference - re-enable P2P down setting
rmongiovi- you do realize if for whatever reason a wired roku was over-saturating your wired ethernet backplane on your router, then certainly a similarly running wifi roku would also then be over-saturating everything on your access point right? If your ethernet is running 10/100 with 5+ devices then sure I guess what you pose is a problem...but for most people running gigE ethernet (or more) I would question what you are doing in a home environment to saturate that! I would firmly argue that "The fact that it causes interference is irrelevant". Why would it be irrelevant? Its literally the problem everyone has that caused this feature request to be raised. Why would you think people's wifi networking issues caused by a vendor device is irrelevant?2.9KViews0likes3CommentsRe: Feature request: disable wifi broadcast to reduce wifi interference - re-enable P2P down setting
The amount of wifi interference that has disappeared instantly from my 3 Roku devices in the house, which were already wrapped in faraday fabric mind you, is crazy. I should've done this a year ago. Ethernet, IR, and IR repeaters for the win!3.2KViews1like0CommentsRe: Feature request: disable wifi broadcast to reduce wifi interference - re-enable P2P down setting
So this is great, I cracked open all 3 of my Roku ultra devices and removed the 2 antennae in each, closed it back up and it works great! Not some models may have 3 antennas but my older ultras only had 2 each. I'd rate this as easy, all that's needed is a nylon spudger, philips screwdriver and optionally some electrical tape. All I did is wiggle the metal antennae at their 2 connection points to fatigue the metal until it snaps off. I covered the terminal points with electrical tape just in case and re assembled. Note if you have micro SD cards you will want to remove them first before starting, as they get in the way of removing the case. jnwf wrote: The breakdown that I first used is from TechRepublic: https://www.techrepublic.com/pictures/cracking-open-the-roku-2-xs/ Images 18, 24, & 28-30 were helpful. Also, this youtube video was useful: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2KGYDw-q-4 Having a background in electronics, I guessed that removing the WiFi and Bluetooth antennas would be the easiest way to stop RF output without harming any other circuitry- so I used some hefty wire cutters to cut them off and for added measure cut the pcb connection to nearby broadcast chips with an exacto knife. No harm done, so both Rokus that were modified work fine with no measurable rf output. You do take a risk bricking your media player, but for us worth it. So stay grounded and don't touch any pins on chips if unnecessary.3.8KViews2likes4CommentsFeature request: disable wifi broadcast to reduce wifi interference - re-enable P2P down setting
The wifi direct network generates a very strong wifi signal that causes interference and disrupts any other wireless network traffic using that channel. When you have many roku devices in your home, and more broadcasting devices from other nearby homes too, you have a scarcity of available network channels that can transmit clear signals on 2.4ghz and 5 ghz. Many users have problems with this and want to disable wifi direct and just use IR. We used to be able to disable this from the 'secret menu' however this was removed in a roku update in the fall of 2020. The ability to turn P2P off in the secret menu is no longer exposed in the Secret Menu, which we really could use re-enabled. Note disabling WiFi direct in the regular settings menu will only temporarily stop the roku from broadcasting a wifi signal. The setting is not sticky so when auto-updates or reboots happen it is likely to turn back on and cause interference again. Please give this feature back9.3KViews7likes35CommentsRe: Feature request: disable wifi broadcast to reduce wifi interference - re-enable P2P down setting
Just wanted to add that while turning off Wireless <> WiFi <> WiFi Direct settings sounds like a solution, its not a sticky config. If I wasn't clear earlier, i'll add now that this config gets overridden often with auto-updates and system reboots. Before using shielding faraday fabric, I'd get my entire network crashing down while i'm working, or streaming video, or my kids streaming remote classroom stuff. Having the uncertainty of network quality over wifi is terrible...so a solution that works for an nondeterministic period of time isn't that great.8.6KViews0likes1CommentRe: Feature request: disable wifi broadcast to reduce wifi interference - re-enable P2P down setting
I use an IR logitech remote. Before i just gave up and wrapped in faraday fabric, the wifi signal on the rokus used to cycle in strength as if they were broadcasting for a wifi direct device on a interval. I was able to 'temporarily fix' this by doing what you suggested, and turn off all the wireless features I could from the settings menus. However this would get reset on reboots, upgrades, etc....so it was quite annoying. Now i just stopped having to tinker with it by wrapping in faraday fabric and hoping the CPU doesn't overheat. So far its been good - with a few warnings here and there. If I had a backup roku device, I would crack them open and attempt to remove the radios...but the faraday fabric is doing a good enough job.8.7KViews1like0CommentsRe: Feature request: disable wifi broadcast to reduce wifi interference - re-enable P2P down setting
Unfortunately that configuration doesn't seem to stop the wireless broadcast, at least as of when I reported the issue. I've confirmed this with wifi scanners on my mobile. The only reliable solution in the past was to disable from the secret menu, which is now not available8.8KViews0likes24Comments