Forum Discussion

Jim1348's avatar
Jim1348
Streaming Star
3 years ago

Mother In Laws's Roku Express Freezes With SlingTV But Not Hulu Or Netflix

My wife and I are visiting her mother in Laughlin this week.

Mother-in-law has a Roku Express.

It gets 4G LTE AT&T cellular data through a Netgear 815S.

Her streaming services are Hulu, Netflix and SlingTV.

Generally, she is able to stream Hulu and Netflix without issues.

SlingTV, on the other hand, frequently freezes up.

I am pretty confident that the problem is slow cellular data internet speed.

She lives in a condominium area with a lot of competing wifi signals.

I am considering that she get a different streaming device that has BOTH 5 GHz wifi AND Ethernet connectivity.

Granted, having her use a device that is capable of 5G AT&T might be most effective, but I am wondering if it is even worth considering a new Roku or other streaming device, first.

Also, which Roku devices have both 5 GHz wifi and Ethernet?

2 Replies

Replies have been turned off for this discussion
  • RokuNimfa-C's avatar
    RokuNimfa-C
    Retired Moderator
    3 years ago

    Hi Jim1348, 

    Thanks for your post. 

    We appreciate you providing detailed information about your mother-in-law's Roku Express and the issues she's been experiencing with SlingTV. Have you tried to remove the channel and see if it helps? If you haven't tried it yet, you can remove the affected channel and re-install it. To ensure the process is successful, restart your device before adding the channel back in. We would recommend doing this from the Settings menu by navigating to Settings > System > System restart.

    Furthermore, we can see that you have a Roku Express, please note that it is only compatible with wireless b/g/n networks on the 2.4 GHz spectrum. Ensure that your router is broadcasting a 2.4GHz Wi-Fi network for the device to connect to. You can also try configuring your router and use wireless channels 1, 6, or 11 which are the preferred channels in North America. Each time you change the wireless channel, you will likely need to apply/save changes before you are prompted to restart the router.

    In regards to your question about which Roku devices have both 5 GHz wifi and Ethernet, some of the Roku devices have this feature. We recommend checking the specific model's product details to confirm if it has both 5 GHz wifi and Ethernet connectivity.

    Please let us know if there is anything else we can assist you with.


    Regards,
    Nimfa

    • makaiguy's avatar
      makaiguy
      Community Streaming Expert
      3 years ago

      Jim1348-

      In the current product line, ONLY the bottom end Express (model 3960) is limited to the 2.4 GHz band.  All others are dual band with both 2.4 and 5.0 GHz wifi bands.

      Normal Ethernet ports are available on the Ultra and Ultra LT models.

      The following models can connect to Ethernet via a USB Ethernet adapter:
      Express 4K/4k+, Streambar, Streambar Pro

      ____________________

      Now, as for 2.5 GHz wifi reception with her current Express --

      Does she have access to the configuration for her router?  If so she might be able to reset it to use a less crowded wifi channel to improve wifi throughput.   Channels 1, 6, and 11 are usually suggested because their frequency bands don't overlap each other, but depending on what others around her are using some other channel may work better.   You also may be able to reduce congestion by setting your router to use 20 MHz channel bandwidth rather than 40 to reduce channel overlap.

      I use a wifi app on my phone that can show me the congestion on each wifi channel, allowing me to choose a less congested one.  I check this periodically as this situation can change when neighbors come and go and/or reconfigure their routers.