Roku Question. Recently Housemate installed Roku, Bandwith is degraded on other devices?

113015 | chickensoup

[Chickensoup]

Roku Question. Recently Housemate installed Roku, Bandwith is degraded on other devices? Is it a bandwidth hog? We run several tvs and computers in the building off of cable TV and cable internet.

But noticed that Roku was on and was degrading the computers thruput. It is off now and we are back to usual whizzing speeds.

Thoughts?

[Flick Lives]

How big is yer pipe?

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Hey now. Let’s not get personal! ;-)

[tophat9000]

Get a wifi router that has the ability to do QOS ... you can put a cap on how much bandwidth and or it priority for it getting for the Roku compared to other devices

basically you can put Roku on the fly standby basis he gets bandwidth only one other devices aren’t using it

[Alas Babylon!]

I think the Roku was being used during the degrade. But it degraded much more than Netflix does.

That really confuses me because Roku is a hardware device but Netflix is a service. I actually watch Netflix ON my Roku.

[Johnny B.]

It's possible that there is a configuration problem on your local network. In particular, just maybe your Roku box is using the same IP address (don't worry if you don't know what that is) as another device.

If you haven't already done so, go in to the Roku network setup, and reset the network connection. If you're using WiFi, you will have to re-enter the SID (name) and password for the WiFi router. If you are using a network cable between the router (or cable box) and the Roku, then you won't need to supply any information.

That might help.

[EVO X]

Thoughts?

I know someone that has trouble with their Roku. It is hardwired to a newer Comcast gateway box. If they pause a show on Roku it degrades Wi-Fi to the point of barely being usable. Start viewing Roku and Wi-Fi returns to normal. They have plenty of bandwidth. There could be other issues, but the above problem is repeatable. I was hoping a firmware upgrade would eventually take care of the problem, but it looks like the solution is to ditch the comcast gateway box.

[Chickensoup]

Thanks!

[Chickensoup]

So it can have its own network. I see it as an available network I can connect to on my computer. So is it already independent of the router?

[Hermes37]

All WiFi “CAN” behave differently for each installation.
Some folks will have better results than others.
Excellent results are not to be expected.
You can try playing the antenna adjusting game, moving the router and checking for better overall results.
You are at the mercy of the worst connection, it may pull the other connections down with them.
WiFi routers come in different flavors and so do the client devices. you could possibly have a fast enough (150or300mbs)WiFi router but some device demands slower speed and the whole WiFi system kicks down to accomodate it.

A wired ethernet port on the other hand never has to share.
Excellent results are to be expected without variation.
Often a 10/100 wired ethernet connection easily outperforms a 300 WiFi connection because the signal on the wire is not very succeptable to radio interferance and has no competetion for the limited resources.

An imperfect analogy is 10 people having 5 different conversations. If they are shouting from room to room there could be issues. If they are using old school telephone handsets they can conversate with less chance of interfering with others. (assume polite conversators)

Try moving the roku device antenna or the router antenna.
If the router allows you to select the WiFi channel try a different one.
If that fails try running a wire to the roku.
Only change one thing at a time and retest.

Use it up,
wear it out,
make it do,
or do without.
:)

[Johnny B.]

So it can have its own network. I see it as an available network I can connect to on my computer. So is it already independent of the router?

It can't be independent of the cablemodem (unless you're "stealing" Internet connectivity from a neighber). If you have a stand-alone router, then you may have the choice of connecting the Roku directly to the cablemodem or to the router (which is connected to the cablemodem).

For example, I have a "private" router, with WiFi, which I use for my home networking. This keeps my network separate from the cable company's network. My "private" router connects to my cablemodem, which is treated as an untrusted, outside network. Because the Roku has no need to access my local network, I plugged it directly into the cablemodem, where it can access the Internet (as it needs to do), but it can't access my computers (which it doesn't need to do).

But, most people don't bother with anything that elaborate. They just use the WiFi hot-spot provided by the cablemodem, and everything works.

Getting back to your original problem, if you haven't done so already, please reset the networking on your Roku. It only takes a minute, and it might fix whatever problem you're experiencing. Just be aware that if you are using the Roku's WiFi connection, then you will need to enter the SID (name) and password of the WiFi hotspot you are using.

Sorry to be so wordy. Please feel free to ask further questions if I'm not making myself clear.