DQOTD: Use two routers or just fastest router?

[cathy63]

Good thought, that might be part of it. The AT&T router is auto dual channel, and I noticed that it’s chosen 2.4 GHz for TV and 5.0 GHz for other devices. Although my (dual channel) router is much faster, I have to choose which channel I want, it doesn’t choose automatically like the AT&T router.

It's the device adapters that are choosing the 2.4GHz band, not the router. If a device supports both bands and it uses 2.4GHz, then it's usually because the 5GHz signal is weaker in that spot.

Another way to gather information would be to unplug the Rokus (and TVs if they're also using WiFi) and see whether you get acceptable performance from the AT&T router with one iPad. Then add back the other devices one by one and see when the performance goes south.

 

[camfused]

What benefit does that provide over just plugging in his own router, assuming his own router also has a modem

I could be wrong, but I believe AT&T was mentioned. With AT&T you must use their gateway device. However, you can disable wifi on it, and place your own wifi router within the DMZ generated by the gateway. With that configuration, you are almost eliminating the gateway in the circuit.

Actually, you can run without the gateway altogether, but if you have a power glitch, you have to hook-in the gateway to establish the connection. You can the remove it again. This is too much work for me.

 

[SecondCor521]

I could be wrong, but I believe AT&T was mentioned. With AT&T you must use their gateway device. However, you can disable wifi on it, and place your own wifi router within the DMZ generated by the gateway. With that configuration, you are almost eliminating the gateway in the circuit.

Actually, you can run without the gateway altogether, but if you have a power glitch, you have to hook-in the gateway to establish the connection. You can the remove it again. This is too much work for me.

Ah. Well if that's the way AT&T wants to do it, I guess it's their business. Not the way I would do things, but last I checked I'm not their CEO. Thanks for the explanation.

 

[Midpack]

I could be wrong, but I believe AT&T was mentioned. With AT&T you must use their gateway device. However, you can disable wifi on it, and place your own wifi router within the DMZ generated by the gateway. With that configuration, you are almost eliminating the gateway in the circuit.

Actually, you can run without the gateway altogether, but if you have a power glitch, you have to hook-in the gateway to establish the connection. You can the remove it again. This is too much work for me.

Just confirming I have to use the crummy AT&T router, but I have my router plugged into the only Ethernet port provided in another room - and my PC plugged into my router for a direct connection. As far as I can tell there’s nothing stopping me from selecting my router for all devices on WiFi. We now have two iPads, two iPhones and DWs laptop on my router, and three TVs (never all at once) still using the AT&T gateway. Works well enough after 6 weeks suffering with the AT&T gateway for everything - SLOW as hell...

Sorry for

 

[camfused]

^^^^ Yes, stick all your stuff on your better router

 

[fritz]

Good thought, that might be part of it. The AT&T router is auto dual channel, and I noticed that it’s chosen 2.4 GHz for TV and 5.0 GHz for other devices. Although my (dual channel) router is much faster, I have to choose which channel I want, it doesn’t choose automatically like the AT&T router.

We stream using Rokus, I don’t know if they’re considered “always on.” But we use more bandwidth streaming than other devices.

You might want to review your ROKU usage to see if they are running in the background...

FWIW (as I understand it) - ROKUs are considered "always on" if they are powered by a separate AC power source. They can be powered off if it is a ROKU streaming stick plugged into the TVs USB port (w/o a separate AC power source), but not all TVs power down their USB ports when shut off.

If your ROKU is left on and streaming an app when you power down your TV - it may continue to stream that app (use bandwidth). I think that this is something that should be corrected by ROKU and other streaming devices. Some apps like Netflix supposedly have a feature to stop continuous streaming, but I don't have Netflix so can't confirm. I've read that some streaming devices (ROKU?) have a reset that kicks in after being left on/streaming for a considerable time, and the device will return to the HOME screen and go to sleep. It is recommended that one properly exit an app, and return ROKU to its HOME screen before shutting off your TV, or switching inputs for other viewing (OTA).

We have friends that were just turning off their TV and didn't properly exit the DirectTV Now app on their ROKU. They were having an issue where their TV was turning itself back on overnight. I was searching for info for them and found that ROKUs will sometimes turn a TV back on when they are checking for updates in the middle of the night (or whenever). The remedy given for this was to disable the CEC function. It lead to fact that they were also not exiting ROKU to the HOME screen.

https://forums.roku.com/viewtopic.php?t=112721

Streaming is a great TV feature, but we stream ROKU in 720p. This is the minimum streaming on our device (there is supposedly a way to get into the ROKU codes and choose lower streaming).

Comcast (Chicago area) allows us "1TB" streaming per month on our internet plan (1000GB).

Some quick calculations by me - 720p uses apprx .9GB/hr and 1080p uses apprx. 1.5GB/hr. This would mean that on average - you've reduced streaming consumption by 40%/hr when you went down to 720p input for the Roku streamer(s). The new TVs that feature the ability to show 4K UHD TV actually stream at 7.2GB/hr...

If you watch TV for 16hrs/day (retired people could easily accomplish this) - how much streaming per month against a 1TB limit? -

@ 720p - stream would be apprx. 450GB/mos.

@1080p - stream would be apprx. 750GB/mos.

@ 4K UHD - stream would be apprx. 3575GB/mos

Comcast charges some pretty high monthly fees for going over, but promises to stop at $200.00/mos. in our area. We found our limit buried on our account when we signed in to Comcast online.


Edit/add: We also had internet slowing issues in the past, which appeared to be directly related to the performance of the wifi router. This was especially evident when our SIL and grandkids were over and everyone was on their phones on our wifi. Our modem (the mini flashing light UFO) is in our office, and it's hardwired to the wifi router in the family room via cat5 cable. We have our ROKU (Premiere+ 4630, older version of Ultra), Channel Master Stream+, and OBi200 internet phone service all connected to the router via ethernet cables. This has eliminated slow wifi issues, and the hardwired items work flawlessly. ROKU currently only offers ethernet connection players in the Ultra version, but ethernet's reliable and smooth operation makes it a good choice for us. You can still get the 4630 Premiere+ at Amazon, eBay, and a few other places.

 

[camfused]

FYI, my average daily usage is about 3GB (with a daily peek of 7.4GB so far). That is with about 3 hours each night of streaming Acorn, Sling, or Netflix, and with a daughter that is glued to her PC/phone all day (day = starts at noon and ends at 2am or so). So, I don't come anywhere near my monthly 1TB cap.

 

[target2019]

Roku 3 (at least the one I have) will time out from the main screen and display screen saver. Roku also periodically checks for update to its firmware. If TV is turned off (HDMI connection), the Roku turns off after a period of time.

Major apps like Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, do not stream "forever". Each has a way to suspend your streaming if the app determines you are inactive. A confirmation dialog is presented, and you need to acknowledge that for streaming of next episode.

These are the three apps I use most, and can't speak for other apps on Roku.

 

[Midpack]

Roku 3 (at least the one I have) will time out from the main screen and display screen saver. Roku also periodically checks for update to its firmware. If TV is turned off (HDMI connection), the Roku turns off after a period of time.

Major apps like Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, do not stream "forever". Each has a way to suspend your streaming if the app determines you are inactive. A confirmation dialog is presented, and you need to acknowledge that for streaming of next episode.

These are the three apps I use most, and can't speak for other apps on Roku.

That's good news. I know it was an issue early on, but it seems hardware and app developers are trying to help users avoid data gobbling phantom streaming. We've been streaming long enough that we're used to closing streaming apps before shutting off the TV, the Roku's have always gone to sleep on their own. We've never been closer than about 70% of our 1TB data cap, and we're on WiFi for many hours every day.

 

[target2019]

We hit 583 GB in June during WWC games. Plenty of taping through Hulu. Rest of year internet usage is way less.