[Bob Heaps]

I recently cut the cord and went with YouTube TV and Roku. I have three TV's, each with a Roku Streaming Stick+. I have 100mbs Spectrum internet, a Netgear N900 802.11 b/g/n router and two extenders. I often get buffering on all of the TV's and frequent "Not Connected" messages. Last Saturday while watching football, all three TV's were on and three of us were also on our computers. The buffering was excessive, making it almost impossible to watch the game. I'm looking for a solution and am considering a new router (e.g., ASUS RT-AC88U AC3100 DUAL-BAND ROUTER), a mesh network or upgrading to 400mbs internet. Any suggestions would be very much appreciated. Thanks.

[Lee_Bo]

I recently cut the cord and went with YouTube TV and Roku. I have three TV's, each with a Roku Streaming Stick+. I have 100mbs Spectrum internet, a Netgear N900 802.11 b/g/n router and two extenders. I often get buffering on all of the TV's and frequent "Not Connected" messages. Last Saturday while watching football, all three TV's were on and three of us were also on our computers. The buffering was excessive, making it almost impossible to watch the game. I'm looking for a solution and am considering a new router (e.g., ASUS RT-AC88U AC3100 DUAL-BAND ROUTER), a mesh network or upgrading to 400mbs internet. Any suggestions would be very much appreciated. Thanks.

Well before you go though all that, let's look at a couple of things.

Does the Netgear device allow quality of service (QOS)? if so you may need to decide what devices get priority internet speeds, or make sure the Roky sticks are designated as streaming devices in the Netgear. Have you tried running a speed test from a pc or laptop while hard wired into the Netgear, with nothing else streaming, to make sure you are getting your 100 meg speeds? One last think to look for is what channel your wifi is broadcasting on. Wi-Fi channels 1, 6, and 11 are the most popular and default on most devices. All your neighbors are also probably broadcasting on those same channels. Your best bet is to find out what channel your wifi is on and change it. This is the #1 wifi issue.

Here's a link that explains wifi channels:
Choose the best Wi-Fi channel with NetSpot Scanner

Hope this helped.

[Bob Heaps]

Well before you go though all that, let's look at a couple of things.

Does the Netgear device allow quality of service (QOS)? if so you may need to decide what devices get priority internet speeds, or make sure the Roky sticks are designated as streaming devices in the Netgear. Have you tried running a speed test from a pc or laptop while hard wired into the Netgear, with nothing else streaming, to make sure you are getting your 100 meg speeds? One last think to look for is what channel your wifi is broadcasting on. Wi-Fi channels 1, 6, and 11 are the most popular and default on most devices. All your neighbors are also probably broadcasting on those same channels. Your best bet is to find out what channel your wifi is on and change it. This is the #1 wifi issue.

Here's a link that explains wifi channels:
Choose the best Wi-Fi channel with NetSpot Scanner

Hope this helped.

Thanks for your response. The article you referenced seems to recommend using channels 1,6, or 11, as they don't overlap with other channels. Also, when I go to QoS in router setup, I see the following:


# QoS Policy Priority Description
1 MSN Messenger High MSN Messenger Applications
2 Skype Normal Skype Applications
3 Yahoo Messenger High Yahoo Messenger Applications
4 IP Phone Highest IP Phone Applications
5 Vonage IP Phone Normal Vonage IP Phone Applications
6 NetMeeting High NetMeeting Applications
7 AIM High AIM Applications
8 Google Talk Highest Google Talk Applications
9 Netgear EVA Highest Netgear EVA Applications
10 SSH High SSH Applications
11 Telnet High Telnet Applications
12 VPN High VPN Applications
13 FTP Normal FTP Applications
14 SMTP Normal SMTP Applications
15 WWW Normal WWW Applications
16 DNS Normal DNS Applications
17 ICMP Normal ICMP Applications
18 eMule / eDonkey Low eMule / eDonkey Applications
19 Kazaa Low Kazaa Applications
20 Gnutella Low Gnutella Applications
21 BT / Azureus Low BT / Azureus Applications
22 Counter Strike High Online Gaming Counter Strike
23 Ages of Empires High Online Gaming Age of Empires
24 Everquest High Online Gaming Everquest
25 Quake 2 High Online Gaming Quake 2
26 Quake 3 High Online Gaming Quake 3
27 Unreal Tournament High Online Gaming Unreal Tournament
28 Warcraft High Online Gaming Warcraft

Edit Delete Delete All

Add Priority Rule
I'm not sure which of these represent streaming items, or how to designate the Roku sticks as Streaming Devices.

Thanks for any additional suggestions.

[AlexCC1]

Your router may not be able to handle what you are throwing at it. Honestly, Netgear is not a brand known for reliability.

In my own experience, my buffering headaches were solved the second I upgraded my router to an Arris brand device.

Also, keep in mind that those extenders could be causing more problems than they are helping. They are known for causing signal interference and they will cut your internet speed up to 50%. Use ethernet whenever possible or go with mesh.

I honestly don't think your internet provider has anything to do with the problem. You have very good internet speed. It's very likely your equipment causing the buffering.