ROKU

[OKI0001]

New here, so my apologies if I posted in the wrong place. About the only thin we watch is youtube on Roku. We can click all day sometimes and youtube will NOT open. Many times, it will open, but sloooooowly. And then the buffering. Oh my. We check and Roku says we're not online. BT says we have great speed. Yet, about half the time we cannot watch you tube. Any suggestions?

[andydenyer]

I suspect that this a Roku issue rather than a BT one. But as I have a Roku myself, I might be able to assist.

For a start, what type and speed of broadband are you getting from BT i.e. copper, part fibre (FTTC) or full fibre (FTTP) and what is your guaranteed or typical speed?

When BT says you have great speed, what do you mean? Is that a test of the speed to your router, or are you using another means to test the wi-fi speed you're getting from your hub (they are two completely different things, as the speed of your wi-fi will never be as fast as the speed being delivered to the router). And what is this 'great speed'? If you test the speed of your wi-fi using, say speedtest.net on a mobile phone or laptop, what speed do you get?

Now on to the Roku itself. Which model is it (and how old), and how far away is it from your router? When you go in to Settings>Network>Check Connection, what does it report in terms of Signal Strength and Internet Download Speed?

I did have issues with an older Roku a few years ago which was only receiving about 2 Mbps of the c30Mbps connection I had at the time.

However, my newer Roku is dual band and is receiving an excellent signal and over 200 Mbps of my (now) 900 Mbps service.

[OKI0001]

Thank you so much for your reply!

1. We have FTTP 900 Mbps

2. Speedtest.net  = 668.35 Download, 109.02 Upload on my  computer next to the hub

3. Roku Model = Roku 4K Streaming Stick Plus Model 3830X, Dual Band 802.11 ac Wi-Fi, purchased a month ago in the UK

4. Last night Internet Download speed as shown on Roku was 7 Mbps. After doing system resets and trying to connect, we kept getting an error code that said we could not connect to the Internet. However, when we would check the connection, Roku would show that it was connected to BT, Signal Strength Excellent, Internet Download speed Good 125 Mbps. Could not watch any Youtube videos. Nothing would load for hours. We gave up. 

5. Samsung TV is on 2nd floor, and we put the BT extender in the same room, only about 8 feet away.

Thank you for any advice you can give.

[andydenyer]

OK - that's all really helpful information.

I think there are a couple of possibilities here. Either the Roku is connecting (or trying to connect) to the hub at times rather than the extender. Or the extender is not providing enough speed, being a couple of floors away from the hub.

It's recommended to have the extender at a point midway between the hub and wherever you're having a weak signal. What colour light are you getting on the extender, and can you test what speed you're getting from it by using the speedtest app on a phone?

You can check which devices are connecting to the hub versus the extender via the MyBT app or the Hub Manager on your PC (just type https://192.168.1.254/ in your chosen browser). You will need your hub admin password which is printed on the little card that slots in the back of your hub (unless you've previously changed it, that is).

[OKI0001]

My apologies. I said the extender is on the 2nd floor (American speak, sorry). It's really on the 1st floor. We had it across the hall from our bedroom (so directly above the hub) but that was awful, so we moved it into the same room as the TV.

I'm going to check what you suggested. And again, thanks so much for helping me troubleshoot.

[andydenyer]

Actually, I did wonder after I posted TBH, but then you could have been in a property with a second floor (such as an old townhouse or something)!

Anyway, back to the issue at hand.  Another possibility is an issue with the extender disc, which is why it's worth checking with other devices connected to it, such as a phone, tablet or laptop.  But you'd need to check (via the Hub Manager) that they have actually connected to the extender disc first (rather than the hub) before running the speed test.  Are you using a BT Smart Hub 3 and extender disc or something else?

I know you've said you've tried resetting the Roku, but have you also tried uninstalling and reinstalling the YouTube app?  Also, have you tried any other apps such as iPlayer or ITVX etc. to see if you get the same issue with those?

If other devices are connecting to the extender fine, but the Roku isn't (regardless of app being used), then I think we can narrow the issue down to the Roku itself.  Maybe you've just been unlucky and got a faulty one.  But we won't know until you've done some of the checks I've suggested.  Good luck!