Baffling connection speeds in the same room as the router (Roku)
I just bought the A9 router to give me a speed boost from my prior one and I can't figure out how to get my Roku to improve its connection speeds. Every laptop and wired-capable device is absolutely loving the 5GHz channels the A9 provides but the Roku cannot access that one (it is 2.4GHz-bound).
My Roku model is 3900X - Roku Express (https://www.roku.com/products/compare) and operated *just fine* under my previous TP Link ("slower") router.
The symptom is that streaming is poor quality regularly (buffering???) and the Roku network connection test lists the Signal Strength as "Fair" or sometimes even "Poor". It makes no sense because the router is 3.5' away from the Roku *in the same room*.
Even if the 3 antennae were pointing in the wrong direction, I couldn't imagine that the wifi is that directional enough to not give a little something in the opposite direction!
Plus I can force my laptop to connect to the 2.4GHz channel (the Roku is only able to use this band) and I get bandwidth in excess of 50-100 MBs in the same room and location.
I followed the recommendations Roku provides on this page https://support.roku.com/article/213122277 which led me to the following settings:
Use wireless channel 11 (I cycled through 1 and 6 but found 11 performed "the least poor" for whatever reason).
The rest of the settings I left as default.
Left channel width as Auto (though I see 20 and 40MHz are options to pick from)
Left encryption as Auto
Left Mode as 802.11b/g/n mixed
And a long, custom password and SSID name.
Although it wasn't as effective as I had hoped, I did attempt to give the 5GHz a different SSID temporarily but they were already operating on different channels 11 and something in the 150s.
This isn't momentary outages when someone is opening a garage door or running a microwave, etc. and it makes no sense why it would just be the Roku that is negatively affected by this with laptops that do just fine on the 2.4GHz band when I pick it. Nor does it explain why Roku considers the "Signal strength" as Fair despite being essentially adjacent to the router.
I haven't tried running an extension cord and putting them on different electrical circuits but just might to see if that does anything for it...
The previous router model was only 2.4 GHz producing: Model TL-WR841N. The main difference being that router ONLY produced on the 2.4GHz wavelength and was rated for about half the speeds.
Just now I moved the Roku to a slightly different position and the "download speed" increased and the signal strength went from Fair to Poor.
I enjoy the Roku we have and am trying to avoid getting one with a Wired or 5GHz capable antenna.
Thanks for any suggestions or advice you may have to help improve my 2.4GHz capable Roku with my new dual band router! I realize this may be a question for the Roku people but since the device operated just fine with the old router, I'm optimistic that there is some tucked away setting I can configure for a new and improved streaming experience. Thanks again!