Force Device to Use Same Channel Every Time
Greetings;
I have several smart TVs and YouTubeTV. I keep getting an error message from YouTubeTV that my TVs are not on my home network, and I believe it's happening because the TVs switch to either the 2.4GHz, 5GHz-1, or 5GHz-2 channels depending on which one would provide the best speed. However, I want to force these TVs to stay on one specific channel. I can't find how to do that in the app (if it's possible). Can someone point me in the right direction?
Thank you in advance.
Russ1409
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Hey @Russ1409,
Do you have Smart Connect enabled for your network? The Smart Connect feature combines all bands into one singular network that you connect to. With the option disabled, each band can have its own name and password, and the way that devices move between bands will be slightly different.
I would also recommend setting an IP reservation for the TV so that it can have a consistent IP address, especially if it is bouncing between the bands, as you think it is.
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The error message that you are seeing is normally concerning your physical location and simply looks at the location of your router/ public IP address since all traffic is funneled through it, and it provides a relative location.
I would highly recommend taking a look at the settings for your "Home Location" in your YoutubeTV account settings. If it appears that you have set your current location as your home, I would recommend trying to change the DNS server that your network is using to Google's 8.8.8.8
Also, make sure that you are not using any VPNs or tools to mask the traffic from your network. This would cause your traffic to appear as coming from the location of the VPN server, not your home.
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@Riley_S thank you for the reply.
I disabled smart connect to avoid the band hopping, but I was kind of against doing that since it's supposed to be a positive feature of the router. I'm fine doing it, if that's what it comes down to. Even so, I notice the TVs go from one band to the other even with smart connect turned off (all of them have the same password at the moment).
I know this isn't a YouTubeTV support forum, but I'm not really educated when it comes to networking stuff. At the moment, the only info I can get out of YouTubeTV is "you are not connect to home network. You have 0/3 location changes remaining this month." YouTubeTV "support" was no help whatsoever. Since I only use the wifi in the house for YouTubeTV and haven't traveled, nor do I use a VPN, I'm assuming the band hopping is the issue? My goal is when I can once again change my "location" on YouTubeTV, I'll have the TVs locked down to a certain band and that will solve the issue. Does that make sense?
If that isn't the issue, then I'll look into setting the DNS server to Google's server. That isn't something I immediately know how to do, so I'll have to research it.
Thank you again for the reply.
Russ
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I believe that the moving between bands is not affecting the YoutubeTV error, to be completely honest. You should be able to watch YouTubeTV on any device connected to your home network, wired or wireless, and it will always show to YouTube as coming from the same location(your public IP address). Locking the device down to a specific band would most likely not affect this.
Just in case, I would recommend checking the recent logins on your account just to make sure that your account is only being used by you. I also believe that Google provides the location of recent logins, so you may be able to see what you currently have set as your home location.
I think you will likely want to look at your DNS settings first; I believe that these can be changed from the Tether app, otherwise it is very straightforward in the WebUI.
Google DNS is: 8.8.8.8 and the Secondary is 8.8.4.4
Using their servers is probably recommended simply due to them having control over them and there is likely fewer compatibility issues.
As a separate FYI: Smart Connect makes your router handle the connections and will provide a better experience overall; without the setting, the devices themselves are in charge of switching between wireless networks. Experience varies widely with users depending on the clients, but it is advised to leave it one for simplicity's sake.
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