I had this issue on two of my ATV's ( 4K, and ATV4 ), and found that when it slowed down ( even streaming locally would be painful ), the ATV's would be on 2.4Ghz as opposed to 5Ghz. I'm running Amplifi HD's, so installed an additional node ( an Instant, instead of a mesh point, as they're horrid ), and that seems to have cured the issue. I initially had two nodes, and I think that the ATV's were picking the furthest one when waking from sleep.
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Apple TV WiFi goes super slow requiring reboot
- Thread starter millerrh
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Have you tried running to slightly different names for your 5Ghz network from your 2.4 Network! That might help!
I’ve had Apple TV’s for several generations and I’ve had this problem for years. It takes about a month before the Apple TV slows down to point of an issue though. But I power it down and restart it and I’m back to my normal, very fast internet.
I think it is an Apple programming issue.
I think it is an Apple programming issue.
I’m definitely having a lot of issues with a brand new Apple TV 4K (where I had few or none with an older Apple TV 4). I get about 50Mbps down and 8Mbps up after rebooting it, but over time while streaming it drops to less tha 1Mbps and the streams go pixelated and blocky. I’ve tried different placements — all within about 20ft Of the router — with no luck. I have gigabit up/down internet, and when I test with my iPhone or iPad placed in the same spot as the Apple TV I get between 450 Mbps and 550 Mbps — both up and down.
I suspect the WIFI router. My ASUS router allows for ONE SSID for both 2.4 and 5G networks. It sounds great in theory, but not so with experience. I prefer to have different SSIDs. I think at a minimum you should disable single SSID for a week or two.
Good luck with troubleshooting.
Thanks. I’ve tried using different SSIDs, shutting off one or the other as well. No difference. It seems pretty random, but sometimes the slowdown happens after as little as two minutes. No other devices on my network experience any issues.
I have this exact issue with my Apple TV 4K as well. In addition to sometimes requiring a reboot, the ATV is consistently getting lower speeds than all of my other devices. We’re talking 450 Mbps on my iPhone and around 60-70 Mbps on the Apple TV on the same network. 5Ghz in both cases. I’ve even tried three different routers (Icoteras, Netgear and Zyxel), so definitely seems like and ATV-specific issue.
I have been following this thread for a long time. My Apple Extreme was upstairs in MB in my house and the Apple TV 4k downstairs in LR was always slow. I have Spectrum 400/20 internet service. When I would turn on the Apple TV 4k in LR sometimes it would be a slow as 15 down and 3 up... I would restart it and it would usually go to 30-40 down and 5 up. This issue got worse and worse... My upstairs Apple TV 4k in MB 10 feet from the Extreme was always fine, always 300ish down... This is when I began following this thread!!!
I then replaced my beloved Apple Extreme with a Amplifi Alien router. It went in the exact same spot as the Extreme, upstairs. From the first day the new router was installed, the Apple TV 4k in LR began seeing 275-350 down and 15-20 up, depending on the time of day. I have not restarted the Apple TV 4k in LR in months. It just works, now... The upstairs Apple TV 4k in MB now sees around 460 down and 25 up, because Spectrum over provisions the 400/20 service...
So my getting new router totally and instantly solved my issue. I see many posts where people have changed router(s) to no avail... Not sure why a new router worked for me. But it totally did. Weird...
I then replaced my beloved Apple Extreme with a Amplifi Alien router. It went in the exact same spot as the Extreme, upstairs. From the first day the new router was installed, the Apple TV 4k in LR began seeing 275-350 down and 15-20 up, depending on the time of day. I have not restarted the Apple TV 4k in LR in months. It just works, now... The upstairs Apple TV 4k in MB now sees around 460 down and 25 up, because Spectrum over provisions the 400/20 service...
So my getting new router totally and instantly solved my issue. I see many posts where people have changed router(s) to no avail... Not sure why a new router worked for me. But it totally did. Weird...
What I noticed is some improvement if I was able to force all the devices to be on the same band (5GHz Low, in the case of my router). I also noticed a significant improvement by *not* using the HomePods as the dedicated speaker for the Apple TV, in stead using the normal AirPlay selection. I need to do some more testing to really understand what's happening, but it at least gives me some more to play with now to figure it out.
I recently replaced my old Netgear Nighthawk router with a TP-Link Deco M9 Plus mesh system. My Apple TV 4k is definitely acting weird. Streaming slows down and buffers. When I switch to my LG streaming apps I have no issues. I have to restart the ATV and it seems to work fine. Everything else on my network works fine.
I'm wondering if the issues could be due to channel selection. Not sure how Apple TV channels work, but if you started on an uncontested channel, and then a lot of other routers jumped onto the same frequencies then you would see a slow down. A reboot might fix it.
I do see slow downs occasionally but I since I have several networks available I just change networks.
You can also make changes at the router end. My 5G access point was glopped together with 19 other routers at at ~149-165. I changed the router configuration so now I am the only one in the 100-132 range.
![Screen Shot 2021-04-30 at 10.14.54 PM.png]( "Screen Shot 2021-04-30 at 10.14.54 PM.png")
I do see slow downs occasionally but I since I have several networks available I just change networks.
You can also make changes at the router end. My 5G access point was glopped together with 19 other routers at at ~149-165. I changed the router configuration so now I am the only one in the 100-132 range.
The TP-Link app just figures out the channels automatically. There are some settings I’ve tried changing. Fast Roaming may be causing an issue. The app also allows me to turn off Mesh for individual devices. So I’ve turned that off for the ATV to see if it makes a difference. Also, I wonder if HDMI power control via my LG TV has something to do with it.
I'm crossing my fingers, but it seems to be working better with the most recent set of updates — even with the HomePods set as the dedicated speakers. But we'll see if that remains the case...
Even if a device lacks wifi 6 or 6e your router will do its job. Even my 2015 MacBook benefitted.
I'm still having issues with slow streaming, pixelation and buffering. I've noticed my ATV keeps defaulting to the 2.4GHz network according to my TP-Link app. I have an Xbox and LG tv in the same room and they are both connected to the 5GHz network. Not that 2.5 or 5 should matter for streaming HD. It doesn't make sense. I guess the ATV doesn't play nice with TP-Link Deco Mesh networks? Or it's failing? It works better after restarting but what a PITA. None of my other devices have issues.
I have the same issue with dropped speed on the Apple TV to approx 1 Mbit/s after resuming from sleep. Rebooting brings the speed back to 100 Mbit/s again (ISP max).
I am using:
Apple TV 4K
Google Wifi Mesh
LG OLED 4K 55 BX
Was this issue ever resolved other than plugging in the ATV via Ethernet? (which is not an option for me)
Many thanks to you who shared this on this forum. Happy to read that I am not alone and that it’s not just me going crazy over this incredibly annoying behavior.
I am using:
Apple TV 4K
Google Wifi Mesh
LG OLED 4K 55 BX
Was this issue ever resolved other than plugging in the ATV via Ethernet? (which is not an option for me)
Many thanks to you who shared this on this forum. Happy to read that I am not alone and that it’s not just me going crazy over this incredibly annoying behavior.
I’ve been having this problem for years, but it used to only happen once a month, so I just lived with it. Now it’s happening weekly to daily.
It seems like everyone having this problem has a Google wifi system, and so do I. The pattern is too big for it to be coincidence - it has to be a specific incompatibility between Apple TV and Google wifi.
It seems like everyone having this problem has a Google wifi system, and so do I. The pattern is too big for it to be coincidence - it has to be a specific incompatibility between Apple TV and Google wifi.
If you are using a Google router (or at least check any router) go into the app or web server and change the priority device to the AppleTV.
Just another data point. I have experienced this issue with both version of the ATV 4k. The new ATV 4k worked good for ~ 1 week then it started to have the wifi issue. I have Unifi networking equipment 2 base stations and 3 different wifi SSIDs. When I switch SSIDs sometimes the wifi would start working but I would only get speeds of 20Mbps instead of the 100+ I should get. Eventually I moved the ATV to a new position about 2 feet from where it was and it seems fine now. The location that the ATV was reported full wifi bars and I put my phone in that same location and it worked properly. The ATV is also the only device in my house that has any wifi problems.
I think I might have figured it out. I noticed that whenever the wifi is super slow the AP is on 5Ghz channel 149. I disabled this channel in my router and that seems to have fixed the issue.