Thanks again im going to that link and buy me one now. Hopefully i can get it by Monday
2 Likes
And, if they cannot get it to you by Monday, you can go to your local Walmart, Target, or Best Buy, and they probably have one on the shelf. And, it’s $50 everywhere except for the Roku website, but no telling how long they would take to get it to you or what they’d charge for shipping.
2 Likes
I ordered it .I hope it’s here by Monday
Roku, Chromecast, Fire stick, etc., all run off Wi-Fi. If you don’t have a reasonably speedy internet connection you may experience a bit of frustration trying to watch TV on any streaming device.
1 Like
I hope that’s not a problem but we’ll see.I will get whatever i need just so i can watch college basketball starting Monday and ending after the Final Four
The standard for streaming 4K video is 25 Mbps. Most service providers will give you more than that. Now, if you have a teenager in the house into playing video games, you might want to send them out for pizza and a movie during games if you have any doubts about your internet speeds. 
1 Like
Yeah, but @Hoosthechamp said he was too far out in the wilderness to get cable, which led me to suspect he might have satellite internet. Nowadays most satellite ISPs can give you >25 Mbps, but consistently? I dunno . . . .
3 Likes
Yea. That may be a problem
@Hoosthechamp: Google up “speed test” with your satellite provider’s name. It should bring up a simple diagnostic test you can run from any computer on your home Wi-Fi network to determine what sort of download/upload speeds you’re getting.
1 Like
So, for the short-term, get the Roku stick and login with your credentials through your satellite provider. Long-term, it’s worth looking into some options to maximize your performance by hard-wiring your TVs so that streaming isn’t relying on a shared wifi signal.
Not sure how you get your internet, but assume from your description that it is satellite. However, even with satellite, you can dramatically improve your performance if you hardwire all of your devices such as TVs and PlayStations, Apple TV, etc.
We had DirecTV for TV at home for TV, but Comcast for internet. Boulder still doesn’t have fiber, but even with coax, I’m still able to get 1200 MPS into the house, which translated to anywhere from 150 to 520 MPS download speeds depending on the location in the house.
But with our current renovation, I’m running CAT6 to all of the TVs, three wireless access points, and to each of our offices. That way, the things that need the fastest speeds are hardwired, not reliant on wifi. Moreover, the wifi signal is reserved for lower priority devices, ie: kids’ phones.
Now, it’s really easy to do all of that when you tear out all of the drywall, but you can do some much more affordable fixes without doing much, if any cutting into walls. Even our old Eero mesh system and Surfboard router delivered us the speeds described above. But for the basement TV, which was too far away from the router to get a consistent wifi signal, I just connected the TV to the Eero with an Ethernet cable and it was streamed like a charm.
The upshot is, even if your satellite internet is not all that robust, you can maximize your performance with a few wires, splitters, additional wireless access points, and/or mesh routers for not too much money.
2 Likes
Say what?
1 Like
Just ask your son…
5 Likes
I’m glad I read this thread today. I had a Firestick delivered yesterday and was going to install it this morning, but looking at the comparisons between it and the Roku, the latter is a better option for me. It has a better user interface, and no ads/suggested shows clogging the screen.
So back to Amazon the Firestick goes.
4 Likes
I had used Roku for years and liked it, but when they had their spat with Google and removed YouTube TV for awhile, Google sent me a free Chromecast with Google TV and I’ve liked that a lot. In the end, I’ve found all “the sticks” better than using the TV’s built in app functions.
3 Likes
Agreed - the built in apps don’t work all that well for whatever reason
It varies with the apps’ developers. For whatever reasons, I think they probably work the bugs out of Fire Stick and Roku before they deal with the television manufacturers. That said, one of my favorite streaming services is Britbox, and they have had issues with their app for Roku. They are aware of the problem, and they’re working on it. The LG Britbox app is fine, though. The take-away is to keep everything updated.
1 Like
This is the heart of the issue. The various sticks and AppleTV and the like provide updates. Smart TVs frequently don’t.
1 Like
Older smart TV’s also have a bad habit of dropping apps unexpectedly, and there’s nothing you can do about it. I would be leery of buying a new TV with a proprietary streaming interface. Toshibas now incorporate Fire TV and Sonys have Google TV (aka Chromecast), and those brands DO update.
Other issue: if you’re streaming through an add-on stick or box (Roku, Chromecast, etc.), there is NO BENEFIT to hardwiring your TV. The streaming source is the performance bottleneck Luckily, if your Wi-Fi is sluggish, you can buy a Roku with a built-in Ethernet port, and there are cheap Ethernet adapters available for both Fire stick ($14) and Chromecast ($20).
On the other hand, if you’re streaming through your smart tv itself, then by all means hardwire away.
1 Like
FYI, everyone. I just went to the Sling TV website, and they’re offering a college basketball package. It’s for five months, it includes Sling TV Orange + the sports package. It’s a one time payment of $199.00 plus tax, but does automatically renew next April (at the monthly rate) unless you cancel. Essentially, this is like getting one month free. There are also deals which include Sling TV Blue (plus sports) and Sling TV Orange & Blue (plus sports). I guess they’ve figured out that a lot folks such as myself only subscribe for basketball season and then cancel. Hopefully, the offer will still stand Monday afternoon.
4 Likes
Not seeing ACCN on any of the Sling plans.