Q: Apple TV (4th Gen) Extremely Slow on Network, Other Devices Fine

BeavertonMac wrote:

 

I'm inclined to believe that this is a software or hardware problem as noted by several commenters to this thread.  There is no configuration error.

If you think it's a hardware problem you should get the unit replaced.

It could be a software problem if problem is defined as something specific to your configuration that Apple failed to account for.  Without more information it's all speculative.  As I said I get 190 Mbps on my local network (16 Mbps on 802.11g) and rated speed (~30 Mbps or 16 Mbps on 802.11g) to my ISP per Speedtest or iftop.

The total number of unique complaints is below negligible for a products with an installed base likely in the millions.  This doesn't mean that Apple can't fix it but it may take a while to find a problem that only a handful (< 1,000) of people are having.

And of course you saying there is no configuration error doesn't mean there isn't one after all I'm not having any problems which should be considered surprising if there's a generic ATV networking problem.

I'm happy to report that installing the December 8, 2015 tvOS 9.1 update fixed my buffering issue. (previously referred to as caching)

Happy Holidays everyone.

I just bought mine today and having the same issues. Even connected via ethernet. I'm running the update now which is taking forever. Hopefully that fixes it! Thanks for the hope Kevin!

I just bought an ATV4 a couple of days ago. I encountered the buffering issue the first day so I checked for updates and dl the update. Today I am still suffering from slow speeds on my ATV. Today I installed a speed test app and it only ran at 3-6mbps. My Macbook was around 10-13 occasionally higher and my iphone was around 7-9mbps. So for me the software update didn't fix things. It still might be a network issue but I don't know enough to figure it out.

The same issue started with me yesterday, affecting only the Apple TV 4th Gen while not affecting any other, Apple or otherwise, devices on my network.

I logged into my router's settings and changed my network from 2.4 GHz to 5 GHz and the issue was instantly resolved. I know there are other implications to this, but it was as quick of a fix as I'd hoped for.

Best of luck!

I'm having the same extremely slow buffering of apple tv, 3rd & 4th gen, only with iTunes.  This issue started around the night of the 3rd and is intermittent but 90% of the time its unusable.  I'vd tried everything physically possible so it has got to be an Apple issue.  All other devices on my network, wired & wireless, are working fine with usual speed test results.  This is getting real annoying.

FOUND A WORK AROUND:  First off I'd like to tell my story but if you don't want to hear me *****, just skip to the next paragraph.  I bought this ATV 4gen around Christmas and had minimal issues with my first download of the Martian.  I recently tried to rent Legend and never got to watch it because it wouldn't load and said it would take about 20 hrs.  well I let it run over night and it loaded but I figured I'd wait till the following weekend and watch because it said I had 29 days to watch.  well apparently they thought I watched it and charged my account but when I went back it didn't it was nowhere to be found.  Only good thing about this, I called the support and they returned the money into my account (well at least that what they said...have to wait 48 hrs).  Anyhew, I figured I'd purchase a movie and it would download to my device and It wouldn't be a problem....Well I was totally WRONG!  Same issue persisted.  Said it would take 20 hours to load but never did.  just watched that circle go round and round til I got dizzy .  I went on this blog and tried to find something and used all of the suggestions, but to no avail; rebooted, changed positions of ATV, even went as far as hooking up an ethernet but all to nothing worked.

Well then I got smart...The work around was simply this.  I went onto my Mac, opened iTunes, found the movie I purchased and linked it to my ATV from my computer and viola!  it worked.  I'm watching it now but I feel like I wasted $150 for this and could have purchased a less expensive device to probably do the same thing.

Signed,

Disgruntled Patron

<Edited by Host>

Hi there. I had exactly the same issue when connecting my AppleTV 4th gen via wifi to my Airport Express (2nd gen), and was lucky enough to find a solution. Like you, none of my other Apple devices (including my 3rd generation AppleTV) experienced this strange issue of an extremely slow and sometimes dropping network connection.

I am no network professional, so there may be all sorts of reasons this fix worked for me and may or may not work for you, but here's what I did:

1. Using Airport Utility for my Airport Express, I designated a specific network ID for the 5GHz band in the wireless settings.
2. I then updated the AppleTV network settings to forget my default network ID and instead to connect to the new network ID I designated for the 5 GHz band.

That's it. After I made these changes, my connection was extremely fast, just like my other devices. Subsequent AppleTV updates have not resolved this issue for me. I've tested again with each update. Maybe it has something to do with other radio devices in my home, neighbors, software/firmware bugs, who knows?

Finally, here was the clue that led me to try my solution. In this support article by Apple, I found the following statement:

On Apple TV (4th generation), we recommend connecting to a 5GHz Wi-Fi network instead of 2.4GHz.

Really curious though if this change works for anybody else.

Well i split up my homenetwork into a 2.4 and 5Ghz version. Good thing is that my 3rd genATV, iPhone 6, macbood and ipad air all have faster connections!!

but I can't seem to get my 4th gen ATV on the network at the moment, it keeps telling me to check my settings and try again

went upstairs, close to the wifi, no problem.

my conclusion is that when the wifi is weak, the 4th gen aplle tv will have trouble connecting to the wifi.

i Hooked up the 3td gen ATV up and immidiatly i was on the network.

so for now its the old atv downstairs and the new one in the study untill aplle manages to make the 4 gen as good as the 3rd gen... Very disappointing!

Hello,

I'm having the same issue as described here. I read that one solution is to switch wifi to 5GHz but my router is only 2,4GHZ

someone got an answer from Apple: change there ATV or something like that?

Many thanks

Hello Houarik,

I switched to 5Ghz but that didn't help.

Because in my case the wifi connection is only 2 stripes in my living room, I think the 4th gen has trouble.

I exchanged the study one (3rd) to the living room and vice versa. And now I have no problems.

sorry for the bad news... I guess we have to wait for an update

I found a solution that worked for me. As my router is only wifi 2.4 ghz, I bought a wifi repeater that deliver 5Ghz.

WIth this setup, I was able to solve my issue.

I can confirm after having tested that network connectivity is in fact problem with the new Apple TV.  I am an avid gamer and get multiple ping request timeouts with the new Apple TV (wired) as part of the network.

Symptom.

Unable to list ping (multyplayer gaming) server lists on PC when Apple TV is connected. (Necessary for when looking for a game to join)  With the Apple TV unplugged and removed from the network, I can ping and list these servers just fine.  I also get ridiculous ping fluctuations (Apple TV idle) when it is part of the network.

I can reproduce the problem consistently.  I have a 200mbps pipe with a 11ms ping to my ISP.  With the old Apple TV I had no issues.  With the new Apple TV connected I get fluctuations of upwards of 1000ms to the likes of Google.com as well as occasional dropped packets.

My solution has been to unplug the Apple TV from the network during gaming which stops anybody else in the household from watching TV/Netflix which was never a problem with the 3rd gen.

Network Hardware:

Cable Modem: Arias/Motorola SB6190

Router: Netgear R6300.

I'm having similar issues that started when I swapped out my Apple TV 3 for a new 4th gen last week.

There are similar discussion threads where the advice given always points back to network issues (I can't tell you how many times I've read something to the extent of "...but that doesn't rule out an issue with your network."). I can verify that there are no issues with my network (I had a service tech from my provider look into it extensively and test every other device on the network). What I can verify is that when the Apple TV 4 is on, it drags down my entire network. I spent an hour doing speed tests on various devices, turning the Apple TV on and off — with the Apple TV on, my tests would crawl down to 2Mbps; as soon as I turned it off, it would jump back up to around 50Mbps.

I switched the ATV over to a 5Ghz signal and that helped somewhat. The devices on my 2.4Ghz signal started working at the standard speed. The ATV sped up a bit, but it's still slower to download iTunes content than my ATV3, and I'm having cut-outs when doing home sharing with my iMac.

I'm going to look into figuring out a wired scenario (my ATV4 and router are in different rooms), and see if the ATV4 works better via ethernet. Frustrating nonetheless.

Are you using only WPA2-AES (CCMP) encryption on WiFi (router WiFi settings)? Turning off dual mode with TKIP has helped some users.

You could also try turning off IPv6 on the router, and any access points and switches.

Please reply if this helps.