Q: Network help, please
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Jun 5, 2016 4:49 PMby CubFan41,I'm in the US, so yes on the SIRI question.
If it matters, I was running on a WiFi setup but bough a cord and plugged in to ensure that wasn't the issue.
Just changed Apple TV to automatically get DNS, so we'll see if that fixes things. Thanks for easy, straightforward instructions. I'm not a network expert and don't pretend to be.
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Jun 6, 2016 5:23 AMby Winston Churchill,If siri works some of the time the problem is unlikely to be the Apple TV or your provider but rather your local network.
Intermittent problems are often a result of interference. Interference can be caused by other networks in the neighbourhood or from household electrical items.
You can download and install iStumbler (NetStumbler for windows users) to help you see which channels are used by neighbouring networks so that you can avoid them, but iStumbler will not see household items.
Refer to your router manual for instructions on changing your wifi channel or adjusting your multicast rate.
There are other types of problems that can affect networks, but this is by far the most common, hence worth mentioning first. Networks that have inherent issues can be seen to work differently with different versions of the same software. You might also try moving the Apple TV away from other electrical equipment.
The following article(s) may help you.
Troubleshooting Wi-Fi networks and connections
Wifi Diagnostic Software (for Mac users)
You may also find some help on this page, where I’ve collected some of the more unusual solutions to network issues.
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Jun 6, 2016 12:04 PMby Diana.McCall,Do the ATV video apps work normally? So Siri is the only thing affected, and only intermittently?
The message you describe seems to indicate that Siri cannot reach the Apple server that it requires. If videos play with no problem, it's hard to figure what affects only Siri.
Could you try connecting the ATV on WiFi and see if it's any better?
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Jun 6, 2016 12:16 PMby CubFan41,Yes, literally everything else on both ATV and my network -- computer and smartphone -- works while SIRI is not working. And, correct, it is only intermittently. I've tried both WiFI and an ethernet connection and it doesn't seem to impact anything. My guess is that there's a hardware issue. The only thing I haven't tried -- because it's not physically possible -- is connecting to another network.
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Jun 6, 2016 12:21 PMby CubFan41,I suppose it's theoretically possible that Comcast is blocking a port that only SIRI is using but if that was the case, since Comcast is the single largest cable provider in the country, I'd expect this to be a much more common problem. And, really, I hate that Apple is expecting me to be a networking expert in order to use, in effect, a piece of consumer electronics. But that's a complain for any Apple employee who might be browsing this, not you.
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Jun 6, 2016 12:29 PMby CubFan41,But it almost has to related to the ATV because while Siri isn't working I can visit websites on my phone (WiFI) or computer (Ethernet), which seems much more similar to uploading data collected from Siri. I can even look up movies in the itunes app on the Apple TV.
