AppleTV4 hogging the internet

Question

Level 1

12 points

AppleTV4 hogging the internet

I just bought an ATV 4 to replace my ATV2. It is connected on ethernet. I noticed shortly after I purchased the new ATV that my other devices began to have significant internet issues. I have 50MBPS internet. When ATV is fully on, my other devices (computers, iPads, iPhones, etc) have decreased internet speed to 1-2MBPS (according to speedtest.net). When ATV is in sleep mode, internet speed on other devices increases to 9 MBPS. When ATV is unplugged, internet speed on other devices returns to normal at 50MBPS. I never have any issues with the internet on my ATV4. Everything streams just fine. But, I'd like to be able to use the internet and watch TV at the same time.

Some other bits and pieces that might be helpful:

Are you using any type of fancy screensaver on ATV? If so, try one of the built-in defaults. - I am using the default screensavers. Haven't changed any of the factory defaults except entering my login info and downloading the channels I had on the prior ATV.

What apps do you leave running on ATV 4? To the best of my knowledge, I don't leave any apps running on ATV4. I assume if I leave the app/channel, it quits working. If this is not the case, please let me know HOW to quit the apps. It is not addresses in the instructions that come with the device.

Would you try force quitting them to see if it helps? Double click on the Home button, swipe to scroll left and right, swipe up to push an app off the screen; may require a firm push.

I'll give this a shot, but seems like a bothersome thing to do everytime I leave an app.

Have you installed any games? They may need to download additional data because the initial download is limited to 200 MB. I installed three games a few weeks ago when I purchased the device. Surely the games have fully downloaded by now. The ATV has been on every evening for two weeks and my son plays the apps everyday. I don't know how I would check for this or fix it so the game completes the download.

Any help or suggestions are greatly appreciated. Questions above are pulled from another post.

Posted on Jul 14, 2016 12:48 PM

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Answer 1

Jul 14, 2016 1:08 PM in response to kissmeluvbug

Hi,

ATV 4 is not at all like previous ATV or other media players. It is much more like an iPhone or iPad. Every app or channel you start remains running, using memory and possibly network. I suggested that you try force quitting them all as a test, to see if that fixes the network problem. If it does, you could try leaving selected ones running, to identify the culprit.

Unfortunately, the way the system works with games is very cloud-centric. The game initially downloads the components it needs for the first few levels. These are stored in the 32 or 64 GB temporary storage. As play progresses, additional levels are downloaded. The tvOS system manages this temporary data, and may delete it. The app may download data again as it may need. This may not be ideal, but it is the design.

On ATV 3, users were seeing intensive internet traffic because it was downloading large photo albums for use as screensavers. Your situation is probably caused by a rogue app, which you need to track down.

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Answer 2

kissmeluvbug Author

Level 1

12 points

Jul 14, 2016 1:10 PM in response to Diana.McCall

Ok, but how do I quit an app when I leave it without force quitting every time?

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Answer 3

Jul 14, 2016 1:46 PM in response to kissmeluvbug

The only way to exit an app is to force quit it. I'm not suggesting this as a solution to your problem, just as a means to identify the app causing the problem.

Do you by any chance leave apps playing when you leave them, without stopping the playback first?

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Answer 4

kissmeluvbug Author

Level 1

12 points

Jul 14, 2016 1:52 PM in response to Diana.McCall

Take for example the Hulu app. Usually, I pause the show playing and then hit menu to get to the main Hulu menu. Then I click the button on the remote that looks like a TV screen to get to the main menu from there.

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Answer 5

Jul 14, 2016 2:08 PM in response to kissmeluvbug

Sounds good. I was just wondering if an app was maybe playing a whole TV season in the background. Pretty unlikely, I know.

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