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Forum Discussion
RAX120 Apple TV 4k issues
I'm having a big issue with my RAX 120, but with only 1 device in my household. I have a pretty simple network. I'm on ATT Fiber 1000 with their BGW210 gateway setup in IP passthrough mode, so there...
Geez..... i thought it was me all this time. And yes changed all kinds of settings on the router, and even went as far as exchanging it because i thought it was a defective router.
My appletv 4k drops connection a few times a day, and its annoying as hell. This only happens when connnected to 5ghz. Hope someone finds a solution soon!
I said earlier my 3rd generation AppleTV works. Well, it works like what you are seeing with AppleTV 4K. I get network drops on it every now and then. Here is more information I have since the last time I posted.
There have been 2 RAX200 software updates since then and I am using the latest version (Version = 1.0.3.106) as of this writing.
1) The problem I was seeing has not been regulated to the AppleTV 4K I purchased and subsequently returned. I have purchased a new PC that used an AC wifi network adapter. Yes, I know why the hell didn't you get a AX wifi adapter for the new hardware. Well, this PC was $700 and was slated for use as a intro gaming PC for my 13 year old. I couldn't warrant paying over $1000 to get a AX wifi adapter with a new PC machine. Anyway, I noticed I couldn't find my network's SSID name when I went to setup the new PC using the AC adapter to connect to my RAX200 router running in WIFI 6 mode. I knew there would be problems. But, this just about had me wanting to take the router and chuck it out my window. After calming down and sleeping on it for a day, I realized this had to be the AC adapter problem. None of my other non AX wifi adapters had this issue with my RAX 200 router. So, I began digging into the PC specs online and determined I had an Intel ac wifi adapter. I then began looking to see if there had been any updates to the driver for the device. I searched Intel's website and found an updated version. When I looked through the release info, I found the driver had a fix to communicating with Wifi 6 routers. I updated the driver on my kid's machine and voila, the new PC can now see the SSID name for my RAX200 router. The new PCs AC wifi adapter reaches speeds of 433 Mbps when connected to the 5GHx channel. When connected to the 2.4GHz channel, I get 72 Mbps. I went into the device manager on my kid's new PC and configured the AC wifi adapter to disable the 2.4GHz channel and only communicate via 5 GHz channel. The kid has been tearing heads off his opponents on his 3rd person online game without any lagging or network drops.
2) Next problem was for an old PC my next son was using. This machine was using an old Intel AC wifi adapter. This old AC adapter had the same wifi network speeds as my youngest son's new PC using an AC wifi adapter. 5GHz speeds = 433 Mbps, 2.4GHz speeds = 72Mbps. After I get my youngest son's new PC all setup and running correctly on the RAX200, this son's PC starts dropping network and lagging all the time. Obviously, he starts complaining to me this his younger brother is taking all the bandwidth. I just laughed. I did an exercise to see if putting his PC on the 2.4GHz would stop the lagging and network drops to the RAX200. It does. He once again is happy. But, I am pissed. I have this expensive new router that is dropping non Wifi 6 adapters all the time. So, I do some research looking for a new USB Wifi 6 AX adapter for this son's PC. I find one for $47 and purchase it. I get it and put it in my son's PC and voila this thing is running at 2442 Mbps. I have even seen it reach 2800 Mbps for a Wifi 6 adapter rated for maximum speed of 2400 Mpbs. I feel a little better now. My son is now tearing heads off his opponents on his 3rd person online game without any lagging or network drops. Even his little brother can't beat him now.
3) I have iphones from 7, 8, 11, and now 12 for the Mrs. My wife's iphone 12 is the only iphone that supports wifi 6. She gets 1200 Mbps on the 5GHz band. All other iphones' using AC wifi connection get anywhere between 433 Mbps - 882 Mbps for network speed. The wifi 6 phone doesn't drop network. The other iphones do drop network connection.
In conclusion, I have come to the following realization:
1) Netgear Wifi 6 routers suck when communicating with non Wifi 6 network adapters. Be prepared for some pain here. The pain is not the same for all non Wifi 6 routers.
2) If you buy one of these Wifi 6 routers, then migrate everything over to Wifi 6 AX and you will be happy.
3) Netgear Support sucks. All they care about is closing your support cases faster than you can open them.
That about does it. Oh, a new Wifi 6 standard just came out. Wifi 6E = XE. Great. Just great.
I think I finally found something that may have helped my issue of it dropping the Apple TV 4K entirely. I went into the routers setting and assigned static IP addresses for pretty much all my wireless devices (including the AppleTV) and for whatever reason, I haven't had to "Forget the Network" to reassign it anymore. There have been a few dips in speed where I'll get a buffer every once in a while, but I think that's because my coax line has noise and it's extremely clean after being split a few times coming into the house.
Give that a try and see if it helps you guys. I do think JoeMor is correct. Most of these issues are probably because of a WIFI 6 communication problem between our router and apple devices. Maybe they'll find a way to correct that down the line, or we'll all get newer phones and not have the issue anymore.
- I tried assigning static IPs to the apple devices, but not to all of my other devices. But I have so many devices it wasn't worth my time!
I also turned off wifi 6 and that never helped. Then again, I haven't tried since I stopped using the appletv.
