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Anonymous User
Not applicable

Smart stick can't find 5G Wifi

Hi,

 

I've recently got a NowTV Smart Stick (April 2020) with HD and Voice Search. This is working with 2.4G wifi from the Post Office - however the Smart Stick cannot find the 5G option offered by the PO router.

 

I've read some threads on here and have changed the 5G SSID name but with no luck, even putting the TV and Stick right next to the router.

 

Any ideas? Can this stick actually receive 5G?

 

Cheers.

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION
schnapps
Legend 5
Legend 5

Hi @Anonymous User 

 

From my understanding the NowTV Stick can use the 5ghz band A frequency spectrum between channels 36 to around the channel 48 region (might be wrong though because i am no IT or Networking person).

 

My Router automatically scans out the best 5ghz channel for me and in my case it usually seems to be channel 36, though i live in a small populated area where there is no high internet wifi traffic.

 

Maybe look at the Free WiFi Analyser Apps that you can get for on your smartphone or tablet from the mobile Apps Store to sniff out the best channel number to try between 36 & 48 in your home setup.

 

 

View solution in original post

10 REPLIES 10
schnapps
Legend 5
Legend 5

Hi @Anonymous User 

 

Yep the NowTV Stick can either work on the 2.4ghz or 5ghz frequencies.

 

I am assuming your other internet devices in the home are working over 5ghz ?

 

Also i am assuming you have gone into the Stick menu settings under Network > About > Set up Connection to see if the Stick can see your SSID 5ghz wifi network ?

 

If your 5ghz wifi network is not showing on the above, what happens if you go into your Post Office Dual Band Router and instead of using Automatic wifi channels, maybe manually try selecting channel 36.

Anonymous User
Not applicable

@schnapps  Thank you very much! It's found the 5G now using channel 36 instead of automatic. Not knowing much about this, is there any disadvantage to manually selecting channel 36 instead of using the automatic option?

 

Thanks again!

schnapps
Legend 5
Legend 5

Hi @Anonymous User 

 

From my understanding the NowTV Stick can use the 5ghz band A frequency spectrum between channels 36 to around the channel 48 region (might be wrong though because i am no IT or Networking person).

 

My Router automatically scans out the best 5ghz channel for me and in my case it usually seems to be channel 36, though i live in a small populated area where there is no high internet wifi traffic.

 

Maybe look at the Free WiFi Analyser Apps that you can get for on your smartphone or tablet from the mobile Apps Store to sniff out the best channel number to try between 36 & 48 in your home setup.

 

 

Deggsy12222
Mentor

I was having this same issue with my nowtv stick only being able to connect to the 2.4ghz band which is a poor signal and causing constant buffering.  Came across this solution and changed the 5Ghz band channel to 36 and it works!  Thanks for the solution.

Anonymous User
Not applicable

Hi there I am having same problems too. Can only get connected to 2.4 which is super slow. 

how do I change channel to 36 ??

 

as this seems to have worked for other in connecting to 5G …. All other devices have found and on 5G  just not the now tv stuck will find 

Deggsy12222
Mentor

you have to login to your router and do it through the router settings

gavs82008
Legend 5
Legend 5

@Anonymous User 
See the reply from @Deggsy12222 

FYI that I do not work for NOW, just a NOW customer trying to help
Deggsy12222
Mentor

the only disadvantage is you join others on the same channel and as a result it has reduced my internet speed by a fraction.

broadster
Mentor

Hi,

 

In response to your question about manually selecting channels the answer largely depends on a couple of things,

 

For 2.4ghz band there is a pervailing school of thought that overlapping channels increase interference and degrade performance, for this reason people usually keep to using channels 1, 6 or 11 for 2.4ghz .... the idea being if you used channel 3 and everybody else is on channels 1 and 6, your choice of channel 3 can overlap with channels 1 and 6 causing interference and problems for your neighbours and degrade quality.

 

This is not as much of an issue for the 5ghz frequency channels as these channels dont overlap as much as 2.4ghz channels, however 5ghz has its own quirk to do with radar and satellite equipment, with many of the 5ghz channels also being used for things like radar equipment, these usually called DFS channels (Dynamic Frequency Selection), as part of wifi standards it has been agreed that on these channels radar and satellite equipment take priority, so if you choose one of those channels your router will need to check to see if a radar is trying to use the same channel (DFS) and if so it may change the channel, this process could cause latency and lag if you're  doing something which uses a lot of real time data such as gaming or video calls. In the UK channels 36 - 52 (from memory) are for wifi, i think ofcom opened up some others in 2020 (im thinking 149, maybe 152 and a few others). You can still select a lot of those DFS channels used by radar/satellite, and unless you live near an airport or military base chances are you wont get much DFS issues (ive even heard of people living near small airports and not having issues).

 

TLDR for 2.4ghz its usually said to stick to channels 1, 6 or 11 to avoid upsetting neighbours.

On 5ghz if you choose something that is a DFS channel used by radars and satellites you run the chance of being booted of the channel for radars and satellites, more likely if you live near airports or military bases.