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Apple TV 3 (possibly 4) will not work on BT Internet

T

tyke65

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 9, 2007
65
8
I tried for 2 hours with Apple to sort out a new ATV 3 which would not connect to iCloud or iTunes Store. Took it back for an exchange which was exactly the same. The new Apple support lady immediately asked if I was on BT Internet which I am. Turns out there is a problem with new ATVs working on BT Internet which could take six months to resolve.
 
Last edited:
My existing ATV3 is working fine but a brand new one (two!) had the problem.
 
It's likely a DNS problem, if DHCP isn't working on your router properly then you might have some luck setting it up manually. I'm not sure what the standard subnet etc are on the BT router, you'll have to look that up (probably 192.168.x.x) but from a quick Google search the DNS servers you need are; primary 62.6.40.178, secondary 62.6.40.162.

Probably the easiest way of working out what range to set your IP in is to have a look at the IP that other devices connected to your router get, and pick a number that's not used (so if your phone gets 192.168.0.2 for example, pick 192.168.0.88 or something between 1 and 254 in that last octet that's not being used basically).
 
I think it's a bit deeper than settings. Apple were prepared to take it up with BT on my behalf to get it sorted. Getting Apple to admit to a problem is a feat in itself. Having them volunteer the information is unheard of.
 
Not sure what the problem is but I was reading a review of a new ANTHEM AVR which is made in Canada and they indicated it did not work with BT internet. This was also both hard wired and wireless. Might be a common problem.
 
This is a link to the AVS article saying that BT hubs do not work with the new Anthem receiver and attached is the relevant paragraph.

https://www.avforums.com/review/anthem-mrx-1120-11-2-channel-av-receiver-review.12558

"Unfortunately it turns out that the latest generation of Anthem receivers are currently incompatible with BT HomeHubs and Virgin routers, which are probably the two most common in the UK. We appreciate that Anthem is a Canadian company but if you plan on selling a product into the UK, it should be able to work properly in this country. We couldn't create a wired or wireless connection with our BT HomeHub, so we were unable to fully test the Play-Fi capabilities of the MRX 1120. We also couldn't connect the Anthem directly with our laptop because it didn't have an Ethernet port, which made running ARC problematic but eventually we were able to use a second wireless router to connect the MRX 1120 to our laptop and run it."

No idea what the problem is but it sounds like a similar issue to the one described here with the APPLE TV.
 
Is that via a BT Hub? My ATV3 works fine on BT but I don't use the BT Hub, instead we have an Airport Extreme as a Router.
 
Both my Apple TV 3 & 4 work with my BT internet, using wireless or ethernet, on both Homehub5 and Apple Airport Extreme- hops this helps.
 
I've just remembered that I've got 'Smart Setup' disabled on my BT Homehub. It pops up on all new devices that connect to the BT hub and it can cause connection issues.
Go into your BT hub settings pages and turn off Smart Setup.
You will normally find it by going to http://192.168.1.254 in your browser.
 
I have 2 x ATV 4's connected and playing nicely with my BT HH. I just upgraded from a HH 4 to 5, both worked equally as well with ATV. I'm on BT Infinity 2 (76Mb/s)

Good luck getting yours sorted OP.
 
Both my ATV3 & ATV4 are working fine for me on BT Infinity (HH5) with both wired or wireless.
 
The problem seems to be with recently bought devices. My 2 yr old ATV3 is working perfectly, two brand new ones didn't. Apple have acknowledged the fact.

Also, I think the problem is with BT Internet rather than the BT Hubs.
 
geesus said:
BT Ininity is flawless on mine. I know that there were some problems with the HH and Apple TV as both the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz channels share the same SSID which Apple devices sometimes have issues with. Have you tried setting up your 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz channels as separate channels as per this guide?

http://www.alphr.com/blogs/2014/09/09/bt-home-hub-5-how-to-get-maximum-speed
Click to expand...

The right solution for the wrong reason. The person who wrote the article said that you get better speed on 2.4 instead of 5. Of course that is nonsense. However, you do get better coverage "distance" on the 2.4 band and that is undoubtably what he is experiencing.
 
tyke65 said:
The problem seems to be with recently bought devices. My 2 yr old ATV3 is working perfectly, two brand new ones didn't. Apple have acknowledged the fact.

Also, I think the problem is with BT Internet rather than the BT Hubs.
Click to expand...


That's based on the fact that I'm not using a BT Hub!
 
nebo1ss said:
The right solution for the wrong reason. The person who wrote the article said that you get better speed on 2.4 instead of 5. Of course that is nonsense. However, you do get better coverage "distance" on the 2.4 band and that is undoubtably what he is experiencing.
Click to expand...

I was posting the article more to show how you go about separating the SSIDs rather than suggesting it was a speed problem in the OPs case - however if he isn't using the HH5 anyway it's a moot point.
 
I use BT Infinity 1 (just been upgraded to <52 Mbps) but not via their ****** HH5. I use a BT-OR modem, into a Time Capsule, then 3 X Airport Express connected via Homeplugs - providing AirPlay and extended wireless all round the house / garden. All BT safety crap (net nanny type stuff) turned off.

2 X Apple TV3 and 1 X Apple TV4 all connected wirelessly, all working fine.
 
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