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Apple TV 4K 2021- slow wifi

M

Madchemic39

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 16, 2020
181
45
Hi all.
Just recently bought new ATV 4K 2021.
I did some Ookla speed tests on it and all I get is around 220 Mb/s, my internet speed is 500Mb/s.
Connections on ATV- Homepods as stereo pair-default speakers
High speed HDMI cable bought on Apple site
ATV connected to separate 5GHz network.
ATV and Homepods updated to latest update.
What is the issue to get low speeds on ATV but ok on Ipad ( Ipad speed ~480 Mb/s).

Any help more than welcome.
 
220Mbps is well OVER 10 times the bandwidth needed for streaming 4K video.
 
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I have seen highs of 30mb/s through put via an app sniffing out the traffic on the router for 4k.
But if I want to test speed and suspect wifi issues, hard wire to test that option?
My wifi local is clogged with 2ghz and 5ghz I am seeing more routers from my neighbours over the last few years as they are replaced.
I have not messed with any settings on the home router apart from separating the naming of the 2g and 5g channels for devices I cannot hard wire.
 
400 said:
I have seen highs of 30mb/s through put via an app sniffing out the traffic on the router for 4k.
But if I want to test speed and suspect wifi issues, hard wire to test that option?
My wifi local is clogged with 2ghz and 5ghz I am seeing more routers from my neighbours over the last few years as they are replaced.
I have not messed with any settings on the home router apart from separating the naming of the 2g and 5g channels for devices I cannot hard wire.
Click to expand...
Same, I just separated frequencies. But still, it should work on 5G right? Do you think something is clogging it??
 
Cannot say, its where you have to do a bit of digging.
If I suspect a wifi setup I always hard wire first, if that works as advertised then I start to play with the wifi. Though any devices I can hard wire, are all hard wired. I was getting too many issues a few years ago (before my ATV and now hard wire the lot.).
 
Is your WiFi router in the same room with unobstructed line of site to the ATV? 5GHz is easily blocked or degraded by furniture, walls or any solid objects. If not switch to 2.4GHz. You only need to use 5GHz if you live in an apartment complex or have lots of neighbors close by and getting 2.4GHz interference.

But again seeing 500Mbps or 50Mbps will have 0 effect on picture quality.
 
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Have you tried it without the HomePods? There are some posts about them using a lot of the AppleTV’s bandwidth.
 
Yes using the HomePods as default speakers reduces the wifi throughput speed.

In my case on the new 4k, I get 850+Mb/s over wireless without the HomePods.

Connect the HomePods as default speakers and I get 400+Mb/s
 
Madchemic39 said:
I know, BUT.
If i bought the device I want it to work properly.
And since it has 802.11 ac MIMO the speed should be at least 400 Mb+. Am I wrong?
Click to expand...
Each to their own and all but I’m not seeing how it’s not working properly 🤷🏻‍♂️
If the ATV4K is doing exactly what it’s advertised to do without issue and achieving way above its minimum requirement then surely it’s working as intended.
Sit back and enjoy your ATV4K fella 👍
 
-Gonzo- said:
Each to their own and all but I’m not seeing how it’s not working properly 🤷🏻‍♂️
If the ATV4K is doing exactly what it’s advertised to do without issue and achieving way above its minimum requirement then surely it’s working as intended.
Sit back and enjoy your ATV4K fella 👍
Click to expand...
Made me laugh. 😄
Perfectionist here, so on Tuesday I am checking speeds with and without Homepods connected. 😎
 
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garethjs said:
Yes using the HomePods as default speakers reduces the wifi throughput speed.

In my case on the new 4k, I get 850+Mb/s over wireless without the HomePods.

Connect the HomePods as default speakers and I get 400+Mb/s
Click to expand...
Is the ATV on 2.4 or 5GHz?
 
5 ghz wifi 6

It must be dedicating a certain amount of the 2x2 wifi (1300mbps) capacity with the HomePods that it creates a 5ghz mesh network with

if you don't set the HomePods up as default speakers but rather airplay from the apple tv to the HomePods through the drop down menu of any video you don't see any slow down over wifi

it was mentioned in another thread that the quality of audio is no where as good through airplay as it would be with setting them as default speakers

But via wire I get full speeds with the HomePods connected.
 
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garethjs said:
5 ghz wifi 6

It must be dedicating a certain amount of the 2x2 wifi (1300mbps) capacity with the HomePods that it creates a 5ghz mesh network with

if you don't set the HomePods up as default speakers but rather airplay from the apple tv to the HomePods through the drop down menu of any video you don't see any slow down over wifi

it was mentioned in another thread that the quality of audio is no where as good through airplay as it would be with setting them as default speakers

But via wire I get full speeds with the HomePods connected.
Click to expand...
Is the solution to wire ATV, or is it still OK to stay on wifi and just settle with wifi drop?
 
the maximum I've seen is 500mbps with the HomePods connected. I don't think many even have connections that fast so will mostly likely not see the issue.

I don't wire it as I don't need top speed to the Apple TV. 300-400mbps is more than enough. Perhaps if arcade games get bigger then you might want to wire it.
 
It made me curious, just tested our ATV 4K 2021 on Wifi 6 (5 GHz) with a Philips B95 sound bar connected on HDMI, quite impressive speed.

tempImagejV86qY.png
 
I have same issue my networks speed is 50mb but ATV gets about 10 to 20 idk it sucks but. I also have stereo homepods as speakers.
 
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Did speed test with just ATV connected (see photo attached), Homepods unpaired and unplugged.
I believe now that my Wifi is ok, just Homepods “steal” a lot of wifi bandwidth. Anyone knows why?
 

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I placed my iPhone next to Apple TV 4K and ran the test. Both are connected to the same mesh Wi-Fi router unit.
  • iPhone 12: 345 Mbps download / 365 Mbps upload / 10 ms ping / 2.5 ms jitter
  • Apple TV 4K (2021): 1194 Mbps download / 103 Mbps upload / 13 ms ping / 36 ms jitter
Practically speaking, these differences shouldn't affect streaming one bit. But Apple TV occasionally pauses briefly (about half a second) to buffer, whereas I have never seen it happening on the iPhone.

Edit: Put 1 too many. Apple TV measures 194 Mbps. These figures are with HomePods. When I disconnected HomePods, only the upload speed improved to about 100 Mbps and jitter to 3.2 ms.
 
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nutmac said:
I placed my iPhone next to Apple TV 4K and ran the test. Both are connected to the same mesh Wi-Fi router unit.
  • iPhone 12: 345 Mbps download / 365 Mbps upload / 10 ms ping / 2.5 ms jitter
  • Apple TV 4K (2021): 1994 Mbps download / 103 Mbps upload / 13 ms ping / 36 ms jitter
Practically speaking, these differences shouldn't affect streaming one bit. But Apple TV occasionally pauses briefly (about half a second) to buffer, whereas I have never seen it happening
Click to expand...
Do you use Homepods?
 
I’m having the same issue with the HomePod I just got and connected to my AppleTV 4K gen 1. I only have a 32 mbps dsl connection that only gets around 18 mbps when the HomePod is plugged in. That is barely enough bandwidth to watch a 4K movie on Netflix, much less Apple TV+. I tried disabling all the bandwidth sucking options I could in the HomePod settings but none of it helped. The HomePod does sound great but not sure if it’s worth the bandwidth loss in my case. The only other things I have are two Philips Hue smart bulbs in my HomeKit setup so that should not be a part of the problem.
 
MacManiac76 said:
I’m having the same issue with the HomePod I just got and connected to my AppleTV 4K gen 1. I only have a 32 mbps dsl connection that only gets around 18 mbps when the HomePod is plugged in. That is barely enough bandwidth to watch a 4K movie on Netflix, much less Apple TV+. I tried disabling all the bandwidth sucking options I could in the HomePod settings but none of it helped. The HomePod does sound great but not sure if it’s worth the bandwidth loss in my case. The only other things I have are two Philips Hue smart bulbs in my HomeKit setup so that should not be a part of the problem.
Click to expand...
I think that Homepod takes some percentage of WiFi to itself when set as a default speaker. If the speed is big enough for streaming i would choose WiFi option.
Has anyone raised this with Apple, why Homepods are so demanding for bandwidth?
 
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