Apple TV WiFi goes super slow requiring reboot

[joesteinkamp]

I'm not sure we'll ever get this resolved but I wanted to add my data points. I've used Google Wifi, Google Nest Wifi, and now Eero Pro 6. The ATV has issues with all of them, regardless of placement. It's pretty clear the ATV has wifi issues, in particular with mesh networks.

I wish I could try rockhead00's solution but my consumer-grade equipment doesn't allow it. The best solution I have other than restart is to toggle back and forth between my main and guest networks.

 

[Hjldup01]

I have the same issue. I get the speed drop on apple tv. At the same time that the ATV has the issue, switched my ATV off and continued watching the same program on my iphone which is connected to the same wifi and frequency as the ATV in the same room. Iphone is even further away from the router.

 

[Hjldup01]

I have the same issue. I get the speed drop on apple tv. At the same time that the ATV has the issue, switched my ATV off and continued watching the same program on my iphone which is connected to the same wifi and frequency as the ATV in the same room. Iphone is even further away from the router.

I have noticed that this happens as soon as I connect my bluetooth headset to listen to the audio on the headset.

 

[jwolf6589]

So my Apple TV has had this problem basically since I got it, but it happens infrequently enough (maybe once a week) that I just deal with it. But now it is starting to get on my nerves. Basically, I'll notice that things look pixilated and not HD, I'll check the Speed Test and the speed will be very slow, typically around 1 Mbps. All I do is reboot the Apple TV without touching anything else and I'm getting ~100 Mbps.

This is driving me nuts. Does anyone know why it just will constantly nearly lose its connection like this? Anything I can do?

Before Reboot:

After Reboot:

Not me I don’t have this problem.

 

[jwolf6589]

I have this same exact issue has anyone found a solution?

Went to apple store yesterday about it they couldn’t replicate it but gave me a brand new one (they had 0 replacements units in stock I complained and they literally opened a box from the shelf right then and there).

Got home issue persists. I have to reboot every time. When the tv wakes from sleep there’s a 90% chance it’s gonna happen.

Same setting atv 4K and Google Wifi, I don’t even have a mesh system just a single google Wifi router (moved to a smaller apartment only need one)

I don’t have this problem.

 

[sft109]

I recently got the 2022 ATV 4K and at first WiFi seemed ok, but now I have the same exact problem that the OP has with the WiFi slowing to a crawl and requiring either an ATV reboot or a router reboot which both fix it temporarily (200-300mbps in speed test app) only to eventually slow down again.

I have 300mbps internet and a TP-Link AX50 router (WiFi 6). Router in the same room as the ATV so WiFi connection not an issue (ATV shows 5 bars). Every other device in the house works as expected with no issues.

Anyone found a solution (or even the cause) to this issue?

 

[Shanghaichica]

I recently got the 2022 ATV 4K and at first WiFi seemed ok, but now I have the same exact problem that the OP has with the WiFi slowing to a crawl and requiring either an ATV reboot or a router reboot which both fix it temporarily (200-300mbps in speed test app) only to eventually slow down again.

I have 300mbps internet and a TP-Link AX50 router (WiFi 6). Router in the same room as the ATV so WiFi connection not an issue (ATV shows 5 bars). Every other device in the house works as expected with no issues.

Anyone found a solution (or even the cause) to this issue?

I experienced this with my Apple TV 4K 2022. Streaming quality started becoming inconsistent. I have a 500mbps internet connection. I could have just been some issues with my connection around the time I noticed it although it wasn’t happening with any other device and my Apple TV is right next to my router. I’ve just connected it to my router via Ethernet and it’s been solid ever since.

 

[sft109]

I experienced this with my Apple TV 4K 2022. Streaming quality started becoming inconsistent. I have a 500mbps internet connection. I could have just been some issues with my connection around the time I noticed it although it wasn’t happening with any other device and my Apple TV is right next to my router. I’ve just connected it to my router via Ethernet and it’s been solid ever since.

Unfortunately connecting to Ethernet is not an option for me as I have the WiFi only model and wouldn’t be able to run a cable in the living room anyways even if I had the Ethernet version.

It’s under warranty but not even sure it’s a hardware issue. Not an expert but feels like a software and/or something about the ATV not playing nice with my router.

 

[HDFan]

Do you have separate SSIDS for 2.4 and 5 Ghz?

Run a local network speed test between your ATV and router with a program like Network Speed Tester. Internet speed tests tell you the speed to the Internet as well as your router speed. You want to eliminate the internet part. You install a server on your Mac and the client on the ATV.

 

[sft109]

Thanks I can look into that. I’ve historically had separate 2.4ghz and 5ghz bands.

Connected the ATV to the 5ghz as its faster and coverage not an issue. All my other Apple devices also on 5ghz. When I encountered this problem I tried the switch to 2.4ghz for the ATV too but still had the same issue.

I then turned on the routers band steering functionality (ie one SSID) the other day to see if that fixes it but the issue persists.

 

[HDFan]

Running a program such as WiFi explorer can help determine if you have channel conflicts if you are in an urban environment where channel contention can be a problem. If your router permits changing to channels that aren't being used.

 

[sft109]

So no major channel conflicts from what I can tell (I used my Macs Wi-Fi network analysis tools to look) and regardless all my other devices have to use the same channel the ATV is using with no issues anyways.

I guess I’ll just take it in to an Apple Store to see if they can determine or otherwise get an exchange. I’m not even that hopeful it will fix my issue. I think my router and the ATV are possibly not playing nice for reasons beyond my understanding.

 

[sft109]

Got a replacement ATV today from Apple. Same problem.

Again I reiterate no issue with any other devices including the LG OLED TV or the PS5 which are both on the same entertainment console right next to the ATV and have no WiFi issues. Nor do any of the other half dozen Apple devices in the house.

Not sure what to do or how to trouble shoot this. I don’t want to have to buy and try a new router. Very frustrating.

 

[sft109]

For anyone that encounters the same thing - I think I may have figured out the problem, at least for my situation. Apparently, Apple TV (and other Apple devices) use channels 149 and 153 on the 5Ghz band for things like Airplay, Handoff, etc. to communicate with each other.

I switched my router to only use channel 157 rather than leaving it on Auto channels for the 5Ghz band and this seems to have fixed my issues for the last few days. To test it out I put my router back to Auto, and sure enough when it selected channel 153 I had the issue again when it woke from sleep. Put it back to 157 and it's been going good for days.

Doesn't explain why I had the issue on the 2.4Ghz previously but maybe the ATV is just more prone to interference than other devices? I don't know and I can't explain more than that, but posting here for anyone this may be helpful for. At least worth a try if you're running into the same issue with your specific ATV and router setup. If it fails again I will update here but so far so good...

 

[naylor2006]

I signed up especially to comment on this thread.

So I too have this exact same issue and im fairly sure it's a quirk of the Apple TV Wifi Device. Every now and then when streaming the quality would go to garbage and sure enough do a speed test and it would show about 1mbps, usually I just power off at the wall and back on again and its fine. It's totally random and it's effected two of my 1st Gen 4K ATVs. I solved the problem with one of them by just connecting directly to one of my BT Mesh disks using ethernet because there was one nearby. So technically the thing is still using WIFI on its journey but the ATV is using its ethernet adapter.

Ultimately after a period of time the ATV just bogs out its WIFI card for some reason. My 5GHz network is set to auto and has been using channel 6 since it came online. I can change this but given your scenario above doesnt seem like mines effected by that issue with channels. My apple TV has been online since the 18th of May and the wifi crapped out today 4th of June. There is no mesh disk near by that would really be easy to use, this TV is in our kitchen....I am thinking now of just buying a cheapo wifi plug in extender and just use the built in ethernet port, even though this would likely be slower than the using the WIFI mesh it would stop the ATV using its WIFI card.

Ill be interested to see if you fixed your issue dude because mine would take a few weeks to manifest itself.

 

[sft109]

So I can tell you that setting my 5ghz channel to 157 (rather than auto) has fixed my issue. Are you using a single SSID (or a feature like smart connect/band steering on your router) and are you sure you’re connected to the 5ghz (rather than 2.4ghz) band? I ask because channel 6 is associated with the 2.4ghz band and not 5ghz. I did have issues on 2.4ghz too.

I keep the 2.4ghz and 5ghz bands with separate SSID’s. I make sure the ATV only connects to the 5ghz band, and I leave it only on channel 157. Maybe take another look at your router settings. No clue why this only impacted my ATV and none of my other devices which were all fine but since doing that it’s been workin fine for me. Hope that helps, I know how frustrating this can be.

Edit: reading your comment again it sounds like you’re using a mesh network. I don’t have experience with those so not sure how they handle dual bands and if they give you the option to separate out the 2.4ghz and 5ghz bands.

 

[naylor2006]

So I can tell you that setting my 5ghz channel to 157 (rather than auto) has fixed my issue. Are you using a single SSID (or a feature like smart connect/band steering on your router) and are you sure you’re connected to the 5ghz (rather than 2.4ghz) band? I ask because channel 6 is associated with the 2.4ghz band and not 5ghz. I did have issues on 2.4ghz too.

I keep the 2.4ghz and 5ghz bands with separate SSID’s. I make sure the ATV only connects to the 5ghz band, and I leave it only on channel 157. Maybe take another look at your router settings. No clue why this only impacted my ATV and none of my other devices which were all fine but since doing that it’s been workin fine for me. Hope that helps, I know how frustrating this can be.

Edit: reading your comment again it sounds like you’re using a mesh network. I don’t have experience with those so not sure how they handle dual bands and if they give you the option to separate out the 2.4ghz and 5ghz bands.

Oh sorry man, I’m using channel 36 on the 5ghz, I think that was just a tired typo! Thanks for replying though.

My mesh network doesn’t have separate SSID’s for the 2.5 or 5ghz, it’s just dual band and allows devices to connect how they need to. I have a ton of smart lights, switches etc that all use 2.5ghz. The ATV however is definitely using the 5ghz as I can see all those details in the mesh app.

I have way too many devices to change an SSID at this stage to give myself separate ones and I’d be spending half a day doing it just for the ATV. It’s definitely a fault with the ATV wifi because I’ve had two of these 1st gen 4K ones and have done the exact same thing. I have a 3rd gen in my my tv room now but that’s always been wired and cba to check

It’s like the Wi-Fi card doesn’t come out of standby, the Wi-Fi is connected all the time even when it’s ‘off’ so maybe when it’s like this it’s in some super power save mode and only goes to full wack when it powers on.

My opinion is Apple surely by now should have accepted this as a known issue because there’s enough posts out there about it and most people are all using different Wi-Fi equipment. Problem is it’s very hard to replicate in store or something because it happens randomly after a few weeks since last proper power cycle.

I hope that yours is fixed but the whole channel thing that you have identified doesn’t make sense for me seeing as I am on 36.

I’ve picked up a little plug in Wi-Fi extender with an Ethernet port on it, I’ll hide it behind the TV and let that work around the issue.

 

[ColdCase]

Its well known that mesh is a mess, network pros recommend never using unless you have no choice. So don't use it, installing additional Access Points provides a better wifi environment. Apple sometimes gets blamed for following the specs where third party network devices may not. Some devices are more tolerant. Sounds like your wifi is throttling the ATV (flow control) because it doesn't have high priority on the network, or your network is trying to optimize. Perhaps a misconfigured network? How do you know its operating fine? Are you doing pings or analyzing packet captures?

I've used ATVs, several versions with multiple simultanious streams for years with zero local issues. What kind of internet service do you have? Oh yeah, its just easier to blame the ATV.

 

[sft109]

Yeah it doesn’t sound like that’s the issue. Mine is now working so fingers crossed it stays that way.

I did have a 1st gen ATV 4K that had a similar issue too. It had the issue until I replaced my aging (ISP provided crap) router and then was fine, then one day the ATV just died so I went without one for a few years before getting the 2022 model. I was surprised when this one had the same issue until I figured out what the issue was in my case.

Good luck, hope your solution solves your issues.

 

[naylor2006]

Its well known that mesh is a mess, network pros recommend never using unless you have no choice. So don't use it, installing additional Access Points provides a better wifi environment. Apple sometimes gets blamed for following the specs where third party network devices may not. Some devices are more tolerant. Sounds like your wifi is throttling the ATV (flow control) because it doesn't have high priority on the network, or your network is trying to optimize. Perhaps a misconfigured network? How do you know its operating fine? Are you doing pings or analyzing packet captures?

I've used ATVs, several versions with multiple simultanious streams for years with zero local issues. What kind of internet service do you have? Oh yeah, its just easier to blame the ATV.

I think given the investigation so far it does seem to be the ATV. For what it’s worth I do work in this field, I know a little and although I run a mesh they are actually all wired in these days and are just dumb AP units now so have no throttling or management options. I have a Ubiquity Router which gives me quite a lot of monitoring options for traffic. I couldn’t possibly type out every test I did as I looked into it a while ago at first until I gave up and just wired the unit.

When this fault occurs there really isn’t any red flags to speak of and it’s fixed every single time by using Ethernet. In addition previously I have had a mesh and the Apple TV is connected to it via Ethernet, but that mesh disc is still wirelessly communicating with another mesh unit.

Given my scenario yes I believe the Apple TV is the blame, whether it’s a unique error that exists with the equipment combination or not I don’t know although I have 50 plus devices and not one ever has an issue. Firesticks never did the same etc.

I don’t use any ISP provided equipment aside from a cable modem and the ISP is irrelevant anyway as I’m streaming from a local server on my network and can run a speed test using the client and it shows 1mbps, I can also then run the internet speed test app which shows the same. Usually the ATV can achieve 500mbps over the Wi-Fi from the local file server. Whilst this issue is present every other device on the network can still get full speed. I can also connect to a different Wi-Fi network whilst the ATV is on and in fault and it still caps out at 1mbps, it remains like that until I power cycle it properly.

So what would have been easy would have been to blame the ATV ages ago and not bother investigating at all, but I’m sure Apple will appreciate your defence

 

[naylor2006]

Yeah it doesn’t sound like that’s the issue. Mine is now working so fingers crossed it stays that way.

I did have a 1st gen ATV 4K that had a similar issue too. It had the issue until I replaced my aging (ISP provided crap) router and then was fine, then one day the ATV just died so I went without one for a few years before getting the 2022 model. I was surprised when this one had the same issue until I figured out what the issue was in my case.

Good luck, hope your solution solves your issues.

Yeah I have two of the 1st gens 4K which serve two smaller TV’s in my house, my daughters and one in the kitchen. Recently I got the latest 4K one and bunged it in the lounge and the old 1st gen that used to be there is what is now in the kitchen.

Couple years ago was when my daughters one first did this and I managed to Ethernet it in the end as I couldn’t solve it. This kitchen one like I said I never knew if it had the issue, the lounge setup I have always has Ethernet, but now it’s in the kitchen on wireless and sure enough the exact same problem is back.

It’s kinda weird because the speed is so consistent like it is throttling but I have nothing like that setup and never have and why would a restart of the Apple TV suddenly fix that anyway.

The cheapo plug in AP arrives today so I think as a test for a bit I will let the ATV connect to it via Wi-Fi for a bit before as it has separate 2.5 and 5ghz SSIDS and see if it fails in the same way. There’s plenty of people out there who’ve had this issue, there obviously is a reason and work around or fix but there doesn’t seem to be a consistent one.

 

[naylor2006]

The cheapo plug in AP arrives today so I think as a test for a bit I will let the ATV connect to it via Wi-Fi for a bit before as it has separate 2.5 and 5ghz SSIDS and see if it fails in the same way.

I didn't bother to test, I just mounted the device behind my TV and connected the ATV to its ethernet port, now the ATV wont ever use its own WIFI card which 100% resolves this issue, however, still not sure what is happening to the WIFI when it does this 1mbps thing.

 

[zigzagyak]

I made an account on here just to post about this. I have had this exact problem for a few years now on an ATV, and had googled for a fix a number of times and not found this thread before.

The thing runs fine for hours, then after wake from sleep it is locked into go-slow mode. Not every time, but more often than not. Speed test to local server shows 1-2Mbps. Normal speed on this provider is around 80Mbps. A restart fixes it every time, which I have to do almost daily.

No other device on the network slows down. I have tried two different wifi routers (both TP-Link brand). I have tried dedicated 5ghz and 2.4ghz only networks. The dumb 2.4ghz router I have it connected to now doesn't have QoS or any fancy features so it does seem to be isolated to the ATV wifi software/hardware.

It seems to be some kind of bug that most often triggers on wake-from-sleep, however it will occasionally happen spontaneously mid-way through a movie or whatever and requires a reboot. The older model ATV HD I had never had this problem, only the ATV 4K does it.

 

[naylor2006]

I made an account on here just to post about this. I have had this exact problem for a few years now on an ATV, and had googled for a fix a number of times and not found this thread before.

The thing runs fine for hours, then after wake from sleep it is locked into go-slow mode. Not every time, but more often than not. Speed test to local server shows 1-2Mbps. Normal speed on this provider is around 80Mbps. A restart fixes it every time, which I have to do almost daily.

No other device on the network slows down. I have tried two different wifi routers (both TP-Link brand). I have tried dedicated 5ghz and 2.4ghz only networks. The dumb 2.4ghz router I have it connected to now doesn't have QoS or any fancy features so it does seem to be isolated to the ATV wifi software/hardware.

It seems to be some kind of bug that most often triggers on wake-from-sleep, however it will occasionally happen spontaneously mid-way through a movie or whatever and requires a reboot. The older model ATV HD I had never had this problem, only the ATV 4K does it.

Yeah ive heard alot of people blame various things such as mesh but im not convinced, I had the exact some issue on two different 1st Gen 4K ATV's....the only way around it is to use the ethernet, plug in a wifi extender near the ATV or something and run an ethernet between the two, thats how I fixed it.

 

[Donoban]

So my Apple TV has had this problem basically since I got it, but it happens infrequently enough (maybe once a week) that I just deal with it. But now it is starting to get on my nerves. Basically, I'll notice that things look pixilated and not HD, I'll check the Speed Test and the speed will be very slow, typically around 1 Mbps. All I do is reboot the Apple TV without touching anything else and I'm getting ~100 Mbps.

This is driving me nuts. Does anyone know why it just will constantly nearly lose its connection like this? Anything I can do?

Before Reboot:

After Reboot:

Which Apple TV do you have? Like an old one? There was a recall for the wifi issue you’ve described.

Apple says small number of Apple TVs have WiFi issues, opens replacement program - 9to5Mac

Apple has informed its official retail stores, AppleCare employees, and authorized resellers that a small number of third-generation Apple TV...

9to5mac.com