Wireless in your Home
Customers ask me often about their tech problems at home. Last week, it was two different instances of home internet wireless issues. As I took the time to write up this checksheet for them, I thought I might as well share it here too.
There are a number of things to know about wireless for your TV and your other devices.
In Canada we are supplied wireless devices that work on 2.4 GHz or 5.0 GHz. These are the radio frequencies that don't need a license that they transmit and send on. Wireless technology transmits multiple channels all around the base frequency and then combines good multiple channels together to get higher data tranmission speeds (called multiplexing).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_WLAN_channels
So what can you do even if you don't understand or care about the tech?
Do you have a choice of wireless connections in your home environment?
Use the lower 2.4 Ghz to see if it helps. 2.4 GHz has a better range than 5.0. Get all your other personal devices to try and use the 5.0 GHz. In that way, the TV will be the only one using the 2.4 GHz radio. If you have wireless telephones, keep them a good distance away from your internet equipment. They both use the same frequencies and are well known to interfere with each other.
Some other devices that can use your wireless and consume bandwidth are.
Bathroom scales (some)
Blood pressure devices (some)
Digital Cameras (some)
Kindle
Baby Monitors
Front Door security cams
Kitchen appliances (some)
Thermostats (some)
"Smart" light, plugs and other home automation devices
Toilets (some)
Game consoles and portables - Xbox PlayStation Nintendo etc
If you have all this and more then you may be running out of "bandwidth" or "sessions" on your wireless access point.
While "bandwidth" is fairly well known, "sessions" are a real thing that not even many techs know about or will explain, but suffice to say that the number of "sessions" (connections) to an Ethernet single port is limited. "Sessions" can also "hang up", using up the available amount until nothing works requiring the wireless switch to be rebooted.
If you are fairly adept at technology, you can get into your Telus or Shaw wireless router (they gave you the information when they installed the deivce) and check for the above things I've mentioned. Don't forget to also double check that the software feature QoS in the wireless router (quality of service) is set up to prioritize your TV over other devices if that's what you want.
Use the "Ookla Speedtest" (http://speedtest.net) to see if you're getting the speed and bandwidth you're paying for from Telus or Shaw.
Use "Pingplotter Pro" (https://www.pingplotter.com/) on a phone or computer to see if your connections to services like Shaw, Telus, Netflix or Amazon are having trouble dropping out over time.