Problems with Fire Stick

Ames

Hi all, hope you can help.

Since the weekend I've been struggling to watch anything on Amazon Video or Netflix through my fire stick. The picture's blurry and it keeps freezing to buffer. It seems ok on my laptop, but since I don't want to watch on a ten inch screen I've only been running a few minutes of a film at a time to check.

I tried a live chat with Amazon and they told me to do a factory reset, the chat had closed by the time the reset was complete and it hasn't helped.

According to my ISP (sky) my internet speed is 21mbs, that hasn't changed when I've looked it up several times. According to Netflix's 'check internet speed' it's less than 1mbs. It's varied from that to about 5mbs over the last couple of days. I've tried changing the wireless channel, it varied according to netflix but stayed below 1.

Is there anything else I can try? I'm assuming the problem is with the Fire Stick, as well as the factory reset I've tried the good old fashioned unplug and plug it back in a few times, to no avail. Router is right next to the TV.

worried_jim

Can you hard wire the connection to the stick from the router? I can with my fire box, don't know if the stick offers this.

Ames

worried_jim wrote: »

Can you hard wire the connection to the stick from the router? I can with my fire box, don't know if the stick offers this.

Unfortunately not.

[Deleted User]

The USB on the firestick is for power only - it won't support ethernet with out a bit of hacking (and a ethernet to USB converter)

Can you router support different frequencies of Wifi? E.g. 2.4 vs 5ghz ?

I've noticed my firestick is happier now i've got a router that supports both of those

Ames

ringo_24601 wrote: »

The USB on the firestick is for power only - it won't support ethernet with out a bit of hacking (and a ethernet to USB converter)

Can you router support different frequencies of Wifi? E.g. 2.4 vs 5ghz ?

I've noticed my firestick is happier now i've got a router that supports both of those

No, I'd have to get a Sky Q hub for that, which I assume means upgrading and paying through the nose for Sky Q.

neilmcl

Ames wrote: »

No, I'd have to get a Sky Q hub for that, which I assume means upgrading and paying through the nose for Sky Q.

Nope, plenty on ebay, no need to upgrade anything.

Ames

neilmcl wrote: »

Nope, plenty on ebay, no need to upgrade anything.

Thanks, I didn't think they'd be on there yet. I'll get one and try that.

Nodding_Donkey

Why not buy a decent Android box instead?

neilmcl

Ames wrote: »

Thanks, I didn't think they'd be on there yet. I'll get one and try that.

In the meantime reboot your current sky router then once up and running log in to the router and and check the connection speed in the router's connection statistics. If this is much lower than you expect then you may have an issue with your line. Please post up the full stats on here.

If it's a wifi issue, one thing you can do to allow the stick to get a better signal and lessen any interference from your TV is to plug it in via the included dongle rather than directly into the TV. I found this helped a lot with one of mine.

neilmcl

Nodding_Donkey wrote: »

Why not buy a decent Android box instead?

Well if the OP has a broadband issue then buying a different box is hardly the answer.

kwikbreaks

It certainly sounds like a WiFi issue and a wired speedtest should rule out the broadband connection as would checking the router stats if possible.

Is the router in the same room as the Firestick? Has anything been moved around? Have you checked for other SSIDs on the same channel as you?

As it was working fine before I doubt this is an issue but I did find that my TV USB port didn't provide sufficient power for a Googlecast and it played up. I fitted a mains socket with USB charging ports which sorted that out. I've only ever run my Firestick from that so not sure if it too needs a decent power source.