Apple TV Gen 4 (Non 4K) Dropping WiFi

[viggyp]

Hey all,

Apologies for this long winded post but was wondering if anyone’s ever had the following issue I’m currently experiencing.

I purchased the 4th Gen Apple TV during release date in October 2015. All in all I really can’t complain about it. What I can complain about is that from mid 2018, the WiFi signal was intermittently dropping whilst watching YouTube and I’d see the circle on the screen loading. After that it wouldn’t play any of the films/TV shows I purchased via iTunes, I couldn’t stream Netflix or the Catch Up services and it wouldn’t perform a speed test on the Speedtest app although it showed I had the full 5 circles of WiFi access.

I had rebooted both the router (dual band) and the Apple TV and then re-added the network as I had the Apple TV “Forget the network”. I even restored it and then it would happen again. Anyway, what I did notice is that it would happen after every second update. I contacted Apple and they asked me to send it back for them to check. They contacted me saying there was a hardware problem and they sent a replacement even though it was one month out of warranty, which I thought that was very good of them.

After receiving the new one all was fine up until a week ago and it has started happening again.

All my other devices (two Macs, three iPhones, iPad, Kindle, Smart TV, two TiVo boxes, Firestick, two PS4’s) are having no issues whatsoever.

It’s really frustrating as I love the simplicity of it and can’t watch any of the iTunes videos I’ve purchased on the big screen.

I hope someone can possibly shed some light.

Thanks in advance

[NoTreadLeft]

Can you use a network cable to connect the Apple TV to the router instead of WiFi? It’s a faster connection and much more reliable. WiFi problems are very difficult to diagnose so even if you only do it temporarily, using a cable is your best next-step so that you can prove it really is the WiFi causing the problem.

[viggyp]

Thanks for the quick reply. The unfortunate thing is that the Apple TV is in the living room and the router is in the hallway and I'd need one hell of a long cable to route along skirting boards etc.

It's a shame this is happening as I love the simplicity of watching my iTunes purchases from the cloud and unfortunately those purchases can't be streamed from my iPad to my Firestick or Smart TV due to Apple's DRM protection rights.

Maybe the next update will help?...he says hopefully

[NoTreadLeft]

viggyp said:

Thanks for the quick reply. The unfortunate thing is that the Apple TV is in the living room and the router is in the hallway and I'd need one hell of a long cable to route along skirting boards etc.

It's a shame this is happening as I love the simplicity of watching my iTunes purchases from the cloud and unfortunately those purchases can't be streamed from my iPad to my Firestick or Smart TV due to Apple's DRM protection rights.

Maybe the next update will help?...he says hopefully

I'd be surprised if an update will fix this - my guess is that the re-boot at the end of the update is temporarily "fixing" things in some semi-random way. Seriously long CAT5e+ cables are dirt cheap these days so if there's any way you can hardwire it just temporarily it would be worth it just to prove that it's truly a WiFi problem. If definitely turns out to be the WiFi and permanently replacing with cable is really out of the question (could you buy a flat one and route it under carpet?) then a couple of Powerline adapters might be your next best bet.

Failing all of the above you are really into trial and error. Here are a few things to look at:

• Can you see whether it's connected Ok from the router-end? (will depend on your router)
• Can you see from the router whether it's connecting on the 2.4GHz or 5GHz network? (assuming your router has both)
• Have you tried changing your 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks to have different ssid's, and explicitly connecting the ATV to one, then the other?

[viggyp]

NoTreadLeft said:

viggyp said:

Thanks for the quick reply. The unfortunate thing is that the Apple TV is in the living room and the router is in the hallway and I'd need one hell of a long cable to route along skirting boards etc.

It's a shame this is happening as I love the simplicity of watching my iTunes purchases from the cloud and unfortunately those purchases can't be streamed from my iPad to my Firestick or Smart TV due to Apple's DRM protection rights.

Maybe the next update will help?...he says hopefully

I'd be surprised if an update will fix this - my guess is that the re-boot at the end of the update is temporarily "fixing" things in some semi-random way. Seriously long CAT5e+ cables are dirt cheap these days so if there's any way you can hardwire it just temporarily it would be worth it just to prove that it's truly a WiFi problem. If definitely turns out to be the WiFi and permanently replacing with cable is really out of the question (could you buy a flat one and route it under carpet?) then a couple of Powerline adapters might be your next best bet.

Failing all of the above you are really into trial and error. Here are a few things to look at:

• Can you see whether it's connected Ok from the router-end? (will depend on your router)
• Can you see from the router whether it's connecting on the 2.4GHz or 5GHz network? (assuming your router has both)
• Have you tried changing your 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks to have different ssid's, and explicitly connecting the ATV to one, then the other?

I was thinking about this last night and I guess buying a very long cable and routing it about shouldn't be a problem at all.

It have the Virgin Superhub 2 and apart from the second point which you mate (it is intermittent on both 2.4 and 5GHz networks), I've not done the others and will try to give them a go.

Again, many thanks for your responses as they are very much appreciated.