wifi - device connecting to wrong hub

[cajunmuscle]

I have the 3  google hub setup, all devices work great and have been for years, well one tv speed is very slow, it buffers often when the other tv have does not. Well after troubleshooting we notice the tv that is slow is connecting to a hub across the house. When we have a hub 3 feet away fro the TV. When we check the network, it shows the tv is connect to another hub.

How do we force it to the hub next to the TV?

[cajunmuscle]

we have a first gen google hub

[MichaelP]

Hello @cajunmuscle 

WiFi devices decide which access point to connect to. Google WiFi does provide devices with some extra information they can use to make better decisions, but some WiFi devices don't support the standards used to do that. Most "fixed" devices (things that don't move) do not support those standards. So, it's likely your TV is just connecting to the first thing it sees and then continuing to connect to it. Worse yet, many TV sets have rather poor WiFi implementations in general.

But, since you have Google WiFi units, and you said one is nearby, you may be able to connect that TV to the nearby Google WiFi unit via an inexpensive Ethernet cable instead of using the TV's WiFi at all. I would take a look on the back of your TV to see if it has an Ethernet port (most smart TVs do), and purchase an Ethernet cable ("cat 5e" or better should be enough; only needs to be a few feet long) to see if that improves the situation.

[cajunmuscle]

would the use of a cat5 cable increase bandwidth and speeds compared to wifi?

[MichaelP]

Hello @cajunmuscle 

What an Ethernet connection should do is provide a much more reliable and stable connection than WiFi. Whether it's actually "faster" than WiFi or not depends on a lot of things. In your case, since it sounds like your TV isn't getting a good WiFi connection, I do believe the Ethernet connection will be faster than what you're currently seeing. I'm just being pedantic about this, though, since it's likely the TV's Ethernet port is limited to 100Mbps, and WiFi can in theory be faster than that. I just think in your case, your TV's WiFi connection isn't that fast, and is almost certainly less "stable" and reliable. A 100Mbps connection will be much faster than you'd need for most smart TV applications.

[cajunmuscle]

I finally figured it out, the tv (device) on the google app was "paused", and what was confusing is that the firestick would work, but not the TV, because it was paused

Thanks for your support

David

[Juzdu]

If it was paused in the Google/Nest wifi app then it wouldn't get any internet at all, but you mentioned it was slow/buffering?  Also, when you say 'hub' do you mean a wifi point?  How could you tell which wifi point your tv was connecting to in the first place?

[cajunmuscle]

I went on the google app using my iphone and located the TV, which on the app was paused, but would through us off was that the external firestick plugged into the the hdmi port was still working, only the TV internet was not working. I didn't think the firestick would work with the TV being paused, but it does. As soon as I unpaused the tv the internet on the tv started working again

[Juzdu]

Ah ok, got it.  Yeah, the firestick has it's own wifi and IP address so won't be affected by the TV.  I wonder how your TV got paused in Google Home though, that's unusual.

[Jake]

Hey cajunmuscle,

Glad to hear you were able to get the TV working again. I wanted to check in and see if you are still in need of any help? Please let me know if you still have any questions from here, as I would be happy to assist.

Best regards,
Jake

[cajunmuscle]

thanks for checking, the tv is now working great again

[Jake]

Hey cajunmuscle,

Glad to hear everything is working properly. With the issue being resolved, I am going to lock the thread at this time. If you run into any questions from here, please feel free to create a new post. Have a good one!

Best regards,

Jake