In recent years, Internet TV broadcasts and video streaming on platforms such as Netflix, Disney + or Amazon Prime has increased significantly. Many users, at times, have problems viewing the content, because the quality falls below what is expected, there are pixelations of the image and the video even stops directly. Today in this article we are going to give you a series of basic recommendations to watch Internet TV and stream without having problems with your home router.
Problems watching Internet TV or streaming video
When we have few computers connected to the home local network, watch Internet TV or stream video, as long as the TV is connected by cable, we know that everything will work correctly without any problem, however, problems come when we have dozens of connected devices consuming Internet bandwidth, because the router must handle all this traffic equally, therefore, the router will give the same priority to P2P downloads to squeeze the available bandwidth as to streaming video in TV , and this is a problem for users who are watching TV. While the downloads made do not matter if they take a few more minutes, it is critical that the bandwidth for broadcasting TV or streaming works as a priority over these downloads.
Regarding whether we connect the TV via WiFi, we must bear in mind that in wireless WiFi networks, the more computers we connect to the WiFi network simultaneously, the less bandwidth we have available for each of them due to the access protocol of the medium. shared CSMA / CA used in wireless networks. Although the latest standards have clearly improved this with the launch of MU-MIMO from WiFi 5, and with OFDMA from WiFi 6, today we continue to use WiFi routers with the WiFi 5 standard and even WiFi clients (TVs and other devices) do not have this technology, therefore, they will have to continue using OFDM. In addition, it is possible that we have a single router and we do not have a WiFi Mesh system in the home local network, therefore, it is possible that the TV does not achieve good coverage in the 5GHz band (where it is advisable to connect this type of device) and instead, you have to use the 2.4GHz band compulsorily.
Solutions to not have more problems
These problems that we usually find in domestic homes, we can solve them through different configurations in the router and the installation of additional equipment to improve the wireless signal. Next, we are going to make all the necessary recommendations so that the user experience when using streaming services is perfect.
Prioritize what matters on your home network
Many home routers that we buy from manufacturers such as AVM with their FRITZ! Box, ASUS, D-Link, NETGEAR and other manufacturers, have a system to prioritize the different devices on the local network over others, and we can even prioritize the content of the traffic generated by these devices. In the case of AVM, as of version 7.25 we can create a prioritization rule in the local network and in the wireless network, in this way, we can give the highest priority to our TV or device that we are using for video streaming .
Thanks to QoS (quality of service) we can prioritize applications and devices, ensuring that the selected device receives the data packets first, and then the rest of the devices connected to the local network. This means that TV broadcasts, video streaming or video conferences will have the highest priority, even if we are downloading through P2P programs consuming a large Internet bandwidth.
As you can see, all manufacturers have very intuitive menus that allow us to easily prioritize the applications that we want.
If you use WiFi, 5GHz or use a WiFi Mesh
In order to achieve the best performance, it is highly recommended that you always connect video devices on the 5GHz band because they will have higher available bandwidth and less interference with neighboring networks. If you only have one router and the coverage does not reach you, then our recommendation is to mount a WiFi Mesh system, or a router plus a repeater with Mesh functions, since you will not only improve the performance of the TV that performs the streaming, but also all the devices you connect to the wireless network.
Depending on the physical situation of the different devices, you can connect to one network (router) or another (WiFi repeater), to balance network traffic and not only “load” the main router with all wireless devices. In this case, manufacturers have launched specific WiFi Mesh solutions for 2, 3 and even more nodes to distribute throughout our home, manufacturers such as AVM have incorporated into their FRITZ! OS operating system the possibility of setting up a WiFi Mesh network easily. and fast using routers, WiFi repeaters and PLC with WiFi, provided they have the latest firmware versions.
Other interesting uses of the router in terms of video
Many home routers incorporate the possibility of connecting a removable storage device via USB 3.0 , the firmware of all routers incorporates a multimedia server, or also known as a DLNA server, which will allow us to play music and videos easily and quickly. , we can see images, audio and video on TVs that support this standard, which are all. In this way, if we have local multimedia content on the router, we will not consume Internet bandwidth.
