I’ll be connecting over wifi. Currently live in an apartment without the best coverage - should be okay at the tv but our current Xiaomi streamer gets awful speeds (phone does better) and our Samsung TV doesn’t do much better. 4K netflix and Youtube is fine but Plex streaming high bitrate 4K files is a gamble. In general there’s a lot of wifi congestion in our area.
I don’t have the option of running an ethernet cable. I was thinking of grabbing some 6e routers (I’d assumed the Apple TV supported 6e) but have discovered since that it doesn’t. I assume that the 4th gen Apple TV will support 6e - is it worth waiting? Will it actually make a difference? I saw some speed tests with wifi 6 vs 6e on the firestick 4k Max but they didn’t really show a difference in speeds.
As a side question, has anyone with a purely wifi Apple TV faced problems with connectivity?
Edit to add: aside from Plex, I also want to use the Apple TV for Steam Link gaming… I hear that both Plex and Steam have stutter issues for some, which is worrying. How big of a deal is this really?
First wired is always better and you can get creative with how to do it. Don’t give up on it.
I was just at my in laws and they were having problems streaming from my Plex server. Ran a wire and no more problems. I can’t explain it because the ATV was in the same room as the WAP. But hours of troubleshooting and a $7 cord fixed it.
But yes, 6e/7 could help because it opens 6 GHz, which will help with neighbor interference. No idea on that roadmap though. Is it rumored? It may not be worth waiting for. ATV has never been bleeding edge and Apple is early in its 6e adoption. I would definitely say it’s desirable though for a wireless ATV.
just get a tp link mesh. it’s so worth it. I just got a pair and it changed everything. No issues with wifi anymore!
Have you thought about getting an Ethernet over power line adapter? It uses your home electrical wiring to run an Ethernet connection.
This is what I use. It works perfectly.
Curious if power line Ethernet bridges would work in this case? I don’t know the current state, but it is supposed to be much improved from early iterations.
Another option is a WiFi bridge that outputs an Ethernet line, this lets you find an optimal place for the receiver, separate from the Apple TV. Dump that into an Ethernet switch and you can hardwire everything in the room
WiFi is fine for 99% of apps. Occasionally I’ll have to reboot my router to fix buffering issues or run a cable across the floor but that’s extremely rare. Only ever happens with the live tv apps. If you happen to use Spectrum Stream don’t even bother with WiFi. Idk what is wrong but it straight will not play anything without huge drops to like 320p and buffering all the time unless you are wired. Fubo has been 98% better.
Wi-Fi 6e does provide additional channels, and that part of the spectrum may be fairly clear in your apartment setting.
Like others have said, the additional performance really isn’t important, and the range of 6GHz with walls and such is NOT GOOD. If you can give it direct line of sight then it might be good.
All that said, I think you are overthinking this. It’s really not necessary.
Will make zero difference
Ethernet is the way to go. What most people don’t take into consideration is that all radio spectrum, i.e. wifi, is a shared medium, shared with other wifi networks and non-wifi appliances, microwaves, and who knows what else.
Keep the box, keep the protective film on, when the new one comes out, just flip it. You can probably get 85% back.
May I know your internet connection speed?
The Apple TV wouldn’t benefit from any further 802.11 upgrades. WiFi 6 is already too fast for what the device is for… streaming. Media streaming averages are 5-15Mbps for your typical apps (Netflix, Hulu, etc). TV+ streams higher than all other providers… around 25-35Mbps. That being said, the Ookla Speedtest app on my Apple TV shows I get nearly 500Mbps over WiFi. So I literally always have a minimum of 400Mbps to spare… upgrading to WiFi 6e, 7, or hell, 10 will yield absolutely no performance benefits for a streaming device.
For anyone who does experience buffering on their Apple TV… buy a decent router and don’t set it up in the closet on the opposite side of the house.
It hasn’t peaked. The next frontier is old m# chips and expanding the gaming ecosystem. Maybe a split, appletv streamer and appletv gamer.
OP’s issue is he is in a dense apartment building with a lot of other hotspots competing for the same radio channels. WiFi 6 has a lot of tech to minimize the cross interference, but that will absolutely impact his performance and it will be nowhere near theoretical peak speeds. I used to have a corporate office WiFi network on WiFi 5 that would occasionally see a burst of noise that would basically offline our WiFi. No idea the source, but we were 1 floor away from rooftop antennas and could see a radar dome out the window. Never did figure out the cause.
I don’t think you’d see a difference. Know that 6Ghz doesn’t penetrate walls well or spread that far. I only see higher speeds when I’m in the same room as my router on my 6Ghz compatible iPhone. If the router is in the same room as your Apple TV, you could probably already run Ethernet.
Steam Link is always going to be better wired. Everytime.
I used to live across from a building that was concave. I could literally see about 100 Wi-Fi networks because of it and I never had issues with my AppleTv or anything wireless for that matter. I’d try changing channels first to see if that helps.
The higher the GHZ, the less it penetrates walls. So depending on where the AP and the Apple TV are will start mattering more.
Just to add to this. Instead of Steamlink, check out Moonlight. It looks offers reduced latency and significantly better visuals (better compression + higher bitrates). It’s free also.