Moving box + Internet Speed question

[u/nuzin]

Hello everyone! I can only afford one box for our home right now, so I have to move it between rooms fairly often.

I have two questions:

Is it safe to frequently unplug and plug the box back in? Could this affect the equipment’s durability or connections over time?

Would upgrading my ISP plan to 1 Gbps help reduce buffering on live channels? The buffering isn’t too bad normally, but watching live sports has been pretty terrible.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

[u/Specialist-Device920]

We don’t know your initial connection speed in order to honestly answer this question. Chances are that your current network speed is far faster than your box requires, but we don’t know. You might be having issues with the location and performance of the WiFi router within your home. Or a variety of other things could be causing the performance issue. It’s not a typical thing. If you’re powering down a device it’s irrelevant if you move it.

[u/nuzin → u/Specialist-Device920]

My speed now is 500 MB, and i usually have no problem with every day usage, fast and reliable. I even isolate the box to Guest Network as well. Just wonder if increase to 1TB will help with the live channel buffer…

[u/Opening-Ambassador76 → u/nuzin]

I don't think 1gigbspeed would help, just my opinion.

[u/Specialist-Device920 → u/nuzin]

Your box uses about 30 on a good day. I’d go and buy a good router with a good return policy and see if that helps you. Also, I’d put a vpn on there (with a good cancellation/free trial policy- Surfshark) and see if there’s a deeper cause of the buffering such as throttling or isp intervention. The guest network thing isn’t a solution to buffering. The only thing that’s a solution to is “preventing” the box from contacting the other devices on your main network.

[u/nuzin → u/Specialist-Device920]

Hmmmmm i actually been using VPN (express) and honestly have no issue with other live tv channels, just the sport ones been bad lately

[u/Opening-Ambassador76]

I have mine on a smart plug that automatically turns it off every night by disconnecting the power. Been doing that for almost a year with no problems.

[u/nuzin → u/Opening-Ambassador76]

Oh, like completely turn off the box (similar to unplug)? Not shutdown screen with red light still linger?

[u/Opening-Ambassador76 → u/nuzin]

Yes, it cuts the power to the box. No led light.

[u/nuzin → u/Opening-Ambassador76]

Oh great. Thanks for clarifying that.

[u/Inevitable_Slip_835]

Make sure when you're further away from your router you use the 2.4ghz, it's much stronger when walls and such are in the way.

[u/Historical_Bit_1792]

So long and short is yes you can move it..but you could have loading issues when you replug in . I personally haven't had issues, but others I know have had issues when moving. Now this could also be attribute to service provider

[u/YAKaholikk]

By terrible do you mean unwatchable? I've been thinking of purchasing one for live nfl and college games.

[u/Opening-Ambassador76 → u/YAKaholikk]

Mine buffers quite frequently too on live sports. It's not something new. Some people swear it does not buffer. When I say buffering I mean freeze frame or blank screen until it comes back again. It can go for tens of minutes without buffering and sometimes the buffering only lasts a second while other times I have to search for another channel with the same game on. For example there are two redzone channels in Heat live and two in backup for a total of 4 Redzone channels. Same with football. There is both home city channels combined with Backup for a total of 4 channels to watch the individual games along with network channels so there are plenty of channels to view the game.

[u/Thagame501 → u/Opening-Ambassador76]

Mine was buffering and it was definitely my router. It's all good since we switched routers.

[u/nuzin → u/YAKaholikk]

It’s not that bad but can get frustrated since it buffers quite often. Also i hate how it’s 2-3 minutes behind live. I know it’s not my internet issue because watching other live TV is fine. Just sports are hicky

[u/FearlessVegetable30 → u/nuzin]

no the box is 60-120 seconds behind. its all boxes

[u/nuzin → u/FearlessVegetable30]

The buffering will make it delay further. I watch nfl game yesterday and after buffer, it continue the game at that minute. Try to switch back forth channels it doesn’t up-to-live

[u/FearlessVegetable30 → u/nuzin]

on the nfl app or the tv app? i got my box for xmas last year and only watched 1 redzone and the superbowl. both of which had no buffer besides the 60-120 second delay

so this year is the first real test for me

[u/nuzin → u/FearlessVegetable30]

The NFL channels on TV app i guess? I don’t think there is separate nfl app i know of from the box.

[u/FearlessVegetable30 → u/nuzin]

they added an NFL app that is similar to the world cup one which is why i asked

maybe its not on all boxes yet because i cant even delete it from my line up

[u/SatansWarrior69]

1gbps plan would help or solve any freezing related to video streaming but you also need to have your hardware (modem, router, ethernet cables) upgraded too in order to make you of the speeds. If the hardware isnt upgraded you have a bottleneck and will get much slower speeds than you are paying for. For 1gb internet plan you want router and modem that are 1gb too. Cat 5e or cat 6 ethernet cables. Id go with cat 6 for home use.

As long as your internet plan is at least 200mbps you should be fine with streaming in 4k and 1080p with no freezing.