The Amazon Firestick is a simple and powerful device that makes it easier than ever before to watch apps like Netflix, Hulu and Disney+ on your television at home. Just plug it into your TV, turn it on, connect to your wireless network and sign in to your favorite streaming apps to start watching. For most people, that’s all it takes to start watching their favorite shows conveniently, but some people run into issues with Internet connection and poor video playback. If you’re facing issues like continuously losing connection or buffering problems, there’s a good chance that you have a poor wireless network connection with your home’s internet connection.
Fortunately, there are solutions to fix your Amazon Firestick connection issues. By taking just a few steps you might be able to improve your Firestick’s signal and start enjoying your favorite streaming apps with smooth playback. Below is a complete overview of five simple steps you can take to boost your network connection and achieve smoother video playback. Follow along with the steps in order and you should be able to solve your playback problems.
Reboot Your Firestick and WiFi Router:
If you’re suffering from wireless connection issues, the first thing you should always do is reboot your Firestick, your wireless router, and your internet modem. When you reset these three devices you’ll remove some of the wireless interference from your network and help re-establish the connection between your Firestick and your router. If you’re just experiencing minor network issues, this step can often resolve your problem fast.
Unplug your Firestick from the back of your television, and unplug the power cable from your Firestick. Now let it sit for about 30 seconds before reconnecting it once again. This will fully power the device off and start it up once again.
Remove the power from your wireless router for 30 seconds and your modem for 30 seconds before plugging each of these devices in once again. Be aware that this will reset your home’s internet connection and none of your devices will have access to the internet during this process.
Once you’ve reset each of these three devices there’s a good chance your internet problems will be resolved and your Firestick will work the way it’s supposed to once again. If you’re still having problems playing videos, or with videos running slowly, you will have to go through some additional steps to make your Firestick work properly.
Verify Your Firestick Wireless Settings:
The next step is to verify your Firestick’s network settings to make sure that it’s connected to your wireless network properly and that there’s good wireless signal strength. To do this turn on your television and open the source for your Firestick so the Firestick’s home menu shows up on your TV screen.
Navigate to the “Settings” menu all the way to the right in the upper navigation menu. Select “Settings” and then select “Network”. Once you are in the Network menu it’s up to you to verify that your Firestick is connected to your wireless network properly. Look for the Connected notice under the name of your network. If it’s not properly connected to your network you will have to click on the network name and enter your network’s password to make the connection. If you are using Dual-band WiFi router test 5 GHz band and 2.4 GHz band and use one right fit for you.
Once you’re connected, select your wireless network and then look at the black status box on the right side of your television. If your signal strength isn’t at least good, you have a poor connection between your wireless router and your Firestick. There are likely too many different objects between the two devices and you’ll have to take steps to move them closer together or to remove obstructions from between them.
Reposition the Router and Firestick to Improve your Signal:
If your device’s Signal Strength is anything less than “Good” you need to reposition the Firestick, your router or both of the devices in order to move them closer together to one another. One simple way to do this is by attaching a long HDMI cable to your Firestick instead of the short one that comes with it. Making this simple change allows you to mount the Firestick on the wall, or to put it out in the open closer to your router, instead of behind your television set. Just this simple change can often make a big enough difference to get you to a “Good” Signal Strength.
If that change doesn’t result in a network performance increase, you will have to reposition your wireless router to get it closer to your television. Do this by running a long ethernet cable from your modem to a new location for your router. You can also move both your router and your modem to a new section of your home if you have additional connections for your modem. This is often simple to do with cable modems because many homes have cable lines running to multiple rooms.
Keep adjusting your Firestick and your router until you achieve a stronger Signal Strength value. If you have a poor Signal Strength repositioning your devices is the only way to solve the problem without buying extra equipment like wireless access points or a powerline network adapter. If you can’t move your Firestick or your router enough to fix poor signal strength, you will have to invest in additional equipment such as a wireless access point to increase the strength of your wireless network through your home.
Turn off the Background Processes:
Many Firestick users have numerous applications running in the background without realizing it. That’s because there isn’t a readily available tool to verify this. To solve this problem open “Apps” and add the Background Apps & Process List app to your Firestick.
Now open the app and select “Close All Apps” then press “Force Stop” for any applications that don’t close immediately. This will help the Firestick run more smoothly and will reduce data usage to help streams run better.
This simple fix isn’t likely to fix poor video playback issues for most users, but it can help your device run more smoothly, it can help the menu screens load faster and it could help videos load a bit faster if your Firestick is only struggling a bit.
Turn off Data Monitoring:
For a slight speed increase, it’s helpful to turn off the Amazon Data Monitoring service that’s running in the background of your Firestick. To do this open the “Settings” menu, select “Preferences” and choose “Data Monitoring Off” to turn the feature off. Data monitoring causes Amazon to collect data about you while the Firestick runs, and this can slow the device down slightly. This is the final basic step that you can take to make your device run more smoothly. This likely won’t solve your streaming issues, but it can help improve your experience even more once you get videos to play properly on your Firestick.
It’s frustrating when your favorite streaming apps aren’t running smoothly, but hopefully, these simple steps help solve your video issues and leave you with the smooth streaming performance that you’re looking for. Try to follow these instructional steps in order so that you’re making the most effective adjustments first and wasting the least amount of time before you can watch your better performing Amazon Firestick device.