Sunday, March 08, 2015

My Smart TV Made Me Cry

We purchased a new TV recently so that we can join the modern world.  While looking over some of the options available we noticed a large amount of connected or "smart" televisions.  Since we don't have cable and use the internet for content, we decided that a smart TV may be the way to go.  Choosing a smart TV also didn't seem to increase the price more than $50 in many cases so it wasn't too painful of a choice to make.

We got home, pulled the old TV out, put the new TV up, plugged it in, and started setup.

Almost immediately I found that my connected TV wasn't connected.  It said it was attached to our wifi but there was no data coming through.  I changed multiple settings on the router and was able to get it working.  These new settings were not optimal for speed or security, but the TV was working.

The next day we were using a TV in a different room that is connected using Chromecast.  Every thirty seconds the video would stop and buffer.  It was unwatchable without wanting to jump out of a window.  I went back to the router and made some changes to help the speed settings.  That made a difference and we were able to watch without desiring personal injury.

Guess what.  The TV didn't like these changes and no longer would connect.  In addition, the Wii no longer connected either.

I started crying. 

With so many connected devices in our house I decided the best route would be to choose optimal settings to suite the majority of the devices.  These settings would make all devices except the new TV happy with a speedy connection.

After threatening to smash the TV to the floor I decided to make a trip to Walmart and pick up this little device.

This wifi extender costs about $50 and was EASY to setup.  Once connected to my wifi, I used a cord to connect it to the TV.  The TV now thinks it has a direct wire connection to the internet and the extender handles the wifi.  This worked beautifully.

After four days of Google searches, studying, and crying I now know more about wifi, routers, and connected devices than I ever thought I would.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Mmmm we need one of those. That looks pretty easy