What Should I Do if I Cannot Connect Roku to the Home Network or the Internet?

Cannot Connect Roku to the Home Network or the Internet

It is well known that Roku offers the simplest way to stream entertainment on your TV or any other connected device. With thousands of free and paid channels to choose from, it offers you uninterrupted live streaming of audio and video. 

Undoubtedly, the Roku streaming player provides you unlimited access to stream audio and video from the internet. But for this to work smoothly and barrier-free, you require high speed and stable internet connection in order to connect the Roku device to your home network, and your home network to the internet.

This blog post brings the complete procedure to check the connectivity of your Roku device to the Internet along with the troubleshooting ideas for the common network issues. 

Are You Getting an Error Message?

Whenever you start setting up your Roku player for streaming, the first thing you must do is to connect the device to your home network like you connect your computer or mobile device. For this, you can have to select your wireless network name along with the correct password. 

Making this setting, a wireless connection is established from your Roku device to your home access point or router. Your router is then connected to the internet and will allow access to the internet through a broadband service provided by your ISP(internet service provider) which is usually your cable or phone company.

Note: The Roku streaming devices with an Ethernet port can be connected to the router using an Ethernet, or wired network cable. 

After setting up an internet connection, there are chances of getting some errors in the network. If your Roku device is not able to connect to your home router or is unable to gain access to the internet through the router, you can not set up your device further. 

As the network or internet connection breaks or gets weak after the device setup; you may not be able to launch channels that require an internet connection and hence you will experience interruptions while streaming content to your connected monitor. 

Below Discussed are Some Common Errors While Your Roku Device Encounters Any Connectivity Issue.

1. Unable to Connect to the Wireless Network: This error occurs when you are trying to connect your Roku streaming device to your wireless network. To resolve this:

Check whether you have connected your device to a correct wireless network.

Scan for all wireless networks if you don't find the one you want to connect your device.

2. Checking Network: This error is shown when your Roku device is trying to set up the connection with the wireless network for which you have entered the name and password. You can wait or cancel the connection setup.

3. Connection Lost: This error is displayed when the network or internet connection breaks or gets interrupted while launching a streaming channel. This requires setting up the connection again with a wireless network or some other internet connection.

4. Loading: This error occurs when the connection speed gets slow or the internet connection is lost during playback.

How to Check Your Connection?

Whenever you find troubles in the network, you can check the quality of the connection from the Settings menu on your Roku device. This is how you can initiate the connection check following the given steps:

Press the Home button home on the remote control of your Roku device.

Scroll the page up or down and select the Settings option.

Select Check connection under Networks.

This Connection Check is Performed in Two Parts:

The first part tests the quality of the network signal which connects the Roku device to your home network. While the second part checks that your device is connected to the internet and measures its connection speed.

If the speed of your connection or wireless signal strength is poor then different errors will be shown to you along with some on-screen instructions to resolve the issue by own. 

Note: If your Roku device is not connected to your network, you will find a Setup Connection option instead of a Check connection option. Before checking the connection, you have to connect the Roku device with your home network and the Internet. 

How to Resolve the Connectivity Issues?

1. Enter the correct name for your wireless network as selecting the wrong network might lead to network failure. 

If you do not know the name of the network your Roku device is connected with then get help to find your wireless network name.

2. Enter a correct password for the wireless network. Re-enter the password if you have entered the wrong password in the first attempt.

Remember that the network passwords are always case-sensitive. If you are unable to recall the correct password then follow the tips for locating your wireless network password.

3. Ensure that your router is working properly. For this, connect to your home network using your computer or mobile device and try accessing the internet by opening a website like www.roku.com.

If the site opens on your device it means that your router is successfully providing internet access and you can proceed to the next step. If the device is unable to connect to the internet, restart your router.

4. In case your password is correct and other devices are able to access the router network, but your Roku device is failing to connect to your wireless network, it means that the signal strength of the wireless network is poor. Here you can improve the signal strength by repositioning the router near to the Roku device.

5. If the above options do not help in troubleshooting the issue, then restart your router and Roku device. 

Restart your Roku player: Settings > System > System Restart. The other way is to unplug the Roku device from the power source, wait, and then reconnect it.

Restart your router: Follow the instructions provided by your ISP or router vendor. You may even unplug and plug it back to the source. The other way requires pressing a reset button on the device.

Note: If you already have connected your Roku device to your router once before, then it will reconnect automatically. If it is not reconnecting then you have to set up the complete process for your Roku device.