Chromecast: stable device or not?

[soma4society]

Have three and love what the device does, but I just wish they did it more reliably. I've got CenturyLink DSL (usually pull around 18-20mbps download speed), and it seems like my home network needs to be rebooted DAILY because it constantly loses track of my chromecasts--or the latter loses track of the WiFi. And not just one but all three. One of them does have the extender usb attached and it seems to make no difference. Any other suggestions? All other Wi-Fi devices in the household seem to do just fine with this router.

Thanks!

Moto X/Nexus 5

 

[zedorda]

Switch from DSL to cable broadband. The way DSL manages IPs and routes them will cause problems for you.

 

[soma4society]

Switch from DSL to cable broadband. The way DSL manages IPs and routes them will cause problems for you.

Well that'd sure stink. I just got OUT of broadband due to crummy service with the main provider in this area. There really is no other broadband option in my zip code. That is unless Google fiber eventually comes this way (we're on the short list apparently, so I'm crossing my fingers lol). Nothing in router settings you can think of that may help?



Moto X/Nexus 5

 

[zedorda]

It has been a long time since I used DSL but I would think by now there has been at least some development to improve the function but I can't say I know of any.

 

[patruns]

Are you in the US? Most areas have a choice between a cable provider and Verizon FIOS.

 

[mtncmpr]

Are you in the US? Most areas have a choice between a cable provider and Verizon FIOS.

I hope I'm incorrect, but the best I can tell Verizon FIOS is still unavailable in most areas.
PLEASE tell me I'm wrong! I'm waiting here in NC.

 

[patruns]

I hope I'm incorrect, but the best I can tell Verizon FIOS is still unavailable in most areas.
PLEASE tell me I'm wrong! I'm waiting here in NC.

Well, being in a major metropolitan area, perhaps I over simplified.

 

[Devlyn16]

Well, being in a major metropolitan area, perhaps I over simplified.

Most palces do have 2 providers, just not FIOS

FiOS? Coverage Areas & Availability | 1-800-600-4387
10 states and DC. Only 1/5 of the states have cities with access to Verizon FIOS

The following cities have Verizon FiOS availability for residences:

• New York, NY
• Philadelphia, PA
• Washington, DC
• Hagerstown, MD
• Los Angeles, CA
• Tampa, FL

• St. Petersburg, FL
• Sarasota, FL
• Manchester, MA
• Dallas, TX
• Ft. Worth, TX
• Pittsburgh, PA

• Providence, RI
• New Bedford, MA
• Richmond, VA
• Petersburg, VA
• Norfolk, VA
• Newport News, VA

I suspect the suburbs of these cities also have service.

 

[patruns]

I suspect the suburbs of these cities also have service.

I would agree. I am on Long Island and we have it.

 

[JiminCO]

I have had the same problem of chromecast dropping off the network. I notice the problem the most when cast from Real Player Cloud. I don't believe the problem has anything to do with DSL vs. Cable. A modem is a modem. WiFi is WiFi. If chromecast is dropping off the wireless network I don't see that the method of getting the signal to the modem DSL or Cable has anything to do it. The problem is between the chromecast and the modem. I believe this because when the chromecast drops, the video is still streaming on my laptop that I cast from. If it was the signal provider I would loose the signal on my laptop as well. So far I have: 1)changed USB cable; 2)changed the power from USB to direct connect to a electric outlet; 3)connected the dongle both directly to the HDMI port and with the extender; 4)checked signal strength (which is 100% at -49dBm); 5) the chromecast dongle is only 18 feet from the modem; 6)checked that I am the only one using the channel set on my modem within my neighborhood. I did get a little improvement when I changed the USB cable and again when I changed to direct power. But the problem still persists. Sometimes it will cast for 10 minutes then drop, sometimes it casts 20 or 25 minutes before dropping. Usually after about 10 minutes the chromecast reconnects to the network without me doing anything. Sorry your post got pushed down the provider rabbit trail.

 

[NoYankees44]

I have century link 10 Meg and mine is rock solid. It will drop in quality occasionally, but never loose connection. I have had mine sense September or so.

I would check the router. Is it a good one? Are the chromecasts far away from it? Is there many walls between the chromecast and the router? Is something else on the network pulling a lot of bandwidth? I can't imagine running all 3 of them at once is a good idea.

 

[mavrrick]

I have had the same problem of chromecast dropping off the network. I notice the problem the most when cast from Real Player Cloud. I don't believe the problem has anything to do with DSL vs. Cable. A modem is a modem. WiFi is WiFi. If chromecast is dropping off the wireless network I don't see that the method of getting the signal to the modem DSL or Cable has anything to do it. The problem is between the chromecast and the modem. I believe this because when the chromecast drops, the video is still streaming on my laptop that I cast from. If it was the signal provider I would loose the signal on my laptop as well. So far I have: 1)changed USB cable; 2)changed the power from USB to direct connect to a electric outlet; 3)connected the dongle both directly to the HDMI port and with the extender; 4)checked signal strength (which is 100% at -49dBm); 5) the chromecast dongle is only 18 feet from the modem; 6)checked that I am the only one using the channel set on my modem within my neighborhood. I did get a little improvement when I changed the USB cable and again when I changed to direct power. But the problem still persists. Sometimes it will cast for 10 minutes then drop, sometimes it casts 20 or 25 minutes before dropping. Usually after about 10 minutes the chromecast reconnects to the network without me doing anything. Sorry your post got pushed down the provider rabbit trail.

What were you casting from your computer? And what kind of router do you have? Lastly what kind of Internet connection and speed do you have?

Posted via Android Central App on my Note 3

 

[Scott99]

I'd say it's 85% stable. Mine drops off 3 times a week.

 

[soma4society]

I have century link 10 Meg and mine is rock solid. It will drop in quality occasionally, but never loose connection. I have had mine sense September or so.

I would check the router. Is it a good one? Are the chromecasts far away from it? Is there many walls between the chromecast and the router? Is something else on the network pulling a lot of bandwidth? I can't imagine running all 3 of them at once is a good idea.

Interesting to know thanks. FWIW, It's a brand new router and new service. All other WiFi devices in the household seem to lock on and stay locked without issues. The furthest chromecast has the extender usb cord attached, the two closer ones do not. But it doesn't seem to matter frankly. There's a big screen smart tv attached via Ethernet cord to the router, but heck if I know if that's what's doing it. Maybe I'll change router channels, see if that helps

Moto X/Nexus 5

 

[canterp]

I have similar problem. Kind of disappointed. I can cast off the internet just fine, e.g. Netflix or HBO and I really think that is great. What I can not do with any reliability is to cast local video from my phone (Nexus 5). It just sort of hangs and every once and a while plays for a second. Casting photos from my phone does work but is slow, painfully slow, embarrassingly slow.

I tried Juice and then I tried Castaway. Same exact thing, videos taken on my phone can not be cast to the TV. Photos are slow.

What really upsets me is that AppleTV does it and very seamlessly and reliably and fast.

I see the potential for Chromecast is great but there is a certain amount of Emperor's new clothes with it. The holy grail is seamless and quick integration with home TV. I don't see it yet with Chromecast but I do with Apple. Come on out there, back me up or are you all seeing the naked emperor but not saying anything?

Another thing I was wondering about is why can't I cast using Chrome on my Nexus 5. I just got my Nexus 5 a couple of months ago and my GalaxyNexus before was able to cast to Chrome. Not Nexus 5 and Android 4.4.2. Am I missing something? Also, disappointing. Why buy the latest greatest if it is a step backwards.

PC

 

[JiminCO]

Mavrrick,
Thanks for your reply. Here's the answer to your questions:
What were you casting from your computer? I was casting from a windows 7 HP laptop, chrome browser, and the Real Player Cloud app.
And what kind of router do you have? Actiontek c1000a. It was listed on the Chromecast compatibility list previously. But I didn't see it listed on the latest list.
Lastly what kind of Internet connection and speed do you have? DSL and 15Mps.
Jim

 

[NoYankees44]

It is worth mentioning that casting from a Chrome tab is not as good as it could be. I have had random disconnects and such doing it. My stability claim earlier was from casting YouTube and Netflix and Pandora and such.

 

[mavrrick]

Mavrrick,
Thanks for your reply. Here's the answer to your questions:
What were you casting from your computer? I was casting from a windows 7 HP laptop, chrome browser, and the Real Player Cloud app.
And what kind of router do you have? Actiontek c1000a. It was listed on the Chromecast compatibility list previously. But I didn't see it listed on the latest list.
Lastly what kind of Internet connection and speed do you have? DSL and 15Mps.

Thanks for all of the info. The answer to the first question doesn't really answer what I was meaning to ask. Basically what i was getting at was to see if you were streaming from your computer with tab casting or using a compatible app to stream from a remote service like Netflix. If it was a remote service like Netflix you are possibly killing your network connection twice. If your computer is having to cast the tab and transcode the video there could be the potential for something screwy with the computer. I have no experience with Actiontek. Most of my routers have either been Linksys, Netgear, Motorola, or UBEE. I know out of those 4 I have never given the UBEE or Motorola much consideration because of how flaky they are. You may want to try a dedicated router device and see if that helps. Even if it is just a single band N router that can only do 150mbps. I bought the Netgrear WNDR2000 refurbished from Tigerdirect and it works great at my GF house. Heck my folks even have a old 54mbps G router from Linksys it works great on. Netgear and Linksys have been in the home router business for a long time so i really don't think issues should occur with them. As far as your speed goes 15mbps DSL should be sufficient for up to 2 HD streams. Most of the services i have found online say they can do HD at around 4.5mbps to 7mbps. You can't do much else at the same time with that bandwidth, but it should be sufficient.

I agree with you it is something between your router and the CC. Routers can do some crazy thing if the code driving them isn't mature. Some of the crazy stuff that the Motorola D3 Modem/Router I had for a while just blew me a way.

I see the potential for Chromecast is great but there is a certain amount of Emperor's new clothes with it. The holy grail is seamless and quick integration with home TV. I don't see it yet with Chromecast but I do with Apple. Come on out there, back me up or are you all seeing the naked emperor but not saying anything?

Another thing I was wondering about is why can't I cast using Chrome on my Nexus 5. I just got my Nexus 5 a couple of months ago and my GalaxyNexus before was able to cast to Chrome. Not Nexus 5 and Android 4.4.2. Am I missing something? Also, disappointing. Why buy the latest greatest if it is a step backwards.

I really don't see what you are getting at. The CC was always suppose to be about streaming from remote hosts. Not local content. The only exception to that was the Chrome browser on the PC. This has only changed recently as developers are deploying apps now that the SDK has been fully released. I would expect that the issues isn't the CC but with the software being used to cast local content. That isn't the CC failing but that software. Not sure what you were doing that allowed your Galaxy Nexus to cast to it, but i don't believe it. You may want to check that again, or maybe we are referring to 2 different things.

When you compare CC to Apple you have to remember you area also comparing a device that is open and compatible with allot more then just a handful of devices. It is easy to make stuff work when you limit what it is compatible with. The thing to remember with the CC is that it is gong to be as reliable as what it is connecting to. I have had no issues with the original apps that it was launched with. They have worked great. I haven't really experience any issues with HBO Go. I use Plex in my home for streaming and it works pretty good most of the time. The only exception is if i overrun the CPU in my server, or don't have enough bandwidth to upload the stream. That isn't the CC's fault though.

 

[JiminCO]

Mavrrick,
I am streaming from the Realplayer Cloud compatible app remote service and not from a tab in the browser.
I have not tried a dedicated router. I will have to research that as my knowledge in that area is nonexistent. But I'm sure there's a lot of info out there.
Thanks for confirming that the problem lies between CC and the router.

 

[PiggyMiddle]

I tossed mine aside not long after buying it late last year. It was OK for Netflix, but Youtube did not always work and the app within chrome was pretty useless. This morning I decided to reinstall it as it has been a few months and hoped the firmware had improved. It has, but still not great.

During the setting up it displayed the old name I had given it and the old wifi connection. It downloaded the latest firmware version which froze at 97%. I left it for an hour then came back and still showing 97%, so I pulled the power and restarted the install again.

This time it updated the firmware, I hooked it to the wifi and it rebooted, but then it could not find the wifi again and it displayed the old connection properties. I tried a third time and this time I changed the device old name, "LoungeCC" to "CCLounge" and again hooked it to the wifi. It is finally running but little seems to have changed with what will cast OK.

I cannot stream Amazon videos, it says "format not supported" so that's pretty useless. Youtube seems to be more stable, but without Amazon it is pointless running it as I have to go back tot he laptop HDMI for Amazon.

Google is not quite there yet.

Just to add, I tried using my DSL Buffalo with DD-WRT and also tethered 4G as wifi APs, neither seemed to make any difference to performance.