Inability to control after casting for a few minutes

[mwventura]

I have a Nexus 6p. When I cast from any compatible app -- I'll use Google Play as an example -- everything starts off peachy. A few minutes later, I'll get my phone out of my pocket, open up Play Music and will be unable to reconnect to control the cast. I'll go to the cast app and it's about 50/50 if I'll be able to change volume or stop casting from there -- sometimes it shows the cast device in question as not in use, but it also won't show the control menu for that device so I'm just stuck. (Sometimes, it shows an audio device as a video device.)

Anyway, in the end I can unplug the cast device to reset it if nothing else works, but it's really a pain. I wonder if there is a setting which improves staying connected, even if it means a greater battery drain.

 

[B. Diddy]

Have you already tried rebooting or factory resetting the Chromecast? Is your wi-fi network glitchy at all? Check how congested the wi-fi channels are using an app like Wi-fi Analyzer. If you're using a channel that's pretty congested, try changing it (by logging into the router's settings using your computer browser).

 

[mwventura]

I'll take a look at Wifi Analyzer tonight.

I also came across a post referring to the router DNS settings. I find that to be a surprising possibility for something that may create this type of issue.

I should also mention that I am running several cast devices -- 3 audio plus 1 video device on the network.

 

[B. Diddy]

I agree with you--it doesn't seem to me that DNS should matter, since that's more for accessing the web. What you're having problems with is your device connecting properly to another one over your own WLAN, which doesn't directly involve connecting to the web.

 

[mwventura]

The only reason I could see DNS mattering is because once casting starts, the info goes straight to the device and not through the phone. What is unclear is if the connection issue is phone->devices or if it is phone->(cloud content source)->device -- I mean, it seems unlikely initially but I'm only entertaining it as a few folks said it cleared everything up.

Obviously, I didn't get a chance to test this last night...

 

[B. Diddy]

The only reason I could see DNS mattering is because once casting starts, the info goes straight to the device and not through the phone.

Oh, is that the case? I always figured that the phone was still the device that was streaming, and that information was being broadcast over the wi-fi network to the Chromecast. (But I never really researched this.)

 

[mwventura]

OK, so this issue turned out to be pretty specific to a certain setup: I have a Unifi wifi network (which rocks, by the way). I needed to upgrade the controller software, which in turn upgraded the firmware on all of the wifi access points. Now chromecast (so far) seems to work great!

So if you happen to have the Ubiquiti Unifi AP wifi system, upgrade the controller to the latest version and update those access points!

 

[B. Diddy]

Excellent! Thanks for sharing the solution.