Roku 3 Streaming Video

I've got some credit card reward points about to expire and am considering a Roku 3 Streaming Video player for home and the boat. I noticed its input power requirement is 12V, so no inverter would be required on the boat.

I sometimes get Wifi on the boat through my Wave Rogue Wifi extender, but often I'm just tethered to my phone using AT&T 3G. Does the Roku buffer enough to allow a seamless viewing experience with a 3G connection?

Any and all opinions and experiences welcome!!

We've been using a Roku for past two years at home through WiFi only. Never tried tethering it so can't speak to 3G. Its worked out quite well for Netflix, Vudu and Amazon Instant.

A friend swears by his Roku unit and uses it in his RV and home. Not sure if he tethers in his trailer or not.

I tether my laptop to my phone occasionally and stream Netflix fine. YMMV

I very seriously doubt streaming would be a pleasant experience on 3G. I think I remember seeing something that said you need a minimum of 1.5mbps and preferably 5mbps to be totally trouble free. I don't think 3G can put out that kind of performance.

Did you get one?

FlyWright said:

I sometimes get Wifi on the boat through my Wave Rogue Wifi extender, but often I'm just tethered to my phone using AT&T 3G. Does the Roku buffer enough to allow a seamless viewing experience with a 3G connection?

Any and all opinions and experiences welcome!!

Click to expand...

Art, did you get a Roku box?

I have a verizon 4G MiFi unit that should probably work but with a 4 G monthly allotment, I'm a little hesitant to use it.

My marina however does have WiFi. Using a Roku box and the marina's WiFi connection will I be able to stream Netflex movies?

timjet said:

Art, did you get a Roku box?

I have a verizon 4G MiFi unit that should probably work but with a 4 G monthly allotment, I'm a little hesitant to use it.

My marina however does have WiFi. Using a Roku box and the marina's WiFi connection will I be able to stream Netflex movies?

Click to expand...

It is all a matter of speed/connection. If the signal is stable and a good solid 5+ Mbps! you should be fine. You will be able to go with less than that as long as the signal is steady and consistent. But a WAG would have to be 2+ Mbps.... I have 25mbps at the house and it occasionally buffers. That is likely the server and not my connection but still....

I used to try to stream with a signal that varied from 1-2 Mbps and it was. Nothing but frustration.

Thanks John, I'm going down to the marina this weekend, how would I measure the marina's WiFi (speed) mbps?

I goggled WAG's, it came up with Wife's And Girlfriend's, I'm thinking probably not what you meant.

Wild Ass Guess=WAG

Speedtest.net by Ookla - The Global Broadband Speed Test

They also have an app for your android or iPhone.

WAG, wireless application gateway

Cool application.
Here's some data:

3 G mobile on my cellphone: .51 mbps
4 G Verizon MiFi: .69 mbps
Hotel WiFi: 8.81 mbps

Guess I'm not going to use my MiFi for streaming anytime soon.

I use my 3G MiFi to stream off my Slingbox HD. I just start it and pause for about 10-15 minutes while it fills the buffer. Then I can watch home recorded content without any buffer underruns.

timjet said:

Art, did you get a Roku box?

I have a verizon 4G MiFi unit that should probably work but with a 4 G monthly allotment, I'm a little hesitant to use it.

My marina however does have WiFi. Using a Roku box and the marina's WiFi connection will I be able to stream Netflex movies?

Click to expand...

I got the roku 3 and hooked it up at home. It works great on our home wifi and is an easy set up. For grins, I connected to my Note 8 wifi hotspot with 4g/lte signal. It was close to the end of the billing period with plenty of data left (more than 5gb) so I figured it was a good time to try a test.

It actually worked very well while watching a full length movie. We experienced no buffering or other quality issues. The down side is my data plan took about a 1gb hit to load the movie.

Bottom line: if we're out on the boat and have the data to spare, we won't hesitate to download a movie. Since we boat in the SF Bay and delta, we almost always have good cell service. I'll report back after a real world test on the boat.

BTW, another good app is Wifi Analyzer. It provides great graphics for signal strength and speed. It was recommended to me by our local cable internet troubleshooter.