I am new to this sub, but I think I will learn a lot here.
I have a 2nd gen firestick at the moment, with the new 4k max pre-ordered.
I purchased an OTG cable along with a UGREEN USB 3.0 Gigabit Ethernet adapter. I got everything hooked up, but I am getting slower speed with the Ethernet adapter than I am getting over WiFi.
Any ideas what the problem could be? Is the OTG cable a speed bottleneck? Is my problem the 2nd gen firestick…will I see faster speeds with the Ethernet adapter once I upgrade to the 4k max?
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
UPDATE
My new FireStick 4k Max arrived. I used the same setup with the OTG cable and the UGREEN USB 3.0 Gigabit Ethernet adapter. It is working perfectly. Although I am getting about the same speeds with the wireless and wired…a little over 300Mbs. There is a better Wi-Fi chip in this version of the FireStick so speedwise I wouldn’t need the adapter, but I will be using the extra ports so the added stability of “wired” is a bonus. Also, streaming is WAAAAAY better on this one!
I have similar adapter, same brand, just 100mb version. I haven’t noticed a speed difference, but the wired prevents buffering if wifi gets overloaded. I’ve used it primarily on the first 4k fire stick.
What that other guy said, streaming, even 4k doesn’t take 100mb. You need to see what’s going on with the stream. Download the ‘Developer Tools Menu’, that will point you to tools that ‘should’ show you what’s going on.
Your set up is fine and the Ugreen is great just brightly lit up, don’t let people who don’t know tell you otherwise. Your speeds are fine on ethernet and it is hands down a better more stable connection.
It is the VPN more than likely along with the quality of the stream that is getting you.
For shows and movies I use debrid services that way no need for a VPN since they are hosted on the debrid servers. Prior to that I had never used a VPN or known anyone who has been in trouble for streaming just uploading and sharing content.
I don’t watch sports so I cannot direct you to the best APK’s for that. I would imagine geo blocking could get you with sports, otherwise I would try it without the VPN and see the difference.
I have seen that the drivers for USB 2.0 Ethernet adapters are baked into Android, but not for the the USB 3.0 devices. When setting up an ethernet adapter for Amazon Echo and Google Home devices, the concensus is to get the USB 2.0 versions.
I am surprised that it works at all. What sorts of speeds are you complaining about? WiFi and wired?
I purchased because I experience a lot of buffering when I have a VPN on and am streaming Sunday football. I was hoping this setup would help. Again, I am getting slightly slower speeds when running a speed test, but I’ll find out for sure tomorrow…football Sunday.
USB 3.0 adapters work just fine and is how I set up mine and peoples devices, the only thing is it is overkill as the micro USB on the stick is limited to about 480 Mbps and way more then you need to stream. What the OP is doing is speed tests, his wireless is faster then the port on the device. Most or some already know this.
Since everything is deliberately backward compatible why would you say something like “I am surprised that it works at all”?
Not only is it the best setup, it also future proofed a bit.
On wifi I’m getting about 115mbs… On Ethernet is about 105mbs.
I’m only complaning when trying to stream football. I was hoping that this wired setup would help with the buffering. It likely is the source of the stream along with being behind a VPN, but I assumed a faster Ethernet connection could help.
Streaming won’t take anywhere near 100mb. Ethernet will always be more “stable” than wifi. VPN always bottlenecks the connection. Not sure what country you are in but do you even need the VPN?
I probably don’t “need” the VPN, but occasionally stream from some shady websites and I use it just so my ISP isn’t aware of the sites I stream from.
Streaming football is my only real problem, and that is likely a problem from the source rather than on my end, but I wasn’t expecting slower speeds with Ethernet.
I’m in Canada and I’m also using “shady” sources for football (gochiefs) and hockey (goleafs).
I love the silk browser built into firetv and it’s popup prompts. Makes the experience more manageable with these sites.
Being in Canada they don’t care. Downloading and streaming is fine. It’s uploads that aren’t. So I have never used a VPN.
I wanted to keep Winston rather than get Brady, but I can’t argue with the results. When he leaves in a year or two then the whole team will get blown up and we’ll suck for another 18 years… LOL
