Issue with mesh WiFi network and casting YouTube videos to Smart TV.

[JeremyG]

So I've just upgraded our home WiFi by setting up a mesh network, specifically with the TP-Link Deco W3600. Everything is working pretty well, and the entire house pretty much now has great WiFi everywhere. 

However, I am having the strangest issue. I can no longer cast videos from YouTube on my phone to my TCL Roku TV. I've tried everything I can pretty much think of (disconnecting both devices from the WiFi, rebooting devices, even making sure the TV and phone were connected to the same Deco unit!), and YouTube just refuses to see my TV. I can link it with the code still, but that's cumbersome. 

I'm just wondering if perhaps a mesh network doesn't quite work with YouTube casting? Does anyone have any tips or suggestions? Thanks for you time!

[SupaKomputa]

how many repeater is it from the main router?

in mesh network, from each repeater to another will decrease the bandwidth (and increase the latency) by half.

[JeremyG]

EDIT: I figured it out!

So, within the Deco app, I had set all of our TVs to "High Priority" so that they would get the best possible speeds while we streamed our shows. All I had to do was set our phones to also have High Priority and now the YouTube app finds all of them just fine. 

I'm not quite sure why that was the culprit, but hey, at least I found the solution. 

ORIGINAL POST:

Well, I just have two Deco units, our house is only 1500sqft so didn't need any more satellites than that. However, the Smart TV is literally only 3 feet above the main Deco unit, no obstructions. This is the Deco unit that is plugged into the modem. 

That's why I'm a bit confused and starting to think that maybe the YouTube app just doesn't like mesh wifi networks, and Google's help pages are providing 0 insight. 


 

Edited April 30, 2022 by JeremyG
Found the solution.

[Alex Atkin UK]

1 hour ago, SupaKomputa said:

how many repeater is it from the main router?

in mesh network, from each repeater to another will decrease the bandwidth (and increase the latency) by half.

That graphic is extremely misleading as the reason it reduces usable bandwidth is because you're wasting bandwidth repeating the same data multiple times between each repeater, using the same channel.

Being connected to the main WiFi is not enough to avoid this as if the last one in the chain is using 15Mbit (in this example) then there is zero bandwidth left even on the first Access Point.

 

This is also assuming they are fairly dumb repeaters without a dedicated radio for backhaul traffic to mitigate the issue, and that they are daisy-chaining rather than all connected back to the main AP.

I realise this is not relevant to the OP now, but I felt it needed explaining in case anyone sees this graphic.