4k TV Tutorial Tutorial: how to end the throttling of your Android TV connection?
Published on 03/19/2023 at 09:05
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Almost all televisions sold in France are 4K TVs, and these 4K TVs are all SmartTVs, or connected TVs in the language of Molière. Do you know that televisions equipped with the Android TV operating system are often entitled to a limited internet connection? Here’s how to work around this problem.
A connected TV has an operating system, like a computer or a smartphone. Google being overpowered, a lot of 4K TVs run under its operating system: Android TV (it can be found at Philips, Sony or TCL in particular). In use, Android TV has 2 major advantages:
It is an ergonomic operating system. And most importantly, Google’s OS turns out to be the most complete on the market! Just about every app you need is just a tap away.
These benefits come with a disadvantage on many models: the network card which limits the Internet speed in the context of a wired connection.
It is common to say that going through an RJ-45 Ethernet cable provides faster and more stable throughput than that resulting from a Wi-Fi connection. This statement is true most of the time (it will be for your PC or your PS5 for example), but it is not verified in 100% of cases. The proof: on a TV running Android TV, it is sometimes better to take advantage of a Wi-Fi 6 connection than Ethernet.
It is important to qualify our point: some high-end TVs are entitled to a better network card, not all Android TVs are created equal. That being said, if you have an Android TV that’s a bit old or paid for between €300 and €600, you can have the fastest connections on the market and the most premium Ethernet cables, your speed is very likely to suffer. be limited.
If you want to make sure that your model is indeed affected by this wire rate limitation problem, we advise you to install the SpeedTest application. For people who do not want to download a new app, know that it is also possible to test your speed directly in the Netflix app.
Go to the menu on the left of the screen. Select “Get help”. Click on “Network check”.
Whether you choose to go through Netflix or an application entirely dedicated to testing your connection, the end result will be identical. You will see for yourself the difference in speed between your Wi-Fi and Ethernet speeds.
There are 2 solutions to this problem. The first is simply avoid going through an Ethernet cable… favor the wireless connection! If your subscription and your place of living allow access to the best Wi-Fi connections on the market, you will probably have more speed without having to bother with an additional cable.
The second solution is to go through an adapter. On your connected TV, there are certainly USB-A ports available. A small USB to Ethernet dongle for less than €20 on Amazon could very well replace your restricted connectivity.
Finally, note that most people don’t need monstrous speeds. Apart from a few fairly specific use cases such as cloud gaming or streaming an uncompressed 4K Blu-ray, approximately 15 or 20 Mbps is enough. If the use of your television is limited to Amazon Prime, Disney+, Twitch or even Netflix 4K, you surely do not need to unblock your television.
