Hi, I’m not very technical so would appreciate any advice which might help me with this problem.
On nearly every ride I do, my connection drops out at least once, but more often twice. Sometimes it says that it’s dropping, but doesn’t (or recovers very quickly). The connection normally restores within about five or six seconds which often isn’t the end of the world, but depending on timing can lead to being dropped or messing up a climb (in Richmond last night) etc. So I’d just like to get it fixed if I can.
My setup:
Wahoo kickr
Apple TV 4k
Hardwired connection in to Router
High speed fiber optic broadband (Virgin Media)
My companion app also freezes during the dropouts despite there usually being a very strong wifi connection (router is in the same room). I can be listening to an online radio station through wifi at the same time without interruption.
I really don’t know where to start, so all help greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Paul.
I assume you use Bluetooth to connect to the Apple TV. Do you use the companion app as a bridge for your trainer. (ie can you ride without using the companion app)
Do you have any other Bluetooth devices in the room that try to connect to the TV or Phone?
My trainer and HR monitor connect to the Apple TV via Bluetooth, so yes I can ride without the companion app open.
I don’t have a cadence sensor in the room at the moment.
The only other Bluetooth connection is between my headphones and either my phone or iPad for music.
How far are you and your trainer from the Apple TV?
Is there a direct line of sight between the Kickr and the Apple TV?
Is your WiFi 2.4GHz or 5GHz?
Who or what says this?
Apple TV box is about 1.2 meters from my trainer.
Yes, direct line of site, though the apple tv unit is sitting on a small wooden desk.
Not sure re the wifi, but my apple tv is hardwired in to my router.
I get a grey box that appears top right hand side of the Zwift screen, says something about connection errors then the other riders disappear.
If your router is also broadcasting wirelessly, it could be that whatever wireless channel the router is using is interfering with the signals of other equipment. This happened to me recently. I was losing connection (admittedly all wirelessly) several times during a ride and it was driving me mad. One change of the wireless channel and bosh, literally all resolved.
Good luck… I know how annoying dropped connections are.
This, especially the riders disappearing, sounds like a network issue. Even though your Apple TV is hard wired to the router, you can still have network errors. How is your internet connection?
Hard set the port speed to 100Mbps instead of auto on both sides (Apple TV and your router) if possible. If not, then at least hard set it on the Apple TV side. Then, I would power down the Apple TV. Reboot the router. Then power up the Apple TV again.
Another thing you might want to do before you make the aforementioned change is run Speedtest. Then after the change above, run the test again. Better? Worse? They have a free app in the App store.
Thanks all for your help and advice.
Strangely I’ve found that unplugging the network cable from my Apple TV and switching it to wifi seems to have fixed the drop-out problem. I’ve completed about 6 rides without a single issue and it was happening at least twice on every ride before then.
Thanks again,
Paul.