If you wish to set the speed of your connection for video streaming manually on the Roku video player, there is a code you can enter to access the speed override settings.
- Break out the Roku remote and go to the Home screen.
- Use the following sequence to access the “Select a speed…” screen:
- Home 5 times
- Rewind 3 times
- Fast Forward 2 times.
- A screen will appear where you can set the speed you desire.
You may want to start by trying the 3.5Mbps setting, test playback, then try a different setting for best results.
The “Enable playback debugging” option turns on a feature that will display the speed you are getting while playing video. This setting only works with streaming set to “automatic“.
David says
My wife and I are full-time RVers and have been successfully using this trick to manage our Verizon data plan usage for months. Given the quirk about it showing “Automatic” every time you go back to the setting screen, we were diligent about resetting it every time we restarted our TV – a TCL with built-in Roku.
HOWEVER, that all changed sometime in the past month or so, following a TV software update. Though the cheat code still brings you to the manual setting – and allows you to make a reduced speed selection – *** it no longer throttles the connection ***. This has caused us to inadvertently go ripping through a bunch of hotspot data just watching an hour of evening news.
Anyone that had been relying on this feature to manage their data caps should beware!
Frank says
Works great, thanks! Cannot fathom why there are so many comments saying to switch to Firestick. They are AWFUL! Roku is sooo much better, but I was having some speed issues which this has now solved.
Wil says
Just forget any fixes and just buy a Amazon Firestick. I was real disappointed in Roku’s internet speed malfunction, they need to fix the problem or lose customers. People are constantly saying Roku has bad customer service. I had to replace the Roku in the bed room to a Firestick, I have one in the family room and it never let me down. Save yourself the hassle and replace the Roku until they get themselves together. Signed Very disappointed.
Chris says
I got the bit rate override screen on but the moment I close that screen it reverts back to automatic. I don’t have enough data to watch hd video all the time. Help.
Kerwin baker says
I’m new to the technical world. Ditched cable. Roku eats my months data in 3 days. Guess I’ll have to try fire stick
Mark says
I am now in the habit of resetting the Roku bit rate every time I start the TV. Each time I pull up the menu it reverts to Automatic. I do not know if the settings hold between shut down and start up. So Just have to reset every single time.!
We almost exceeded out data cap for the third time in about a year!. The only difference is the kids were out of school for a week at the beginning of the year.
I”m not playing this BS game. I’ll switch to a product that holds the setting I put it at. IF I can’t reduce the bandwidth on a product, I won’t buy it.
I love my Roku but this is more than I want to risk. I’m on a fixed income & got rid of Directv because of their rate hikes and forcing useless channels on us just because they think they can!
Edward says
Roku does not listen to their customers when setting bandwidths! Dump Roku and use Firestick, Hulu, Netflix, etc., at the very least these services allow a user to set bandwidths.
Southern Stones says
I received an email from my home internet provider that I had gone over a TB of data use. I checked my account & still had 1 week left on they cycle. After several calls to Roku & AT&T, I noticed that even while no one was in the house for 17 days, Roku Ultra was guzzling data. Roku was no help & would not admit something had changed. All I know is for the 1st 6 months, the most data used in a month was less than 400 GB. This was including having houseguests & more usage than usual. Now I unplug Roku device & average less than 200 GB per cycle.
Ray says
My Roku worked fine for six month then it has not – says not connected to the internet or not enough speed
I have a Netgear X6 tri-band router which should have enough speed
I don,t know what to do ,Is the stick malfunctioning , any ideas thanks
keenan says
MCClapYoHands says to connect it to your guest network in your wifi router because sometimes it has a lower setting.
You are brilliant. I went into my router but didn’t have to go to guest network. My router has a 2g and 5g so I changed the bits per second on the 2g and reconnected roku to that. With my fire stick and fire tv I don’t have to worry because you can set the bits in the settings and it stays. Thank you Mcclapyohands
MCClapYoHands says
One possible solution is enable the Guest Network, and enable bandwidth controls, many routers have this, crank the bandwidth down to 1.5Mbps or 2Mbps that might save some bandwidth.
Then connect the ROKU to the guest network, might help a bit.
Terri says
Has ANYONE found out why Roku has stopped letting its customers reduce the streaming speed? I’m now going over on my metered service . I use YouTubeTV so can’t use an Amazon product. Any other suggestions.?It would be BEST of Roku would stop limiting us.
Sandmck says
I tried to reset to manual bit rate speed, as Roku’s automatic bit rate speed of 12.0 mbps is way to high, it eats up my data. Each time I changed to manual, it resets to automatic. So I will be switching my Roku devices to Amazon Fire sticks. I already have one fire stick and have no problems setting my preferences and don’t have to worry about it automatically being changed. I called Roku and the CSR was of no help what so ever.
Skylar says
I noticed yesterday that the secret screen no longer has the option to limit bandwidth. A recent update must have removed it.
Diane says
I contacted customer support and what they told me the bitrate needs to stay automatic but i can change it at my own risk.They were no help.My bitrate won’t stay at the 0.3.I notice the x is gone from the bitrate override.
Diane says
Today my roku tv’s started going back to automatic.For months now I keep it on lowest bitrate now goes back to automatic.Never had this happen before.Any suggestions thanks,Diane
Packman says
I just bought Roku Ultra to stream from my iPad wireless hot spot in my vacation home which has no internet availability.
I manually set to 0.6Mbs to keep data usage under 20G for the 1-2 weeks I’m there each month.
Like others on this thread I’m finding manual goes back to AUTO.
My solution is a bit easier than most, I’m returning my Roku and switching to FireStick. Unfortunately this solution may be expensive for those not able to return for refund.
I have 5 other Roku units at home where I am on high speed internet. It is a great product but this change makes it a “No Buy” for those with data limits like satellite or mobile hotspot tethering.
From this thread it sounds like this was intentional by Roku and they have no desire to fix it.
I’ve stoped in on a couple of the big retailers where I live and vacation and politely spoke with a few on the sales floor and let them know of this limitation. They generally are not aware of specific limitations and have ALL appreciated the feedback.
Maybe if we all did this it would be is better way to encourage Roku to rethink this change ( from what the feedback on the threads it sounds like complaints to tech support is a dead end). After all there they’re their to fix problems not defend design changes.
JEFF says
I’ve been having the same problem. Roku has become a data gobbler. If this doesn’t change soon I’ll need to look for an alternative to a Roku. Any suggestions?
Leigh says
I always set to the lowest. I just experienced the data rate going back to automatic. At least I know it’s not just me
LarryR says
I have noticed that the manual rate that I set on my Roku2 is no longer holding. With my 250GB data cap from my ISP this is not acceptible! I am now watching SlingTV on my PC devices as they do allow the data rate to be reliably set.
kellie ann says
I’ve had a roku for the last year or so, my boyfriend plays online on his computer so i constantly have to lower the Mbps rate so he can stream. i’ve literally never had a problem with it before the last week. i select a lower bit rate and as soon as i go back to the main menu it resets every single time and goes back to automatic. i went as far as to buy a new roku stick and i still am having the same problem, and roku support is not helpful at all. what is going on?!?!? and is there a different option i can use on the roku before losing my mind?
Patty says
For both my Roku Express Plus and my black Roku Streaming Stick I have been using the manual setting to select a lower bit rate for quite a while. However, today it will not hold the lower settting that I have selected. I just talked to Roku. First, they were very surprised that I knew how to change the bit rate. Secondly, they said that they have intentionally changed it so you can no longer select a manual setting (even though the menu still includes “manual.”
Is anyone with any of the other Roku devices able to manually change the bit rate setting? If so, I will upgrade to a different Roku.
Bing Bong says
Anyone? what specific Roku stick do you have?
keenan says
Nick, I just followed the directions and it’s been a couple of weeks and the settings are still as I put them. I wonder if there’s something with the stick itself. I would contact Roku directly, maybe they’ll do some kind of update to fix it. I just bought another Roku stick for another TV and that one does not hold the settings. Our fire sticks hold the settings though. Maybe it’s best to go with a fire stick till they fix the bug. I’m contacting Roku directly for the other stick
Nick says
I have tried this and changed to manual and it doesn’t matter the speed I set I always comes back to automatic. Keenan what did you do that I didn’t I have 40 plus years in IT and this appears to be hard coded.
keenan says
Thank you worked for me. I checked back to see if the settings had held and although automatic was highlighted because that’s where the cursor defaults to the top right where it says bitrates it says that my settings are still there where I set them to
Mark says
Every few days my Roku goes back to automatic which gobbles up data. So I reset usually to minimum. Then a few days later I find it’s on automatic again!!!
I emailed Roku and they were less than helpful.
Ridi James says
Why why why why WHY do they do this? Just let me set it to absolutely minimum bandwidth and leave it alone! I don’t care if it looks SD. I don’t care if it looks blocky. JUST LET ME CHOOSE AND LEAVE IT!
SatchimosMom says
I set all of ours at 1.5 using the actual remote. The settings held for months. Come December, we were suddenly using huge amounts of data. Went back in and noticed they had all reverted back to automatic. Just reset two nights ago and so far is holding.
I think perhaps they reset themselves when we had a recent upgrade. Just a theory. I’m going to start checking these weekly to ensure we keep our usage down as we are cord cutters with three retired adults in the household.
Sewahgroup says
Worked for me. The new setting held. Used real physical remote. Once you select the speed it exits automatically. Went back in and there was an “x” next to the speed I selected.
John says
Got into the Bitrate menu and changed from Automatic to 1.0 mB/S. Went to news channel and it seems the Bitrate was still on high. Confirmed that when looking at my bandwidth usage from my ISP. Going to contact Roku on this issue. Having limited BW makes this option very important to me.
Indie says
This didn’t work for me. It was already on Automatic, so I enabled speed, which was supposed to show me the speed for shows somewhere. But it didn’t show the speed. It was a nice thought, though.
Steve says
using the 5-3-2 code to access the screen to change the bandwidth is great, there are lots of options to choose from, however, as soon as you close that screen, the ROKU TV reverts back to “automatic” and when in this mode, streaming consumes about 1 GB per hour of data. How do you make the change stick. ?
Chima Alozie says
Hello,
Thanks for this… Wanted going crazy with the buffering problem on Plex in Roku.
Used the code, change the Mbps and didn’t stop again. Great tip.
Hel says
Hi. I, like Sandy (March 17, 2017 comment), used the secret code to change the bit rate speed of my Roku Streaming Stick to 3.5, but it stays on Automatic. Any ideas?
Sandy says
I have used the secret code to change the connection speed on my Roku 2. Now it stays on automatic. Roku doesn’t let you change it. Please advise.
Beatrice Hall says
I have a Roku TV and it would not connect directly to my modem but it will connect to a computer that’s connected to the modem by hotspot what should I do to get my TV itself to connect to the internet without going through my laptop or computer
Margaret Reitz says
This did not work on my ROKU? I m running through gigabytes like crazy watching k-dramas. HD is nice, but I want a choice. Any other suggestions?
Cynthia says
Thank you! I had tried this with the Roku app “remote” and it didn’t work, but it did when I used the real remote – thanks for the tip!
floyyd says
thank yo so much! I forgot how to do this!