My in-laws recently purchased a new TV, the Samsung Q70AA 65.They got an electrician to install and hook it into the wall. After installation, I tried hooking it up to our wifi network but the reception was too bad. Pretty weird, because my phones and laptops have perfect reception at the same location.
I spent 180$ on a fancy wifi extender, but the wifi signal is still pretty bad. Netflix, Youtube etc. is okay once the movie or clip finally buffered and started. But using the search or switching between the different options is very slow. Using my local Plex server is basically impossible because everytime the TV drops the connection, I need to login into my account again.
I messaged Samsung support and received an email, telling me to use an ethernet cable or to do a system reset etc. System reset hasnât changed anything. I canât install an ethernet cable and I canât even install another Android TV box because the TV is built into the wall and the HDMI/USB ports are not accessible anymore.
Another warning: You need to create a Samsung account before you are able to install other apps and use Netflix. It makes me really angry to spend so much money on a TV, just so I need to create another account because Samsung wants to learn more about my usage habits.
This TV also doesnât use Android TV OS but Samsungâs own brand. This means that many apps are not supported, such as Jellyfin (which is why I tried using Plex).
I donât even bother describing the video or sound quality. It might be good or not, I donât know and I donât care. This smart TV is not smart and installing a 20 m ethernet cable canât be the solution to this issue. Now my in-laws are stuck with a very slow TV and no way to install another TV box without removing it from its mount.
The wifi repeater is definetely working correctly and I tried multiple positions between the router and the TV. Router has been recently purchased for 250$ and automatically selects the best frequency bands. As I said, no issues with any other electronic devices. Not an user error but a badly designed TV.
Welcome @bonguz to the community.
I feel your frustration with an expensive TV that doesnât do what it is supposed to do.
As a test, if you have a smart phone with data connection, you could enable a WiFi hub and connect the TV to it. The TV should find it dynamically and once the password is entered you should have Internet access at 4G speed, or more if you have a 5G service.
That would bypass all the other networking in the home.
The phone would be able to be placed within meters of the TV.
Choosing to install it on the wall at that particular location, not the TV could be the issue âŠ
Interference can occur because being close to the wall, from the materials used in its construction, things in the wall (such as wiring) or things on the other side of the wall (meter box and some electrical devices)
It might be worth removing it from the wall to do a test. Place it on the floor in front of the same wall (500mm) to see if there is a significant improvement. This will confirm if the installation location is the issue. If it is, there may be nothing wrong with the TV and Samsung may be correct in their advice in installing a LAN ethernet cable to resolve.
(@phb posted while I was typing, so a bit of repetition )
Samsung is not renowned for responding to consumer issues as evidenced by numerous posts on the Community but their TVs are usually well regarded.
TVs are designed primarily for picture quality rather than connectivity so are not always as dependable on Wifi as communications products. You noted your phone and laptops connect and work fine, but you did not mention the signal strength at the TV.
Being built into the wall could attenuate the signal at the TVâs antenna, so it could be the wall as much or more than the TV. The only way to tell that would be to have it removed from the wall and checked. If there is a decent signal and it still does not connect and operate to suit that questions its âfitness for purposeâ.
When shopping was the salesman explicitly told the TV would be built into a wall and connected via Wifi, and did the salesman affirm it would work fine in that mode? The answer affects your rights regarding whether the TV is fit for the purposes you intended, communicated, and responded to. If âyouâ went into the shop, looked at the TVs and made your own judgement the suitability for your installation is with you; if it was a salesman who guided you to this model it may be on the shop.
Does that suggest the Wifi signal is still weak at the TV, or that it does not help the TVs response to internet connected functions? If the former, you might investigate a powerline ethernet adapter from your router to an AP located close to the TV. Another possibility (assuming you pull the TV to see if it is the wall affecting your Wifi experience) is to have a powerline ethernet adapter put into the wall behind the TV, essentially making the equivalent of a wired ethernet connection, if you cannot have a wire run. The main issue with powerline adapters is they go into sleep mode to save power and product dependent disconnect when they do, so might result in your needing to keep logging in again as the connection could be lost. Not all powerline adapters have an option to disable power saving sleep mode so if you go that route be sure to check prior to purchase.
With more details about your problem perhaps others can add, especially someone who might have a Q70AA themselves to mention their Wifi experience.
This could be the root of all evil in your case. Depending on the wiring behind the wall and other things like metal framework eg the TV mount the install may have created a WiFi deadspot that effectively blocks the routerâs transmissions. The 5GHz band is particularly sensitive to obstruction, 2.4GHz may have more success in penetrating past the interference caused by the contents of the wall but will be much slower. Your phone will not suffer from this as it is not encased in the wall, it should have much better WiFi reception as you noted. As the other connections for the TV are now not available this also limits other things like connecting a game console or external drive if the need arises in the future. Not a good install in my opinion, one even the installer should have made clear was limiting and could cause connectivity issues.
That in itself sounds like a major design flaw. If you make a device such as a TV that can be hung on the wall, then surely you need to ensure the user can still get to the input/output connections!
Personally, I would not (and do not) rely upon a TV being âsmartâ - as this is really only a minor feature and not what it is designed for. The âsmartâ software is unlikely to get the same support as you would find in a separate box, and so over time often turns out to be insecure (potentially providing a hacker with access to other devices on your network) and no longer supported by the apps it ships with. I know this does little to solve your current problem, but it may help you and others in deciding on how to set up devices in the future.
As has been stated by others in this thread, the fact that the TV is installed into the wall could cause all sorts of problems with WiFi connectivity. You may need to get it uninstalled at least in part in order to give it decent Internet access whether via power line or by snaking a connection from the back to either a WiFi antenna or an external smart box.
For clarity as you added, the OP indicated it was built into the wall not hung on the wall. There are significant differences in utility and potentially serviceability from possible WiFi issues, to inability to reach connectors and rear wiring, to possible heat/ventilation issues in the wall that could affect the electronics over time.
Sometimes design is more important than function for some, and those consumers do not adequately consider potential ramifications of their decisions.
Even if hung on a wall mount bracket access is not assured. Looking at our current Sony and TCL products or previous Toshiba. It may be possible to squeeze a hand to a socket, but without any vision of the labels. Weâve had to lift flat screens off the wall, to get to the sockets and cables effectively.
For a more bespoke in wall install would it be prudent to have a swing out mount or removable rear access panel? Likely a small added cost for a home so styled.
No comment on the WiFi issue. Personal experience with several TVâs is performance can vary with the model and brand. Our Sony is temperamental. 10m to the router and just 3m from a repeater. The laptop and iPad work fine.
There is some simple plain advice from several already on how to determine the cause and solutions.
I have learned a bit about dealing with that. First my current TVs have a set of connections on the sides although most are on the backs. There is usually an image of the connection arrays in the owner booklet to guide oneâs hands, assuming inserting/extracting the specific connector is not inhibited by locality to the wall or mount itself. It seems more recent TVs position the HDMI arrays vertically so they can be reasonably reached from below, assuming enough clearance for the hand holding the cable.
Re in-wall mounting? A swing out mount of some type seems all but mandatory although where there is a will not to, they will be a way not to
Iâve used my phoneâs camera with the flashlight on to the same end.
In CHOICE TV testing we note whether TVs have readily accessible HDMI and USB sockets, taking wall-mounting into account.
Where a decision has been made to âbuild-inâ a TV, the costs are probably substantial, and an ethernet connection would probably not add too much more, whilst delivering much better throughput.
Although like all vintage males, my first approach is often just to guess thinking I remember how it is.
Also the only way I can get to read the manufacturerâs plate on the Columbian, (wood stove, aka cooker). And great for reading the ID plate and serial number for the head units of the split systems. Zoom in and lack of clear vision solved.
I was not included in the decision making of buying this TV. I donât know if it intended to be installed âintoâ walls. At the moment, I would have no idea how I could detach this TV from the mount. Honestly, I donât even know how exactly it was installed anyway.
My old TV had USB and HDMI inputs on the side of the TV. This would be very handy in my case. But I understand that this is getting more complicated because the TV screen is much thinner and there is barely any plastic casing surrounding the screen.
I agree that maybe the wall installation is the root cause of the connectivity issues. At the moment, the signal strength (using the wifi repeater) is about 3 of 5 bars. Doing a speedtest gives me 20 mbit/s, having a 40 mbit internet connection. The issue is not the connection speed but the packet loss. It takes ages to build up a connection. Once the connection is established it seems to be okay.
Even if I hold my phone all the way against the wall, I have no connection issues at all. I would love to remove the TV from the wall and test it again, but I donât know how to. Neither do my in-laws and I guess they will just accept that using the Youtube or Netflix search just takes much longer. (Of course, they will still call me occasionaly, asking to improve itâŠ)
What remains is that Iâm not happy with the software of this TV at all. Registering an account, just to be able to download apps and use Netflix is horrendous. What if Samsung has some server issues on their side, would it stop me from watching Netflix? The next step is probably a subscription account which required 5$ payments per month to be able to use that TV. Given the development in other areas (Gaming, MS Office productsâŠ), I donât think that is an unlikely future.
Our Sony TV which is Android based with Sony mods is also slow to come around and get a reliable WiFi connection. There after it responds well to the remote and smart functions including all the internet serviced features. Iâve put this down to the magic through which the TV and WiFi router decide they are happy to work together. If itâs packet loss, how would one know for sure?
One other smart device is useless until it not only connects to the home WiFi but finds a way to communicate with a Cloud service, somewhere in Hong Kong. Sometimes it takes a while. A second possibility for Samsungâs lack of initial performance may be how the TV might rely on an external connection. Perhaps one that is trying to verify your authorised owner credentials?
It [almost] had to be put into the wall after the wall was built.
Reverse engineering suggests it may be hanging on a fixed wall mount that is embedded into the wall. If there is space above the frame try lifting the TV up and gently pull the top forward. Analogous to a picture hook arrangement. If there is a fixed vanity frame around it to fair it in that would need to be removed and could be more trouble than you want to experience.
Against the wall is not in the wall I have a PV system where the internet connecting bit is in the back of the breaker box. No easy way to run an ethernet cable to it since all the conduits are chockers so Wifi it must be. The signal strength behind the panels where it lives is about half that at the door to make a point.
I suspect that Sony is moving in that direction. Its streaming service is currently provided free if you buy the TV, but let people get comfortable with the idea and then start charging - then a few years later make the streaming service an extra cost.
And if they do, you should insist that the TV be taken down, and the whole thing installed properly!
âProperlyâ means making provision for an ethernet cable. You spend that much on a TV (and an electrician), you shouldnât have to put up with the vagaries of WiFi!
If you ever intend to use USB then âproperlyâ means putting in male-female USB cable(s), just to bring the USB port(s) out.
If you ever intend to use HDMI then âproperlyâ obviously means putting in HDMI cables to make the HDMI ports usable.
A decent sparkie would put all the USB and HDMI ports on a wall plate(s) for you (so that it looks relatively neat). The wall plate could be lower down the wall if that will help with the aesthetics. (The ethernet should be wired back to where it needs to be i.e. in most cases where your router is.)
I suppose if they are super-desperate and the TV is on an internal wall, can you get access to the back of the TV from through the wall?
I would say that an in-wall install is a slightly dubious choice anyway unless they plan to be there a long time, and with the same size of TV, and in the exact same location.
I also wonder about getting power to the TV. Recent TVs that I have bought use an AC/DC adapter. Is that the case? If so, where is the adapter? What happens when the adapter dies? (as it inevitably will if in use 24x7, but if you are âluckyâ, the TV will die first)
or they âbought the houseâ or âbought the designâ from one of the many reno shows sporting in-wall TVs nicely placed over a fireplace where they can stay cool Looks great regardless of being impractical, eh?
This is to be expected as the phone is not encased in the wall so itâs antennas are still âopenâ to the WiFi signals. The TVâs antenna for WiFi connectivity are generally on the back, with many bezels being reduced in size it is difficult for manufacturers to use the frame around the screen to contain any loop antenna and the screen is a large amount of electrical interference as it is full of transistors called TFTs (Thin Film Transistors) or in some cases a ITO (Iridium-Tin Oxide) layer or an addressable grid (which is used depends on the OLED tech used to create the panel). Most are TFT in retail units for the support of faster refresh rates and larger displays.
LCD displays use a similar TFT process to active OLED screens after which the manufacturing process is different and LED uses a p-n diode structure but all of them have an anode and cathode connection in the screen to power the structure and the screens are doped with metal as well. All of this means a large amount of interference at the screen front. Putting the TV into the wall then makes it even harder for a signal to get to the WiFi antenna.
My way of addressing this would be have the TV removed from the cavity then get an Ethernet cable attached from the TV to the router (possibly using patch panels/plates on the wall) and if need be install a patch panel/plate to allow future connectivity to USB and HDMI, then reinstall it in the wall. Another way is remove the TV from the wall, patch up the void then install a mount on the wall so the TV is external to the cavity. None of these will be cheap fixes, but they will make the Smart functions of the TV much more usable.
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Looks great regardless of being impractical, eh?