Chromecast and Teltonika Routers

[DBK]

NB: This is a niche technical thread. If you don't want to run a Chromecast dongle with a Teltonika router - read no further!

As it's blowing a gale outside and I couldn't raise the satellite dish I thought I would try the Google Chromecast dongle I bought last year but have never tried.

I plugged it into the back of the Avtex TV and it booted up and started showing its wallpaper images on the screen. But the Google Home app on both my phone and tablet couldn't find the Chromecast device. The router could see the CC dongle and had given it an IP address so that part was working. The problem seemed to be with the Teltonika router.

There isn't a lot I could find on the web about this issue which is probably unsurprising.

To cut to the chase I eventually discovered by changing the WiFi channel on the Teltonika 955 router to 6 instead of the 13 it was on the CC dongle now works. Why it works I'm not 100% sure. There are other WiFi networks visible here as we are on a site so perhaps it was interference.

I'm only posting this in case someone has this problem in the future and they find this thread by doing a search.

Now to watch the Hairy Bikers in the Mediterranean.

 

[Gab MacLaren]

Ooops, I kept reading....You found your solution, but you have hdmi on your tv, why not just use an hdmi cable from your laptop/tablet, or the many mobile phones that have this connectivity? We have given up on satelite, especially in Southern Europe and the Pyrenees and use wifi all the time now. If there is no local wi-fi I use my 25gb mobile roaming allowance on the phone to provide a local network which seems to last forever and has never let us down.

 

[DBK]

Ooops, I kept reading....You found your solution, but you have hdmi on your tv, why not just use an hdmi cable from your laptop/tablet, or the many mobile phones that have this connectivity? We have given up on satelite, especially in Southern Europe and the Pyrenees and use wifi all the time now. If there is no local wi-fi I use my 25gb mobile roaming allowance on the phone to provide a local network which seems to last forever and has never let us down.

No hdmi port on any device we have. The Chromecast dongle does it using WiFi. We have WiFi in the MH from the router although you can do the same with a MiFi.

What I don't know is whether you can do it without a router and just using your phone as a hotspot.

 

[Gab MacLaren]

You need either local WiFi or one device to create a hot-spot, then another to cast to chrome cast if you don't have an hdmi connection.

 

[DBK]

You need either local WiFi or one device to create a hot-spot, then another to cast to chrome cast if you don't have an hdmi connection.

Thanks, I felt it should work with a hotspot but hadn't tried it.

But more importantly, welcome to Motorhome Fun!

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[Burgo]

What I don't know is whether you can do it without a router and just using your phone as a hotspot

You can but you need to get the order right when setting it up especially if you're using a VPN. It always took me half a dozen goes to connect ours using my phone as a hotspot. I believe the thing it cribs over is that when you connect to the cc dongle is it establishes its own WiFi network connection between the device running Google Home and the dongle. Google something like "Chromecast issues in hotels" ffi.

To be honest I gave up on it and just bought a firestick which runs the apps itself rather than the cc way which runs the app on a phone / tablet / pc and then 'casts' the stream to the cc dongle. The firestick runs perfectly every time off the phone hotspot and runs ukexpattv app with no issues so you can use iplayer for bbc, itv hub, channel, 4 etc while abroad as well as Netflix, prime, hbo etc. Only now use the cc if we have a movie on the laptop we want cast to the TV.

 

[TheCaller]

To cut to the chase I eventually discovered by changing the WiFi channel on the Teltonika 955 router to 6 instead of the 13 it was on the CC dongle now works. Why it works I'm not 100% sure. There are other WiFi networks visible here as we are on a site so perhaps it was interference.

Channel 13 isn't recognised by some devices, so that may have been the problem. I've forgotten what it was I was trying to connect when I discovered that. Probably one of the OH's older Kindles, or it might have been the Oki printer. I changed the router to channel 13 to avoid a lot of crowded channels & there was something that wouldn't connect. Took quite a while to find out why not!

 

[DBK]

Channel 13 isn't recognised by some devices, so that may have been the problem. I've forgotten what it was I was trying to connect when I discovered that. Probably one of the OH's older Kindles, or it might have been the Oki printer. I changed the router to channel 13 to avoid a lot of crowded channels & there was something that wouldn't connect. Took quite a while to find out why not!

That may be the problem. Channel 13 also overlaps other nearby channels.

Still a mystery.

 

[Neilfg]

North America restricts WiFi channels to 11, so 12,13 & 14 are not generally used and maybe reduced power if available so as to not cause interference. Maybe Chromecast is wired to avoid them ??