Camryn Rabideau on June 30, 2020
The average U.S. household has two or three televisions, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, and roughly 40% of homes have more than three TVs!
That’s a lot of TVs to watch your favorite shows on—plus your phones, tablets and laptops. This may leave you wondering how to best set up your home network to stream across your different devices, throughout your home.
Check out the following steps to learn how to stream TV all over the house, moving from one device to another with minimal interruptions.
In order to stream a TV program to multiple devices throughout your house, you’re going to need a strong wireless network able to sustain the high download speeds required for streaming.
For instance, Netflix says your network needs to be able to handle 5 Megabits per second (Mbps) for each high-definition stream and 25 Mbps for 4K or ultra high-definition stream. When considering your internet bandwidth needs, be sure to take into account other devices using your WiFi signal, such as smartphones, computers, gaming consoles, and smart gadgets.
If your home only has one main router, it might have trouble supporting streaming devices on the other side of the house. Try moving your router to a more central location in your home.
Most internet providers offer several tiers of download speeds, and many offer general guidelines on how many devices each tier can support. Consult these recommendations when choosing an internet plan. If you find that your streaming devices are constantly lagging or buffering, you may need to bump up to the next level of service.
If your home only has one main router, it might have trouble supporting streaming devices on the other side of the house. Try moving your router to a more central location in your home, and if that doesn’t solve the problem, it might be time to purchase a WiFi extender or upgrade to a more modern router.
In particular, mesh routers are popular for larger homes with many internet-connected devices. These routers, such as the popular eero system, come with multiple satellites or nodes to place throughout your living space. The satellites capture the main router’s signal and rebroadcast it, helping to eliminate WiFi dead zones and provide a fast, reliable connection in every room.
Once you’re confident that your internet is up to snuff, you can start watching your favorite shows with the help of streaming devices or smart TVs.
The majority of new televisions have streaming capabilities built-in, so if you bought your TV in the past few years, you might not have to purchase a separate streaming device. However, if your TV is on the older side, you can enable streaming with the help of devices like Roku, Apple TV, Chromecast, or Fire TV. Additionally, gaming systems like Xbox One and PlayStation 4 allow you to stream video to your TV.
You’ll need one of these streaming devices attached to each TV in your home (unless it’s a smart TV, of course). This will allow you to watch your favorite shows, movies, and other content in every room.
The final step is to simply install the app(s) for your preferred streaming services and log into your accounts. For households with multiple users, it’s also helpful to set up individual profiles on each service. This will allow you to keep your viewing histories separate.
Some of the most popular streaming services for on-demand content include Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, and HBO. If you’re interested in watching live programming, you might want to consider services such as YouTube TV, Sling TV, and Hulu + Live TV.
With streaming services synced up to all your televisions (and other connected devices), you’ll be able to pause a movie or show in one room, then pick up where you left off on another device. Being able to watch TV how, where, and when you want is one of the many benefits of streaming.
As you can see, learning how to stream TV in multiple rooms isn’t hard. As long as you have a strong WiFi network and the right devices, you’ll be able to watch your favorite content in every room of your home.
Camryn Rabideau is freelance writer specializing in fashion, beauty, home, smart technology and general lifestyle content. She holds a degree in fashion merchandising from the University of Rhode Island and jumps at any opportunity to combine her love for fashion and writing.
Camryn is a regular contributor to popular media sites such as Martha Stewart, Food52, InStyle, Taste of Home, USA Today, Reviewed.com, The Spruce, Elite Daily and The Everygirl. She has also worked with several Fortune 500 companies to create engaging articles for their content marketing initiatives.
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