See if this sounds familiar to you:
I got a Gemini Air and hooked it up to my smart TV. My TV gets pretty good internet, I tested it with a speedtest app and got like 30 megabits per second. But my Gemini Air sometimes drops off or slows down. Sometimes it says it has no internet. What can I do?
That’s a message from a customer after they got a new Gemini Air. People love the Gemini Air because it’s small and simple and has a real remote with easy-to-understand buttons. But every so often we get someone who complains about the Wi-Fi performance. Unlike other streaming devices, Gemini Air doesn’t have the ability to connect over wired Ethernet, so if your Wi-Fi doesn’t work with it then the device doesn’t work period. So what can you do?
One thing you can do to test
The easiest way to be sure there’s nothing wrong with your Gemini Air is to temporarily move it into the same room as your Wi-Fi router. If there isn’t a TV in that room, move the Gemini Air to a TV that’s as close to the router as possible. You shouldn’t lose any settings or anything. It should be just plug and play. If the Gemini Air works on another TV but doesn’t work on the TV you want it to, it’s probably your Wi-Fi. Luckily there’s an easy way to fix that.
The simplest solution
If you’re getting good Wi-Fi in the room where the Gemini Air is but the Gemini Air itself isn’t getting good Wi-Fi, there’s probably one culprit: your TV. TV screens do a pretty darn good job of blocking Wi-Fi signals, and your Gemini Air is behind that TV screen. It could be that your router is far enough away that its signal is totally blocked by the screen. There’s an easy fix for that.
All you need to do is get an HDMI extension cable like this one from Sewell. It doesn’t have to be this exact cable, but if you do decide to get a cable like this from another vendor make sure it matches these criteria:
- HDMI 2.0 compliant
- Female on one end, male on one end
- Not an active (Redmere/optical) cable
Generally all it takes is moving the Gemini Air out from behind the TV to make it work perfectly. Yes it’s true, this isn’t as attractive of a solution as having the thing behind the TV. But it almost always solves the problem.
What if that doesn’t work?
If that doesn’t work, you should probably take a look at your Wi-Fi situation. You must have a connection that’s Wi-Fi 4 (802.11n) or faster, and it must have a sustained speed of 25Mbps or higher. It’s not good enough if it just peaks now and then at a speed of 25Mbps. It should be that high nearly the whole time.
If you’re not getting that speed, you should definitely look at some sort of Wi-Fi upgrade. Wi-Fi extenders are the cheapest solution. They connect to your home’s Wi-Fi at a point where it’s strong and rebroadcast it. They’re inexpensive and while they’re not a perfect solution, they generally work very well for streaming.
You can also look at one of those mesh systems. We sell some really high quality ones from Ubiquiti but if you’re on a budget there are passable ones that are easy to install from Amazon and Google. We don’t carry them at Solid Signal but they’re still a good value.
Want more information?
If you have questions about your Gemini Air, call the experts! We’re here to help with free tech support on the products we offer. Call us at 888-233-7563 during East Coast business hours. If it’s after hours, no problem! Fill out the form below and we’ll get rightt back to you.
