Roku is developing a Wi-Fi extender, report says

The media streaming tech company wants better Wi-Fi coverage.

Corinne Reichert Senior Editor

Corinne Reichert (she/her) grew up in Sydney, Australia and moved to California in 2019. She holds degrees in law and communications, and currently writes news, analysis and features for CNET across the topics of electric vehicles, broadband networks, mobile devices, big tech, artificial intelligence, home technology and entertainment. In her spare time, she watches soccer games and F1 races, and goes to Disneyland as often as possible.

Expertise News, mobile, broadband, 5G, home tech, streaming services, entertainment, AI, policy, business, politics Credentials

I've been covering technology and mobile for 12 years, first as a telecommunications reporter and assistant editor at ZDNet in Australia, then as CNET's West Coast head of breaking news, and now in the Thought Leadership team.

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Corinne Reichert

July 24, 2019 1:14 p.m. PT

Roku enhanced remote — Hello, Roku.
Sarah Tew/CNET

Roku is reportedly working on a Wi-Fi extender to help improve video streaming quality throughout the house. The streaming tech company is testing the so-called Roku Relay internally, Bloomberg said, citing sources with knowledge of the matter.

Roku already makes hardware including streaming sticks, set-top boxes, wireless speakers, TV remotes and even TVs. CNET rated the Roku TCL 6 an 8.6 and called it the best-value TV for money as of 2019.

As of May, Roku had around 29 million monthly active users, coming in just behind Amazon's Fire TV's user base of 34 million.

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