Wired Ethernet adapter on Fire TV Stick
Wired is better than WiFi for streaming so here’s a Fire TV Stick with a wired Ethernet network connection
The second generation Amazon ‘All-New’ Fire TV Stick allows you to connect USB devices such as keyboards, mice and Ethernet adapters using a simple OTG cable.
I wanted to test it out so I bought this cheap USB 2.0 Ethernet adapter (affiliate link*)* off Amazon for £6.99 and a USB OTG Cable (affiliate link*)* for £3.99. You can get them cheaper but I needed one that would ship to me in Cyprus.
Check the uGreen website for more info on their current range of USB ethernet adapters.
Here’s a video showing working perfectly:
For reference here’s the steps to go through:
- Unplug power cable from Fire TV Stick and plug it into the female micro-USB connector on the OTG cable
- Plug the male power connector of the OTG cable into the Fire TV stick
- Connect the USB Ethernet adapter into the full size USB connector on the OTG cable
- Plug your Ethernet cable into the USB Ethernet adapter
With the Fire TV powered up go to Settings -> Network and it should now say Wired Connection on the right:
USB Ethernet adapter + hub
Update! Add a USB Hub for keyboard, mouse etc.
A new adapter from the same company (UGREEN) is a combined Ethernet adapter AND USB hub (affiliate link*) for £9.99. When bought with a USB OTG cable (affiliate link*) for £3.99 you get hard wired internet with a built in 3 port USB hub for a penny less than Amazon’s official FireTV Ethernet adapter (affiliate link*) which doesn’t have any USB ports!
Check out my test of the new adapter here: Fire TV Stick with wired Ethernet, keyboard, mouse and external storage.
By the way, these UGREEN adapters also work with the all new Ethernet-less 2017 4K Fire TV box.
i want to add external storage to my firestick wired connection using a powerline adapter, it shows up as wifi when i add an usb drive with an otg cable
Following. Same issue here! When I remove the otg adapter from the chain, the Ethernet connection works perfectly. Add the otg with a SD 64G thumb drive and it reverts back to WiFi.
Hi there, I ordered a Ugreen Ethernet adapter for Amazon Fire TV Stick but it is not working. Not sure if my Fire TV Stick is 1st or 2nd generation. I have two other Stick working with Ethernet adapter, newer version. How can I determine what is the generation of that Stick? My first one, I order it in 2016 or earlier. Thanks
Download a app called informer
https://www.aftvnews.com/introducing-my-new-app-informer-for-all-amazon-fire-tv-devices/
Hi i bought the Amazon Ethernet adapter for my fire stick and cabled accordingly. Speeds were pretty poor. I connected my pc directly to the Ethernet cable running from my lounge to the other room where router is. Great speeds 100 plus via 5ghz. As soon as I put the Amazon ethernet adapter back on and connect fire stick speeds drops to about 25. Why, would appreciate any help
Hi my firestick has been very slow with my WiFi so I bought the amazon Ethernet adapter connected everything firestick working ok but on the settings there is nothing about a wired connection only the WiFi networks. Have reset everything tried different cables & different firesticks but still no wired connections in settings can you help. Spoke to amazon they helped but still no wired connection sent me new firestick still nothing.
The wired connection should just happen automatically when the fire stick detects an ethernet connection. You may have already done this but just in case, make sure the Ethernet cable you are plugging into the ethernet adapter is working and is connected to your internet properly. e.g. plug it into a laptop or some other device to check. Also, double check the ethernet cable is properly pushed into the socket on the ethernet adapter. Finally, check also that the ethernet adapter’s usb connecter to the fire stick is properly connected and pushed all the way in (and is the right way round!). As an IT person with over 30 years experience even I sometimes fall for little things like this 😉
Good luck!
Mark.
ok, let me update this, I bought a ethernet adapter for my fire stick 4k from amazon, it seem to work fine for about 2 hours, all of a sudden it stopped working, I thought it was my connection, but when I checked the adapter itself, there was no lights at all, I contacted ugreen who sells the adapter, but they stated it was not purched from their amazon store, ok I know I might be able to return it to amazon, but I’m wondering why it stopped working, anyone have any idea how I can test the usb part of the cable.
Thank You in advance
All I could suggest is to try plugging it into a regular PC and see if it works. If it does then check the OTG cable by plugging a mouse or keyboard into it and seeing if that works on the Fire Stick.
Thanks Mark, but this is a one piece unit, meaning, the net adapter has 2 wires coming off it, one usb for power and one micro that hooks to the fire stick, and I did try it on the pc and other power plugs, I guess I’ll just send it back to amazon, but I’m still wondering why it stopped working, I’m thinking maybe I got a bad one, I was mostly wondering if anyone else had this problem, I know it wasn’t the power plug that caused it to stop, because it uses the file stick power plug.
My ethernet adapters usb is not produsing power to adapter, how do I test it
Ethernet adapter usb is not working
Hi Mike,
Do you think it would be possible to both hardwire my 2nd generation Firestick to the router using an Ethernet adapter plus add external USB storage all connected using say a Tusita 3 port charging OTG host and if yes with both the Ethernet connection and the USB storage live simultaneously so that I can download direct to the USB
I believe this is what I achieved in this post: https://www.improdia.com/tech/fire-tv-stick-usb-hub/
Thanks Mark and yes I hadn’t viewed that particular video link when I posted my question. I have now ordered the Ugreen USB HUB and OTG cable so will set up as per outlined in your video.
Help this old guy I bought a USB 2.0 from Walmart says it’s easy to hook up. Where does the ethernet port go,do I need a cabie from TV to fire stick.
Hi,
Sorry I’m not sure what you have bought and why. A “USB 2.0” could mean several things – a simple USB cable, a memory stick, an adapter of some sort. If you want to connect your Fire Stick to the internet via Ethernet instead of WiFi, which is what this article is about, you will still connect your Fire Stick to your TV in the same way but where the power cable goes in you will add the USB OTG Cable and then plug the USB Ethernet adapter into the socket on the OTG cable. If you find this a little too technical then perhaps you would be better of sticking with WiFi.
Hi. My dad wants to do this with his 2nd gen firestick in Turkey, he wants a longer cable from the back of the TV to the firestick, what would you recommend? I have already added to my Amazon basket the OTG cable and Ethernet connector you have given the links for.
All you need to do that is an HDMI extension cable like the one you can see me using in my video – here’s a link to some on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2PDa2ub
Thanks, I’ve just ordered it.
Has anybody got the Ugreen ethernet/3 port USB working using a powerline setup? My 4k Fire Stick doesn’t recognize it but it works with a cable directly from the router.
I had it working with a 2nd Gen FireTV stick via a TP Link AV600 Powerline+WiFi extender and it was fine (on the ethernet port, not the WiFi)
Hi. Will this work for 1st gen? Thanks.
This is only for 2nd Gen Fire TV sticks. I have read that if you have a rooted FireTV stick then you can enable USB OTG support so this would then work. I have never rooted a FireTV stick so I can’t comment on how you would do that but I don’t think it is easy to do.
I have 2Gen Fire TV Stick used with Amazon Ethernet Adapter. If I connect an OTG cable to the female micro usb of the adapter, should the usb port of the OTG allow use of a 4 port usb powered usb hub (Belkin)? The hub can be mains powered.
It would depend if Amazon’s Ethernet adapter has USB pass-through. Personally I would not think so, from Amazon’s point of view there is no need to provide that functionality. However, it would be cool if it did – might save some folk some money using their existing tech.
I don’t have an Amazon Ethernet adapter so I can’t test this.
If you are able to try it please comment here to say if it worked or not.
I bought a LAN ethernet adapter for my 2nd gen firestick. It worked initially as wired, but now seems to default back to wifi and will not go to “wired”. I’ve unplugged everything and started over, but it is not reading. I’ve tried using a different ethernet cable but the firestick wants to only use the wireless option for some reason.
[dons troubleshooting hat] This is what I’d do to eliminate various things:
1. Try plugging something else into the USB OTG cable, like a keyboard or mouse (mouse won’t work in main FireTV interface but will work in Kodi if you have that installed). If it doesn’t work then the OTG cable may have a problem.
2. Try plugging the ethernet cable into a different port on your router which you know definitely works because you’ve had something else plugged into it that works.
3. Try the USB LAN adapter on something else. e.g. a laptop computer. Even if the laptop computer already has an ethernet adapter, plug the USB adapter in, wait for it to be recognised by the computer then plug your ethernet cable into the USB adapter. Check to see if the computer has now connected via the wired connection and not WiFi (I am assuming you know how to tell this from the network connection icon in the windows system tray on the task bar).
4. Unplug everything and blow high pressure air into the micro USB socket on the firestick, the ethernet socket on the USB LAN adapter and the main USB socket on the OTG cable. No need for a fancy aerosol air blaster, just use your mouth and a deep breath!
5. Buy a new FireTV stick and use the old one somewhere where WiFi is OK or as a spare (yay! an excuse to buy some more tech).
6. Go to the pub.
Neither adapter work 2nd gen firestick
When you say neither worked do you mean you tried two of the same adapters or two different adapters (e.g. the basic one or the one mentioned above with the USB hub)?
I’ve now tried both and they both work fine with my 2nd gen fire TV stick. However some other comments suggest a problem.
I guess the beauty of ordering from Amazon is you can easily return them for a refund if they don’t work.
Tried both the hub and separate LAN on otg neither worked the stick sometimes shows on network as connected but stick still relies on WiFi lol
Menu never shows LAN settings I am beginning to think Amazon on the tweak pending release of own product
Just a thought, but have you by chance ever enabled USB debugging options – Settings > Device > Developer Options > USB debugging ? It’s sometimes used when sideloading apps or doing other techy stuff. If it’s on, try turning it off!
Also, and without stating the bleeding obvious(!) have you checked the cable you are using is OK and has good connection to your network/router and the internet etc. e.g. by connecting a different device to it. If there’s no internet on the end of the ethernet cable FireTV won’t switch to wired network. I only say this because you mention it sometimes works suggest a poor connection somewhere.
Mine’s still running perfectly and I think there’s been at least one software update for the FireTV stick since I’ve been using wired network.
Hi, I bought a pro 96h similar to the Fire Stick.
I would like to know if this computer behaves like the Fire Stick in its Ethernet adaptativo allows you to connect USB devices such as keyboards, mice and Ethernet adapters using a simple OTG Cable.
Thanks.
If you are talking about this box: https://www.gearbest.com/tv-box-mini-pc/pp_427615.html it has an Ethernet (RJ45) socket built in! You do not need a USB to Ethernet adaptor.
Can you help me please? I have done all of the above steps and when I finally get to “networks” there is no option for wired! I’m so bummed! Do I have hope you might be able to help. Thank you and look forward to hearing from you!
Megan
There is no ‘option’ for wired, it’s automatic. Meaning that when you connect an Ethernet cable (which is connected to your network of course!) then it automatically changes to ‘wired’ as you can see in the video.
All I can suggest is:
1. Make sure the Ethernet cable is ‘live’ by plugging another device into it.
2. Switch it all off then make sure it’s all connected up and then power on.
If that still doesn’t work then perhaps you have a USB to Ethernet adaptor that is not working. Which model do you have?
I actually purchased 2 of them in total. I thought the first one didn’t work then ordered a 2nd one and that one didn’t work. So I assumed it’s the firestick?!? I also tried 2 different ethernet cables.
See comment below regarding the version of Firestick – this only works on 2nd generation FireTV Sticks
I have the same issue. I have a fire tv stick (2nd gen.). I tested the Ugreen Ethernet adapter on Chromecast, the Ethernet adapter worked pretty well. I would say that is amazon’s trick because they are going to sell their own Ethernet adapter.
I’m also having the same issue….I’ve been told that the fire tv stick should be rooted…but don’t know how
Note, this for 2nd generation FireTV stick or “All New” Fire TV Stick. I believe that USB OTG can be enabled on rooted 1st generation Fire TV sticks but I’ve never tried to do that. I’m sure if you Google it you’ll find some guides. Just to be clear, 2nd generation FireTV sticks DO NOT need to be rooted for this to work.
A quick way to tell if you have a 1st or 2nd gen stick is to measure it! A 1st gen stick is 7.5cm long and a 2nd gen stick is 8.5cm long.
Guessing easier way to confirm is the gen 2 has voice control, earlier one didnt