Amazon Fire TV gets gigabit Ethernet adapter, with a catch
▼ Summary
– The new Fire TV Stick HD replaces micro-USB with USB-C, and Amazon released a matching USB-C Ethernet adapter.
– The new Ethernet adapter supports up to 480 Mbps, implying it is a Gigabit-capable device, though not advertised as such.
– The adapter’s speed is limited because the Fire TV Stick HD likely uses a USB 2.0 port, which caps at 480 Mbps.
– Amazon may have future-proofed the adapter for an upcoming Fire TV model with a USB 3.x port.
– The previous micro-USB Ethernet adapter had been a bottleneck for wired internet speeds since 2017.
Despite lingering frustrations with the Vega OS platform, the new Fire TV Stick HD does offer one meaningful upgrade: it finally replaces the outdated micro-USB port with a modern USB-C connector. That change has prompted Amazon to release a new Fire TV Ethernet Adapter with a matching USB-C plug, since the previous model’s micro-USB design won’t work with the latest stick. On the surface, it appears Amazon has also upgraded the adapter itself from standard 100Mbps Ethernet to Gigabit Ethernet. But there’s a significant limitation hiding in the fine print.
Amazon’s product page for the new Ethernet adapter never explicitly calls it a Gigabit device. However, a single line reveals the truth: the adapter is listed as supporting “up to 480mbps when used with Fire TV Stick HD (2nd Gen).” That speed range is only possible if the adapter is Gigabit-capable, since no Ethernet specification exists between 100 Mbps and 1,000 Mbps.
So why doesn’t Amazon just advertise Gigabit Ethernet support? The answer lies in the Fire TV Stick HD itself. Despite finally adopting a USB-C port, the 2nd-gen model is widely believed to still be limited by USB 2.0. Amazon has not yet published the stick’s full hardware specs, which is unusual and telling. Rumors suggest the “new” model uses the exact same internal components as the nearly six-year-old device it replaces. Because USB 2.0 tops out at 480 Mbps, the port becomes a bottleneck, capping the adapter’s potential to less than half of its true Gigabit capability. After accounting for overhead, real-world speeds will likely hover around 350 Mbps on the Fire TV Stick HD.
Amazon’s move appears to be a future-proofing strategy. The company likely designed the new adapter to take full advantage of a future Fire TV model equipped with a USB 3.x port. The previous micro-USB version had been around since 2017 and served as the primary bottleneck for wired internet speeds ever since. Of course, none of this will matter much if Amazon continues to alienate power users by focusing exclusively on Vega OS-powered Fire TV Sticks going forward.
(Source: Aftvnews.com)
