Anyone here work for Sky, or have a genuine working knowledge of their new Q system? Because all the engineers / technical support people I speak to seem to know bugger all.

 

Every morning we have a connectivity problem with the mini box in the bedroom. Not just occasionally, virtually every morning it shows some sort of freakish behaviour ranging from not connecting to the network,  to trying to play a recorded program and freezing.

 

We had the Sky engineer out yesterday who replaced the mini box and then blithely told us that "It's working now so that's all I can do. If it faults again then I'd get your phone line tested and change the router!"

 

Now I'm struggling to understand why my phone line or router might be affecting the communication between the two Sky boxes. Anyone have any idea?

What make of Tv is it in the bedroom Rusty ?. I seem to remember hearing that the Sky Routers don't like Samsung TV's

 

We have Sky Q and a Mini box on two Sony Tv's and we have BT Broadband and they both work seamlessly 

It's an LG, but that would have no connection (excuse the pun) to the fact that the main Sky box doesn't connect to the Sky mini box.

I don't have Sky Q but would I be correct in thinking the boxes are wirelessly linked together so there could be a wi-fi channel issue between those and your neighbours?

 

Try moving it closer initially to see if that solves the problem?

Edited 20 May, 20188 yr by john999boy

See, this is where I'm struggling to understand the issue. We're detached, and my nearest neighbour doesn't have wifi. After that there's about 30 yards to the next nearest so any interference issues would be minimal. But that's mildly irrelevant as anyone's wifi shouldn't impact on Skys own network (you would think...).

This morning the box failed again, so my wife spoke to Sky technical who talked her through (yet another) reboot of the whole system, turned off the 2.4Ghz functionality on both boxes and prioretised 5.0Ghz.

 

Now why will interfering with our wifi settings and frequencies make Skys own wireless system work?

If you have WiFi Analyser on Android then you can see any potential conflicts.

But that would be Sky's issue to sort out, and they seem pretty clueless as to how their systems actually work. Their own Mesh network fails and defaults onto ours as a back up, yet they're trying to fix a mesh network fault by fiddling with our wifi settings...

As I understand it, the Sky Q main box communicates with the Sky Q mini box using your WiFi network, which is why your router is important to the system. The two Sky boxes don't communicate directly - all communications go via your router. So a strong and stable (where did I hear that phrase before ?) WiFi connection is important at both boxes.

 

If you have the additional "Sky Q Hub" then this changes the setup, but this component is NOT essential.

 

To do a full reset of your system (to clear any issues) switch OFF both Sky Q boxes AND your router. Then switch the router back on first and wait for it to be up and running before switching on the Sky boxes.

 

If WiFi is an issue then you can use "powerline" adaptors between the Sky boxes. You don't need "Sky badged" powerline adaptors - any ones will do. I like the ones from TP-LINK.

 

You plug one powerline adptor into the mains beside the Sky Q box, then connect the two together with a network cable. Then you plug the second powerline adaptor into the mains beside the Sky Q mini box and connect those two together with a network cable. Configure the Sky boxes to use "wired" connection rather than WiFi and the Sky signals are transmitted via your mains cabling as if there was a network cable connecting the Sky boxes directly.

 

Turning off the 2.4 GHz on your WiFi to force it to use 5 GHz is all very well but note that some other devices cannot "see" 5 GHz WiFi networks and the 5 GHz signals are not so good at passing through walls etc. as 2.4 GHz so the effective WiFi range may be reduced. A better solution is to rename the 5 GHz WiFi network (e.g. add "5G" to the end of the WiFi SSID name) and keep both switched on, then choose which one devices connect to - which you can do now as they have different names.

 

 

Are you speaking from actual knowledge, or are you assuming the system works as you say?

Sky are not very informative about the way their system works and they do change/update things periodically. I don't have Sky Q myself but I have worked with a client who did have an extensive Sky Q network (One main box and 3 mini boxes) and who had lots of issues. Sky installed an additional "hub" which did nothing to resolve the issues and which actually complicated things by introducing a second WiFi network into the house.

 

The system was eventually made stable by removing the Sky Hub and then connecting the mini boxes to the main box with TP-LINK powerline adaptors.

 

On examination of the home router (a BT Homehub)  I could see that IP addresses were being given out to the Sky boxes by the router, therefore the Sky boxes had to be on the same network as the router and not any independent "Sky network". As I said, if the "Sky Hub" is installed then this does change the configuration but from your description it sounds as if you have only the main Sky box and one mini box.

 

You can check your WiFi network with a free mobile phone app like "farproc WiFi Analyser". This will display available WiFi networks along with signal strengths in real time and can help identify issues with WiFi caused by low signal strength, interference etc.

The way I understand it is that my home wifi is not relevant. The connection between the main Sky box and the mini box is via Skys own self generated 5Ghz network. Only if this fails does it default to my home wifi as a back up. So fiddling with my wifi isn't addressing the actual problem with Skys own equipment. It may be that my own 5Ghz network is interfering with Skys 5Ghz network, but using powerline adapters simply avoids the Sky network fault and makes my own wifi more stable to mask the underlying problem.

Every time anyone asks a similar question to someone who actually understands the setup, then answer is always thus.

I don't have a Sky Q network so I'm not in a position to check anything out.

 

Your router is still a part of the Sky Q network, since your router issues the IP addresses that the boxes use to communicate. I'm sure the main Sky Q box has to connect to the house WiFi (or to the router via a cable) - or at least the one I saw did that.

 

The client I worked with seems to have had a similar problem to you - the mini box would not connect reliably via WiFi. Sky engineers were not able to resolve the issue by adding more Sky Q WiFi points to the system.

 

The powerline adaptors resolved the issue for a relatively modest price. Yes, these things should all work seamlessly but sometimes you just cannot get a hold of the tools you need to identify what is the real problem. Is it a faulty Sky box - short of replacing it, how would you prove that, and who pays for it ? Is it a WiFi problem - how do you prove that without expensive spectrum analysers ?

 

Both Sky boxes connect wirelessly to my home network as a back up in case their self generated mesh network fails. Powerline adapters will resolve the issue only by avoiding it. It's the failure of the mesh which is the initial problem, and anything after that is painting over the cracks.

 

Which is why I initially asked " Anyone here work for Sky, or have a genuine working knowledge of their new Q system? ".

Edited 20 May, 20188 yr by Rustynuts

And it's failed again, mid afternoon. Along with the main box which crapped out stating it failed to connect to the internet. Quite why a failure to connect to the internet would bomb out a satellite feed I don't know, but then I guess Sky don't know either...

 

Currently the mini box is showing this..

 

 

Meaning the two boxes are connected and working on mesh, but our home network has failed. So now when the mesh fails there's no back up network (home wifi) available to fall back on, and the system will stall. Yet whenever we contact Sky they just try and fix our (admittedly poor) wifi connection. In reality they should be making sure their own network is stable enough to function correctly

From that photo I'd initially think that you were connected on your home network but that wasn't communicating to the outside world.

 

Is this site able to help?

6 minutes ago, john999boy said:

From that photo I'd initially think that you were connected on your home network but that wasn't communicating to the outside world.

 

Is this site able to help?

 

Nope, that's not correct. The boxes are connected on their own network, but are not connected on my home wifi. Home wifi is working fine (laptops etc. all connected and working), router is fine, everything on my broadband & wifi is working okay except the Sky system, although it's still working on its own network.

 

The site you linked to is simply another forum where the Sky Q mini box problems (and there are many many of them) are being discussed and suchlike.

13 hours ago, Rustynuts said:

The boxes are connected on their own network, but are not connected on my home wifi. Home wifi is working fine (laptops etc. all connected and working), router is fine, everything on my broadband & wifi is working okay except the Sky system, although it's still working on its own network.

I had a problem with a particular WiFi device which was solved when the manufacturer suggested I check what region my router was set to - because different WiFi channels are used in different regions and some devices can't use all channels, so that one device couldn't connect but all other could.

 

Maybe even set the router to a fixed WiFi channel?

It would seem strange that every device in my home network functions correctly (various mobiles, 4 laptops, desktop, a couple of tablets two smart tvs, and any visitors who come and stay etc.) and all connect okay, yet Skys Q system can't manage it. Given the many people suffering this very same issue you'd think Sky would've cottoned on to the fact that every piece of equipment they fit was set to the wrong region for the UK if that were the problem.  But once again, the underlying issue is with the Sky self generated network failing which has nothing to do with my wifi.

 

The boxes are connecting okay (if we disable the few odd fixes that the Sky technical team have made us apply to our settings in a vain attempt to make the sh!t work) but at some point overnight (when the Sky system applies any updates or suchlike between the hours of 2 & 5) the connection gets lost and won't work again until we reset it.

None of which is entirely relevant because (once again...) their own Mesh network is failing initially which causes the fault to show on our network when it fails to back it up. Then they try and make our network function correctly instead of simply fixing their own Mesh network. It would appear that Sky have no idea about their own equipment and how it functions.

 

To make an analogy. You get up every morning and your car battery is flat, so you connect a booster pack and try and start it, but the booster pack doesn't hold enough charge to start your car. Trying various fixes on a daily basis to make the booster pack work is completely ignoring the fact that the car battery is draining overnight, and that's what the real fault is. Even if you get the booster pack to work, you're still left with the underlying fault of a flat battery.

doesn't the mini box get its signal from the main box by wifi,or hard wired or a sender/receiver plugged into the mains with Ethernet connections out of the sky q and out of receiver into the mini...................ps ive been lucky with mine so far and it works on the wi fi signal from the hub/modem 

I had similar issues when I installed Sky Q last year. In the end it turned out that my existing WiFi and the Sky Q WiFi where both trying to use similar WiFi channels, which caused interference. I’m assuming that you have your own WiFi network, connecting to another broadband supplier than Sky from what I’ve seen in the thread above (?)

 

So I’d look in your router and Sky Q setup menus and make sure the channels are different for both 2.4ghz & 5ghz. Sky typically wants to use channel 36 on 2.4ghz, with 80ghz bandwidth. If that’s enabled I’d leave it alone and just change your WiFi routers 2.4ghz channel.

Yep, channels are well removed from each other. Sky is on Ch 36 and home wifi is on Ch 8.

The other issue Sky found was strength of the Sky WiFi signal. Sky had to add a Sky Q boster box to get the signal strength consistent.

Just had a courtesy call from Sky asking if everything's working okay. The latest news is that because the boxes go into deep sleep overnight, what we have to do to watch tv upstairs in the morning is... come downstairs and turn the main box on, wait a few minutes, then put it back on standby, then go back upstairs and turn the mini box on and wait til it wakes up, then it should be connected properly..

 

Err... doesn't that kind of defeat the object of having a second box upstairs so we can watch tv without having to get up?

All I can say is it doesn’t happen to mine. Sounds a bit like excuse 42 being  read. 8-)