To Many Wifi Devices?

[cuke]

Can I pick the experts brains on this please and my apologies for this being rather long winded.. It may seem this is SkQ mainbox or minibox issue but I believe this is is down to the hub, hence posting in here.

We recently had Sky Tv and broadband relocated to our new property, we had to go on Superfast35, as this was the only connection being offered and our speeds are reasonable at around 32Mbps. When it came to setting up the miniboxes the Sky techie initially could not get them to connect but when I looked I saw my recordings had all disppeared and when I paused the live source it gave a hard drive error message. Thus we perform a factory reset of the mainbox and the miniboxes then all connected fine and good.

All was OK for a few weeks but then one of the miniboxes started to stutter and the picture was freezing, despite the settings stating it was connected to SkyQ and the network. So we replaced that minibox for a new one and that was ok for a week but then my troubles really began.

Last saturday some of our Wifi devices started to have disconnects and reconnects, one of them stated 'IP address not obtained' after reconnected. All the SkyQ miniboxes had dropped offline and none of them would reconnect, then main one was connected ok.

So I then reset the power to all the boxes, still won't connect, then I rebooted the sky hub and this time the main sky box dropped offline, as well as some wifi devices. The main Sky Q box refused every attempt to connect by wifi, it is located immediately next to the Sky Hub,, I tried a factory reset without any success and the only way I could connect it was by first wiring it directly to the hub, but then it stated connected but with no internet, so there were no menus appearing. After a while though it reconnected back onto the wifi by itself, thus I disconnected the Lan cable, I did this a few times to check and everytime it did the same.

When I rang Sky support the kind lady suggested I had too many devices connected, some 24, yet only around 15 are actually Wifi, the rest being wired, and they are spread over the two bands.

She has booked a WiFi booster techie to visit but I'm not convinced that distance is the issue as my phone will still connect to the WiFi even when it is over 40 feet away in the garden.

So I don't understand what could be the issue, surely even a cheap hub can handle more than 15 WiFi devices, I haven't even connected my CCTV up yet, and I had no issues with the same setup in my old property with more Wifi and wired devices.

I have a Netgear Nighthawk RAX70 I could use as an AP, and turn off the Sky Hub's WiFi, however I've tried that in the past and the miniboxes hated it and suttered and froze all the time.

Thanks to anyone who replies and again my apologies for such a long winded explanation.

[cuke]

So further research has found that there is on a Sky SR203 hub a limit of 64 devices https://helpforum.sky.com/t5/Broadband/64-device-limit/m-p/3915369

I'm nowhere near that amount but I'd accept that the higher number of wifi devices connected then the speeds will drop.

But why the disconnects and refusal to reconnect of the SkyQ boxes?

Oh and about an hour ago the SkyQ hub decided to reboot itself.

[cuke]

So for the past few nights I've switched off 5 wifi devices overnight, the last two mornings the new minibox was fine, very slight stutters but no picture freezing.

This morning when I switched on this minibox we were once again treated to the message that it couldn't find the main skyq box on the network, yet when I checked the main box was online.

I also tested my phone's wifi connection in that room and it was connecting at over 800Mbps.

My conclusion is the number of Wifi devices connected to the hub is not causing the problems I have with the aforementioned issues.

Anyone care to comment please?

[cuke]

So I got the minbox back online, initially it refused to reactivate the SkyQ connection but after a power cycle it just popped back online again by itself.

Overnight I left all of my WiFi devices powered on and the minibox was fine this morning with zero stuttering issues.

This leads me to believe there is no issue with the number of WiFi devices and my hub, but in fact one caused by a fault with the main SkyQ box itself.

Despite talking to myself I'll keep updating this thread as it might prove to be useful to someone else.

[Wayne51]

I have had the same issue with minibox freezing, and devices not connecting to wifi since the beginning of September. I have been rebooting the Q box + mini box and the rooter, it is ok for a day or so then back to wifi devices not connecting.

The max number of wifi devices should be 64, but i am having issue with just the Sky Q box and the minibox connected.

I have had a sky Q box and the minibox and Q hub for more than 2years now and it has been fine up until the beginning of september. I am woudering if there has been a Firmware update on one of these devices that is causing the issue?

Any help would be appreciated.

[Chrisee]

@cuke as it has been explained to me by Sky's specialists there is no hard limit of 64 devices but there is a practical limit as the SR203 has limited processor power as it is built to a cost.

A lot depends on what devices you have as clearly a light bulb that only needs wifi to switch on or off is less of a load to the system than say a laptop being used for gaming or Firestick streaming Netflix. In realistic terms over 40 devices is pushing it but 20 seems fine in most cases my own unit seems happy with 20 to 30 devices. Buying a more powerful router is sensible if you need more power than the free hub can provide or as I do have an entitrely separate Zigbee wireless network for my IOT kit like smart radiator valves etc.

You have Sky Q boxes which cause other issues. Sky Q is now an old system and it uses an early mesh wifi network where each TV box, Sky hub or Sky Booster acts as a node each having a wifi hotspot Sky recommend not to exceedc 8 nodes on one network which normally isn't an issue as you can only have2 Q minis and one Sky Q main box. However the mesh network does behave somewhat differently than many people expect. The Sky engineer can check signal strength at each node and a booster can indeed sort the system..

@Wayne51 far more likely than a firmware issue is that the wifi conditions in your home have changed perhaps due to a neighbour's network or something in your home is causing interference. If the Q boxes are losing connection talk to Sky to get an engineer sent out to sort it for you.

[cuke]

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@Chrisee wrote:

@cuke as it has been explained to me by Sky's specialists there is no hard limit of 64 devices but there is a practical limit as the SR203 has limited processor power as it is built to a cost.

A lot depends on what devices you have as clearly a light bulb that only needs wifi to switch on or off is less of a load to the system than say a laptop being used for gaming or Firestick streaming Netflix. In realistic terms over 40 devices is pushing it but 20 seems fine in most cases my own unit seems happy with 20 to 30 devices. Buying a more powerful router is sensible if you need more power than the free hub can provide or as I do have an entitrely separate Zigbee wireless network for my IOT kit like smart radiator valves etc.

You have Sky Q boxes which cause other issues. Sky Q is now an old system and it uses an early mesh wifi network where each TV box, Sky hub or Sky Booster acts as a node each having a wifi hotspot Sky recommend not to exceedc 8 nodes on one network which normally isn't an issue as you can only have2 Q minis and one Sky Q main box. However the mesh network does behave somewhat differently than many people expect. The Sky engineer can check signal strength at each node and a booster can indeed sort the system..

@Wayne51 far more likely than a firmware issue is that the wifi conditions in your home have changed perhaps due to a neighbour's network or something in your home is causing interference. If the Q boxes are losing connection talk to Sky to get an engineer sent out to sort it for you.

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Thanks for your response @Chrisee 

Well we were greeted by the message again this morning on one of the miniboxes that it couldn't find the main SkyQ box on the network and when I looked the mainbox had lost its connection to the hub yet again, despite it being only two feet away. Tried to reactivate the connection several times unsuccessfully and in the end patching it to the hub worked.

This is coming from my previous house where I had zero issues with more WiFi devices but currently none of those devices put much load upon the network and there is no constant streaming taking place. Four of them are just smart plugs. One wifi extender, because my monitor refuses to connect to the hub, two tv's, three amazon devices, two each of  tablets and phones and one video doorbell. Not what I'd say, in my experience as a IT Technician, particularly load intensive by any stretch. When I stream HD video from anywhere in the house there is no stuttering or dropouts at all.

I'm not new to wifi, or resolving issues with connections and have experience of setting up managed wifi access points in three schools, although using hardware far in excess than the Sky hub offers.

The minibox that constantly has issues is upstairs only around 20 feet away through one floor. The other perfectly stable minibox is further away and the signal has to go through two solid internal walls.

All my speed tests are around 30Mbps, over the whole house the signal strength is good thus I'm sceptical boosters are required, but as you correctly state the SkyQ system of connecting is somewhat 'uniqu'e. However I'll keep an open mind and interested in what the technician finds and what he/she uses to test signal strengths with.

[cuke]

So we had the visit, very nice man, he firstly replaced the box on the wall, as, despite it being a mk3, it was old.

He then ran his scan and that indicated both miniboxes were indeed receiving a weak signal, thus two boosters were installed. He then established that one of the miniboxes had an older firmware on it, which was update.

So all should be good now however these signal checks should really had been performed by the engineer installing the system as part of the moving home package. However that engineer seemed more concerned about what was happening at his home and even disappeared for half an hour mid visit to resolve some crisis.

[cuke]

The very nice wifi man also agreed that the number of devices I've got connected had no bearing on the performance of the hub.

[pcdoc]

I had this "too many items connected" as well. For 18 months, 2 years you network works flawlessly, then a problem kicks in, ring Sky and you get the too many items connected warcry for the want of a better description. The best thing I did was dump the sky hub and use my own tp-link router and tp-link mesh. Still had all those many items conneted but now working fine.

[Matt131]

Hello @cuke  @Wayne51 

been with sky for over 2 years, never had an issue with connectivity before until last week. 

every night at 7pm we lose internet to our Sky Q box, multiple devices log out etc 

I  Called sky who said my 14 connections (4 phones, 2 tablets, 2 laptops, 3 light bulbs & Alexa along with the Q box & TV) we're too many and I should reduce this to get the best signal. 

sounds insane to me, my contract is up for renewal so will probably go elsewhere for internet 

[JimM1]

@Matt131 Some of the advice that the agent's supply which may be down to training has to be taken with a pinch of salt. I had one similar who said you have 20 devices connected, so each is taking 2mb from your 40mb signal, really in theory but you have to let them go wherever its leading them, i did so called back later, got an advisor he run the check said something just not right and will get OR engineer to have a look, did take a few visits but eventually OR fixed and been good now for 8 months. Did help when i said had a little look at my broadband history, little concerned that it is showing 5mb/s on your graph and that is all i can get, its in the toilet.... 

[Chrisee]

@Matt131 can you post your Sky hub's stats as they givecforum members an insight as to what maybe happening see Find your Sky Broadband router statistics

Also consider what else happens in your home around 7pm as the issue could be interference which can be caused by a hugecrange of kit but micowaves and fluorescent lights are common sources. Sky cs agents usevthe "too many" devices excuse if there is nothing obvious onntheir system.

[cuke]

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@Matt131 wrote:

Hello @cuke  @Wayne51 

been with sky for over 2 years, never had an issue with connectivity before until last week. 

every night at 7pm we lose internet to our Sky Q box, multiple devices log out etc 

I  Called sky who said my 14 connections (4 phones, 2 tablets, 2 laptops, 3 light bulbs & Alexa along with the Q box & TV) we're too many and I should reduce this to get the best signal. 

sounds insane to me, my contract is up for renewal so will probably go elsewhere for internet 

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Unfortunately, as can be seen, I also had a similar response from Sky's customer support but I know that, as a school's IT Technician for 20 years, it is rubbish. But I checked in here with other learned contributors first.

You might have an external fault causing your internet connectivity issues, thus posting your stats in this thread, as requested by our wonderful colleague @Chrisee will be of help. If you do have a issue with your external  connection then swapping to another ISP possibly will not resolve it.