topic Re: Using Sky Q Box As A Hotspot in Archive

Using Sky Q Box As A Hotspot

JW.LEES — Fri, 02 Apr 2021 08:35:41 GMT

Hi, I have recently got Sky Q and my question is :- Where I have my box is quite remote from my router so I have hard wired it with an Ethernet cable and it works perfectly. The wifi signal from the box is very strong in this area now. Can I connect from my phone to this Sky signal and if so where would the password be located ?

Re: Using Sky Q Box As A Hotspot

pjhaahl — Fri, 02 Apr 2021 08:38:32 GMT

@JW.LEES You can only use Sky Q boxes as a hotspot if you are with Sky Broadband

Re: Using Sky Q Box As A Hotspot

TimmyBGood — Fri, 02 Apr 2021 08:39:19 GMT

@JW.LEES

Hotspot functionality is only available when Sky is the ISP and a Sky Hub is in use, in which case the password is the same as on the Hub.

Re: Using Sky Q Box As A Hotspot

JW.LEES — Fri, 02 Apr 2021 08:43:16 GMT

Thank you for the info

Re: Using Sky Q Box As A Hotspot

Andy+thingy — Tue, 05 Oct 2021 09:24:26 GMT

When the sky q box is connected via Ethernet rather than Wi-Fi the network name is not the same as the default router Wi-Fi network name and the password is not the same either. I have all my sky q boxes connected using Ethernet and I can see the network name in the network details on each box. I can also see that network being broadcast by the sky q boxes as the hotspot. But because it's not the same name as the router network name and it doesn't have the same password I can't connect my other (non-sky) devices to it. If I connect my sky q boxes using Wi-Fi to the router instead they broadcast the router network name and I can connect my other devices to it because I have the password. So the question is how to I get the password for the network when I connect my sky q boxes using Ethernet?

I am using sky q main box, 3 sky q mini boxes and sky q hub router.

Re: Using Sky Q Box As A Hotspot

bob1234 — Tue, 05 Oct 2021 10:31:39 GMT

@Andy+thingyWith Sky as your broadband provider if hot spots are working correctly you should be able to log in using your router log in.

Most people turn off WiFi in the Q boxes when they use Ethernet BUT to use the boxes as hot spots this needs to be left on.

Re: Using Sky Q Box As A Hotspot

Andy+thingy — Tue, 05 Oct 2021 11:07:37 GMT

@bob1234

thanks for your reply and while I can connect to the Wi-Fi network from my router that's not the network the q boxes are broadcasting the hotspot on. They are broadcasting the network name from the Ethernet connection. I.e. the name shown in the network details in settings. That's because they aren't on the Wi-Fi network from my router. And I can see the difference because in a room where the signal from my router is very weak but where I have a q box broadcasting the Ethernet network the Ethernet network Wi-Fi is very strong. But I can't connect my devices to it because I can't get or set the password.

Re: Using Sky Q Box As A Hotspot

bob1234 — Tue, 05 Oct 2021 11:16:25 GMT

@Andy+thingyGo into settings on the main Q box and then network advanced settings, if you can see a setting that says enable hotspots it does not think you are connected to the sky broadband.

If it is there try enabling it and see what happens. It only became available with the Q170 update.

Re: Using Sky Q Box As A Hotspot

Dazzasky — Tue, 05 Oct 2021 18:15:27 GMT

@Andy+thingy

I have the same problem, I can't connect to the q box wifi hotspot either. I'm quite savvy with this sort of stuff but for the life of me I can't connect. I can see the hotspot but when I input the password it tells me it is temporarily unavailable. It's been like that for weeks.

Re: Using Sky Q Box As A Hotspot

Andy+thingy — Wed, 06 Oct 2021 10:58:51 GMT

@Dazzasky are your sky q boxes connected to your router by Wi-Fi or Ethernet? If it's by Wi-Fi and your using sky broadband then it should be straight forward. But if your sky q box is connected by Ethernet then you've got exactly the same issue that I have. I.e. the network name is different and I don't have the password.

Re: Using Sky Q Box As A Hotspot

Andy+thingy — Wed, 06 Oct 2021 11:05:32 GMT

@bob1234

i have that update but when I go into settings->status->network connection->network setup->advanced settings I only the option to manually set the IP settings

ditto via settings->setup->network->advanced settings

Re: Using Sky Q Box As A Hotspot

bob1234 — Wed, 06 Oct 2021 11:15:46 GMT

@Andy+thingyIn which case the box is set correctly and hotspots should just work with entering the details of your router name/password and any device should just work and automatically connect to the nearest Q device.

Re: Using Sky Q Box As A Hotspot

Andy+thingy — Wed, 06 Oct 2021 12:35:55 GMT

@bob1234

yeah that only works when the sky q boxes are connected to the router via Wi-Fi. When my sky q boxes are connected via Ethernet they are broadcasting on a different network name.

Here's why I'm certain. When my sky q boxes were connected by Ethernet I also had my mobile connected to the same Wi-Fi network using my router details. I used a Wi-Fi SweetSpots app on my phone that measures the signal strength in a room where I have a weak signal but also where I have a sky q mini box. The signal was showing as being really weak even when next to the sky q mini box.

Then I connected all my sky q boxes to my router using Wi-Fi instead of Ethernet and did the same test. This time the signal strength was really strong.

The reason the signal was strong when the sky q mini box was connected to the router by Wi-Fi is because it was broadcasting the same network and so my phone connected to that mini box. But when my sky q boxes were connected to my router by Ethernet they weren't broadcasting the router wifi network but instead a different one that my phone does not connect to.

Re: Using Sky Q Box As A Hotspot

Dazzasky — Wed, 06 Oct 2021 16:38:50 GMT

Hi @Andy+thingy They are connected via wifi however I don't have Sky broadband. I have Virgin. We don't need another password because it would be the same one you use to connect to the router. I can see the hotspot via my mobile but just can't connect to it for some strange reason.

Re: Using Sky Q Box As A Hotspot

Caught+in+a+trap — Tue, 25 Jan 2022 15:56:36 GMT

https://www.expertreviews.co.uk/tvs-entertainment/pvrs/1404726/how-to-fix-sky-q-connectivity-problems

this looks helpful...

Re: Using Sky Q Box As A Hotspot

Andy+thingy — Wed, 26 Jan 2022 11:07:37 GMT

@Caught+in+a+trap

unfortunately that article doesn't cover the problem with connecting to the hotspot that is published from a sky q box which is connected to the sky router by Ethernet.

Re: Using Sky Q Box As A Hotspot

The+Latics — Tue, 10 May 2022 10:44:57 GMT

Did you ever get this sorted? - you say the article on expertreviews doesn't cover Ethernet, but I thought it did, and I for one haven't done the whole reset of the mini box bit (near the end of the article) to force it to connect to the random SKY123XY (or whatever) network that I now understand is a private network that I shouldn't ever need to connect to myself.

I am presuming once I get the mini box reset, I'll connect to the VM123456 network but it'll actually be via the mini box (for my Firestick sat next to the mini box but far enough away from the Hub3 to not have a good signal).

For information, I'm on Virgin BB (Hub3 - REALLY POOR KIT !) but have that etherneted to the Sky Q main box.

Re: Using Sky Q Box As A Hotspot

Andy+thingy — Tue, 10 May 2022 14:42:08 GMT

@The+Latics

No I didn't get it sorted. I have all my boxes using Wi-Fi because they provide an access point in rooms that would otherwise have poor coverage.

The article by the way is explicit in stating that setting up the entire Q system with Ethernet is not covered. I.e. "I’ll show you how to set Ethernet up on the main box, but I’m not going to cover how to make your entire system Ethernet-based: this is a specialist setup for when there’s a massive issue with getting wireless to work properly and should only be done by a Sky engineer."

Re: Using Sky Q Box As A Hotspot

The+Latics — Tue, 10 May 2022 14:46:57 GMT

Ah I see, I've not got my mini box on ethernet so I think I can use the WPS method to turn it's hotspot 'on' as it were.