topic Re: WiFi Speed inconsistent on Gigafast in Broadband

WiFi Speed inconsistent on Gigafast

Andy2810 — Sun, 04 Feb 2024 18:39:58 GMT

Hi all,

Had Sky for 11 years, it's always been fairly consistent. Although we couldn't get the really fast speeds at the old property it was always very close to the maximum promised of 50mbps.

Since moving into a new build with an ONT, I have upgraded to Gigafast 900mbps.

I have been testing the speeds over the last few weeks and it is yet to break 150mbps via WiFi. Often sitting at around 40-50, which is nowhere near the minimum guaranteed.

Haven't had much luck with the sky support so thought I would plea for any wisdom here.

I have done the obvious stuff of changing the WiFi channel, I have done a hard reset.

Thanks

Re: WiFi Speed inconsistent on Gigafast

mormegil — Sun, 04 Feb 2024 20:42:17 GMT

Which hub are you using with the gigafast?

are you testing the WiFi speed while next to the hub or in a different room and with all other devices peered off?

what speed are you getting to the hub?

Re: WiFi Speed inconsistent on Gigafast

TimmyBGood — Sun, 04 Feb 2024 21:13:11 GMT

@Andy2810

You're not going to get anything like Gigafast speed over WiFi from a Sky Broadband Hub because that's 802.11ac (as are the vast majority of current wireless client devices)

The Max Hub is WiFi 6 (802.11ax) and so in theory capable of supplying faster wireless speed to clients which have the hardware specification to also support that standard. Laws of physics still apply, though, and all WiFi reduces speed (ultimately to zero Mbs) through enough walls, otherwise you really wouldn't want to be in the same room as its transmitter. To get guaranteed maximum speeds, ethernet cable is the appropriate medium.

It's worth noting that almost no individual device actually benefits from hundreds of megabits: the point of Gigafast is really to supply dozens of simultaneous uses with 'enough' bandwidth (c30Mbs for streaming UHD/HDR, for instance)

Re: WiFi Speed inconsistent on Gigafast

Andy2810 — Sun, 04 Feb 2024 21:47:20 GMT

Many Thanks for your replies.

We are currently using the original router we had previously. So it may be time to upgrade to the newer model, odd they didn't offer this when I upgraded the service.

Ethernet had been my original plan, but oddly, even as a new build with an ONT terminal, there is no patch terminal nearby with the relevant terminals to activate the sockets in each room. So for now atleast until I can figure out a way to get ethernet to the rooms it's WiFi only.

Re: WiFi Speed inconsistent on Gigafast

Chrisee — Mon, 05 Feb 2024 08:25:06 GMT

@Andy2810 it is probsble you already had a SR203 Sky Broadband Hub (upright black router) which is the standard unit Sky use for full fibre. I used one of these myself and it could provide decent wifi speeds around 500Mb/s in my main living area. What is key is that the faster 5MHz wifi signals are not blocked by walls etc.Speeds dropped on different floors in my home as the 5MHz signals were affected by passing through floors and walls to below 20Mb/s so I bought a three unit TP-Link Deco Wifi mesh system which I used for Wifi.

You mention you are in a new build if the developer has sited the ONT and router in a so called "Comms cupboard " these are just about the worse place for a Wifi router. Your Sky hub needs to be out in the open on a desk or shelf. Fortunately you can move the hub away from the ONT by using a longer ethernet cable. Designers of new homes seem totally clueless about basic physics.

If you place a Wifi Max hub, the SR213, in the same location it will have similar issues. The main difference is that Sky will supply up to 3 extenders as part of the package if wifi speeds dont reach 25Mb/s in every room after a broadband engineer has checked out your set up. I currently have one of these hub's myself and while its Wifi is better than the SR203 I still use my own Deco set up for my msin wifi as these units give me better speeds in distant rooms than the Wifi Max system with extenders so I rejected the Wifi Max bundle.