topic Re: Slow internet and buffering in Broadband

Slow internet and buffering

Richardp13 — Sun, 28 Apr 2024 19:45:39 GMT

Hi,

We moved about 3 months ago into our new home.

The speeds have been alright until about 3 weeks ago. Now, it takes ages to load pages on the web browsers. Netflix buffers regularly and even worse FaceTime is so grainy and you can barely have a conversation.

I have to restart/reset the wifi daily to make it barable.

I have an extender at the top of the stairs (house is over 3 floors) had this since we moved in but I don't think this is causing the issues. Please can someone help before I lose my mind.

thanks

Re: Slow internet and buffering

cookiemonsteruk — Sun, 28 Apr 2024 19:46:47 GMT

@Richardp13

Could you post you hub stats

https://helpforum.sky.com/t5/Broadband/How-to-find-your-Sky-Broadband-router-stats/m-p/2855717#M101474

Re: Slow internet and buffering

Richardp13 — Mon, 29 Apr 2024 09:04:59 GMT

@cookiemonsteruk

Re: Slow internet and buffering

Richardp13 — Tue, 30 Apr 2024 05:46:55 GMT

Hi @cookiemonsteruk

@are you able to advise at all please?

Re: Slow internet and buffering

Chrisee — Tue, 30 Apr 2024 06:57:18 GMT

@Richardp13 you took the stats just after the hub restarted so they dont tell us much other than you have a long line which is connecting at 35Mb/s down and 7Mb/s up which is pretty good for its length as the noise margin is 3.4dB which indicates low noise issues.

Over an Ethernet connection you should see speeds of around 32Mb/s down and 6.5Mb/s up. Over wif speeds will be whatever depending on the layout and construction of your home. If you use a normal wifi booster/extender thst can only deliver roughly 50% of the speed of the connection it has back to the hub. You could try improving the back haul that unit has by using an ethernet cable assuming it has a rj45 connection. Alternatively moving the extender and hub to improve the wifi signal connecting the two can help. A very useful app when optimising wifi networks is an app called Wifi Swetspots installed onto a smartphone which tells you the true wifi speed between the phone and the router.

With homes with more than two levels you often need better kit than a simple router and booster can provide my own included. You can do as I did and buy a whole homecwifi system, mine has 3 satellite units, turn off the Sky hub;s wifi and use that. Alternatively you could pay extra Sky's own Wifi Max kit which is similar - note it doesnt work if you have Sky Q boxes - which gives you a newer hub and up to 3 extenders assuming a Sky engineer agrees you need them. A third option is something called powerline networking which uses your mains wiring to carry the signal to the top floor where it connected to your current extender.

Re: Slow internet and buffering

Richardp13 — Tue, 30 Apr 2024 07:20:14 GMT

Thanks for the detailed response @Chrisee.

I will keep an eye on the stats and when it starts to play up, i'll take some more screen shots.

I'm not clued up on wifi so rely on info from other people to help. I have an extender but it doesn't make a huge difference, it's the quality (I believe) It's frustrating barely being able to have a facetime conversation.

Thanks