topic Re: Gigafast wifi speed in Broadband

Gigafast wifi speed

Justin-71 — Fri, 16 Feb 2024 16:29:21 GMT

I upgraded yesterday from Ultrafast Plus to Gigafast. Prevoiusly with Ultrafast Plus, (whilst sat next to the router( I was getting wifi speeds of c 450 mbps. With Gigafast, (using the same test) I am now getting speeds of 450 mbps to 550 mpbs. This feels like a negligible increase for the extra price.

I phoned up Sky support and we reset the router and also adjusted the 2.4 ghz channel but the improvement has been small.

Has anyone else had this experience? I am thinking of giving it a couple more weeks and then if no improvement cancelling the Gigafast and going back to Ultrafast Plus.

Re: Gigafast wifi speed

TimmyBGood — Fri, 16 Feb 2024 16:45:16 GMT

@Justin-71 wrote:

This feels like a negligible increase for the extra price.

Are you using a white Max Hub and a WiFi 6 client device?

Without those, 450-550 Mbs using 802.11ac (WiFi 5) hardware is very reasonable, and the (almost) doubling of bandwidth from the internet to the Hub itself really can't make much difference.

As I've just remarked in another post, the 'point' of gigafast is mostly to supply 'enough' bandwidth for multiple devices simultaneously, and almost no individual hardware items actually benefit from more than a small fraction of such bandwidth.

Re: Gigafast wifi speed

Justin-71 — Fri, 16 Feb 2024 16:45:23 GMT

Hi, thanks for the reply.

We are using the standard black router that was issued at the time I got Ultrfast Plus in the Summer of 2022. Are Sky issuing new Hubs?

I was testing it on a Pixel 6a which is I think Wifi 6 enabled.

Re: Gigafast wifi speed

TimmyBGood — Fri, 16 Feb 2024 17:01:35 GMT

@Justin-71 wrote:

Are Sky issuing new Hubs?

They have one, but as an additional subscription item:

https://www.skygroup.sky/article/Sky-Broadband-releases-its-most-powerful-WiFi-yet

Re: Gigafast wifi speed

TimmyBGood — Fri, 16 Feb 2024 17:06:24 GMT

@Justin-71 wrote:

I was testing it on a Pixel 6a which is I think Wifi 6 enabled.

It is, but what a phone can possibly do with that kind of bandwidth I can't imagine ; )

The (black) Sky Broadband Hub is WiFi 5

Re: Gigafast wifi speed

Justin-71 — Fri, 16 Feb 2024 17:07:45 GMT

Ok thanks - I'm surprised that is not issued as standard if you are upgrading to Gigasfast. Otherwise what is the point in getting speeds of up to 900 if the router issued by Sky cannot handle it.

Re: Gigafast wifi speed

TimmyBGood — Fri, 16 Feb 2024 18:13:01 GMT

@Justin-71 wrote:

Otherwise what is the point in getting speeds of up to 900 if the router issued by Sky cannot handle it.

As I said, your phone (for example) doesn't need 90Mbs, let alone 900Mbs. Frankly gigabit is entirely unnecessary for most households* : the standard Hub model handles it just fine as far as its own ethernet ports, which is where ISP responsibility ends.

*For example, a single address with a full complement of six Stream pucks and three Glass television sets 'needs' better than Ultrafast 1 delivered to the router in the (unlikely) event that they are all showing UHD simultaneously, but each individual device is only using around 25Mbs over WiFi, and a standard Hub is just fine for that.

Re: Gigafast wifi speed

Killersjp — Sun, 18 Feb 2024 11:56:50 GMT

Hi. I just got the Gig broadband. I also get around 500 through WIFi. This is also fine as I got the Gig for my PC which does download over 900 through eithernet. Hope this helps.

Re: Gigafast wifi speed

jamesn123 — Mon, 19 Feb 2024 11:13:46 GMT

@Justin-71 wrote:

Ok thanks - I'm surprised that is not issued as standard if you are upgrading to Gigasfast. Otherwise what is the point in getting speeds of up to 900 if the router issued by Sky cannot handle it.

Its designed for many client devices at once to download or stream at UHD speeds. Not for a single device to run a speedtest at gigabit speeds.

Its also designed for high speed downloads over ethernet.

Re: Gigafast wifi speed

markw2015 — Fri, 09 Aug 2024 06:08:11 GMT

I also only get 450 - 500 Mbps over WiFi but I'm getting 1.3Gbps over a wired connection. It's frustrating that the equipment your provided with can't provide the throughput that your paying for irrespective of wether you need it. Stock sky answer is you have the speed to the router which is pointless if yiu can use it. Do I now need to walk around my home tethered by Ethernet to my phone?

Re: Gigafast wifi speed

simon194 — Fri, 09 Aug 2024 08:58:17 GMT

@markw2015 wrote:
I also only get 450 - 500 Mbps over WiFi but I'm getting 1.3Gbps over a wired connection. It's frustrating that the equipment your provided with can't provide the throughput that your paying for irrespective of wether you need it. Stock sky answer is you have the speed to the router which is pointless if yiu can use it. Do I now need to walk around my home tethered by Ethernet to my phone?

As has been mentioned you can pay extra a month and get the white Wifi Max hub.

I decided to go with Wifi 6 access points, rather than pay the extra a month, as a more cost effective solution which gives me a minimum 600 Mbps anywhere in my house. Access points generally have better coverage than routers.

I then added a second to form a wifi bridge to my home office upstairs and hardwired to all the rooms upstairs. This gives me just over 900 Mbps in my office.

Re: Gigafast wifi speed

jamesn123 — Fri, 09 Aug 2024 09:16:54 GMT

@markw2015

Why would you need more than 500mbps to your phone? What possible application is there for it?

Like I said before, Sky's Gigafast product is not designed to provide a single WiFi client device with gigabit speeds its for many devices at once to use that bandwidth.

Re: Gigafast wifi speed

markw2015 — Fri, 09 Aug 2024 11:17:15 GMT

@jamesn123 thanks for your input but doesn't really matter what your opinion is as to how I utilize my fiber or what I want to use it for. The point is that with one device or with 24 devices connected it's still capped out at approx 500 Mbps using the current sky router and never reaches the the available bandwidth. With the consistent approach with your answers on this subject it's feeling like you are a sky employee trying to justify their poor kit

Re: Gigafast wifi speed

jamesn123 — Fri, 09 Aug 2024 11:52:13 GMT

@markw2015

Nope not a Sky employee or I wouldn't talk to 'Customers' in the tone I am talking now.

With the consistent approach of your answers on this subject its feeling like you do not have the technical knowledge to realise that you are very unlikely to get a consistent 1000mbps over WiFi with ISP grade gear. You would need to invest in your own high end AX WiFi kit or use ethernet.

Re: Gigafast wifi speed

markw2015 — Fri, 09 Aug 2024 12:31:47 GMT

@jamesn123 And there you go you could have said that in the first place rather that trying to be superior and judgemental in your answer.

I alredy know that the ISP kit is not good enough, but again sky offer a service where the supplied kit cannot provide the speeds equivilent to what you recieve at wired connection but is a limitiation that Sky will not own up to. However in a community i would expect that those like your self who seem to spend a great deal of time on the community would have maybe offered such advice like "try a wifi 6 or 7 router." or speeds are faster over 5ghz

people are looking for soloutions and advice on how to resolve the issues not excuses supporting the supplier. For the record 35 years in IT gives me the technical knowledge to resolve my issue but obviously im looking to see if my supplier will step up and offer a soloution.

Re: Gigafast wifi speed

mormegil — Fri, 09 Aug 2024 23:34:55 GMT

you can get over the 900Mbps on wireless with the sky max hub and a compatible device, but it it also good to know that some WiFi 6 mobiles are locked at a lower speed by the manufacturer

Re: Gigafast wifi speed

jamesn123 — Mon, 12 Aug 2024 08:52:02 GMT

@markw2015

The Sky hub supplied with Gigafast is already WiFi 6 & 5ghz so there is nothing further Sky could provide to you to get that speed. They can't guarantee that every single customer with the max hub will get those kinds of speeds because its varies hugely by location, device and local conditions. You have to keep in mind Sky is a budget ISP, you arent paying for the best of the best here.

Re: Gigafast wifi speed

markw2015 — Mon, 12 Aug 2024 10:21:32 GMT

The sky 402 router supplied with gigafast is not WIFI 6 enabled

Sky Broadband Hub specifications

Wi-Fi: Dual-band Wi-Fi radios, 2.4GHz and 5GHz, 4x4, MU-MIMO, Wi-Fi 5 (802.11 a/n/ac), ADSL2+ and VDSL2
Dual-Band Wi-Fi: Yes
Tri-band Wi-Fi: No
Ethernet: 4x Gbps LAN ports
Extras: Smart channel selection, smart scan, firewall

Sky Broadband WiFi Max Hub specifications

Wi-Fi: Dual-band Wi-Fi radios, 2.4GHz and 5GHz, 4x4, MU-MIMO, Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 a/n/ac, ax), ADSL2+, VDSL2 and FTTP
Dual-Band Wi-Fi: Yes
Tri-band Wi-Fi: Yes
Ethernet: 4x Gbps LAN ports (1 can work as WAN)
Extras: USB-C, 2 RJ11 ports, parental controls, downtime scheduling, OpenSync, DFS

Re: Gigafast wifi speed

Highlinder — Mon, 12 Aug 2024 10:52:55 GMT

@markw2015 On the Sky Broadband hub one of the ports is also marked as WAN when used for FTTP.

Re: Gigafast wifi speed

Glendale — Wed, 14 Aug 2024 18:21:20 GMT

I have gone around the houses today, absolutely raging!!

My three 20+ daughters moved back home. After a while they began complaining that the wifi was pants in their bedrooms which, when playing COD, meant they kept getting killed or something. After much persuation I relented and "upgraded" to gigafast. BT fitted the openreach hub behind the TV, which is where the hub has been sitting for the last few months.

Over the next several weeks, the girls keep throwing their mobile phones in my face with a picture of the wifi speed. Telling me that 150mbs is rubbish.

Today I bit the bullet and called sky, only to be told - very condiscendingly - that obviously the 900 mbs average is only if one device is using the hub and plugged directly in. We have 19 devices connected, Alexa x 6, ring doorbell, phones, TV's and, of course, the Xbox's.

I was offered no advice, other than to move the broadband router from behind the TV (it's now on the windowsil) and a recent test sitting next to the router had a wifi speed of just below 500. Again I was told that the router is fine and putting out 600mbs but when I asked for a chart showing recent performance I was told that this wasn't possible. How can I get out of the gigafast contract (October 2025) if I don't have the evidence that the minimum speed isn't being reached.

I asked if I could go back to the Ultrafast, I mean - why pay the extra £18? The guy from customer retention told me that Ultrafast is actually £4 more expensive per month as I am on a deal.

So here's what is in my mind

Get another broadband router to connect to the other phone line and route all of the background wifi through, TV's, alexa etc and keep the giga for gaming

Or would boosters actually help?

If the speeds don't improve - is there no recompence from Sky. I was on a £25 per month broadband contract, giga was £43 and now ultrafast is £47. I can't cancel without proof of rubbish speeds but cant get the proof. I can even check as the 192.168.0.1 doesn't work

I am not technically minded, so please speak plainly and slowly 🙂