topic WiFi not selecting best connection in Broadband

WiFi not selecting best connection

DAK58 — Sun, 27 Oct 2024 23:58:28 GMT

Can anyone explain, without too much technical jargon, how a wifi client (namely Sky Q box) selects a connection?

I recently upgraded to Sky WiFi Max with Full Fibre 500. I changed the SSID and wifi password so that I don't have change the login details on everything.

I use a powerline extender to connect 2 wildlife cameras in my garden. The extender uses the same SSID.

My Sky Q box was having problems with its wifi connection. I phoned Sky and afer several attempts at improving the connection to no avail, a pod was sent out.

I received the pod and plugged it in where I thought it would do most good. No improvement. I then found out how to test my speed through Netflix. My Sky Q box was getting 4 Mbps regardless of where I placed the pod.

I then had an idea. I changed the SSID on the extender and unplugged the pod. I got 32 Mbps on my Sky Q box.

I then went round my house checking speeds in every room. My PC in one bedroom was only getting 11 Mbps. I found this was good enough for most things but backing ip to my NAS was very slow. Therefore I used the pod to improve my connection in that room.

Everywhere now has good conections of 25 Mbps except the downstairs toilet. I can live with that.

I now find that my Sky Q box is connecting to the pod instead of the hub. Instead of 32 Mbps it was getting 10 Mbps.

The Sky Q box seems to conect to the worst signal rather than the best.

Thanks,

David

Re: WiFi not selecting best connection

Chrisee — Mon, 28 Oct 2024 08:05:48 GMT

@DAK58 assuming the Sky Q box is a main box you can manually connect it to whatever SSID by going into settings choosing the non-Sky option picking the SSID you want and entering the password. However Q boxes only connect to the 2.4GHz band due to a pecularity of the way their WiFi works which was designed to use the older black Sky hubs, the Sky WiFi Max hub is not fully compatable. You may find that is the cause of the issue as the 2.4GHz band is often compromised by interference particularly if you have third party wifi extenders.

Unless you want to watch Netflix or the other apps in UHD Sky Q boxes should work properly with a 10Mb/s feed as on-demand programming is downlosded but that will be slow. Ideally though you need more bandwidth. Sky Q minis cannot be connected to any WiFi other than the main Sky Q box, a black Sky hub or an older white Sky booster.

Re: WiFi not selecting best connection

DAK58 — Tue, 29 Oct 2024 14:12:32 GMT

Thanks for the info, Chrisee.

This would explain why my Sky Q box conected to the extender before I changed the SSID. It doesn't explain why it connects to the pod that is futher away than the hub.

Does this mean the Sky Q mini was connecting directly to the Sky Q main box rather than the hub?

I had a white Sky Q extender that was installed for my mini box as I had BT broadband at the time. I pluggd this into the back of my hub. Now my main box is getting 120 - 130 Mbps.