topic Hub availability in Broadband

Hub availability

P-d-B — Sun, 01 Dec 2024 15:20:24 GMT

As I understand, even with Ultrafast 150 Sky only supply a "standard" hub, with wifi 5.

1) In order to get a wifi 6 hub it requires a contract upgrade.

2) Yet wifi 6 hubs can be bought pretty much anywhere & just plugged in, presumably cheaper than upgrading a Sky package.

What's to prevent me from going that second route?

Re: Hub availability

FLC — Sun, 01 Dec 2024 15:33:48 GMT

I'd urge against it. I have the SR213 supplied with my FTTC connection & it's pretty hopeless. WiFi signal is dreadful & there's very little control over it. Unless you have all your devices in the same room as the router, you'll almost certainly need the Pod mesh system as well. Even they seem a bit pants as as far as I can tell, they have no ethernet.

I'm actually considering the step back to the SR203.

Re: Hub availability

Chrisee — Sun, 01 Dec 2024 15:35:03 GMT

@P-d-B you can indeed use a third party router if you want howver not every router will connect to Sky services. If you are in the UK and you have a full fibre service then most Asus routers will connect but for example T-P Link routers wont. Two points to consider if you replace a Sky hub with a third party router are first you lose the voice line and secondly if you get a line fault you will need to reconnect the Sky hub to get support

One last thing given your incoming bandwidth is only 150Mb/s and WiFi speed can deliver well over 500Mb/s why do you think you need WiFi6?

Re: Hub availability

TimmyBGood — Sun, 01 Dec 2024 16:12:11 GMT

@P-d-B wrote:

presumably cheaper than upgrading a Sky package.

WiFi Max, with a Max Hub, is frequently discounted as low as £4 a month: at that rate any compatible WiFi 6 router is likely to be the equivalent of about two years Max subscription without the other supposed benefits of Max (primarily booster loan and Parental Controls) and, as @Chrisee indicates, Sky Talk Internet Calls.

Re: Hub availability

P-d-B — Mon, 02 Dec 2024 12:15:42 GMT

OK, thanks for the comments folks. To reply, not in any specific order.

Re the upgrade price, it might be worth asking the question, though if the Max hub isn't great... ??

Could that be an isolated issue or a fundamental flaw?

I have FTTP.

I'd have to look at any other benefits of the Max upgrade.

As to why 6. I currently have Devolo mesh powerline adapters which seem to do a reasonable job of spreading the signal around the place, although getting a signal into the garage could certainly be better. I've heard wifi 6 is able to penetrate walls better than 5, so that's my logic there.

Although I have landline, there's never a phone connected, so in practice it's not used & I've no intention of doing so.

As always, real world experience beats theory so advice always welcome.

Re: Hub availability

TimmyBGood — Mon, 02 Dec 2024 12:33:53 GMT

@P-d-B wrote:

Re the upgrade price, it might be worth asking the question, though if the Max hub isn't great... ??

Realistically I doubt an advisor has any leeway there other than the discounts which the business dictates.

Worth keeping in mind that while a support forum is inevitably largely populated with posts about problems, hundreds of thousands of Max users aren't posting here.

Re: Hub availability

P-d-B — Tue, 03 Dec 2024 08:33:50 GMT

"... hundreds of thousands of Max users aren't posting here."

Yes I understand that.👍

Re: Hub availability

P-d-B — Tue, 03 Dec 2024 13:39:34 GMT

I've just read "Sky WiFi Max is not available with Sky Broadband Essential Plus, Ultrafast (g.Fast) or Unlimited Pro packages."

So much of the previous is superfluous, as I have Ultrafast 1, - unless I'm misunderstanding.

Re: Hub availability

TimmyBGood — Tue, 03 Dec 2024 13:49:07 GMT

@P-d-B wrote:

Ultrafast (g.Fast)

G.fast is a different technology to FTTP: it's now a dead-end and ceased further deployment by Openreach several years ago.

https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2023/10/the-misery-of-diminishing-choice-in-g-fast-uk-broadband-areas.html

The Max Hub doesn't contain a G.fast modem, so isn't compatible. There's a separate version of the Sky Broadband Hub (SR204) for this.