topic Re: Turn off Random Mac Addresses in Sky Q

Turn off Random Mac Addresses

Dared — Wed, 18 Dec 2024 21:35:31 GMT

Skyq won’t connect to wifi. 3rd party broadband says to turn off random MAC addresses. How do I do this.

The MAC address showing on my 3rd party router is different to the three showing on my Sky Q box?

Re: Turn off Random Mac Addresses

Chodley — Wed, 18 Dec 2024 22:56:28 GMT

You cannot change this. What problem are you trying to solve?

Re: Turn off Random Mac Addresses

Dared — Thu, 19 Dec 2024 09:28:01 GMT

Our Sky Q box and mini box were working fine, then suddenly they both didn't have wifi connection. When I've tried to reset, they say they are connected to the router but the router isn't providing them with an IP address.

When I go onto my router setup it says they are disconnected and to repair connection I must turn off random Mac addresses

Re: Turn off Random Mac Addresses

Chodley — Thu, 19 Dec 2024 09:58:26 GMT

They don't really use random MAC addresses but do use multiple MAC addresses per physical network connection (wifi or wired) so that's an interesting/surprising issue and I wonder if a visible symptom of other similar connection issues

I would try doing a full network reset on the sky boxes, Q first to see if that resolves.

Re: Turn off Random Mac Addresses

Dared — Thu, 19 Dec 2024 09:59:21 GMT

Thanks I'll give that a go

Re: Turn off Random Mac Addresses

JohnVDenley — Wed, 24 Sep 2025 19:36:40 GMT

This is not true!

My Main SkyQ box shows MAC addresses as follows:

2Ghz: d0:58:fc:18:d2:de

5Ghz: d0:58:fc:18:d2:db

Eth: d0:58:fc:18:d2:d8

initially the IP address allocated was:

192.168.1.132 so I looked on my router and the MAC address associated with that IP address was:

d2:2c:7e:0c:d2:da

so I set a "static lease" for these details allocating THAT MAC address to the IP address.

Then I turned my router off and back on again and fully expected the SkyQ box to be assigned the same IP address, because I assumed the MAC address would be the same, but when I reconnected everything, the IP address was now 192.168.1.131... so then I went back to my router and the MAC address associated with 192.168.1.131 was:

d6:74:cb:0c:d2:da

so it was YET ANOTHER MAC address!!!

Oh and then because the main SkyQ box had lost its network connection, the minibox then also lost the connection the main skyQ box and then had to be reset from scratch yet again... I only had SkyQ installed yesterday and I have had to reset and reboot the system about 10 times, because everytime it loses internet connection, the whole system never reconnects automatically and everything needs resetting from scratch every #@$%$ time... how the HELL my 80 yr old parents are supposed to sort this out when I am not physically in the house with them is beyond me this is an AWFUL system... why cant it just reconnect and reset itself silently?

Re: Turn off Random Mac Addresses

ColFlem — Fri, 03 Oct 2025 06:17:32 GMT

The answered question on here is incorrect. As per the second response it absolutely does use random Mac addresses as well as different Mac per connection. This is causing massive issues with sky q mini boxes.

I have reduced the DHCP leave time to see if this helps but really it's needed to know from sky under what conditions it changes it's MAC address.

Re: Turn off Random Mac Addresses

Chodley — Fri, 03 Oct 2025 07:06:43 GMT

@ColFlem wrote:
The answered question on here is incorrect. As per the second response it absolutely does use random Mac addresses as well as different Mac per connection. This is causing massive issues with sky q mini boxes.

I have reduced the DHCP leave time to see if this helps but really it's needed to know from sky under what conditions it changes it's MAC address.

Assume you mean lease time?

I will have to look more closely at mine. Not seen any changes but not been looking since it had been stable for years until I changed my mesh 2 days ago and now it works but randomly changes to be really slow (9Mb tested in the netflix app, via ethernet into a mesh node) until I reboot it, then it jumps back up to 90 which is fine sinve it goes through a 100Mb switch)

The minis seem to still work when it's slow and I am currently putting it down to the packet spamming the Q likes to do rather than any Mac / IP shenanigans. Deeply annoying because my old BTwholehome mesh didn't suffer from this random slowdown.

the box restarts every night when it does its hygeine kind of routine. You'd think that would be when any software defined mac addresses change but that would also involve a new dhcp request. I will check mine more closely.

Re: Turn off Random Mac Addresses

TimmyBGood — Fri, 03 Oct 2025 07:32:31 GMT

@JohnVDenley wrote:..

.. I only had SkyQ installed yesterday and I have had to reset and reboot the system about 10 times, because everytime it loses internet connection, the whole system never reconnects automatically and everything needs resetting from scratch every #@$%$ time... How the HELL my 80 yr old parents are supposed to sort this out when I am not physically in the house with them is beyond me this is an AWFUL system... why cant it just reconnect and reset itself silently?

Yes, Q uses a somewhat unusual proprietary network setup, but it's done so successfully for very nearly a decade* in many millions of households, which does suggest there's something in your particular environment which is having an unfortunate effect.

*release was in February 2016, with a hybrid mesh stack developed by AirTies which was originally intended to have built-in Powerline communication to reinforce WiFi.

https://www.advanced-television.com/2016/01/26/airties-supercharges-sky-q-wi-fi-devices/

Re: Turn off Random Mac Addresses

Chodley — Fri, 03 Oct 2025 07:30:33 GMT

It is the most common issue on here though, by a country mile.

When the minis lose sight of the Q, a "reactivate" in the menu usually works.

still annoying but much quicker than a full reset.

having a fixed IP for the Q is not useful. It advertises itself constantly anyway.