My experience with the new Sky Broadband Hub

[atann]

Surely their service is the same as BT’s if you’ve FFTC? I started with BT, then Vodafone, now Sky. Fibre as always been around 58-65mgb down 20mgb up. I’ve never found any different from the three providers, only their routers. As they are all using Openreach, hopefully FFTP will change this.

[Filks]

Dec 2019 - I’m very happy with the new Skybroadband hub/ router. I now have reception in all rooms which is a first. I do notice however that I’ve had a low level headache since the change. Not sure if that’s just a coincidence or if this box is really banging out a strong signal with adverse effects to my head! I’ll give it a week. 

[TimmyBGood]

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@Filks wrote:

. I do notice however that I’ve had a low level headache since the change. Not sure if that’s just a coincidence or if this box is really banging out a strong signal with adverse effects to my head!

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The new Hub isn't any more powerful in signal strength: it's not allowed to be, as maximum broadcast power is restricted by law.  That's one reason wireless kit has a 'country' setting, as some jurisdictions allow more power than others.   The increased range and better performance comes from more advanced silicon and an improved aerial layout. If you replaced a much older Hub, it's possible that you've introduced a 5Ghz signal which wasn't there before.  Personally, I suspect that a lot of what gets interpreted as EMF sensitivity is actually a reaction to high frequency (18-20Khz) noise emitted by cheap electronics.

[Filks]

Ahh thanks for that information. I believe my last router did use 2.4 and 5ghz. So hopefully my headache is just a result of a bit too much indulgence of the Christmas spirit. 

[Merlyn]

Have you tested the new hub sr203 for wifi dropping out at all. My pre sky q hub never dropped out with wifi calling. I had the sky q hub and it dropped out all the time. I am hoping that this has been fixed in the new hub sr203, only time will tell. thank you.

[Chrisee]

@Merlyn not sure who you are addressing but the wifi on the sr203 hub is generally greatly improved over the er110/er115 but a lot depends on local factors like interference from neighbours and your home's construction so nobody can guarantee performance more than Sky's 3Mb/s of course.

[Welshman49]

@Chrisee Hi i have just gone live today with Sky with the New Hub for superfast bradband and unlimited calls (the new year deal they where offering). I did not realise i was signing up for a voip service for the phone line . We have some old BT Aura 1500 dec phones  with x 4 Handsets and they wont work properly when set up with the hub. The main handset connetcted to the base station which is pluged into the hub will make and take calls. The other 3 hansets on charging stations wont make calls but you can answer a incoming call on them. Can you tell me if its the model that is not compatible or are all Dect Phones wth mutiple hansets connected going to have the same problem.

Many thanks in advance.

[Chrisee]

Sorry @Welshman49 I simply dont know. It is a bit random at the moment who gets the VOIP service as far as I am aware it is down to the exchange as Openreach begin removing the traditional phone service.

As far as I am aware the phone socket on the hub acts in the same way as a standard phone socket so quite why your DECT phone doesn't work is a puzzle in particular the other charging stations not making calls as the only connection is via the base station. I would call Sky and ask for their support unless another forum member can answer.

[Sarah-Webster]

If you have superfast broadband, then you have not signed up for a voip service at all, it is only the new G.Fast or ultrafast broadband that you would have voip only calls - the ultrafast still uses the copper line, but it is data only, which is why it will be faster.

Which voip provider are you using?  If you are using Vonage, then you connect the Vonage box to one of the ethernet ports on the router and then plug the phone into the Vonage box and away you go.  You can then have other extension sets around the house.

If you are using something like Sipgate, then you should have a little black box that you run all your phone connections through.  To set something like that up, you need to connect the box to the back of the router with an ethernet cable and then put the phone like into the back of the black box and as long as you have the black box you can run the whole system from that and have handsets wherever you want,  Depending on the phones and your provider, you can set up both your landline and your voip line on the same handset and also choose which line to use to make a call.

[Chrisee]

No @Sarah-Webster Openreach and Sky are piloting SOGEA services on FTTC lines so it is not limited to Ultrafast lines.

[Sarah-Webster]

Oh, I didn't realise that!

[Welshman49]

@Chrisee @Sarah-Webster i spoke to customer services at sky and he said i would need to check with BT to see if the Dect phones i had where compatible. Not that helpfull really did not really know wthat much. I went on a website and spoke to a customer services rep by chat and was told they have to voip compatible apparently you plug a Gigaset box which is supplied with the phones to the router the phones then connect wirelessly to the go box. Our phones do need updating in the house we have had them for years and dont work well. The only problem is the voip phones are not cheap. I was trying to save money on our broadband and phone package!!

Here is a link to the phones i looked at if this is allowed. https://www.ligo.co.uk/siemens-gigaset-sl450a-go-cordless-phone-black-edition-with-answer-machine-qu...

[tarbat]

@Welshman49 , unfortunately your experience is typical, based on what Openreach have said about the trial rollout of SOGEA and their announcement about delaying more general rollout.

[Chrisee]

@Welshman49 think you are getting confused although you are using the broadband connection to make phone calls you do not need a VOIP phone indeed orginally the sr203 did not work with VOIP phones although they do now though.

As far as I am aware the phone socket on the hub is a standard phone socket allowing a standard phone to connect and I would expect a DECT phone base station to connect and work. No idea why your system did not but as you said it was a bit dodgy. A new system should work and if you buy online it can go back if it doesn't.

You could buy a VOIP system but there should be no need to do so and it can get pricy if you just want a standrd phone for domestic use.

[Welshman49]

@Chrisee  It is very confusing. I just received my fist sky bill by email and it actually sais

• Sky Talk VOIP Rental. On it

I was thinking about buying some normal dect phones as you suggested first. I did check some out and they do actually list voip in the compatible list which a lot say No.