New 3rd Party Router - To Improve WiFi

[rozel]

Hi all

Before outlining my issue, please let me say I am very satisfied with Sky Q TV.  The Sky Q box is connected via Ethernet and have 4 x Mini Boxes connecting via WiFi.  The Mini Boxes do drop out from time to time but by and large they're ok.  I am with Sky Broadband and downloading from the Internet is on par with my Sky Contract in that I get what they said I'd get, speed-wise - this is using Ethernet.

However WiFi connecting to the internet in all rooms of our house is hit and miss.  Our Samsung S10+ phones (there are 3 in our household) are useless sometimes, yet undertaking a "SpeedTest" shows that we should be getting a much much better performance.  Daft as it might sound, I have no difficulties connecting to the WiFi using my Samsung Tab4 tablet which is much older than our phones.  FYI we always connect via the 2.4 wave band, leaving the 5Ghz one free for Sky TV - not sure though if this is what we should do.  We do not go online for Gaming, just streaming and downloading various stuff.

Current Sky Broadband Devices:

Router:  SR203

Booster: SE210

I'm not sure if the above pieces of kit are Sky's latest but I have reached the end of my tether manipulating the Booster to get a better WiFi signal so I am asking for advices on getting a much better 3rd Party router which will retain my Sky's connectivity but give us far better WiFi.

Hope you can help me choose a Router replacement particularly as it's Black Friday! 😊

Thanks

[cookiemonsteruk]

@rozel 

Are you are on sky superfast or ultrafast?

The options :-

Superfast -Use a third party router and mesh system with a seperate modem bridge ie asus rt ax58u and tp link td w9970 and as many mesh nodes to blanket the house in wifi

If you want to maintain sky calls you can use the same make and model of mesh nodes in access point mode alongside the sky hub

Ultrafast - same as above except you don't need the modem bridge

[jamesn123]

@rozel 

Using 2.4ghz only for your devices is probably where you are going wrong. The band is much more likely to get interference from other factors. You should use 5ghz where possible. 

[rozel]

Hi Thanks for your help. 

I should have said I'm not on Fibre, I think I'm on LLU - I can get 60mbps, sorry about that.

Yes that maybe what the issue is.  I am sure it was told to us to keep off the 5Ghz channel as this was for Sky Q.   Would you recommend we utilise the 5Ghz band in the same room as our Sky Q (to take advantage of its mesh) and the 2.4Ghz band in all the other rooms?  And what band do we use for the SkyQ and Mini Boxes?

Thanks

[jamesn123]

@rozel 

Honestly I'd just sync the bands together and let the devices do the work. They will automatically select the appropriate band to work on depending on signal strength. 

[rozel]

Is this something new?  I've not read about that, indeed the opposite.  I accept I have issues with WiFi but this seems radical to me - does it appear in Sky's setup guides?

[jamesn123]

@rozel 

Not really sure what you mean. By default all Sky hubs, Q devices, boosters etc come with the two bands synced. You must have manually unsynced them yourself which is against Sky's recommendations in the first place?

[Skull+Treaty]

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@cookiemonsteruk wrote:

@rozel 

Are you are on sky superfast or ultrafast?

The options :-

Superfast -Use a third party router and mesh system with a seperate modem bridge ie asus rt ax58u and tp link td w9970 and as many mesh nodes to blanket the house in wifi

If you want to maintain sky calls you can use the same make and model of mesh nodes in access point mode alongside the sky hub

Ultrafast - same as above except you don't need the modem bridge

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@cookiemonsteruk 

Superfast is available via FTTP too,  with more & more being provisioned that way 🙂

[rozel]

@cookiemonsteruk- sorry you are confusing me with technical stuff which I don't understand.  I am not on Fibre, as said my max download speed = 60mbps and believe I'm on LLU.  Our exchange does not support Fibre.

[rozel]

@jamesn123 

Yes you are correct - I have split the two bands as I was given to understand that some of our "Smart Devices", not phones/tablets etc. could only connect to a 2.4Ghz band.  Here, I am talking:  Echo, Nest, Smart Plugs etc.

[jamesn123]

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@rozel wrote:

@jamesn123 

Yes you are correct - I have split the two bands as I was given to understand that some of our "Smart Devices", not phones/tablets etc. could only connect to a 2.4Ghz band.  Here, I am talking:  Echo, Nest, Smart Plugs etc.

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Yeah that is correct sometimes you have to split them in order to connect certain smart devices however have you actually tested it while they are synced? It may work fine for you

[rozel]

Thanks again @jamesn123 - yes if I recall, I did and a few didn't connect.

OK so coming back to my initial post would a much better third-party router overcome these connection issues and can you nicely explain what @cookiemonsteruk was saying to me regarding his suggestion, so that I can understand please?

Cheers

[jamesn123]

@rozel 

Possibly it could overcome the issues but nothing is guaranteed. You'd just have to look at getting a 3rd party router that can authenticate to Sky's servers. The main thing cookiemonster was asking was whether you have your broadband provided via the telephone socket or a white Openreach fibre ONT. 

[rozel]

Thanks again @jamesn123 , much appreciated.  Yes my Broadband is via an Openreach box on the wall - my Broadband is Fibre To The Cabinet (FTTC) NOT Fibre To The Property (FTTP).  The Exchange describes it as LLU.

Ok I've checked out @cookiemonsteruk 's recommendations.  I didn't know what Mesh Nodes are - they must be similar to the discs BT supply - my son has  BT Broadband with the Discs and says they are very good.  But BT is poor in my area compared with Sky.  So if the Mesh Nodes are the same thing as the BT Discs, then I'm in.  My only requests now are: -

1.  Connecting to Sky's servers.  Is a separate Router and Modem the way to go - what is a Bridge?

2. Where do I find these discs or Mesh Nodes?

You know it would be good to know what exactly to buy - especially as it's Black Friday.  I'm prepared to go to £300 all in, if that helps - possibly a tad more.  I have 8 hours or so left to get my delivery for tomorrow through Amazon 😁

[cookiemonsteruk]

@rozel 

"Yes my Broadband is via an Openreach box"

Is that a large white box or standard mastersocket?

Is your phone plugged into the router?