Sky Q: Internet on Apple devices keeps dropping off

[JayRad]

I have a Sky Q router. I am able to connect all my applications to the WIFI without any issue but internet access keeps dropping off after an hour or two on my Apple devices (two iPhones and two iPads). Switching the router off and clicking on 'forget this device' on my iPhone/iPad seems to do the trick but internet access always drops after an hour or so and I'm back to square one.  All 3 lights on the router are green throughout.
Two things to add:

1) I've tried resetting the router

2) problem seemed to start when my daughter (toddler) was pulling out a bunch of cables from behind the tv. I've checked the dsl cable...looks fine 

[mike+simmonds]

Hi @JayRad 

An obvious first step would be to replace any cables that may potentially be damaged from being tugged 

Try one at a time rather than altogether 

[JayRad]

Thanks for the quick response! Even though all 3 lights on the router remain green? And is it the DSL cable I should look to replace first? Sorry for the stupid questions!

[mike+simmonds]

Hi @JayRad 

I was guessing the three green lights reflect the fact things appear to be working most of the time.

Yanked cables are a good place to start  

If you can borrow a DSL cable for a few hours that's what I would try first. It's an easy thing to either rule out or to be a solution 

[Roger+Peters]

@JayRad 

It will be absolutely nothing to do with the cables if your other non Apple devices are connecting fine with out dropouts on either WiFi or Ethernet. Your daughter touching the cables is a red herring.  The only cable that would affect connection would be the DSL one and if that was faulty you would have no internet connection on any device. 
This  is purely a WiFi issue.

If you haven't already done so the first step is to split the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz on the Sky Q router into separate SSID's and give them different names.

Then retry the Apple devices by connecting to the 5Ghz SSID. 

If any issues then change them to the 2.4Ghz SSID.

Then if there still any issues, connect to the 5Ghz SSID and change the channel for this on the router from the default 36 to 40, 44 or 48.

Hope  this helps

[mike+simmonds]

Hi @Roger+Peters 

I'm sure you're right about cables being a red herring if Apple devices don't work and non Apple devices work, but I didn't read that was what @JayRad reported 

I thought he/she was saying that all their WiFi was dropping off 

so - yes @JayRad  if some of your WiFi devices are working all the time with no drop offs then it's nothing to do with cables 

[JayRad]

@Roger+Peters : thank you very much for this. I'm afraid I'm not very tech literate to say the least. How do I go about doing what you suggest. I've logged onto http://192.168.0.1

is that wgere this is done? And in terms of my Apple devices, how do I specify which SSID?

@mike+simmonds : thank you to you also. All very frustrating!

[Roger+Peters]

@JayRad 

To split the two channels you need to go to your router config page which can be found by typing 192.168.0.1 into your web browser. The default username and password is admin & sky (If you have Sky's brand new router then your password is your default WiFi password from the card or back of router.)

- Select wireless from the navigation bar and scroll down a little and untick the 'Synchronise 2.4GHz and 5GHz settings'

- Scroll to the bottom of the page and hit apply.

- Once the page reloads you need to go to the 5GHz wireless settings page on the sub navigation bar below where you click wireless before

- In the 5GHz section you want to go to the box called 'Name (SSID)' and add something like 5g to the end of the current name

- Scroll down and hit apply

- Then on any wireless device you should now see two networks. One network will be the same name as usual and will be 2.4GHz band and the other will be the usual name with 5G on the end (Or whatever you typed). Connect any 5GHz capable device to the 5GHz network and see if it works correctly. The WiFi password should be the same if you haven't changed it.

[JayRad]

Thanks so much. Will try that tonight?

[JayRad]

Didn't mean to add that question mark 

[Roger+Peters]

@JayRad 

Forgot to tell you how to connect the WiFi on your Apple devices

Once  you have changed the SSID names to something like skyxxxxx for 2.4ghz and skyxxxxx5g  for the 5Ghz..

Then follow these steps to connect:-  https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT202639

[keenbean]

This has been a problem for a long time. I ditched Sky broadband a year ago as the Sky Q fibre setup is inherently unusable with Apple devices.

There are many, many forum threads about it.

I was hoping Sky may have finally fixed the issue as there was supposed to be an upgrade last year, but no joy.

[JayRad]

@keenbean 

Good to know, thanks. My broadband speed is pathetic so this may well be the final straw

[keenbean]

I can't tell you specifically what the issue is as I'm not technically knowledgeable enough, but it's to do with the way apple devices switch around WiFi to get best signal. You have to keep switching wifi off and on again on the Apple device to "reset" the connection.

Nonsense really. Luckily when Sky put prices up above inflation we had a get out option to cancel the broadband which I happily took and have been with BT in the interim. 18 months is up now so off to Virgin as their price is far better. Shame really as I love the Sky Q TV!

[AlfaMark]

I have the same symptoms where 2 Apple devices iPad Pro and iPhone X, keep losing their connection to the Sky router. Other devices,  Android phone, Alexa devices, TV etc have no problem at all. Either resetting the network connections on the Apple devices or powering them off temporarily resolves the issue as other people have said. Splitting the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz SSIDs has made no difference to me.

So as I would like to increase the signal strength in my shed, I was considering buying a 3rd party mesh network and setting up completely separate WiFi network, which I would use for the Apple products and my Android phone.

I would obviously leave the Sky Q route running the its own network for the Sky Q box and mini.

Does anyone know if that would cause any other issues, other than increasing WiFi signal congestion which I would manage using different channels? Has any one tried this before?

Thanks in advance