I’ve found a solution to the frequently reported issues encountered with Sky Q and non-Sky provided mesh systems. This works perfectly with my Virgin Hub 3.0 and my Deco M5 mesh system (just as it did with my Virgin Hub and my previous Orbi mesh system). I suspect it will work just as well with other ‘non-Sky’ Wi-Fi providers.
The key seems to be having the wireless connection between your Sky Q main box and router completely separate to the Wi-Fi you use around the house.
So this is how I have it set up:
Virgin Hub in router mode.
Turn off the Virgin 5GHz band as the Sky Q main box only uses the 2.4GHz band to connect to the router.
Set up a Wi-Fi signal and password that only the Sky Q box will use ie only the Sky Q box, is connected to the Virgin Hub.
Set up your mesh system in Access Point mode.
Set this up to be the main Wi-Fi signal that will be used around the house (leave the 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi bands on).
And it’s that simple. In over 18 months with my Virgin/Orbi system and in the month I’ve had the Deco system, I’ve not had the dreaded ‘Not connected to the Network’ message once when switching on Sky.
One other useful tip. Another thing I discovered in the early days of trying to solve this, is that the Sky Q box has a ’memory’ of old Wi-Fi accounts. I used to find it had reconnected to the main house Wi-Fi (and not directly to the Virgin Hub). This resulted in Sky losing the connection to the network once again. The solution to this was to try and make the Sky Q box sign into the main house Wi-Fi signal, but deliberately giving it an incorrect password. This stops it trying to connect to that signal again.
And I should say the coverage and speed I get from the Deco M5 system using this setup is amazing. My gaming son no longer has any lag issues.
I hope this information is of help to people.
