Sky Q not working with BT Smart Hub 2

[kianw05]

Hi!

I did the same as you, tried everything. But to get mine to work together I linked them both up via ethernet to a BT Disc near by. not sure if you have a disc or any sort of powerline extender but ive had 0 issues since i linked them via ethernet.

[Chazzer66]

Just to check please. You ended up with BT Smart Hub 2 and then some of the BT black WiFI discs. Then you connected the SKY Q main box via ethernet to one of the discs and the SKY Q mini box to another of the discs again via ethernet? Today I found that I could not get the mini box to hold the WiFi signal either so, although my main Q box is working fine now with a direct ethernet connection to the Smart Hub, the second mini box is not stable.  I fixed this with another direct etherner connection in the same fashion as the main Q box and seems stable. But there is cable everywhere! If I can use the black WiFi discs that would be an improvement. 

[Chazzer66]

Thanks @kianw05 for posting in any case!

[PT109]

7 Months of grief is what I put up with and happy to share my experience that resolved things, because I tried everything, including escalation to BT Executive Office and SKY Customer Services resulting in three BT visits and 2 SKY visits.

Firstly the real issues started because I have a BT SmartHUB 2 this was made by BT in an effort to give good wifi and from what I understand slighly varies frequency (Channels) on the 2.4 and 5.0GHz. This is great if you do not have SKY Q TV.

We got SKY Q and had many issues, we have four SKY Q Mini boxes + Main Box. After intial problems started and countless hours speaking to BT and SKY and reading this forum the first step was to hard wire the BT SmartHUB2 Router to the SKY Q Main Box - this immediately helped to resolve drop out. (I have 52mb/sec on a copper incoming cable)

(Please note best results for your system are: Broadband Master Socket connected directly to Router on its own power socket and then ethernet cable to Main Box.)

Whilst the above solved the drop out on the system and meant great viewing on the main TV connected directly to the SKY Q Main Box, it did not solve the issue on the SKY Q Minin Boxes dropping out.

The reason for this became clear after many hours of trying all sorts of things: -

Mode 2 on the SKY Router

Turn Off 5.0GHz Frequency

Change Channels to less conjested (I used Microsoft Wifi Analyser Software to monitor strength, signal and channels - on Laptop to wonder around house)

Netgear range Extenders

BT Disc Extenders

None of the above gave stability on the Mini boxes.

So why do the Mini Boxes drop out - I have discovered that since BT HomeHUB 5 issues between SKY and BT have prevailed, each blames each other and put simply BT says it provides stable broadband to the house and is not responsible for 3rd Part Hardware being compatible. SKY up until recently were not visiting homes and coming inside and trying to speak to anyone is impossible due to Covid-19 restrictions. 

The reason thsi happens is that the SKY Mini boxes when connected talk to each other and form a Mesh system this relies on them communicating directly with each other and the Main Box; however they also need a stable (un-modulating) wifi to be able to use 'Catch-up' or 'On-demand' and that is the core of the issue using a BT SmartHUB2.

When the SmartHUB2 modulates (my word bye the way) it moves of the frequency on either 2.4GHz and or 5.0Ghz and the mini-boxes think that Broadband is lost and then drop-out as they have lost their stable connection. No matter how may times you reset eventually this happens again.

BT are never going to admit to this and I guess whilst developing their system to give good wifi in the house they never considered a knock-on effect to the SKY Q Mini Boxes.

THE SOLUTION I ADOPTED: -

Move to SKY for your Broadband, since then joy!

Put simply their Router IS totaly compatible with SKY Q, we still have SKY Q Main Box hard wired by ethernet to the Router and four Mini Boxes set up as the Mesh system. We also got a SKY Extender and downloaded MySKY App to phone (Superb to monitor devices and performance of Wifi). This gives STABILITY to the Mesh System thus no drop-outs.

Running for nearly a month and no issues, averging 42 - 52mb/sec and wifi of circa 20mb/s in timber frame house. Note connected devices are 10 - 15No. (Average Household is 15No. apparently at moment)

Sorry thsi is so long but I do hope it gives help to others to prevent hours of wasted time in resolving.

PT

[bob1234]

@PT109The other solution is to get BT to change the smarthub 2 for the original smart hub where you can split frequencies, there is no difference between the WiFi range  the only problem is if you have or want the black discs to go with it as they will only work with the 2.

[kianw05]

Hi!

Sorry for the late reply but you are right. I have 2 BT discs. One is wired into the main box and one into the mini. The mini has been working fine ever since I did this! 

Kian 

[PT109]

Thanks - I guess the more Sky Q Mini Boxes you have the worse it can get to disrupting the Mesh. You have to go on eBay to get older SmartHUB as BT will not sell you older Hubs.

[kianw05]

I'm pretty sure if you disable wireless on all sky boxes and use them via the ethernet that shouldn't be effected. 

[bob1234]

@PT109They may not sell them but they will certainly change the 2 for an original one if you persist and say the 2 will not work with Sky Q.

I helped someone get on by staying on the phone freephone and saying fine I will keep the 2 if you tell me how to split the frequencies, after being passed to and fro they sent out an original one as a "spare"

EDIT Amazon have refurbished original smarthubs for £24.99

[Hootays]

Had some ssue with bt smart hub 2, bt told me to sign into router & change to mode 2 in advanced wifi settings. Did that still not connecting to sky q & main sky q box still  dropping connection all the time. Eventually went back to old router BT hub & everything worked fine. Hub 2 is the problem, it doesn't like sky q & Wi-Fi. Thank God I kept the old router. Had a look at setting on old router & the router was split into 2 (denoted by a 5 at the end of the device name) must mean that bt hub 2 cannot handle sky q Wi-Fi or too many wifi connections. I have approx 11 devices & 2 sky q mini boxes. I also have a repeater router into my tv for my firestick as one of my tv's will not connect unless its hard wired to repeater. 

Hope this helps somone! 

[bob1234]

@HootaysBT will swap smarthub 2s for the original smarthub, depending on who you talk to the mention of Sky Q is normally enough.

The two hubs are exactly the same except the 2 support the BT Black discs so it is a bit of a different problem if you use Black discs.

Sometimes the only solution is to turn off 5Ghz in the hub.

[Eagle19]

I have just had BT full fibre to house with smart hub 2 and experienced the same problems and tried all solutions without success. Then tried an old Dual-Band Wi-Fi Extender with ethernet connection on top. This gives two distict channels (Ext2 & Ext5) connected main sky box to WiFi Ext2 and it worked percectly then attached Sky q booster box to Extender using the ethernet connector and then connected mini hub to it and to Ext2.

All now works perfectly - a simple solution. Going to try a powerline paired adapter from hub to sky box and see if that works as another solution.

[CP012]

I have recently switched from Sky broadband at home to BT Business Broadband. The main reason being was to access their so called whole home WiFi. I live in an old house and the walls are made of 1m thick granite. During my time with Sky I was always facing issues with WiFi signal around the house and ended up buying TP link extenders to stretch it around the house, so I thought I'd go back to BT and try their new setup with the discs. This in itself has proved problematic since the install a few days ago and I now have a wireless engineer coming tomorrow to set the house up and position the discs in the best places.

The reason I say this is because up until last night my Sky Q boxes all worked fine. I have tried every suggestion on this forum and nothing worked. I was sat scratching my head and had considered cancelling my new contract and going back to Sky but using their business broadband package. I then remembered that yesterday I had moved my original white Sky WiFi extender in to my sons room to try and improve the signal. This is the only thing I had changed yesterday as I tried to improve the signal around the home. Sky are sending me a box to return my old router, but, as it states on their website, if you only cancel you're broadband but remain a Sky Q customer, you're entitled to keep any WiFi repeaters to connect your mini boxes. This morning I have repositioned the Sky repeater back downstairs and hey presto, all the Sky boxes are working again.

I now have a stable broadband connection on the main box and have access to all of the on demand features. All the mini boxes are connected again as well. I have kept the 5Ghz disabled in the BT Smart Hub as the BT help desk I spoke to yesterday told me it was showing as a very weak connection and I only had 2 iPads connected to it. 

So it would appear that the white Sky WiFi extender is key to strengthening the signal somehow, and the fact that Sky allow you to keep it when you cancel your broadband contract must mean that they know about it. My connection is all wireless, no LAN cables anywhere. The main Sky Q box is about 2m from the smart hub, and the white Sky WiFi repeater is about 1m away from the main box in the dining room, also connected to the smart hub via WiFi. 

It might be worthwhile speaking to Sky as a Sky Q customer and asking them for a white Sky Broadband WiFi range extender as this has certainly helped me. The BT install happened last Friday and until yesterday I hadn't had a problem. So it has to be down to the movement of the sky extender. It's worth a try! Hopefully this helps

[Eagle19]

BT sent me three 1GB ethernet powerline mini extenders. Fitted to hub, main box and mini box by ethernet - working perfectly for the last week with no dropouts and over 100 mb download speed.

Can't recommend highly enough.

[bob1234]

@CP012Unfortunately the latest smarthub2 does not allow you to split frequencies as you could on the earlier one. As a minimum turn off smart in the hub as this causes many problems.

Regardless of what the app tells you, connect the Black disks to your hub then put them where you want them, the app showed I had no signal where I wanted mine but once in the positions I wanted  all 3 showed a good signal via the Web interface. I positioned one next to each mini box and used Ethernet between the mini box and disc. Rock steady.

I have now wired everything by Ethernet but that is a different story.