Sky router is it good enough?

[ian2512]

So after nearly a week with a new Asus rt-ax56u router I have to wonder if skys own hub is upto the job. I got a new router as i struggled to get decent download speeds, I pay for a 500Mb\s connection. The best wireless speeds i could get were 380 download. The sky router is a AC certified device and that speed was the best I could get. Most people connect using wireless connections and so are gonna get nowhere near that speed and maybe cause customer complaints to sky if they care to do a speed check. Yes the speed to the router will be circa 500. The throughput will be less wireless which most people use. Now with a better router i can acheive the full line speed wirelessly but i had to pay for it. My question is if sky offer this package surely they should provide customers with a better router option that is wifi 6 capable should they not? Or make it much much easier to use a third party router which is still hit and miss.

[TimmyBGood]

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@ian2512 wrote:

  My question is if sky offer this package surely they should provide customers with a better router option that is wifi 6 capable should they not? 

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No UK ISP currently has an 802.11ax router as all their current 'premium' models have been on release for at least two years and so their manufacturing specifications date from before that standard was ratified.  It's generally assumed that all the next generation ISP models will be WiFi 6 and that these may start emerging later this year but Covid and then the worldwide semiconductor shortage aren't exactly helping, particularly when factory orders from big ISPs, unlike third-party hardware vendors, tend  to be on the scale of millions of units.

https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2021/02/first-hints-of-future-wifi-6-bt-smarthub-3-broadband-r... 

[brianholt]

@ian2512 As @TimmyBGood says I cant see sky offering anything soon, and will depend ob takeup rates which are more likely to be measured in years than months. Sky wont provide info for other routers as they simply couldnt support it.

[Chrisee]

@ian2512 what application do you have that needs a 500Mb/s wifi speed? The main gain of a faster connection is the ability to support more devices concurrently but in practice the need for a single devices using all of the bandwidth is highly unlikely. 

Typical high bandwidth applications are streaming UHD video which needs around 25Mb/s. If you are downloading game files then a fast download is advantagous but the time difference between a 350Mb/s download and 500Mb/s is not going to be life or death.

Its like top speeds of cars to most people the fact that Merc limits top,speed of a car to 155mph rather than the unlimited potential 180mph is not an issue.

[TimmyBGood]

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@Chrisee wrote:

@ian2512 If you are downloading game files then a fast download is advantagous but the time difference between a 350Mb/s download and 500Mb/s is not going to be life or death.

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And chances are the outbound speed of the host server / service to any individual user is capped at considerably less than that anyway.

There's a fairly comprehensive review of the intricacies of WiFi 6 here:

https://dongknows.com/wi-fi-6-explained/ 

[jamesn123]

@ian2512 

Why should Sky provide expensive hardware when they are a budget ISP?

There are not even that many WiFi 6 devices yet so providing a WiFi 6 router is idiocy and a waste of money which would just drive subscription prices up for everyone.

What single device needs 500mbps of WiFi bandwidth? The 500mbps is there to support homes with lots of devices connecting at the same time not just one device

If you have a usecase where you need such high WiFi speeds then you will be buying your own kit anyway.

[ian2512]

It is not the fact that i may or may not really need the 500mb/s it is the fact though that i have paid for the service and i think there equipment should be able to support it to be honest.

[Chrisee]

@ian2512 thinks just dont work like that unfortunately.

My Sky SR203 hub provides 700Mb/s over wifi in the same room using wifi 5. Theoretical Wifi 5 speeds are up to 1300Mb/s so Sky can easily argue that wifi 6 is unnecessary. Also very few devices supportvwifi 6 as yet.  

[TimmyBGood]

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@ian2512 wrote:

i have paid for the service and i think there equipment should be able to support it 

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Like any other domestic ISP subscriber, you're paying for fixed-line broadband speed delivered to the router, not wireless speed from it.  

As noted above, no ISP currently has a WiFi 6 router on release to customers: specifying, designing, prototyping, testing and mass-manufacturing a new model to go out to millions of users is distinctly non-trivial even under ideal circumstances, which the past 20 months haven't been.

[jamesn123]

@ian2512 

Your joking right? You get the service through ethernet. There are limited routers on the entire market that can deliver sustained 500mbps over WiFi and thats with no interference from neighbouring routers. Expecting a router that can do that FOR FREE from a BUDGET ISP is ludicrous 

[JPR007]

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@Chrisee wrote:

@ian2512 thinks just dont work like that unfortunately.

My Sky SR203 hub provides 700Mb/s over wifi in the same room using wifi 5. Theoretical Wifi 5 speeds are up to 1300Mb/s so Sky can easily argue that wifi 6 is unnecessary. Also very few devices supportvwifi 6 as yet.  

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Agree with @TimmyBGood . This idea that "i pay for x speed" so i "expect" or "demand" to have that on every WiFi connected device is just a pipe dream, regardless of what you think, and ISP. As already mentioned countless times, the speed is not guaranteed over WiFi, it can't be, and that is not what you are "paying for", it is the fixed line speed to your router. 

Do you demand and expect that you get 4 or 5 bars (max signal) from your mobile network every square inch of the country you travel? Wireless signals are affected by the environment within which they operate, there is no avoiding this, it is a fact of the technology. The only way to avoid this as already mentioned is by using cables, as they are imperveous to such issues, and maintain your connections full speed, that you pay for. 

Yes the standard of the chips and the radios in the equipment do have an effect, there is no question that aftermarket hardware is far superior to ISP supplied kit, but then you would expect it to be for the money it costs. You don't buy an Bentley and only expect Dacia performance from it....

[GD1]

@JPR007 Or Buy a mini and get a Lamborgini performance out of it 🙂

[JPR007]

@GD1 Well using the ISP analogy, wouldn't the Mini be given to you for free, but then expect it to drive like a Lambo?

[GD1]

@JPR007  Yep 🙂

[ian2512]

I only wanted to start a discussion guys.  Personally as I said I find the sky router abit lacking in the speed department over wireless when they offer ultrafast plus. Not many people these days use ethernet straight from their router do they? I could be wrong. As for sky being a budget BB supplier i think that is up for debate too. I am happy with sky BB i pay for it and pay them hard earned cash for it.  The router is good enough when using there ultrafast service and I had no issues. Just for me when I jumped to ultrfast plus I found accessing the extra speed impossible over wireless. I spent only£80 on a better router with 802.11ax support and boom full speed.  I just wish maybe sky offer this support hopefully soon.