3rd Party fibre modem - 2.4/5GHz workaround?

[Bray444]

Hi - apologies if this has been answered, I couldn't see it.

I'm considering switching from Sky Superfast to a 3rd party full fibre ISP (Jurassic Fibre).  I understand that my Sky Q main box will only connect to the 3rd party router at 2.4GZ and I'm concerned about how that will feel in terms of performance - or at least, it may negate the gains I get from going full fibre.

Jurassic Fibre have an option to switch their router into 'Modem' mode - i.e. disable all other functions like Wifi and effectively become a pure fibre Modem.  I'm then imagining I could connect this directly to the existing Sky router (would need to convince Sky to let me keep it presumably!) - but that this would get around the 2.4 GZ restriction since as far as the rest of the Sky equipment is concerned everything is still coming from the Sky router, only now at 450MBPs instead of 40MBPS ... 

My question is, has anyone done this or similar, or is anyone familiar enough with the technicalities of the Sky router to know if it would work?  It's not clear in my head if I can 'feed' the Sky router an internet signal via another modem/via ethernet - maybe it only takes its input from the RJ45/Telephone port?

Sorry for the ramble, hope it makes sense.   NB I also have a mini-box which is another reason to want my Sky Router to work

Thanks in advance

Bray

[jamesn123 · Accepted solution]

@Bray444 

It wouldnt work, as soon as you put the Jurassic Fibre box into modem mode it would expect whatever router you connect to it to be able to do the line authentication. Sky's router will only authenticate to a Sky line. 

As long as you dont use the hotspot feature on your Q box it wont affect any other devices and your Sky box shouldnt be too slow over 2.4ghz.

[Bray444]

@jamesn123 thanks for such a quick and clear reply - albeit a disappointing one  🙂

So it seems there is there no way to get a 5GZ connection to a 3rd party router?  One could be cynical an think Sky's bespoke network is a way to discourge people from using 3rd party ISPs!

From what I saw 2.4 vs 5gZ can mean 3-5x the speed - I know you said it shouldn't seem too bad but if I go to the trouble of switching provider I'd be very disppointed not to see those UHD moves download in seconds.  Or am I unduly worrying about it?

There's always hard-wiring the SKY box to the 3rd party router - no reason that wouldn't work right?

Thanks

[jamesn123]

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@Bray444 wrote:

So it seems there is there no way to get a 5GZ connection to a 3rd party router?  One could be cynical an think Sky's bespoke network is a way to discourge people from using 3rd party ISPs!

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Its because of the way Sky's mesh works. The 5ghz band is solely dedicated to being the backhaul connection for Sky Q mini's feeds & the hotspot feature. When using a Sky hub, the hub is able to join the mesh and act as a 'node' as well as being the hub itself. This means 5ghz traffic can pass through it as it would with any other 'node' such as a Q box, mini or booster. When you use a 3rd party router it can't join Sky's mesh therefore its unable to participate in that 5ghz backhaul so it must make a connection over 2.4ghz only.

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@Bray444 wrote:

From what I saw 2.4 vs 5gZ can mean 3-5x the speed - I know you said it shouldn't seem too bad but if I go to the trouble of switching provider I'd be very disppointed not to see those UHD moves download in seconds.  Or am I unduly worrying about it?

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For starters dont expect anything in seconds, its going to be at least minutes or more depending on what tier you go for with Jurassic. E.g Lets say you went for 500mbps with Jurassic, if you were to download a UHD film which usually range at about 25GB, that would take around 7mins to fully download and thats only if the connection to the Q box is a steady 500mbps the whole time which is extremely unlikely over WiFi, especially if your doing something else at the same time e.g. scrolling social media. 

Secondly keep in mind that programs download as you watch so even over a 2.4ghz connection you should be able to start watching the program almost straight away and the rest will download as you watch, this completely negates the need for really fast connection to the Q box.

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@Bray444 wrote:

There's always hard-wiring the SKY box to the 3rd party router - no reason that wouldn't work right?

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The ethernet port on the Sky Q hub is only a 10/100mbps port so it would max out at 100mbps.

Generally I think your worrying over it a bit too much, also your expecting a lot from a product that is now 8 years old, if you want modern to take advantage of your modern internet connection then you should consider Sky Stream/Glass as they have WiFi 6

[Bray444]

@jamesn123  - thanks once again - I hope Sky appreciate your efforts and those like you these boards!

One final question (I think) .. just about hotspot mode.  I think I understood that I'd lose this feature - but what does it mean exactly?  Is it about other devices in my house being being able to use the sky box/mini box to pick up the wifi?  (The 'mesh' ?)  So could it mean poorer wifi coverage for my non-sky Devices?

Thanks

[jamesn123]

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@Bray444 wrote:

One final question (I think) .. just about hotspot mode.  I think I understood that I'd lose this feature - but what does it mean exactly?  Is it about other devices in my house being being able to use the sky box/mini box to pick up the wifi?  (The 'mesh' ?)  So could it mean poorer wifi coverage for my non-sky Devices?

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Yes exactly that, it allows non-sky devices to pickup your WiFi connection as if it were coming from your hub. So if you disable the mesh/get rid of Sky then you could experience worse coverage around your house. That being said, if you only have a single Q box with no minis or boosters then it probably isnt boosting the signal too much. 

[Bray444]

@jamesn123  I've actually got a booster and a mini box upstairs - but even then I've found the wifi speed low in 1 bedroom and i've used a powerline and wifi repeater which worked well - so I may need to get a couple of those and boost the Jurassic through the house (which will be faster than the Sky hotspot anyway by the sounds of it).

Thanks again for taking the time