ASUS WiFi /Sky Q issues

[Chunk88]

Hi again knowledgeable folk, Heeeeeeelp please!

After endless WiFi range issues I have taken the helpful advise from a previous chat and purchased 4x ASUS zenWiFi XT9 units to spread round the house, it seems ASUS are the preferred option.

All seemed surprisingly easy for a non tech bod (or so it seemed)??

I did away with the Sky max hub, connected one of the XT9s to the internet cable and it all but went through set up and updated itself with very little to no intervention becoming my router, I set up the 3 ssid's it was broadcasting including one 2.4ghz that I required and 2x 5ghz that I haven't tapered with, just named, ✔️ 

I then proceeded to add the others 3 units as nodes as per the apps instruction and again all went surprisingly well, ✔️ 

Once I had set up the nodes fully I then placed them around the house and I finally had incredible WiFi signal and speed in every corner connecting devices and naming them accordingly in the app list so I could see everything that was connected and to which node it was currently connected too, PERFECT, ✔️....until...

After 3 days of faultless use suddenly my sky Q mini boxes are randomly dropping out, almost always recovering on their own after 1 to 3 mins but this could happen once every five hours or 5 times every half hour at random. Wifi, signal and speed to all other devices still impeccable and all nodes showing great signal strength.

So what have I done wrong or what has gone wrong in such a short time scale that I've gone from smug to sulk and down £700 with 3 almost unwatchable tv's??

any help very much welcome and appreciated, but please keep it as simple as possible to match my understanding.

 

[Chrisee]

@Chunk88 Sky Q mini boxes can only connect by wifi to a compatable Sky hub or to another Sky Q box. Whenever you are not using a black Sky hub how Sky Q works is the main Q box connects to the thiird party wifi using the 2.4GHz band its 5GHz band wifinis used to vonnect any Q minis. Sounds like your. Q minis only have a marginal connection to the main Q box as they cannot use the Asus units.

Two possible workrounfds first is to ask Sky to send you a Sky Q booster which they should do. The second and more reliable suggestion if practical is to connect the Q minis to the Asus units using ethernet cables. Sky Q is an old system nearing the end of its life as satellite broadcasting itself is unlikely to be around after 2030 you msy want to consider switching to Sky Stream which should work well with your new wifi system. 

[Chunk88]

Hey @Chrisee 

So I was told previously but the odd thing is none of my Sky Q boxes are wired and since setting up the ASUS units all have worked perfectly for the last 3 days, recording, downloading, viewing on multiple screens at a time without a single fault or drop outs for 3 days until yesterday all the while my white sky max router is unplugged and in the cupboard? I checked the connection and they are definitely connected to the ASUS units 2.4ghz ssid I created, no use of the wps buttons just on screen ssid selection and password set up by myself.

I tried hardwiring the main Q unit and one of the mini's last night and it seemed to have no beneficial effect, not sure if I did it correctly?

Overall I'm thrilled with the WiFi and speeds from the ASUS mesh but I'm getting hounded by the family about tv problems now and I notice the connection speed on the Netflix app via the Q boxes are now fairly slow, I'm seeing 950mbs in at the main router unit but only 45mbs at the Q mini wired or WiFi.

Im lost to be honest, I needed to ultimately do it as I need a dedicated 2.4ghz ssid for home tech that won't function on 5ghz and the sky router now recombines them after I separate them as soon as I use the app, I tried a pod booster first and it did nothing at all for WiFi strength in my house at least?

[JimM1]

@Chunk88 Have sent you a PM.

[Chrisee]

@Chunk88 I can only advise what Sky's engineers have said at the various briefings I have attended.. The Q boxes use a propietry mesh networking system called Airties which is no longer being developed.That your Q minis connected to the Asus units is  unusual but I suspect the connection will always be unstable at least to some extent. Your old white Sky hub has the same restrictions as only the black Sky  hubs run Airties. 

Running a separate network for IOS kit is one approach but with more modern routers is probably unecessary but if its a separate SSID wont cause any real issues beyond possible interference. My own TP-Link Deco system provides a guest network SSID which I do use for a couple of problematic devices. You are probably aware WiFi6 requires the 2.4 and 5GHz band are synchronised. In practice for the vast majority of domestic uses WiFi5 is more than fast enough.

[Chunk88]

Hey @JimM1 

not sure where to see pm's on here?

[JimM1]

@Chunk88 Envelope next to the bell!

[JimM1]

@Chunk88 Ok see you got, and time to take the step back before you get all in a pickle with it all!

[JimM1]

@Chunk88 Have a couple pictures on this link will let you see what the zen web looks like, 192.168.50.1 to get to the Asus.

Answered: Using my own router instead of Sky supplied | Sky Community

[JimM1]

@Chunk88 Did you have any joy binding the mini's too the nodes for the mini TV boxes operation!