Broadband dropping out EVERY night around 7pm can watch any apps or gaming

[Bud50]

Every single night for the the past 6 weeks, when we try to use Netflix, Apple, Paramount on. Or using wifi on our phone or our son using his xbox.  It constantly lags and is becoming an absolute pain.  SO many times I've re-set the router, turned off the Sky box and re-set everything as we are instructed to do, it works for a night then we are back to the same problem.   We have had OpenReach digging up the roads on our estate for the past few weeks, could this be the problem?  Or if not, any suggestions please ? 

[Chrisee]

@Bud50 line issues caused by Openreach's work is unlikely to cause issues at a fixed time. Couple if possibilitues is first wifi interference from a neighbour's network the secod is interference from some malfunctioning electrical equipment close by. Che k your own home forcanything switching on or off around thectime this happens.  Causes in the past have been a micro wave cookercwith a dodgy door seal, fluorescent lights, aquarium lights, wirkess speakers etc etc 

The other cause is if you have a slow connection when your family all wantvto bevonline at oncectgerecis simply insufficent bandwidth to share. Doesntvapply if you have one of tge faster full fibre services but is quite common on older partial fibre services as to watch Netflix, play games etc could require 50Mb/s withoutvaccounting for downloading a games update.

[Bud50]

Thanks for the reply.  I was on the PC - right next to the router  watching netflix,  rest of family watching the Real Madrid v Arsenal game on TV which didnt go down - so could be a different issue.  But not exactly overloaded.  There are only 3 of us in the house - 2 usually watching Sky channels the other on their game/x-box.  We pay for their super fast broadband so not cheap!!    Neighbours comment is interesting though,  as they have only moved in about 5 months ago and are 'gadget' people, lots of tech, cctv cameras etc, have no idea which network they use but awkward to ask .  Honestly thinking it is time to go cable.  This keeps happening and the Sky solution without sitting on the phone for 45 minutes to speak to someone is  reset router - turn everything off approach. After a ridiculous number of years being a customer, starting to think it is time to switch .  Thanks for the advice though.  Appreciate it. 

[Chrisee]

@Bud50 what speed does the Service  Checker in the My Skyy app show? 

[Bud50]

Sky speed test just now was 32Mbps download speed which is pretty standard for our area.  Last night it was as low a 1.74 other evenings 8 never higher than 12. 

[Chrisee · Accepted solution]

@Bud50 if you have 34Mb/s bandwidth your issue is that is insufficent to have multiple users online at once. For example a single user streaming video in UHD will use roughly 25Mb/s leaving only 10Mb/s for everyone else. Watching in HD quality will reduce thst quite a bit but there are limits on how you can slice and dice such a slow connection. The speedtest results confirm that as they report the available bandwidth for that device at thst time.

Unfortunately unless you have access to some other network than the Openreach phoneline you are stuck until they upgrade your area to full fibre as it is the length of the copper wire to the cabinet that determines the speed. Mobile broadband maybe a better bet depending on the signal in your area

[Bud50]

Thanks for clarifying.  It's only been these past few weeks. Previously we could sit there watching Netflix , our son using his Xbox and able to use our phones without issue, it is clear we are paying for a service we don't get. So will speak to Sky today. Thanks for your help. 

[Chrisee]

@Bud50 there is not much Sky can do unless the line is faulty it is simple physics of how high frequency carrier signals in a copper wire behaves dictate the speed you get

[Bud50]

No I appreciate that, I am contacting them to cancel our service