Different broadband speeds on router and boosters

[2867toby]

I have a Sky broadband router and two separate boosters around the house... all are Sky equipment, installed by Sky engineers.

When I was on Superfast, the router got 75 Mbps and the boosters 70-75 Mbps.

i am now on Ultrafast, and while the router returns 150 Mbps, the boosters only reach 70-75 Mbps as before.

I reported this to Sky who firstly messaged me to say they fixed it at the exchange (nope - there's no difference), and in a follow up phone call told me that the boosters cannot ever reach over 75 Mbps.

I need 150 Mbps in the back of my house, which is why I paid more to upgrade. If Sky are right, and the boosters are limited to 75 Mbps, I wouldn't have bothered upgrading.

Any thoughts, please? Thanks.

[jamesn123]

@2867toby 

You need to understand the fundamentals of how WiFi works. Its not magic and you cant just magically push 150mbps over a backhaul that doesnt support it or struggles due to interference. 

Sky's Ultrafast service is designed to provide many devices at once with UHD streaming speeds, it is not designed to give one single WiFi client 150mbps+. If you want to make the most of your ultrafast connection you'll either need ethernet or a WiFi system that can support the higher speeds you demand. This could come in the form of a 3rd party router/mesh solution or you need to upgrade to Sky Max. 

In short, your old Sky boosters will not be able to handle or keep up with the higher speeds that Ultrafast can provide. If you have a requirement to use the 150mbps on a device far away from your router than you should use ethernet or a WiFi 6 router/mesh system. 

[2867toby]

Many thanks.

Shame this wasn't included in the sales spiel when I asked for the upgrade. I think it was reasonable to expect, with no prior knowledge, that the same speed would be reached throughout the house, given that it was when I had Superfast.

[TimmyBGood]

@2867toby 

Some fairly fundamental physics is working against that: unfortunately all ISPs are really bad at explaining WiFi and what 'broadband speed' actually means.

[jamesn123]

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@2867toby wrote:

Many thanks.

Shame this wasn't included in the sales spiel when I asked for the upgrade. I think it was reasonable to expect, with no prior knowledge, that the same speed would be reached throughout the house, given that it was when I had Superfast.

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No I dont agree with that to be honest. There is very rarely a requirement for a domestic user to get 100s of mbps to a single WiFi client hence why ISPs dont cover it in their sales material. If you need that kind of speed then you should use ethernet or high end WiFi 6/6e system.