Drop in internet connection

[WindyWeather]

I have a sky hub in the shed, connected to my router at the house.  Whenever we use the shed internet, the house internet drops and loses connection, and this will happen multiple times until we shut off the hub in the shed, then all seems to go back to normal.  The ethernet lead from shed to house is CAT7. The hub in the house is a skyrueQ7, and the shed is a hub 6 which the ethernet is plugged into the back of the skyrueQ7 box.

Not sure how to get around this as we were hoping to use the shed as an airb&b, and whilst the guests will have no problem, we will at the house 😞

[TimmyBGood]

@WindyWeather 

It's almost never appropriate to have two routers on the same domestic network and having such hardware present on default configuration is very likely to cause problems: I suspect the unit in the shed is either on the same gateway IP address as that in the house and/or it's issuing conflicting IP addresses because it has an active DHCP server.

The correct hardware for such a location is an ethernet switch / wireless access point or a Sky wireless booster.  If you have Sky Q television, a Q Mini box will also act as a local access point.

[WindyWeather]

I originally tried TP link, but that didn't connect at all, and that's why someone suggested the hub 6, as that's what they were using, but they do have a Q tv.  Would the sky booster work because the shed is 170 ft up the garden? 

How does the access point work?

[TimmyBGood]

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@WindyWeather wrote:

.  Would the sky booster work because the shed is 170 ft up the garden? 

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The booster is on the end of the ethernet connection to the shed, so it's only operating WiFi locally, as an access point.

[jamesn123]

@WindyWeather 

You need to use an 'Access Point' then set it up to use DHCP. It'll configure itself after that.

[WindyWeather]

Excuse my ignorance but what's a DHCP?

[jamesn123 · Accepted solution]

@WindyWeather 

DHCP stands for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol. Its basically the technology that automatically assigns all devices on a network an IP address. So for example your Sky hub has DHCP and when you connect any device e.g. a phone it'll automatically give that device an IP address so it can communicate on the network and the internet.

What I am saying is you need to use an 'Access point' rather than another router because if you use another router you end up having two DHCP servers on your network (Your Sky hub & the 3rd party router you bought) which then can often have the same IP address space and start giving out conflicting IPs. An 'Access point' instead acts as a client to your Sky hub, gets an IP from it and then provides WiFi access to other devices within its range. 

[WindyWeather]

When we connected it, it was very strange because it took over everything, and I had to connect everything with its name and password, then suddenly a week ago it reverted back to the original router, so had ro switch everything back.

I'll look into using a sky booster as an access point.

[TimmyBGood]

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@WindyWeather wrote:

it was very strange because it took over everything, and I had to connect everything with its name and password, then suddenly a week ago it reverted back to the original router, so had ro switch everything back.

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Yes: that's exactly why having a gateway router and then a second router elsewhere on the local network running default settings (particularly an active DHCP server) is almost never appropriate in a domestic setting.

While network segmentation using internal routing is a thing, it's usually only found in very large corporate setups.

[WindyWeather]

Would it be best to get a sky booster, or a sky Q booster - do they both have an ethernet port?

[TimmyBGood]

@WindyWeather 

The Q boosters all have an ethernet port (as far as I know)

Confusingly early batches of the Sky Broadband Booter do too, but there's a more recent batch where the port has been dropped.

[WindyWeather]

Thanks cos I'm hoping if I can get one will Etherley port it'll work as 170ft up the garden would be too far for wireless

[Chrisee]

@WindyWeather standard cat5e or cat 6 ethernet cables can be up to 100m and still support speeds up to 1Gb/s. You can buy special directional external wifi kit but these are expensive and designed for commercial use. 

[jamesn123]

@WindyWeather 

Its likely if you got one from Sky now it would not have an ethernet port as the newer ones dont

[TimmyBGood]

@WindyWeather 

Worth noting that Sky won't suply you with a booster for that purpose anyway, so you'd be sourcing it yourself and could presumably ask about the port.

The legitimacy of any such sale/purchase is unfortunately questionable.