Gigafast poor speed

[SKYQwSKYfiber]

@Lukmanh557   I recently got SKY Giga Fiber installed and had the same issue, alot of tiral and error, daily download tests and a a few calls to SKY later ... sorry to say but its down to whatever device you are trying to connect with, and the newer the device is the better the download speeds. I am guessing new devices are designed with fast internet speeds / 5G in mind, therefore have the capacity to take advantage of the increased bandwith, while older devices have a threashold they will not go over. 

Please see the below table of averge download speed results for comparison:

Old Devices

=========

5G Wifi (same room as router)

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HP laptop (2017) - 100 Mbps

Samsung Galaxy A32 phone (2021)  - 275 Mbps

Ethernet cable

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HP laptop (2017) - 255 Mbps

LG smart TV (2021) - 90 Mbps

Xbox One S (2017)  - 475 Mbps

Newer Devices

=========

5G Wifi (same room as router)

---------------------------------------

Samsung Galaxy A34 phone (2023)  - 550 Mbps

Ethernet cable

-------------------

Dell laptop (2022) - 830 Mbps

[TimmyBGood]

@SKYQwSKYfiber 

Note in this context it's 'Ghz' rather than 'G' (which designates the Generation of the cellular infrastructure used by mobile phone technology and isn't relevant to local WiFi)

Referring to 5G but meaning 5Ghz can get rather confusing.

[SmegPoison]

While you are not wrong with the conclusion you came to from your own testing and observations in your own environment, it is certainly not the case for everyone here though. I never got the advertised speeds regardless of device used and yes, I only did my testing on hard wired desktop devices, I didn't bother testing wireless as I knew the speeds would not be accurate and likely slower than my existing 500Mbps line.

Maybe they have fixed the issue, this thread is 1.5 years old now after all!

Do you have the new WiFi Max router? Many people, not just in this forum, came to the conclusion it was the limitation of the Sky Hub (SR203) but again if you are not using the new router, maybe they have fixed that issue on the existing router through firmware.

Only time I will try Gigafast again is if I upgrade my current Sky Router to the new one but I hear it's got plenty of issues/limitations right now, so will give it lots of time for Sky to sort them out before even thinking about touching it.

[SKYQwSKYfiber]

@SmegPoison I have the Sky Broadband Wireless Hub 4.2 Router Model SR203 , so I guess previous issues have been fixed.

An engineer is calling out next week to check the line and router set up, I will do a follow up post with his input.

[TimmyBGood]

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@SmegPoison wrote:

 Many people, not just in this forum, came to the conclusion it was the limitation of the Sky Hub (SR203) but again if you are not using the new router, maybe they have fixed that issue on the existing router through firmware.

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Worth noting that no firmware update can move the 203/204 from WiFi 5 (802.11ac) to WiFi 6 (802.11ax) because that's a hardware specification.

[SmegPoison]

Yes that's correct but they might still be able to fix throuhput through the hub itself if it is not able to process Gigabit speeds from the OR modem correctly, depending on what the actual issue is of course, only so much can be done in firmware before it becomes a hardware issue, which the only fix for that is to upgrade the Hub.

I was only talking about ethernet speeds. Never do any internet speed tests over a wireless connection, it should always be wired... unless the wireless connection speed is the specific thing you are wanting to test.

[mandip]

You need to upgrade to Sky Wi-Fi Max, I was on 900mbps Sky board band and I'm getting through Wi-Fi 750 Mb per second download 108 Mb per second upload on my Google phone. I'm getting 840 Mb per second and upload 109 Mb per so it depends on what phone you're using and you really do need to upgrade your sky max, it is awesome if you're using Samsung old phone, then you're gonna get really poor speed it really does depend what phone you're using, and if that phone is Wi-Fi six capable hope it helps

[Richie+Shilston]

Sky WiFi max is not an option? Ever time I ask, the agents have no idea what I'm talking about. I only get 450mb on gigafast and planning on upgrading router as the SR203 is not up to it. I won't be paying for the router either, if you can't deliver on speeds then don't sell it, your quick to take my money, so I won't be staying unless my router upgraded or subscription price reduced.

[Chrisee]

@Richie+Shilston while you can cancel during the 31 day cooling off period after that you will be held to the 18 month contract which if you read it doesnt guarantee speeds beyond the hub.

Very few people actually need gigabit speeds and the product is more about bandwidth for multiple users. Very few apps can use let alone need wifi over 250Mb/s. While you can potentially download files faster that requires the server to allow the speed and in practice few do. Streaming video in the highest UHD/HDR quality cannot use more than 60Mb/s. Etc etc

While you can buy your own router but Sky wont support you let alone pay for it. Getting close to gigabit wifi speeds throughout most homes will cost several hundred pounds for a Wifi6e system and of course your devices need to support wifi6 to take advantage of the higher speeds.

WifiMax can normally be ordered from the My Sky app but its pricy at £7.50 a month for the minimum 18 month contract and the guaranteed speed is 25Mb/s.

[Richie+Shilston]

Hello, do you work for Sky? As much as I appreciate the response, the reply sounded very condisending and stating things I already know. Wifi boost is max then? Max/boost is for wifi degradation in other rooms, I haven't even got the wifi speed Sat right next to hub, also the speed is the same with ethernet into my laptop, which i expected to be near 1Gig. There is no point, me having gigafast then when the 500mb plan would have been suffice.

The router is rubbish, you can't sell a product knowing that the speed will only be available to the hub, very miss leading. I complained from day 3 of installation and no Engineer has called me back. I will not be fixed in to a 18 month contract I can tell you that.

I will add the tech guy I was put through to to raise a case against my installation, he said I should be seeing around 850 Mb over wifi with gigafast. 

[mae-3]

@Richie+Shilston 

Wireless under 802.11ac & 802.11ax have a theoretical maximum speed, and the speed you are quoted is above it for 802.11ac and even 802.11ax would have difficulty achieving that in any premises.

[SmegPoison]

I got the same confused questions from many Sky/Community people when trying out Gigafast. Why do you want it?  It's for multiple users! or Nothing can support that speed! 

It's quite clear people know it is/was (Haven't tested it recently) a broken product so are trying to put you off having it and then complaining and giving Sky a bad name. I complained to Sky about the speed multiple times, Sky couldn't fix it and I went back to my 500mbps package. I still suspect it's the old SkyQ router which is the issue, I would like to try the new one but it looks still in beta phase at the moment as the new Web UI appears to be very feature lite plus I am not going to pay a sub for it.

Also this thread keeps coming back to WiFi when this thread should be purely about the Gigafast speeds. All my posts here and tests have been done over Ethernet. I do agree you will very much struggle to get anything close to Gigabit over WiFi unless under perfect conditions, which is near impossible to acheive outside of a lab environment.

[mae-3]

@SmegPoison 

Even most upstream servers would have difficulty achieving Gbps speeds single device, it seriously is only for multiple device access and a very busy home network.

[TimmyBGood]

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@Richie+Shilston wrote:

you can't sell a product knowing that the speed will only be available to the hub, 

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When both Ofcom and the ASA explicitly define speed delivered from the internet to the router as 'broadband speed' then you very much can do that, which would be why every ISP does so.

[mandip]

A silly question but you are phoning the right department and when the machine ask you you are saying sky boardband 

or just say upgrade my board and that's what l say l always seem to go to the right department 

phone number l use is

0333  759  1018

hope it helps