Inconsistent connection issues on all devices - even after an engineer has taken a look

[sammireb]

Hi there, 

We are having a strange and irritating issue... everything was working absolutely fine up until about 4 months ago. Nothing had changed as far as I'm aware.

We are having trouble with all devices (WiFi and Ethernet) loading websites/ apps intermittently. When you try and load a website, sometimes it will load fine, other times it will just not load at all... if you hit refresh then it might work, if not, then try again, and usually by about the 4th or 5th time it does load... but not always... sometimes it just flat out refuses! Then I have to turn my mobile onto a hotspot and it loads perfectly.

When a website does decide to load, it tends to load quickly. The speed test says I'm getting good speed (about 70Mbps).

Some websites are the worst offenders (BBC/ Channel 4/ online banking) and some we rarely have issues with (YouTube/ Netflix).

It does tend to be worse in the evening, but there are fewer devices connected in the evening (as the kids are in bed) and the speed test is still showing 70Mbps... But it's not limited to the evening, it did happen during the day too, maybe not as severely. 

We have been through all the troubleshooting guides, we've even had an engineer out to run tests and replace every part of our in-home setup (including a new Broadband Hub) but we're still getting the same issues. Over the last couple of months, I've found doing a hard-reset of the Sky Hub tends to improve things for an hour or two, but recently even that isn't making much difference. 

I'm at my wit's end now and have no idea what to do!

Any support or advice would be appreciated. Router stats posted below. 

Many thanks

Sam

[Chrisee]

Hi @sammireb your stats dont look too bad but I think your problem is not with the connection but with a service called DNS - Domain Name Server - which works like directory enquiries. The folowing assumes you aren't using a VPN..

Sky's DNS is hard coded into the hub and normally works well but can be dodgy. The reason I suspect it is DNS because apps like You Tube and Netflix by pass the DNS as the IP addresses are coded into the browser apps but the others almost certainly do. 

First thing to check is the set up on the device you are using go into the netwoork settings and check it is currently set to use the hub(192.168.0.1) for DNS. If it is try to set to manual for DNS and enter these two servers (they belong to Google and are safe) 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 and see if the issue stops. You cannot over ride the hub's internal settings but you can programme most devices to use a diifferent DNS. 

[sammireb]

Thank you @Chrisee for your response, I'm so grateful for people like yourselves giving support. 

I have changed the settings on my phone and ipad to Google's DNS, and it doesn't assist to have solved the issue. However I'll make this change on a few other devices and see whether things are any better this evening when things tend to be at their worst!

[Chrisee]

@sammireb if you are still having issues with specific sites on your phone after making the DNS switch my theory is wrong. I have to say where one of Sky's DNS goes bad we normally get loads of posts and yours was the only one. A possible work round but it is a pain is to unplug your router for at least an hour which seems to be the time required to force a change of your public IP address. 

It is an odd fault I wonder if any other forum member has a suggestion.

[sammireb]

Thank you @Chrisee, I'll try turning the router off for an hour later today once I don't need it for work, and more importantly the kids are are out or in bed 😅 

[sammireb]

Hi @Chrisee, sorry for not replying sooner. 

I have left our hub off for a couple of hours this morning and turned out back on in an attempt to force a mew public ip. Unfortunately this hasn't worked and we are still experiencing the same issues 😔

If you are any other forum member has any suggestions then we'd be extremely grateful. 

[CelliA74]

Hi @sammireb 

i have been looking for advice regarding my connectivity today and have come across your query. I am having, what appears to be, the same issues as you today. 
my connection has been fine until I woke up this morning and none of my devices can connect to WiFi. Initially it was forcing me to log in to captiv but I couldn't do that, and it's now no longer asking me. Throughout the day I've had intermittent access to WiFi and the troubleshooting says all is fine to the hub. Just not devices can connect so I m using my hotspot and data.

I will keep following you to see if you find a resolution and will turn my hub off overnight in the hope it resets the ip address 🤞🏻

[sammireb · Accepted solution]

Hi @CelliA74 

Our issue had to be resolved by Sky/Openreach sending an engineer to the cabinet down the road. Some switch or other part in the cabinet had become faulty. Once this was replaced everything started working correctly again. 

I hope that you get your issue resolved soon.