Laptop 5ghz connection switching between Sky Hub (SR203) & Sky Booster (SE210)

[THX1138]

Hello All

I’m hoping someone may be able to shed some light on a rather strange and annoying issue with the Sky Hub and Sky Booster 5ghz band.

Below is the sequence of events – step by step:
(note: for all the steps below the laptop is positioned within 1 meter of the Sky Hub)

With Sky Hub switched on - only:

1. Power on Sky Hub
2. Switch laptop on
3. Laptop connects to Sky Hub at 275Mbps aver speed
4. Close laptop lid and sleep laptop
5. Un-sleep laptop
6. Laptop reconnects to Sky Hub at 275Mbps aver speed

With both Sky Hub & Sky Booster switched on:

1. Power on Sky Hub & Sky Booster
2. Switch laptop on
3. Laptop connects to Sky Hub at 275Mbps aver speed
4. Close laptop lid and sleep laptop
5. Un-sleep laptop
6. Laptop will now connect to Sky Booster at the other end of the house at 5-10Mbps max speed (Why does this happen when the laptop is still just 1 meter away from the Hub??)
7. Turn laptop WiFi off and on
8. Laptop now reconnects to Sky Hub at 275Mbps aver speed

Sky Hub & Sky Booster Settings:

Both the Sky Hub and Sky Booster are using the same channel for their 5ghz band, which I have heard can cause interference issues, which I believe may be the cause of my problem above.

• Sky Hub 5ghz is on channel 36 (manually set)
• Sky Booster 5ghz is also on channel 36 (Why doesn’t the Sky Booster automatically select a different channel??)

For the 2.4ghz band, the Sky Booster has automatically selected a different channel for its 2.4ghz band, so I don’t get the same issue if using the 2.4ghz band.

• Sky Hub 2.4ghz is on channel 1 (manually set)
• Sky Booster 2.4ghz is on channel 6

The Sky Booster and Sky Hub are connected via ethernet.

Any advice on what may be causing this laptop 5ghz unit swapping between the Hub and Booster and also how I can get the Booster to use a different 5ghz channel than the Hub, would be very grateful.

[Chrisee]

@THX1138 as you are finding boosters can often make wifi speeds slower. What is happening is the latop is switching to the strongest wifi signal which is the booster which is in practice provides a slower connnection than the hub which has lower signal strength than a direct connection to the hub.  Boosters like the SE210 can only deliver roughly 50% of the speed it connects to the hub. With these basic boosters you cannot control which unit a device uses and many devices will switch seamlessly to the stronger signal. 

The sokution is to do away with the booster or move it further away if it is  required to give usabe wifi in other areas of your home. Another workround is to improve the connection between the hub and the booster. A more modern whole home wifi mesh network should be better. Skys own WiFi Max might work although that has its own foibles. Third partt systems like my Deco set up has better control than the frankly elderly Sky Q mesh your current network uses.

[THX1138]

Many thanks @Chrisee for your reply.

It’s still really weird that when the laptop is successfully connected to the faster Sky Hub - which is a meter away, that the laptop would then want to connect to the slower Sky Booster – which is 20 meters away. But as you say, if the Sky Booster is advertising itself as the better unit for the laptop to connect to - even when it's more than 20 times the distance, is totally bizarre.

Also just to mention that since getting the latest Sky Hub firmware update today and rebooting the Sky Hub and Sky Booster as a matter of course after an update, the Sky Booster is now no longer assigning its 2.4ghz band a different channel from the Sky Hub. So, the settings are now:

• Sky Hub 2.4ghz is on channel 1 (manually set)
• Sky Booster 2.4ghz is now also on channel 1
• Sky Hub 5ghz is on channel 36 (manually set)
• Sky Booster 5ghz is on channel 36

The Sky Hub and Sky Booster are connected via Cat6 ethernet cable, not via WiFi.

Oh well sometimes IT can be stranger than fiction.

Cheers

[Chrisee]

@THX1138 it would have helped if you had mentioned in the first post that the booster  was further than the hub but assuming of course there are not any solid objects like walls in thecway as you are right if theybsre bith in thecsa mecroom its very strange and sorry i cant explain what is happening.

[THX1138]

@Chrisee

Sorry about that – thought I mentioned that the Sky Booster is at the other end of the house, 20 meters away from the Sky Hub.

For completeness I have included 2 schematic pictures below describing both the Normal and Abnormal operations.

All in all, this is a weird behaviour and maybe it could be a fault with the laptops Wi-Fi as everything else makes no sense.

Anyways, thanks for listening and for your help.

Cheers

[FLC]

@THX1138 

Firstly, go to the WiFi adapter in Device Manager, right-click on it & update driver in case there's an update that will fix it..

Then right-click & select Properties, then the Advanced tab. You may find that you have an option to prefer the 5GHz band.

If you don't have Sky Q then it may be worth also trying channel 44 for the 5GHz band. CHannel 36 is likely to be the most congested. No idea why there's only a choice of two channels.

[Chrisee]

@THX1138 & @FLC the black Sky hubs and the boosters use a 80MHz bandwidth on the 5GHz band so cover ch36 to ch52 by default. The hub can be switched to use a 40MHz bandwidth based on ch36 or ch44. The black hubs and boosters should not interfere one with another as they use a proprietary mesh networking system provided by Airties.

[THX1138]

@Chrisee @FLC 

Been doing some more testing regarding my weird Wi-Fi issue and have discovered that I may have been led down the wrong path.

This is what I have done:

1. First turned off the Sky Booster to remove it from the testing to avoid it creating any confusion.
2. On day 1 ran the laptop – which is within 1 meter of the Sky Hub, to monitor its WiFi connection behaviour. All was good with 200Mbps plus connection speeds. I hibernated the laptop for the evening.
3. On day 2 after waking the laptop from hibernation, I noticed that its Wi-Fi connection speed with the hub had degraded to less than 10Mbps. Before I did anything else, I switched on a second laptop and checked its Wi-Fi connection speed with the Sky Hub. To my surprise the second laptop was also connected to the hub at the same degraded speed of 10Mbps. This was a bit of a eureka moment. I rebooted the Sky Hub which resulted in both laptops now connecting normally at 200Mbps plus.

So, I have deduced that it appears that it is the Sky Hub’s Wi-Fi that is failing and then causing the laptop to find a stronger signal through the Sky Booster.

I also remember that the Sky Hub behaved really bizarrely during a recent summer heatwave when it completely lost its WiFi function and also lost both the 5ghz and 2.4ghz WiFi Network Name (SSID) setting names and passwords, which I had to re-enter.

I’m beginning to wonder if the Sky Hub’s Wi-Fi side has been slowly degrading over time and is now getting worse. (Note: Direct Cat6 ethernet connection to the hub is both stable and fast at 500Mbps)

Would Sky offer a new replacement hub based on my findings and experiences above?

[Chrisee]

@THX1138 probably as it does sound like there is something weird going on its certainly worth asking.

But coincidentally I had a similar issue myself yesterday. The connection was lagging badly and I found that my iPad has picked up a connection to the mobile router in my campervan parked on my drive despite me being within a few feet from my main wifi source. The signal from the mobile router was 40 feet away in a vehicle the other side of two walls.  Devices do  strange things on occasions. Nothing wrong with the main wifi in my case it was simply a device having a bad day.