Mysterious LAN Dropout Every Day At The Same Time.

[PVD1878]

I have a Sky SR203 (+fibre ONT) router which serves my hard-wired network (LAN).  The LAN can have up to 14 devices active at any time, depending on which ones are needed.

There is also the usual clutch of Wi-Fi devices such as tablets, phones, etc.

At exactly 02:30:24 in the morning, every morning, all devices that are hard-wired in my LAN drop their connections for about 20 seconds.  

It's as regular as clockwork. I've trawled my LAN settings, all my devices settings, my network switch settings and my router settings.  I'm nowhere near resolving it.

The issue even adjusted itself to Daylight Saving Time so it still happens at 02:30 !

Initially, I suspected it was my Netgear unmanaged network switch, so I changed that for a HikVision managed switch. That was a waste of time and money.

It can ONLY be something the router is doing as a scheduled task, such as DHCP lease renewal.

Has anyone else experienced this?

[cookiemonsteruk · Accepted solution]

@PVD1878 

Could you post your hub stats

https://helpforum.sky.com/t5/Broadband/How-to-find-your-Sky-Broadband-router-stats/m-p/2855717#M1014...

Also do you have sky q

Just the time matches exactly when sky eco mode kicks  in but it does go on until 05:45

If that is the case change your eco/standby settings to none as below

https://www.sky.com/help/articles/using-the-standby-settings#:~:text=Eco%20or%20Active.-,Eco,any%20s....

[PVD1878]

Thanks for that info. 

I have a SkyQ box and one SkyQ Mini.   I will do what you suggest and wait until 02:30 tomorrow to see if it has resolved the issue, although why it should impact on all of the other devices in my LAN such as security cameras is beyond me.

Here are the stats you asked for.

[cookiemonsteruk]

@PVD1878 

Yep, defo happening on the lan so eco mode is likely culprit 👍

[cookiemonsteruk]

@PVD1878 

Sky q forms a mesh with the router and minis and appears stronger than the router so even if you are 1/2 between router and sky q/minis devices will latch onto the the stronger signal

Also the sky hub has eco ethernet mode that has the same affect as sky q eco mode

[PVD1878]

UPDATE:

The main SkyQ box was already set at 'none' so I checked the mini box.  Sure enough, it was active.  I have set that to none also.

Just gotta wait for 2:30 tomorrow to see what happens.  Fingers crossed.  This has had me scratching my head for months! 

[cookiemonsteruk]

@PVD1878 

May as well check the sky hub itself and switch that to none

Go to the ethernet tab alomg the top 

 

And disable eco ethernet

[PVD1878]

The hub's Energy Efficient Ethernet is disabled. I have never enabled it.

[PVD1878]

That did the trick!

Thank you.

For some reason best known to Sky's boffins, all LAN traffic is suspended while SkyQ does its thing.

Nice one, Sky.
Never mind your customer's other kit. As long as your Sky device works. Right? Phfft!

[Chrisee]

@PVD1878  Sky Q's networking was developed around 9 years ago and uses a bought in networking system thst was prety advanced then but now has become outdated. Given Satellite broadcasting is getting to the end of its life as everyone switches to streaming so Sky have stopped developing the Q platform. There are other pecularities you may hit including a general slow down of ethernet traffic when Sky Q boxes are on the network.

[simon194]

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@PVD1878 wrote:

That did the trick!

Thank you.

For some reason best known to Sky's boffins, all LAN traffic is suspended while SkyQ does its thing.

Nice one, Sky.
Never mind your customer's other kit. As long as your Sky device works. Right? Phfft!

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That will be because the Q mesh routes the data via the Q box not direct to the router.

None of my boxes are set to eco but the network drops briefly at around 2:30am when the Q box does it's mandatory reboot.

[PVD1878]

Just for clarity,  both my main Q box and the Mini Q box have their Wi-Fi disabled.

The main Q box is connected by CAT6 cable to my SR203 router.

The Mini Q box is connected by CAT6 cable to my managed network switch.

[PVD1878]

UPDATE:

The problem returned a day later.

I was told, and I've confirmed this by observation, that Sky issue a command to all their Q Boxes every night at 02:30, irrespective of any Eco Mode settings.  

It's not quite a reboot but it disconnects and reconnects Q Boxes from their local network if they have been continuously connected for more than 1440 minutes. There's nothing you can do to stop it (short of hacking into their data centre).

I've kicked my Sky Mini box off my LAN's network switch and plugged it straight into the router after running a 10 metre length of CAT6 cable to do so. I've tested and the problem has 100% gone now.

The moral of this story is simple.

DON'T PLUG ANY SKY KIT INTO YOUR LAN !

[TimmyBGood]

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@PVD1878 wrote:

The moral of this story is simple.

DON'T PLUG ANY SKY KIT INTO YOUR LAN !

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Unless it has no effect on anything else?

I ran Q boxes on a reasonably extensive ethernet distribution from early 2016 to late 2021 with no noticeable side-effects, and Glass/Stream ever since then.

It's not exactly news to this forum that Q does weird things in a few setups though, because it always has.  The more recent kit is ironically much less sophisticated.

[PVD1878]

My dear wife asked me what the problem was that I'd been trying to solve with, "the internet thingy."

Rather than mansplain it, I told her that all the bits-n-pieces that are plugged in can leave or  join "our internet" quietly without any fuss.

Sky's kit on the other hand comes barging in, knocks the table over, kicks the cat and screams, "GET OUTA MY (removed) WAY!"

Moderator note: Removed inappropriate language