Old SSID wont go away

[GMG]

Sky kindly “upgraded” my router a month ago when I took out a new contract with them. Since then, my regular old 5 bar signal consistently drops to 2 bars and is very flakey to say the least. On top of this my old routers SSID is still making its presence felt and is appearing in network and internet settings as very much alive and kicking and still available to any of my Wi-Fi connected devices which want to use it. This is playing havoc with my security cameras, my Tapo devices, my Echo dot etc. How do I obliterate all trace of this now supposedly “non-existent” SSID. I have tried various ways to delete it but it keeps resurfacing and still showing it has a strong signal presence. Any help and advice much appreciated.

[jamesn123]

@GMG 

If you have Sky Q or Sky boosters they will sometimes retain the old SSID. You'll need to complete a network reset on all of them at once then reconnect.

If you have any 3rd party extenders they will also hold the old SSID and will need to be removed/reconfigured. 

[GMG]

Many thanks for this James. Any chance you can talk me through what a network reset of my Sky Q box involves. I had done a network reset via my TV which did not make any difference so is there more to it than that. You also mention extenders, would this be my TP Link powerline plugs and Tapo Alexa plugs? And why would the old SSID still be appearing on my Mobile phone having deleted it from there numerous times.

I have never encountered this issue before and having changed routers at least half a dozen times in the past why has it only happened now. I would surely have thought that Sky could remove this old SSID for me and stop me having to faff around with a load of devices.

[jamesn123]

@GMG 

Your old SSID is appearing because there is a device on your network still broadcasting that, whether it be your Sky Q boxes or TP-link powerline adapters. It doesnt matter how many times you 'delete' it from your phone it'll keep showing up because your phone is just doing a scan of your local WiFi access points and finding it so it then shows you it again. Its nothing Sky can do remotely for you its down to the consumer to manage their WiFi and devices connected to it. 

To reset the network settings on your Q box/s follow these instructions;

Home - Settings - Setup - Network. Highlight Status and then select Reset on the right hand side.

Note that you need to do this on the main Sky Q box as well as any mini boxes before you start to reconnect any of them otherwise it may just find the old SSID again.

As for your powerline plugs, if they have WiFi functionality it will 100% retain your old SSID so you'll need to follow the guides from TP-Link to factory reset them and then reconnect them.

[GMG]

Again James thanks for your assistance. But can you perhaps explain how I have now signed in to the old router which was returned to Sky, keyed in my old password and am now running my internet connection from this old SSID (Old - SKY64C6D SSID New - SKYUGF9S) see attached. What do you think is going on here?

This message is being sent courtesy of a non-existent router

[Daniel0210]

@GMG 

I've rejected your image as it contains personal information ie; your email address. 

[GMG]

I attach new JPG to go along with my original message -many thanks

[GMG]

OK James  I fully understand that “your old SSID is appearing because there is a device on your network still broadcasting that, whether it be your Sky Q boxes or TP-link powerline adapters” and I have done everything you suggested to no avail and I would be utterly amazed if any of these devices which seemingly retained their allegiance to my original router (SKY64C6D) have now developed router powers as well . Has anyone else ever encountered this strange (to me anyway) phenomenon. I think I need someone from Sky to look at this. I may just cancel my new Sky contract return the new router they gave me and use this phantom connection instead😁

[GMG]

Should any further advice be forthcoming I will be eternally grateful. But meantime I understand that it may be possible to change my new SSID name (SKYUGF9S) supplied by Sky back to the previous SSID name (SKY64C6D) - or is it too late as I would then perhaps just be making a replacement “phantom” SSID SKYUGF9S.

I just want the old SKY64C6D SSID to disappear and stop making itself available as an available network and stop interfering with all my Wi-Fi connected devices.

I have disconnected all extenders etc that could have retained this SSID number have reset my sky Q hub numerous times (although I was led to believe that Sky Q boxes should anyway just mimic the SSID of my hub) I have reset my router countless times but it will just not go away. I’m tearing my hair out.

[GMG]

Seems my new router is apparently broadcasting the two SSID's and causing all kinds of conficts. Engineer coming out on Friday. Will let you know how it goes. 

[Eonolan]

Did your engineer sort it? I'm in the same boat. 

[GMG]

Sky engineer, nice lad, ran usual tests on my broadband which all checked out OK. He was completely baffled by what he was seeing and called another experienced engineer for his thoughts. His input was that because there was a TP Link network showing under “available networks” then he would guess that this was holding on to the original SSID so unfortunately there was nothing that could be done from a Sky point of view. I had of course already reset my TP plugs, cameras and AV600 powerline extender several times before having already done a bit of research on this problem but after the engineer left, I went through this protracted resetting process once again. Same result the old SSID was still there. 😢

But then lo and behold on checking my network situation the very next day the old SSID had now disappeared. Now whether it had just decided by itself it was no longer serving any useful purpose or whether there had been some separate input from Sky I don’t know but fingers crossed my problem now  seems to have been resolved.

I know this may not help you a great deal as you may not have an identical set-up to my own but I believe that a call to a Sky engineer may be the way to go. – Good Luck

[Robbo0410]

@GMG I'm having this exact same problem, router resets itself then I can't connect to my actual SSID, it changed back to the proper one this morning but I'm not holding my breath, only devices that would of been using an old SSID would be my Sky Q box and the mini box but they've been reset numerous times and when I try and connect the main Sky Q box with an ethernet it connects to a totally different SSID but then changes back to mine after a couple minutes