Please help, 8 weeks of only getting 2.5mbps with a sky wifi max hub

[Jodes]

Hoping someone can help as at the end of my tether now (sounds pathetic but I actually cried on the phone to a sky advisor last night as I'm just so fed up with it & can't see an end in sight) . We joined sky about 8 weeks ago with a sky wifi max hub (the new white one) and a sky glass tv plus x2 sky glass pucks to put in the back of our other tvs in the house. From day one the wifi was terrible so they sent an engineer who provided x2 sky pods (the hexagon ones), saw a bit of improvement but we still weren't getting anywhere near the speeds

we were promised as a sky wifi max customer but it was manageable.  Cut to 2 weeks ago and we are now only getting 2.5mbs wifi speeds coming out of the hub which means none of the TV's will play (or they do for about 20 secs and then do that spooling thing for about a minute and then play 20 secs and repeat). Myself & my husband both usually work from home and have been having to go out to co-working spaces as we just can't from home as constantly losing signal. My 2 sons both have to do homework online so this has been a nightmare and have been having to take them out to a pub or coffee shop with wifi to do their homework. Plus being kids they are going crazy not able to play online with their mates.

We have had both sky engineers and open reach engineers out & no one can find the issue...it's this constant cycle of sky saying "it must be open reachs problem" and open reach saying "it's a sky problem" . 

The speeds coming into the hub are absolutely fine it's just the speeds it then kicks back out to our devices is only 2.5mbs if that on either Ethernet or wifi.

Open reach came again yesterday , tested all the lines and in the big green box at the end of the road. The engineer then spoke to 2nd stage and 2nd stage did a strip & rebuild but still not working & have said it need to be  passed back to sky as it's not their problem, they said they are sending a form wise? to sky to check our account at their end.

We have also had the master sockets changed out and 2 new wifi max hubs during these 8 weeks in case it was a fault with that but still the same issue.

Sounds pathetic that not having wifi / broadband is affecting our everyday lives but it really is as we need it in so many aspects of our life - work / homework etc.

I'm at a loss now and have zero confidence and faith that sky will get this sorted out.

The person I spoke with at sky customer services yesterday (who was lovely but had to put up with me crying) said he is sending a micro filter out as he noticed we don't have one & thinks this will fix it. I'm sceptical though as surely this would have been noticed by the numerous engineers and video calls and photos I've sent over the weeks?! And if it needs a micro filter why doesn't it come with one in the box? There hasn't been one in any of the routers I've had delivered plus as it's the new white hub the phone connects straight in to the back of the hub so I don't get why it would need a micro filter? Plus I even took the phone out totally for a week to see if it would increase speeds and it didn't. So I just can't imagine this would fix it?

Does anyone have any ideas as open reach and sky seem baffled and I can just see this going on & on & on! 

Thanks in advance for any info!

[TimmyBGood]

@Jodes 

A microfilter goes between the phone socket and the Hub where there isn't a prefiltered faceplate on the Openreach master socket: it would be very unusual for Openreach not to fit a prefiltered faceplate as part of their standard troubleshooting if there wasn't one there already.  Microfilters are also applicable on internal extension phone sockets where there isn't a prefiltered master socket faceplate in place. 

A prefiltered faceplate is any which has two sockets (of different sizes) built-in, as in the bottom row here:

ISPs no longer ship microfilters with routers because they are increasingly irrelevant and just contribute to plastic waste.

[TimmyBGood]

@Jodes 

Personally in your situation I think I'd attempt to insist Sky removes the Max hardware/service (with its extra cost) and issues the well-established Sky Broadband Hub / Broadband Boost combination instead, because at least that would rule out the still rather wobbly Max components as a factor.

[Jodes]

Thank you @TimmyBGood  the face plate we have is this one (photo attached) and is most like the one top middle of your examples. But...they have switched these out several times now and at one point we did have a double one like in the bottom row of your pictures and it still didn't work then. My suspicion is that it's nothing to do with it not having a micro filter but they are just trying everything as don't know what els

[Jodes]

Sorry posted too soon. I just think they don't know what else to do! 

[TimmyBGood]

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@Jodes wrote:

I just think they don't know what else to do! 

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Unfortunately that's quite possible, which is why removing Max from the equation might help if Sky will permit that.

[Chrisee]

@TimmyBGood & @Jodes Sky actually lack a system to replace the Wifi Max hub with a standard hub even if you reject Wifi Max. I know it sounds weird but I checked this myself only last week.

However I think @Jodes you need to consider rejecting both the Tv system and the Broadband contract as being not fit for purpose which is a legal right you have under the Consumer Rights Act 2015. You have given Sky more than a reasonable chance to sort the problem. I would not expect them to object to that. You can then switch your broadband  bsck to your old isp or take advantage one of the many current offers. Not sure what TV service you had before but Sky can set up,a Sky Q satellite service which maybe better for you.

Sky are pretty good when you get to the right people who have the authority to sort your problem and if you don't want to phone again either @TimmyBGood or myself can escalate your post to the team who support the forum for an online chat. They are very experienced and will know where your case needs to be referred to.

[Jodes]

@Chrisee thank you so much. I've been on the verge of packing it all in so many times but reluctant to as we moved to this house 4 years ago and prior to that in the old house we had Sky (with the satellite dish) and all was fine...when we moved here Sky came out and said we couldn't have sky anymore as we have too much tree coverage around our house. So the past 4 years we have had Virgin tv, home phone & broadband but I've never gelled with it having had sky previously, I just find Virgin interface & everything really annoying and there was always issues. They tried to put our bills up again a couple of months ago which is when I called sky and they said sky glass / broadband and phone should be fine for us as no need for a satellite dish. Including the new sky glass tv and all the packages it was coming out £50 a month cheaper than what Virgin was charging us. We gave our old TV away in the bedroom and replaced that with the sky glass TV.

If I were to leave sky we'd be in a position of having to buy a new tv and going back to Virgin or somewhere else that can provide the full sports packages for my husband and sons and also the  movies etc.  but it would probably be more per month than what I'm paying now with the sky glass included. 

I just feel a bit stuck and worried that if I do just quit sky I'll still have these issues with another provider. 

I just want them to get to the bottom of it. I feel there is just something they must be missing but unfortunately constantly having to explain the issue and getting put through to different people all the time / getting promised calls backs etc that never happen is really taking its toll.

Sounds dramatic I know but trying to sort this and the amount of time I spend on the phone to sky has almost become a full time job on top of my real full time job and trying to do mum duties / general life on top of speaking to sky all the time and getting nowhere is just really getting me down now.

I just want a resolution but it's like no one will take ownership of it. 

[Chrisee]

@Jodes I have asked a Sky contact to see what he suggests.

[TimmyBGood]

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@Jodes wrote:

If I were to leave sky we'd be in a position of having to buy a new tv and going back to Virgin or somewhere else that can provide the full sports packages for my husband and sons and also the  movies etc.  but it would probably be more per month than what I'm paying now with the sky glass included. 

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A Glass television with Ultimate TV, Sky Sports and Sky Cinema can be used on Virgin broadband, but you'd effectively be paying for two subscription television services if you don't specify an unbundled Virgin connection.

[Jodes]

@Chrisee Thank you

[Jodes]

@TimmyBGood I didnt know that...so could I potentially just pay for Virgin broadband separately and cancel sky broadband / wifi max (whatever it's called) but still pay for the sky glass tv part of it & have my glass tv running through virgin broadband and then my other 2 normal tvs that have sky glass pucks in the back running through Virgin broadband too? Thanks 

[TimmyBGood]

@Jodes 

That's correct, yes.

[TimmyBGood]

@Jodes 

But note that you'd need to wait for Sky to formally agree to let you exit the broadband contract because they have failed to remedy it, as @Chrisee described: 'cancelling' now would get you hit with a substantial early-exit fee.

[Chrisee · Accepted solution]

@Jodes Given the issue is almost certainly with the Sky broadbsnd switching back to Virgin broadband would be my suggestion. Having had a similar set up with 3 pucks and aGlass TV I know they work reliably when connected to decent wifi. 

It is important you formally reject the broadband and Sky releases you from contract use the formal complaints system. If you want to start the process either Tim or myself can escalate your post as the escalation team can handle formal complaints.