Rubbish internet

[bananabox]

Hello there

My name is Steve and I have an issue with my sky set up

I have been with sky forever ( prob about 30 years!)

My internet just keeps dropping out at random times for say 5-10 minutes at a time.

I am not very tech savyy but i will try.

I was persuaded into having sky Q broadband and then added ultrafast 150, it is FTTC (showing as MER in the router settings and g-fast into my house, we have the phone connected with VOIP (just to recieve the occasional call).

According to the sky service status I am currently getting 148 mbps to my hub and that over the last 30 days has ben similair at 147/148 mbps, but when I check via another app on my phone I am only getting 10 mbps to my phone.

I am presuming my hub is faulty. It is a sky SR204 with the latest firmware, we have many devices connected- streaming sticks and a large CCTV system(that is very slow to load/view on phones). We dont use internet for gaming.

Would I benefit by replacing the router?

Looking through other posts, am I correct in thinking that the ASUS  DSL-AC88U is suitable ?

Are any other routers suitable ?

If so in simple steps please how do i incorporate my SR204 for phone calls into the set up ?

Any advice gladly received

regards  Steve

[TimmyBGood]

@bananabox 

Note 150Mbs to an SR204 isn't FTTC, it's G.fast

That means a router with an integral FTTC modem won't work.

[bananabox]

Hi there
thank you for swift reply, I told you i wasnt very tech savvy.

Yes it may not be FTTC or whatever FTT it is, but am I correct in thinking it is  gfast because it said MER in settings ?

If so .

Is th SR204 causing the issue?

Would I benefit by replacing the router?

Looking through other posts, am I correct in thinking that the ASUS  DSL-AC88U is suitable ?

Are any other routers suitable ?

If so in simple steps please how do i incorporate my SR204 for phone calls into the set up ?

Thank you

Steve

[jamesn123]

@bananabox 

You need to determine whether the problem is your line or your local WiFi first. Do you have an ethernet connected device at all? Can you test the connection on that to see if its performing okay and not dropping out?

[bananabox]

Hi James,
Thanks for reply,

I dont have anything  to connect by ethernet, although I believe the cctv is.

My son installed it (that is his job ) but he is not back till tonight.

I have a  attached a picture of my router statistics from yesterday,i might as well be looking at a bus timetable as I dont understand it so if anyone can decipher it and tell me if something looks wrong please. Once again sorry its sideways . regards   steve

[jamesn123]

@bananabox 

It does look like the CCTV has generated a couple of collision packets. It might be worth disconnecting it from the router temporarily to see if thats the issue.

I also see your 5ghz WiFi radio was reset around 24hrs ago, when was the last time you noticed a drop?

[bananabox]

Hi there,

I last noticed a drop on Sunday, that was when i reset the router, that picture was taken testerday monday at 16.48.

What is a collsion packet ?

Do the other figures sort of make sense?

Steve

[bananabox]

Hi

If this helps.

I ran speed test with online test with cctv attached to router and then after removing cctv from router. i tested my main pc wifi and straight after using the same test on my mobile phone.

Strangely figures seem to be higher with cctv connected to router ?

CCTV connected    PC Download = 27.6mbps  Upload=27.0mbps

CCTV connected    mobile phone Download = 16.9mbps  Upload=17.5mbps

CCTV disconnected from SR204 hub    PC Download=16.3mbps  Upload= 25.9mbps

CCTV disconnected from SR204 hub     mobile phone Download=6.76  Upload= 12.2mbps

Does this make sense 

Steve

[bananabox]

Can anyone help please?

I basically need advice on whether it could be router trouble and which model router to get ?

Thanks

Steve

[jamesn123]

@bananabox 

Its a public forum, replies are not instant or guaranteed.

The speedtests done while your CCTV was connected/disconnected were pointless as we were looking to find out whether it continued to drop your connection every 5-10mins like you said in your original post. Did you test this part of it?

Regarding a router, I would firstly report it to Sky and see if they will send you a replacement router. There is no point purchasing your own at this current point.

[bananabox]

Hi there,

Yes I appreciate it is a public forum, and i am gratefull for any replies,

Sorry ,but i misinterpreted your reply about disconnecting the CCTV.

As i said I am not very tech savvy. and i havent a clue what a collision packet is.

But I also think you misinterpreted my original post, I didnt say my internet was dropping every 5-10 minutes, I said it drops at random times for 5-10 minutes.

I had basically already done some homework and it seems that quite often people who have the SR204 router experience  similar problems after a few years., and quite often those people have been advised to fit a third party router, quite often that is an ASUS model , all I needed was some advice regarding which model is suitable for Gfast broadband  and how to connect my VOIP phone into the set up.

Regards

Steve

[jamesn123]

@bananabox 

With you being on G.Fast & Needing to use Sky's VOIP phone you cant replace the Sky hub as there is no known alternatives. 

You would need to buy a WiFi Access point and install it 'over the top' of your Sky hub and use that for your WiFi signal instead. This may or may not solve your problem, as I mentioned before you may want to go through Sky support first to ensure you arent wasting money on hardware.

[bananabox]

Hi James, once again thank you for your reply.

Reading other replies can i quote a reply to another user from cookiemonsteruk :

"Also be aware that replacing the sr204 via any of the options above will mean that your sky internet calls thru the telephone socket on the back of the hub won't work on a 3rd set up

The solution could be to retain the sr204 and switch its wifi off and then get one of the entry level asus rt ax routers and ethernet to the sr204 and change the operating mode to access point

This will allow you to retain your sky calls"

Could this be a solution for me ?

Regards 

Steve

[BrianGJSteer]

First of all, connect a laptop or PC to the router by ethernet, CAT 5, 6 ro 7.

Then check the speed. Perhaps split the 2.4 and 5 GHz channels and add say -5 to the SSID for the 5GHz channel to distinguish them.

Now using WiFI, which is ALWAYS slower than ethernet connect to your mobile phone, or tablet, testing both WiFi connectiones and run the SpeedTest.net speed checker. Do it perhaps three times and take the average.

For an example I hav a 40 Mbps Sky connection and only get maybe 20 Mbps using WiFi.

[BrianGJSteer]

As an additoinal comment, I also have a 500Mbps FTTP connection, which gives perhaps 200 Mbps WiFi connection to my laptop, tablet or mobile.