Sky Max hub range issue

[ranb12]

Hello,

I ordered the Sky Max Hub package a week ago and the router to have extremely limited range. It barely leaves one (albeit large) room and many products using the internet like Sky Q are on the other side of the house.

The sensible solution is to request the Max pod boosters, which I've done. However, I've just been told that there is an investigation into the routers which has been escalated to another team and they are "monitoring" the situation.

First I wanted to put this out there in case anyone else is getting this response from Sky. I have no idea what it means. All I understood is that the router has a software problem that needs updating to improve the range & only then will the pods work.

Has anyone else had this rather odd and vague response? In the meantime, I already have 8 weeks of evidence that Sky are in breach of contract due to offering no internet service during this time despite me paying for it and this will just add to my legal complaint.

[Chrisee]

@ranb12 there have been an increase in  the number of reports of range issues with the white Sky Max hubs in the forum recently. Thst Sky are investigating the issue is encouraging  as it needs sorting.

I got my Sky hub soon after they were launched and I found its range to be much the same as the older black Broadbsnd Hub it replaced. However recent reports indicate a reduced range where people have upgraded from copper to connections to full fibre and got the new hub which is strange. Sky do not provide running commentary when they are checking out issues but I will ask if our contacts can get some info.

Unfortunately you will find you do not have a claim for anything other than a refund of the  payment for the WiFi Max package as the briadband contract is limited to the connection to the hub. If there isctotal loss of connection for more than 2 days then compensation is due see Customer Auto-Compensation | Sky Help | Sky.com

[ranb12]

@Chrisee I'm not sure encouraging is the right word given they've supplied faulty equipment and are trying to keep it hush. I suspect a lot of people are wondering why their routers have such poor range and I had to take half an hour out of my day to call up Sky and be left with a vague response. This is all after Sky sent some encrypted text message about investigating the "issue" without saying what it is. They could have at least explained it properly in the first place or put an announcement out.

Good thing I checked out what was going on, otherwise I'd be cancelling my order as I'm still in the cooling off period. I still could do so if they don't fix it in the 5 days they aim yo, We don't have any full fibre btw, we just ordered the new router based on the part fibre we already had. So it's definitely a router problem which the person I spoke to already confirmed. I can't even request a Sky engineer, because one is already booked with date and time "TBC". 

The legal complaint is about a separate issue where we had 6 weeks of no internet despite paying for it. That said, Sky have agreed a contract with me saying we will get a minimum of 25mb/s speed in every room, yet refuse to send out any extender pods that may achieve that. So the least I'll be getting is my money back at this rate. I've collected plenty of evidence usung photos, videos, text messages and recorded phone calls and would encourage others to do the same, as Sky are likely to deny anything ever happened.

We've been with Sky for over 15 years and sure, we've had our ups and downs. But this is a new level of pathetic, one I didn't think they could reach.

[Chrisee]

@ranb12 you are entitled to your opinion but there are hundred thousands of these units in use in the UK including the one I have and most seem to be working as designed. These units are built for Sky to a design developed by Comcast their US parent company whose own units have been in use in the US for over 2 years this is a tried and tested unit. 

However in the last couple of weeks there have been a rash of posts making comments that the range is less than the older hub 4 the customer had before. Given WiFi range is affected by the layout and type of construction of the customer's property it is often not clear if the issue is the router or the home they are in but where a straight replacement has happened it rules out a lot of that uncertainty. 

I have asked the question in the closed Superuser forum as to the status of the investigation.  It superficially looks like the issue could possibly be caused by a batch of hubs which is my theory or possibly some firmware glitch as these routers can use the 5GHz DFS channels which is a theory of one of my fellow superusers. If I get an answer from Sky I will post it here.

Not defending Sky but issues can arise with most any tech and no company is immune from glitches but I judge a company in how they manage those issues. 

[ranb12]

 Ok that's good to know. I understand this set of units are faulty because people have left reviews online stating how good the range has been with these models.

However, the most straightforward resolution would be to admit fault, withdraw the faulty routers and send out ones that are tried and tested to work. In my case, send some extenders too (we have a big floor space, so we'll need them anyway). I'm not sure what the waiting is about and they could possibly be monitoring when they already know they don't work. It can't be a case of trying to save money because everyday that goes by, I'm getting more of my money back! I'd rather just have the service though. Everyone's losing out right now & if even I can come up with a simple solution like that I wonder who on Earth is making these poor decisions.

I'm not taking any positives from this situation and Sky are handling this very poorly. I would say the range is much worse than the ER115 router I still somehow had in 2024. Given its in the same position and location as the current router, it's clear the router is at fault and needs to be changed.

The good news is I can claim my money back and cancel my contract to look for one elsewhere, because I'm still in the cooling off period. I'll probably do that. I've wasted too much time on this now.

[osteek]

I just received my white sky max hub a week ago for full fibre 50o connection and from day one the router is not stable, disconnections every 30 min on both wifi dual bands and on the wired connection simultaneously and it is a painful process to try to explain to the technical support that the router itself dropping off the connected devices and it is not drop from the service or the fiber cable. I was honestly considering buying the ASUS router based on your recommendation @Chrisee however now I am thinking about getting out of the contract before the cooling off period

[Arsenal1429]

Hi, I have ordered FF300 and was up sold Max having previously had Boost. Beginning to regret it with these posts. Live in a standard 3 bed 80's house. New hub awaiting despatch. Is it worth cancelling Max and sticking with the current router?

[ranb12]

 Based on what's been discussed here, I'd probably say it's not the right time to be looking at the Sky Max package.

Chances are you'll be sent the same faulty router that Sky are currently "investigating". I imagine six engineers sitting around the white router switching it off and on again, looking ponderously at it. You'd be better off going with a company that offer decent hardware, so your internet is at least usable.

An update on my situation: Sky said they would call me today to update me on their "investigation". I haven't received a call and the router has the same range. Terrible service.

[ranb12]

I have another update regarding my recent Sky Max Hub router. I called Sky today because I was expecting a call yesterday from them to update me on the "investigation" and I spoke to a friendly chap who agreed to send an extender pod, as everything else on the router is working as it should (except for the range being rather pathetic).

This evening, I got a call from someone else from Sky saying that although the extender pods are on their way, they won'twork.This is because there is an "onboarding" issue, the same issue they've been "investigating" for the last 2 weeks. I asked for a new router and they explained its a problem for a lot of routers. Hence the plethora of wifi issues being reported in this forum.

If there's anything to take away from this thread, its DO NOT ORDER THE SKY MAX HUB PACKAGE.

They will send you a faulty router and you'll end up with little to no WiFi coverage. Whatever current or past broadband you had, it will be better than this pile of junk. I told the second person who called that so what if it doesn't work? What's the harm in trying? They had no information for me as to what onboarding actually means and any details about the investigation, other than its ongoing. 

I've decided to give Sky another week to resolve the situation (for some reason) and if they don't, I will cancel my contract as I'm still in the cooling off period and I'll look into going with BT or another provider.

Absolute shambles by Sky, they've done nothing of what tlhey've promised and they should be ashamed of themselves. They only seem interested in taking people's money by selling them promises of "guaranteed Wifi coverage in every room of your home at 25mbps,or your money back". I think my money is disappearing down the drain.

[eoinmac]

I'm having the same problems. I have the Max router and 3 pods all on the ground floor of my house. We have 3 Sky pucks in living room, kitchen and bedroom. All systems lose wifi connection and freeze regularly every day. Wifi is very weak throughout the house, the worst location is the living room where the bloody router is located. Sky really need to sort out these defective Max routers.

[BigE]

Anyone heard of any updates from Sky on the reported investigation? Been with Sky for a little while having been with BT for 20+ years and never had such poor connectivity with theirs hub. Now have the Max Hub and a Pod not more than 5 meters away with a single wall and its cant keep a solid connection. Unless I'm within 3 meteres direct line of site of the Max Hub its a hit and miss afair. Had a week of decent signal and the last 3 days have been horrific.

Anyone else with the Max Pod noticed it gets really hot along the bottom side? The Max Hub gets pretty warm too. 

What is really annoying is all I see are Sky hubs from other houses at times with stronger signals than mine, and on multiple channels. Plus with the Max Hub they  have removed the ability to configure that channels its using, so you are stuck with its "Smart" feature which i never used to use. So the Hub might pick one near it which is better but if the majority of devices are elsewhere and suffer from neighbouring hubs it does not help. Why would Sky do this, fair enough to put it in auto mode for most customers by default but those that need to control it seems ridiculous they would remove that control.

[JimM1]

@BigE When someone get's it into there head smart is smart, take all the user side away, no fingers to mess it all up, support calls will go down because we stopped all those who mess with the system, good few ISP's are now taking this approach, down side newer smarter hubs maybe good until devices cannot work in the smart bands that they think the hub is excellent at working in!!! But there is something going on with the sky system due to the amount off post's at present, who knows if sky are paying attention but hopefully they are.🙄

[ranb12]

I had a Sky engineer visit when we were having problems with the new router. It took about 3 months to get one to come because of the "investigation". When he attended, he said he hadn't heard of any investigation and that the router was ready to go. He sorted out the connectivity issues with a few simple steps and installed a couple of pods for us. Don't get me wrong, we still had some issues after that and still do to this day (even with another pod, but it's much better than before. Especially with Openreach giving us a fibre upgrade.

What on Earth the previous 15 customer agents prior to the engineer visit were talking about I had no idea. I told the engineer everything they said to me and he confirmed what I already knew: that it was all **bleep** and they had no idea what they were talking about.

@BigE my advice would be keep pushing for an engineer visit, no matter what they say. You will get answers once someone is physically present to investigate.

I still maintain that no one should ever contemplate going with Sky. I'm just too lazy to change providers myself.

[Chrisee]

@ranb12 there is nothing wrong with Sky Broadband services as in practice they are reselling the same Openreach connections (and now City Fibre) as every other ISP. Customers have choice as to the router and wifi equipment they use and what is required will vary according to the layout,type of construcion of the home and the use case they require there is no one system that will fit all user's requirements.

Many customers including myself choose not to use the Sky hub's wifi instead using their own mesh wifi equipment running in access point behind the Sky hub which has its wifi disabled. My own 3 unit system cost less than £100 and gives speeds well over 100Mb/s in every room in a three level home.

Alternatively many other customers choose to use a third party router in place of the Sky hub which is sensible if you need things like guest networks, QOS to prioritise game play etc. the Sky hubs lack. Either of these alternatives involve an up front investment but potentially save the monthly charge for WiFi Max. 

[ranb12]

@Chrisee your message is missing the point so much that I doubt you even read my message at all.

Either the 15 or so call call agents or the engineer who attended were lying. I imagine as the engineer sorted things pretty quickly, it was probably the call agents. But to have that many lying and restricting access to hardware that I'm paying for is scandalous and fraudulent. 

The new hardware of Sky broadband and Sky Q is so bad that it has rarely works properly for a week at a time. Our Sky W bix had a hardware failure and since we had the new one, it disconnects from the hub everyday. And that's even after paying Openreach to relocate the master socket to get the two closed to each other.

Its quite easy to say that anyone can just invest in their own hardware if we do like Sky's hardware. But why? What are we paying for in the first place? If a better router and mesh system works better, they can provide that given how much customers pay. Ultimately Sky are going to pay the price for their lies, incompetence and terrible hardware.