Sky Q bug after disabling 2.4 GHz

[spacehopper]

This is a really strange one...

I had an issue with a wall-mounted smart plug not connecting so set it up once again in the living room. This was set up correctly and worked. After moving to the room where it was needed, it would not work - no connection to the router. This is a device that is set up to connect on 2.4 GHz.

Analysing the wireless networks and I noticed multiple devices with the same SSID so I thought that it must have connected to the local Sky Q box (not the router) and when moved to another room the signal was rather poor but still there and connected. I have had an issue before where devices connect to the best AP and stay connected even though the signal becomes poor.

Anyway, I wanted everything to connect to the router so disabled 2.4 GHz on the main Sky Q box and the 2 mini boxes, leaving all 5 GHz settings on the TV boxes and every setting on the router untouched.

(Removed) Other devices on 2.4 GHz disconnected and couldn't reconnect. After checking the router, the 2.4 GHz settings had strangely been defaulted - the SSID was back to its default setting and also the password, both of which I had changed 12 months or so back.

I had split the 2.4 and 5 GHz in the router and the SSID of the 5 GHz band had not changed but the password was defaulted.

So, I configured the router again so had 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz separated (which hadn't changed) and reconfigured passwords for both to be the same as rhe setup previously and things started working.

All was good until now when I find that the Sky mini boxes won't connect to the main Sky Q box. The status on that box is fine, not on the mini boxes. So, it seems that mucking about with the WiFi settings and turning off 2.4 GHz on the Sky boxes (Q UHD and mini boxes) (Removed) the router settings and [sort of] defaults them and also impacts the 5 GHz mesh network.

I can probably sort this but not late at night when I want to watch some TV but can't, so though I would ask if anyone else has encountered such a palava.

Moderator note: Removed inappropriate language

[Chrisee]

@spacehopper if you have a black Sky hub you cannot control which wifi source, be it the hub or one of the Q boxes, a device connects to as the Q mesh looks after that as you found trying to do that causes problems. The best set up is to leave the two wavebands synchronised and let the system do its thing as it routes data down to the packet level. Only if devices won't connect to a dualband SSID then you can separate the bands but it is advised to edit the SSID so you can tell them apart. One mistake people make is assuming the Q mesh works like other networks. 

If you have a white Sky hub that doesnt apply and post again.

[spacehopper]

I understand how the mesh network works.

Also, it might not necessarily be the best option to leave the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz synchronised. If that was the best option then there would be no provision to separate the two. I would hazard a guess that there are a few people in this forum that have reasons to split the two.

I have had them separated for a long time now to suit my needs without any issues. That wasn't the reason for my post.

The point I was trying to make was that disabling 2.4 GHz on the the Sky Q boxes (i.e. disabling the AP/hotspot feature) seemed to cause the router's wireless settings to be partially defaulted - the SSID and password of 2.4 GHz and the password for 5 GHz, leaving the SSID  for 5 GHz what I had set. Bear in mind that I hadn't even logged in to the router until I saw issues across all wireless devices.

I think that there was a glitch in the router, which didn't go away when I reconfigured wireless settings. I eventually had to default the router, set it up with split 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz with unique SSIDs and passwords, to get it to work reliably.

[Anonymous]

Changing the WiFi settings on any Q box should not normally affect the router settings. If the router settings have defaulted to original settings then it's either been hard reset, or there has been some sort of glitch in the matrix. 

Its also worth mentioning, if you renamed the 5ghz SSID and kept the 2.4 as is when you first split the ssid, your connection from the router to the gateway box would swap to 2.4 ghz. Subsequently if 2.4 ghz is then disabled on Q then you lose connectivity back to the router.

Mini boxes would would still connect on 5ghz, but will not function correctly if the gateway box has lost connection to the router.

if the router is hard reset then this will kill the Q mesh and everything will need network resetting.

If you are still having issues with your Q setup it may be worth network resetting all of them and starting again.

[Chrisee]

@spacehopper whatever you clearly think you know best.  My advice is based on 8 years supporting the system in the forums and attending sessions with Sky's techs. The ability to split bands is driven by the need to connect devices which cannot connect to dualband SSIDs and Sky's sdvice is only to do so when you need to.  The Airties mesh system Q uses does have a number of pecularities as you are finding.

[spacehopper]

The boxes still worked after disabling 2.4 GHz on them. I had not changed the WiFi settings on the router.

All was working with unique SSIDs and passwords for 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz.

When I checked the router after seeing problems, that's when I noticed that some of the settings had been defaulted but not all.

The box hadn't been factory reset at that point because 2.4 and 5 GHz were still split (they're synchronised by default).

Anyway, it's fine now after having had to factory reset the router and configure everything and set up the Sky Q boxes again.