Sky WiFi Max Hub WiFi Wi-fi 6 reliability

[Nigelpl]

I recently switched from BT to Sky, I  ordered the Sky 500mb with the standard router, they sent me. The sky wifi Max router and I have to say that whilst I can get speeds of upto 500Mbps on the WiFi, the reliability of the WiFi is terrible, it's easier to use your mobile signal 

We are getting WiFi drop outs constantly, at times the intermittent lag is really annoying, forcing you to disconnect and reconnect the WiFi. Even when you are in the same room as the router the connection just drops.
There are only three of us and the router is in the middle of the house, we do have smart lights, sockets and thermostats so the WiFi drops are very problematic 

I contacted sky support and firstly they tried to sell my the WiFi guarantee for £4pm even though I have full WiFi signal and good speeds throughout the house. I definitely don't want to rent repeaters from them. I asked to be switched to the old router,  they refused saying they would need to cancel my line and place a new order, just to replace the router, I never ordered sky max so why would you have to cancel a line to replace a router?

They then blamed a WiFi ap I have outside which uses a different ssid to the WiFi max hub I turned that off and it's still dropping out all of the time.

The broad band has been absolutely fine via the openreach fibre, but for WiFi reliability it really is the worst device I have used, they also force you to configure with the app, some setting are blocked from the web interface and others you can't access at all.

I can see there are other also complaining on the forums of dropping connections and lag on the sky max router with no fix available.

anyone else having similar?

[Chrisee]

@Nigelpl Sky like other isps supplies whatever router that they choose the customer does not get a choice. New fibre customers get the white Sky Max hub like it or lump it.We see the opposite of your complaint from existing customers who dont get the white hub when they switch to full fibre. Support Forums are always full of complaints as it is why they exist so it is false to assume a product is flawed because you see other people having issues as people without issues simply dont post.

In practice the older black Sky Hub 4.2 and the new white Hub6 have similar wifi range as they share the same aerial design. The Hub6 does  support WiFi6 which faster than the Hub4.2's WiFi5. However like many other WiFi6 devices you cannot manually choose the channel thee unit uses or split the 2 WiFi bands. This is msinly a function of the way the units achieve higher speeds by bonding the 2 bands and the ability to use more 5GHz channels.

Your issue appears to be variable speeds over WiFi which is consistent with issues with interference - hence I suspect the suggestion it could be csused by your thitd party Access Point. I find a very useful app is WiFi Sweetspots as that measures the speed of the devices link to the hub in real time enabling you to find the best spots for wifi coverage. Assuming your hub us not faulty its signal level transmitted  should not vary so variation is speed implies either interference or the hub slowing down due tonworkload  but with only 3 users it should not be contention. 

Personally I have had both the hub 4.2 and currently have a hub6 and have run comparison of the WiFi range in my home and the two were very similar. Due to the layout of my house a single hub really does not cut it so I tried the WiFi Max extenders but rejected those as they did not provide a decent signal in the most distant rooms so I reverted to using 3 Deco units running as Access Points which all of my devices use. Total cost was £100 and give us 200Mb/s in every room.

[Nigelpl]

Thanks @Chrisee we are in a very modern large L shaped house, the router is bang smack in the middle of the house on the inner corner of the L. The property is wrapped in very modern foil insulation so the signal from the external ap doesn't get picked up in the house. 
There is pretty much full signal across the house with WiFi speeds of over 500Mbps everywhere, even sat in direct line of site we have these issues. Never had them with BT who we had full fibre from for two years with the smart hub 2.

as you say probably worth getting a mesh solution and turning the sky wifi off

[Chrisee]

@Nigelpl take you point youbshould getva stable signal quite why your hub doesnt supply one is odd. Have youbasked Skybto swap the unit out as it maybe faulty?

[Nigelpl]

Thanks @Chrisee I did request this however they insisted it was not an issue, might try once more and then switch to a mesh solution 

thanks for your advice 

[Nigelpl · Accepted solution]

Have purchased the deco x55 mesh and turned off the totally useless sky WiFi max (instability), it's been perfectly good ever since. I would avoid the WiFi max, it's really bad and they just ask you to subscribe to more pods. Blame your property even when your WiFi was perfectly before

[Dearden9]

Yes I've just switched to improve our WiFi but it's worse snd nie I'm paying for it.  Thought it was better than getting extenders but if looks like I'll have to get those too. 

[JimM1]

@Dearden9 Switching hubs,from one to the other, each has a function and although they are similar in design they DO operate in a slightly different way. The thought from most is i must get the best that is out there now, and that may or may not work out, older and established wireless wi-fi devices may love the older SR203 hub, and with the newer SR213 struggle with the operation that it has, it is the way off wireless wi-fi, newer works if a different way they just are not an apples to apples switch from each other.

[Sparky5711]

I've recently "upgraded" to a Max6 hub from the old black version.

I had the old large white extender in the hall and had excellent WiFi throughout my large four bedroom house.

I was sold the Max hub when I recently renewed my contract and was told it would improve my WiFi - which, I might add, didn't need improving.

I explained that I had the extender in the hall and so they included the new Pod version for free.

My current WiFi now is nowhere near as good as previously. In fact it's so bad that my printer now has to be connected via USB as it won't connect to the weak WiFi.

I so wish I'd kept the old system that worked perfectly.

Sky Max6 is a step backwards and now I will have to buy some other booster at my own expense, just to reinstate what I originally had.

Definitely feeling ripped off!

[JimM1]

@Sparky5711 Don't waste your money trying another booster to the sky Max, if you still have your old SE210 sky booster then look to pick up a SR203 sky Broadband hub and go back to what worked before!

[Sparky5711]

Unfortunately I had to return them as part of the agreement.

🙄

[JimM1]

@Sparky5711 That is a real unlucky situation, had hoped you kept at least the old SE210 booster, you are well stuck now but from the link below do have a look at the wireless securites the Max is on, if WPA3-T try using the WPA2-PSK mode!

Sky Max change settings link.
https://www.sky.com/help/articles/change-wifi-max-hub-settings-a

Not going to advise any other booster to use, simple reason if the 5Ghz auto channels up high then a lot off third party ones will stop operating due to the none support off high channel range! 

Third party mesh you may wish to consider, and biggest question is DO you require to keep the sky Talk Landline, if so a sky hub has to be used there is NO choice!

[Sparky5711]

Thanks for your advice.

I have been looking at Deco that someone mentioned in a previous post.

TBH I'm not tech enough to understand.

I've seen a Deco mesh - whatever that is - with what looks like two boosters, but I don't see why I should have to spend £100+ to make my Sky work!

The new contract saved me £72 over the two years - but of course they'll raise prices so that saving gets swallowed up - and now I have to spend twice that to make the current Sky equipment work as well as the older model.

Ridiculous. 🤬

We don't use a landline so the Sky Talk part of the package is irrelevant.

[JimM1]

@Sparky5711 It's a hard one, sometimes the sky Max works, have never used and never will. 100% Asus user, Tp-Links are good nothing against them, but do take a look at a 2 unit Asus type something like the XD5 range, little more expensive but does everything you might see something in the Jan sales, and get it direct on the Fibre connection....

The good thing about a sky unit is you just plug it in and it should connect, the others you will have to make work no matter what the make is! Asus you can download the full manual for it if you want to have a read...

[Nigelpl]

I went with a deco x55 mesh, it's go three access points and has been absolutely brilliant over the last year, I just turned off the sky wifi. You can setup a guest and IOT WiFi network as well, it lets you set specific connection speeds for devices such as smart sockets. Maybe sky want you to have a bad experience so you rent more and more boosters from them. As soon as my contract is up I am back to BT