Sky Wifi and Deco Mesh

[SajidB]

Hello,

I have Sky broadband Wifi, sky tv (1x main sky+ box & 2x sky mini boxes) - none of the sky tv boxes are wired - they are all running over wifi.

I recently purchased the TP-Link Deco M4 kit AC1200 home Wi-Fi mesh system. I have set up one of the deco boxes directly cabled to the sky router and the other two are wireless. However, they seem to be conflicting with my Sky TV as every day all of my sky tv boxes lose connection to the wi-fi and the only way I can reconnect them is by powering off my deco boxes. 

I have added the sky box mac address to the Deco app block list but this does not make any difference.

Please can you help me and let me know how I can keep my sky tv boxes working at the same time as my deco wifi system.

[Chrisee]

@SajidB the Sky Q mini boxes cannot be networked using third party wifi. What happens when the Sky hub's wifi is turned off they will connect to the 5GHz wifi hot spot your main Q box provides. The main Q box can link to the Deco wifi but only uses the 2.4GHz band.

If hard wiring the Q minis is impossible  (can you link them to the Deco satellites?) then you will have to live with the issue. One thing you can try is on the main Sky Q box go to Settings but press 0,0,1 before select which should open a service menu go to networking and choose 5GHz ch36 40MHz which will halve the band width the Q boxes use. Once thst change has taken effect which will take a few minutes while the Q minis pick up the change then use the Network Optimisation option in the Deco app which should push the Deco to use ch42 and higher avoiding interference.

[SajidB]

Hi Chrisee,

Thank you very much for your response.

I will try the network changes you have suggested and see how i get on.

Couple of follow up questions:

My Deco is running on 5GHZ - can i disable 5GHZ on my sky boxes and use the 2GHZ?, will that help?

Should i set the Deco boxes to router mode or access point mode?

Is there anyway to run my sky router as modem mode only ?

[Redmamoth]

I know this is an old thread, but I thought I'd share my experience connecting (well, not connecting) my Sky Q to a TP-Link Deco M5 mesh.

It simply is not possible unless you are prepared to hard wire the Q box into one of the Decos.

I am able to connect the Q box wirelessly to my Deco, but after 5 mins or so all 32 other devices on my network lose internet connectivity and my network is bought to its knees. The Q box is like a plague that infects all my devices. I've tried all combinations, turn off roaming for the Q box on the deco app, disabling Wi-Fi bands on the Q box etc etc. Sadly this heap of junk will not play nice. I don't have multi room or anything, just a sole Q box.

[SajidB]

Hello

I emailed Deco technical support and they gave me the following settings to use which managed to resolve my issue:

It is recommended to change the Deco DNS to: Primary DNS 8.8.8.8, Secondary DNS:8.8.4.4; or change the Deco to Access point mode to check if it works.

How to change DNS server settings on my Deco

https://www.tp-link.com/uk/support/faq/1855/

How to set up Deco to work in Access Point mode

https://www.tp-link.com/uk/support/faq/1842/

Good luck 

[Redmamoth]

Thanks, I'm already running in AP mode anyway and I let pihole handle my DNS.

[Chrisee]

@Redmamoth as I posted esrlier in the thread the only Sky Q box you can connect to the Deco wifi is the main Q box it is only any Q minis that have to connect to a Sky SSID. I assume you have fully disabled  the Sky hub's wifi?

However it should be possible to get a stable wifi network. To do this first step is to navigate to settings on the main Q box and enter 0,0,1 before select and turn off the 5GHz wifi. Sky Q is getting pretty old now and what was a pretty smart wifi system in 2016 is now some what of a nuisance. Q is no longer being developed and has a limited life.

[Redmamoth]

Thanks, yeah tried that too, still no joy.  I've also tried the Deco 'Guest' and 'IoT' network options, both have the same result.  The Q box connects, seems to completely mess up the DNS on my network rendering all other devices unable to connect to the internet, then after 5mins disconnects itself.

[hoviscb]

@Redmamoth I have been usibg deco M5 with sky q successfully for several years, first in access point mode with ee broadband and more recently in wifi router mode with gigaclear.  I found I needed to turn mesh technology off for sky clients in the deco app for Sky q to work. Then perform network optimisation, again in the Deco app. I also disabled wifi on the router when using access point mode with EE.

[SJJ144]

Hi, Ii just wondered if you resolved the issue with sky q.

I am battling same isue with my deco xe75.

Currently the deco and sky netorks are coexisting, Q is connected to the SKY SSID.

any tips, otherwise I will see how it goes.

cheers

Simon

[hoviscb]

@Redmamoth 

@SJJ144 

As I said in my earlier post, Sky Q has been working quite happily with my Deco M5 mesh for several years.  However, I have never had Sky broadband.

Sky Q was originally designed as a mesh wifi system with the Q main and mini boxes acting as mesh nodes.  More recently, the ability to use the boxes as hotspots from other ISPs was added.  Because of this I wonder if the hotspots function remained on when you connected to your own mesh systems.  Suggest you check on Sky Q main box, Settings/Status/Network connection/Network setup/Advanced settings - Wi-Fihotspots should be Off.

[Chrisee]

@SJJ144 Sky Q minis cannot be directly connected to the Deco wifi instead they use the Sky wifi. The main wifi band that causes issues is the 5GHz band. By default the Q boxes will use a setting clalled ch36 80MHz which means in practice it will cause interference on ch36 to ch52. Ideally you would use ethernet for all of your Q boxes and turn off their wifi but that is often impractical.

Your Sky hub and Sky boxes have a wifi setting where you can set the system to use half of that bandwidth of ch36 to ch44 or ch44 to 52. On the hub it is on the 5GHz wifi tab on the Sky Q boxes the setting is in the hidden menu accessed by navigating settings and entering 0,0,1 before select you only need to make the change on the hub or main box as the others will pick up the setting from thst one. With third party systems like Deco set the Sky wifi to the Ch36 40MHz setting then use the Optimise setting in the Advanced menu in the Deco app and the Deco boxes will avoid using the same channels

Hope thst helps.

[SJJ144]

Thanks, will 40mhz on channel 44 be as effective?

cheers

Simon