Slow image loading on broadband

[MadeInEssex]

Hoping someone can help here.

Contacted Sky VIP service recently, as have started to have problems viewing web pages and loading images in emails.  They do eventually load, but sometimes after a significant delay.  Video seems to be OK.  It seems to be like throttling or packet shaping type issue - not saying it is, but that it is like that.  Normally images will load after a while, but occasionally (especially in email), I get a ? icon where the image should be.  On web pages, I can sometimes read a quite lengthy page before the images will load.

Sky technical said 'there isn't much we can do', but pointed me to a thread here that mentions disabling IPV6.  This has made no difference, and I can't find anything else in the forums that relates to my experience.  They did say that there 'were some old devices on my WiFi network that had a slower connection speed/signal' or something like that, and that as a result 'every device on WiFi would default to the slower speed'.  I do have some older devices, but I am not sure I agree that is the cause.  There have been no changes to our devices or setup since we renewed our contract about a year ago, but have only had this slow image loading issue for a couple of months.  WiFi signal has always been poor throughout the house.  The hub is sat next to the TV (I know!) but that is more from a design standpoint, as the hub has to be hardwired to the incoming broadband which is also behind the TV, along with the satellite cables and a whole host of other wiring.  I am sat typing this on my iPad, about 10 feet line of sight from the Sky Hub, and my iPad says signal strength is 2/4.  My Apple Watch won't connect to WiFi in some parts of the house.

We are currently 100% Sky (broadband, tv, mobile etc.), with a 2tb Sky Q box and hub.  Hub was replaced recently to try and help fix the issue, but it seems to be worse,  I know it is a broadband related issue, rather than email/web site issue, as if I turn off broadband on my iPad or any other device and use Sky Mobile 4G, everything loads instantly.  If I switch back to broadband (WiFi), the problem returns.

Any thoughts?  If 'there isn't much Sky can do' then I will have to look for a provider that can!

Many thanks in advance.

[jamesn123]

@MadeInEssex 

Arguably it can be your older devices causing it, especially if the WiFi chips in them have gone a bit faulty because they can hog airtime and cause WiFi channel switches.

Have you tried disconnecting all your devices and testing with a single device connected to see if the problem still occurs?

[TechmanagerMal]

@MadeInEssex You could try turning the WIFI off on the Sky box as sometimes too much signal is a bad thing.

Credit to the Broadband Technical expert who cured mine by doing so.

[MadeInEssex]

@TechmanagerMal thanks for your reply.  Yes, WiFi has been disabled on Sky Q and confirmed, and hub restarted, but no difference.  If I didn't make it clear, WiFi itself is reasonable (range an issue in some rooms, but I am sat 10 feet from hub/router with clear line of site).  I can connect fine to most websites, and the text will load, but images, possibly stored elsewhere like a CDN, lag significantly behind.  Oddly, this forum website is actually quite slow to load for me.  If I turn WiFi on the iPad (or any device off) and use the Sky mobile network, I get a virtually instant loading of all content, despite only having a mediocre 4G signal where our house is (2/4 bars).

[MadeInEssex]

@jamesn123 thanks for your reply.  Yes, this is one of the first things tried.  There are a lot of devices connecting to the network, so it was quite an effort, but also changed the network name so only one WiFi device (my iPad) was connecting.  There are three Ethernet connections too - Apple TV, Sky Q and Apple TimeCapsule (also tried disconnecting both Apple Ethernet devices).  I have even fitted a new Ethernet cable to the Sky Q box.  Still no difference.

As I mentioned in original post, this is a relatively new issue, with no changes to the network or setup.  Everything was working fine until a couple of months ago.

[jamesn123]

@MadeInEssex 

It could be that Sky Q itself is causing the issue with dodgy routing on its mesh system. Did you try disconnecting all Sky Q TV gear when you did the test?

[MadeInEssex]

@jamesn123 only the Sky Q box, and no WiFi enabled on that, so no mesh?  But I have also tried the system 'naked' i.e. no WiFi connections (except one to test) and no Ethernet connections (so no Sky Q).  Still same.  In fact, that is how the system is now as I am still trying to test and fix, and I still had to switch to cellular to load this page! 😞

[jamesn123]

@MadeInEssex 

Hmm okay, to me it has to be a line/backend issue then as you've already had the router replaced

[MadeInEssex]

@jamesn123 I would agree, especially as I have zero problems on Sky Mobile.  Or at least some weird routing problem.  Sadly, Sky don't agree.  They say the line is fine, it is probably an old device or something, said they could do no more, and sent me here.  So much for Diamond VIP and around 35 years of non-stop subscription (I transfered to Sky from BSB with my 'Squarial'!! 😂🤣)

[TomThumb5ive]

@MadeInEssex  I've experienced something similar in the past while using sky's router,

As a quick n easy test, on a single device, can you try a public dns server instead of sky's offering,

, ie: Google 

For IPv4: 8.8.8.8

& also use

For IPv6: 2001:4860:4860::8888

Then easy enough to switch back to sky if no improvement is noticed.

Tom...

[MadeInEssex]

@TomThumb5ive Thanks for your reply.  Yes, this is the very first thing I tried, as it's really easy on an iPad.  No difference.  But I wouldn't really expect it too?  Initial page loads are fine, and even thumbnails are generally loading fine.  Heck, most (not all) videos are fine.  It is predominantly images on web pages and email that seem to take forever.  So DNS is not (at least initially) the problem, as requests resolve fine.  You might argue that image content is coming from a CDN, or at least a different server, but extremely unlikely that DNS request delays are limited solely to those addresses - too specific.

[Penzo666]

I have the same problem, did you get this resolved? I thought I'd fixed it by disabling a VPN setting but it came back. I also got a notification on my phone saying something like 'your provider may have issues with your network settings, do you want to disable VPN (I think) until tomorrow.?' I clicked yes and it work but when tomorrow came I couldnt find the setting again...doh! So frustrating. Must take more notice next time.

[Penzo666]

This info on the forum seems to be working for me...

https://helpforum.sky.com/t5/Broadband/Sky-broadband-not-working-on-iPhone/td-p/4200625

[MadeInEssex]

@Penzo666 nope, no VPN.  I am using default settings other than renaming network and changing password.  Issue still not fixed, so looking at switching providers now.  Gigaclear offering 6 months totally free, no obligation trial, so why not?  Minimum 200MB synchronous, supposedly, and a branded router (Linksys).

[MadeInEssex]

@Penzo666 as above, not a DNS issue, this was the first thing tried.