The future for sky wifi max

[James00000007]

Hello,

Having experienced the same journey as a lot of sky wifi max users, I am left wondering what the future is for this product. I can only imagine that this product must have not have been tested properly before it was rolled out. As I understand this is the case with many products these days. 

Unfortunately, this has led to many poor customer experiences and something that the engineers can do little to support. The pods just aren't very good or easy to troubleshoot. I've spoken to around 6 engineers and none of them would have this in their own homes. Many are still on the sky Q/mini wifi mesh, which appears to be the superior product. 

As a customer who is paying more for this service and gets a worse experience. I am wondering what the future is for this product.

Does anyone know if there is any active development happening that is going to improve the range and performance of the wifi max pods?

I currently have 3 pods and the pods cannot connect/receive a signal from the floor directly below.  I can get a 2.4 Ghz signal on my phone but the pod in question will not connect to the other pod sending the signal. This is one of the many issues I have. 

If anyone can recommend a wifi mesh system that outperforms wifi max. I'd like to hear about that also. I did try Google Nest, but it didn't do the job either. 

Thanks for any of your replies. 

[peter-marlow+1966]

I have had it for just under 2 years  and have had no problems  with, sky glass tv 1 puck full fibre to the house 500mps

[TimmyBGood]

@James00000007 

Given it's a heavily promoted flagship product, then one might imagine it's getting some attention.

I have wondered if it would have been better for Sky to just have adopted the Plume hardware/firmware/app stack as it is, rather than insisting on an own-badge version with forced integration into My Sky, though.

[James00000007]

I'm sure this setup would work fine for some people. Can I ask what type of house you live in and how many pods you have? 

I live in an old house and it's not your standout layout, although the footprint is quite small. It just goes up quite high as it has a loft conversion.

[jamesn123]

@James00000007 
The Max pods connect to each other by 5ghz WiFi not 2.4ghz. 5ghz WiFi has a much harder time getting through objects, especially hard walls, so if you live in an older house this may be the reason. You may find that 3rd party mesh solutions work better for you as they often have a wider range of connection options that can help maintain a connection in conditions like solid walls. 

[James00000007]

@jamesn123

Thanks for the reply. I have s decent understanding of the technology. That would explain a lot. I didn't realize that the pods cannot connect over 2.4 GHz.  Nobody at Sky has mentioned this before. 

[TimmyBGood]

"Plume SuperPods are tri-band devices which means they use a dedicated 5GHz wireless signal as a backhaul to talk to each other and pass data back to the Internet router, freeing the other 5GHz and 2.4 bands to communicate with Wi-Fi client devices as a fronthaul."

https://www.forbes.com/sites/marksparrow/2022/10/10/plume-superpods-are-just-the-wi-fi-upgrade-you-n... 

[James00000007]

Just wanted to come back with some findings for my testing. After learning that the pods don't communicate over 2.4ghz. I did some more testing. I have 3 pods and one of them would not connect. I moved the pod that won't connect directly above a connected pod. The pod will initially connect and works, but it  then drops offline after a few hours for no reason. I can confirm that I get a fair signal on 5ghz for my phone in the same position. It looks like the pods either need a more powerful output, or there is something that needs improving in the mesh technology. I also have a pc which is determined to connect to my hub with a poor signal even though there is a pod directly beneath it. I doubt that anyone from sky is interested in improving this . I've never managed to find anyone from sky who had any decent knowledge of these pods or is actually interested in how customers are getting on. Like I said even the engineers don't enjoy supporting these hubs, which tells me all I need to know. 

[JimM1]

@James00000007 What you describe is not unusual in operation, i have the superfast with an SR203 router and also SE210 booster, and my laptop will sometimes jump to the booster when the router

is the natural lower db signal and it should connect to that, can tell when it does it as speed of pages

gets a little bit slower, so check with wifi analiser and it sure has gone to the booster....

Whatever technology normally just disconnect wifi and reconnect, sometimes works sometimes doesn't.

Go figure.....

[James00000007]

@JimM1

Thanks for the reply and trying to help. I've never had this issue with other wifi setups. It's so bad I will be in a teams meeting for work and it will drop the meeting and disconnect me. I have a wifi antenna which I bought to try and help boost the pc, but it hasn't helped. Endless disconnecting and reconnecting all day every day just isn't going to work for me long-term and isn't what I'm used to. I work with laptop/pc configurations all the time, so I know this isn't normal or acceptable operation. I used to get better wifi over 10 years ago. 

[JimM1]

@James00000007 I assume that you are aware, that the NEW SKY MAX is still so new and being debuged etc, You need to consider yourself as one of the ones that will make it better in the long run.

Not sure if your issues are all WiFi based, have you tried connecting up via ethernet especially on teams.

[peter-marlow+1966]

I have also had sky wifi max  since the  middle  of  last  year with no problems 55inch  tv  and  1 puck, fttp 500mps

[James00000007]

@peter-marlow+1966 

Hello, not sure how your post is supposed to help me? How many pucks do you have? How many floors does your house have? Do you have an attic conversion? 

Thanks 

[peter-marlow+1966]

Have you  ask sky for a pod to help extend  the WiFi single  ?

[James00000007]

@peter-marlow+1966 

Hello,

I think you may have not read my previous posts. I have 3 pods. 

Thanks