Third party WIFI extender with ethernet

[splatto]

Hello, but I digress. A few days ago I posted about my Sky SR203 router and possible upgrade (thanks for the replies). Long story short I asked Sky about a router upgrade and was told a load of **bleep**. Essentially if you're a new customer you get the SR213 as standard irrespective of your package, and you get the package up to £20 cheaper. As a customer of 35 years you either stick with the inferior router or pay £4 extra for WIFI Max (but I'm not bitter). I borrowed a SR213 and it improved the poor quality WIFI in my back room. It's not really a solution because you can't pair a router not supplied by Sky with the My Sky app, and thus can't access advanced settings that were traditionally available via a browser interface. I've heard nothing good about WIFI Max and Sky Pods so don't want to subscribe to that. Cutting to the point, by a quirk of fate I still have 15m of Cat7 ethernet cable running from my living room to the room with the poor signal that was put there during the pandemic when I worked from home and for security reasons the work laptop had to be connected by ethernet. So if I connect the ethernet cable back to my router and connect it to a WIFI extender in AP Mode in the room with the poor signal is that going to provide a strong WIFI signal to that room? If you Google this you get answers that range from it'll work seeminglessly with the extender inheriting the router SSID and password to it doesn't work, and a load of irrelevant gobblidigook (good word that) in between.
So I wondered if anyone has done this? I have full fibre and need the phone line for the next couple of years so don't want to use a third party router.
Thank you.

[Chrisee]

@splatto you can connect a third party WiFi access point by Ethernet to a Sky hub. I would use a different SSID as you are not in fact extending the Sky WiFi and ensure the two are on different WiFi channels so they dont interfere.

[splatto]

Other people say that if it's a mesh it's best to give it the same SSID and password. I must admit I'm reluctant to buy anything. I might move house instead. 😊

[JimM1]

@splatto The WIRED AP that @Chrisee is explaining to you allows the remote AP device to be outside the sky wireless wifi extension range so that the signals do not interfere with each other, the same name just allows you to move between each with out having to go adjust your devices from one to the other as YOU roam between them that is all, devices that never move between either then you have seperate names it matters not what you do with the ssid names off both....

Seamless roaming you have the same name, devices may drop as they transition from one to the other but most do not! Mesh is entirely different and the advice is keep all the units from the same manufacturer so as NOT to cause issues between devices, so ie ALL Tp-Link, All Asus or All sky's own makes, gives less off a headache if done that way! Mesh is not easy too do, couple off pictures below for you but they are Asus based, and i have some Tp-Link in the mix wired/wireless control with devices black listed so as NOT to connect!

[splatto]

I'm new to this so don't currently have an indepth understanding of it. I'm going to read, seek advice and learn so I know what I'm doing before doing anything. Although I don't trust Sky Pods I wouldn't be against connecting the pod via the ethernet cable if it's possible, but again opinions on this are divided. Some people say it works perfectly with minimal setup and others say the ethernet ports are for devices only and can't be used to connect to the router.

[JimM1]

@splatto Agree, had an OP posted the other day, connected a Pod direct back to the Ethernet port off the sky Hub, and full speed delivered when testing wireless at the pod, there seems to be some dubiety about the pods if Ethernet Backhaul was working, so it's a who knows, never used sky max and never will! But the OP did seem to fully understand and from his post i could not disagree that he did not!

When my picture clears for you to see, the double line connection is a direct Ethernet Wired backhaul, and the single lines a wireless wifi backhauls, wired is way better but for sure the wireless backhaul on Asus works great, the units were all wired, wife did the furniture move so cables no longer reached, my bad so just flipped the units to Ai mesh wireless, not crawling under the floor boards again, as you know the furniture move will go back again it's a flip/flop i hope!

[splatto]

@JimM1 Your set up looks impressive, though a bit over my head at the moment. 
Now having read the threads on here in regard to the ethernet ports on the Pods I tend to believe that the ports will allow connection to the router. The people who say they will look more knowledgeable than those who say they won't. I think most problems look like they're caused by the unreliability of the My Sky app.

[JimM1]

@splatto Not having used any off the sky Max pods or sky Max hubs, the issue as I beleive it was the Ethernet on the pods did not support wired backhaul, in the ever evolving world of FW updates to units etc then yes it is possible that the pods now support such a feature and there are a few post's that do say so, it's a do you think so or not, My Asus does and many other devices do but i am one off those until i see it or can prove so pinch off salt so to say! So for me now, yes stick an ethernet cable between to devices, stand close to the pod and wireless wifi test anything above the 600Mb/s speed mark, not near the sky Hub, and it's running full tilt down the WIRE!

[JimM1]

@splatto The whole object off a sky system is 1. sky supply's it and support's it, 2. it connects to the network with minimal fuss, 3. don't let people mess about with it, no messing then not likely to break anything, 4. Millions of systems sky supports and unit's all with there own little quirks, keep a tight rein on it all at all times, sorted! Anything past the sky Hub on wireless is just not sky's problem and that is were the customer frustration starts to kick off! The bar is set very very low, just take a look at the max info and speed's etc!

This is not everyone's cup off tea, but with the way it's going and everyone and there granny needing Internet access at least some basic understanding for the cart before the horse would be good!

[splatto]

I am tech minded and have a few MCP qualifications as far back as Windows 98. 
I've never thought about this before so I'm just taking my time, getting advice and catching up with the technology. 
As far as Sky is concerned I think their set up process, and in particular linking hardware with the My Sky app, is great if it works but appears to be a bit unstable. 
I had Sky Q and now have Stream. The "Service Checker" constantly reports problems that don't exist. I even had three weeks where the app reported that "Your broadband isn't with us". 

[splatto]

My curiosity got the better of me. My two year contract wasn't due to end until September, but I signed up to a new contract with Full Fibre 500 with WIFI Max (at £1 less than I was paying just for Ultrafast Plus). The white SR213 router arrived 21,hours later. I'd heard some unfortunate tales of people struggling to get the My Sky app to pair with the router, but that wasn't my experience. I connected up the router, and by the time I'd entered the new password into my dozen or so devices the My Sky app had automatically updated with the new section.

I have a pod coming next week, so all will (hopefully) be revealed.

[JimM1]

@splatto Whatever you do, keep in mind the Forum will always be horror story bound, when frustrations kick in and things don't go the way as expected, you are up, straight out, working and connected, which in it's own is a great start to it all....

You have the compare one to the other and as you say have some experience with doing it all, the Forum is here to help whenever or with whatever can be done, just take the step back, make a cuppa and work the best way forward... Lets hope your pod experience goes as expected when it arrives, but NOW is the time to check and see if it is a needed or not!

[splatto]

@JimM1 I get that the forum will generally be full of people needing help, often due to their own limitations as much as faulty equipment, but even so it's still a relief when your own stuff works as it should.

I know I need an extender as detailed in my OP. Assuming the pod pairs successfully I'll experiment a bit to see if the ethernet ports allow for direct connection to the router even if it turns out it works okay wirelessly. Sometimes the stuff you do that might not be strictly necessary provides the best learning curve. 

[JimM1]

@splatto I did remember after i had posted too you, about your Ethernet cable location, and an even better test for you would be just plug the Ethernet direct in the pod, plug it in the mains leave it to do it's thing and see exactly what happens straight out off the box!

That would be the ultimate test, Ethernet backhaul is working, the pod get's setup same name as your max ssid, and when you test full speed wireless connection, and if i am correct the pods have two Ethernet ports so a spare to boot!

[splatto]

@JimM1 A very unexpected update to the Sky Pod saga. Even though I won't receive it in the post until Tuesday or Wednesday it's already listed in the My Sky app under my network devices. It's listed as "offline" with a nice big "Connect this pod" button next to it. I hope it continues on this so far smooth path when it actually arrives. In all the threads on the subject I haven't seen anyone say it appears in the app before you even have it.