What router can replace SR203 Ultrafast router - any budget

[ChimpM4ster]

Hi all

In this modern era it's not so unusual to have a lot of devices needing 'net connection, so the 64 device limit on the Ultrafast SR203 router is not sufficient. We often experience dropouts on devices, even on the Sky Q boxes. It is very frustrating.

I'm happy to spend whatever it takes to buy a router that works well with Sky Ultrafast and can handle > 64 concurrent devices (ideally up to 128+). 

Has anyone here successfully replaced their Sky router with minimal fuss, with the ability to have many more concurrent connections? 

[kevin88]

Hello

You'd need a router that supports DHCPv4 Option 61,  Asus routers seem to have good support for this. for the username and password from what i have read on here that Sky are not fussy about this anymore and you can enter username: anything@skydsl & password: Anything .  The only thing if you are using VoIP with them you will not be able to access your landline but who needs it anyway these days? ASUS DSL-AX82U is the one I use piggy backed onto the SR203 as we still need the phone unfortunately but otherwise i'd ditch it.   

[Chrisee]

@ChimpM4ster there is no hard 64 device limit on the SR203 but inevitably any free router is produced to a cost so has limited processing power so will inevitably run out of puff on larger networks. The advice in. @kevin88 's post is good advice but you mention you have Sky Q boxes which could be part of your problem. 

Sky Q is getting to be an old system and does impose restrictions  when connected to a non Sky router. Only the main Q box can be connected to third party wifi and it can only use the 2.4GHz band. All Q minis anf boosters using wifi have to connect to the 5GHz hot spot signal from the main Q box which uses ch36 to 52 by default although you can switch the boxes to use half of that bandwidth ie ch36 to 44 or 44 to 52. The hot spots each Sky box produces cannot be simply used to extend your third paty wifi network. The best solution is to hard wire any Sky Q boxes either back to the router or to new wifi satellites which avoids a lot of messing.around.

[ChimpM4ster]

@kevin88 , thanks, the ASUS looks really good. I also need VOIP as we have the landline. I guess that means switching Wifi off in the SR203 and connecting the ASUS DSL-AX82U via ethernet. But will it solve my main challenge of needing > 64 concurrent connections?   Or the fact that the SR203 is still in the loop, will this still be a limiting factor?

@Chrisee everywhere I've read indicates a 64 device limit on SR203. I don't know how it's managed or what limits it, but whatever the cause, it is a big problem for me 🙁

I'm confused as to Sky Q:  if I use something like the ASUS as the main router, are you saying that the minis can't connect to my main Wifi directly?   Because at the moment my 3 mini boxes are all connected to the Sky router by Wifi (I'd say on 2.4Ghz given that they aren't near the router or main box).

There must be Sky Q TV customers out there that don't have Sky internet. I can't imagine Sky would create such a poor system that can only work on it's own broadband.

BTW I should add that I have 3 TP Link Access Points around the house to provide better Wifi coverage. These work great but of course are still ultimately limited by the SR203.

[Chrisee]

@ChimpM4ster Well I dont recognise 64 as a device limit and talking to Sky has never indicated there is any limit other than the 254 imposed by the net mask. However practically the unit will not cope with too many network clients although a lot depends on what the clients are and how much connectivity they need. It maybe an idea to segment your network if you really do need over 60 clients.

You can either run third party unit in Access Point mode in which case the routing work load is managed by the Sky hub or in router modes and have a Double NAT config which in practice works quite well for the vast majority of purposes. If you want you can place the second router in the Sky hub's DMZ avoiding most firewall complications. The Double NAT avoids tomauthentication issues direct connection imposes so any router with a WAN connection should work.

I have been advising on Sky Q since its launch and it is definite that Sky Q minis cannot connect by WiFi to third party kit. Sky developed Q in 2014/5 well before Mesh Wifi systems were a thing and it was developed to only work with its own dedicated router. It was adapted to work with third party routers after launch in 2016 using the system I described which is a lash up. Q is nearing the end of its life and no significant changes are expected as Sky move from Satellite broadcasting to streaming.

I would look into Whole Home Wifi set ups like TP-Link Deco, Netgear Orbi and the like and consider hard wiring your Sky Q boxes to those units which is by far the best way to get a stable home network.  Stability has far greater impact on usability as against outright speed. If you have a lot of IOT kit like smart plugs you may want to segment the network to keep those separate from your faster devices. 

[jamesn123]

@ChimpM4ster 
If you need the Sky VOIP line in place you'd need to use a 3rd party router in router mode ontop of the Sky hub. Make sure you switch WiFi off on the Sky hub then connect all your devices to the 3rd party router. Just keep in mind this will result in double NAT which can sometimes cause problems with gaming, video conferencing & voice calling. 

If you use a 3rd party solution in AP only mode and hand off all the DHCP to your Sky hub still then you'll likely just run into the same problem. 

[ape72]

Hi Kevin. I just saw your reply to the "Replace the SR203" post. When you say you piggy backed off the SR203, do you meant that the SR203 handles your fibre connection into the house, but you have your own router doing everything else? If so, I would be really interested in how you setup the SR203 and your own router to do this, as I've failed miserable so far. Cheers, Andy.