WiFi Max

[TimmyBGood]

@mae-3 

The big one would be 'free' loan of up to three Plume pods and the associated smart mesh capabilities.

There's also the Parental Controls and the supposed AI powered filtering of assorted internet nasties.

Apparently evening and weekend 'WiFI engineer visits' are also included, but I'd assume that's Sky personnel rather than Openreach.

I'm not saying these justify the price, but it's presumably the logic.

[mae-3]

@TimmyBGood 

It isn't "free" it costs £10 a month, over what period of time, probably eighteen months at £180 minimum then recycled to the next customer.

I cannot find any useful information about this AI cloud-based likely a DNS-based blocking service for protection!

[TimmyBGood]

@mae-3 

Quite possibly, but as we've frequently observed, while you and I might be fascinated by the mechanics of DNS most people will just pay to get things to work, and if another £10 gets it to 'work better' then that's OK. 

Realistically only a tiny fraction of broadband users know anything other than ISP routers exist.

[mae-3]

@TimmyBGood 

It is a tough call to recommend a wifi 6 router by Sky & Plume AI to customers who are locked down with the equipment to reduce support costs, and zero really useful technical details to go on, and a fee of starting at £10 month 😎

[Chrisee]

@mae-3 we will know more when the new routers are reviewed and are out in the wild. Its important to remember thst currently you can only get one as part of the Wifi Max bundle which is similar in concept as the older Broadband Boost bundle . It includes a "better" router, a wifi guarantee, perks around engineer visits, up to 3 boosters if required and parental control.. The new bundle costs £10 a month against the old one's £6 a month. 

To many Sky customers that is likely to be attractive especially the parental control function which apparently includes the often requested ability to be able to schedule wifi time on a device level. Control of that and apparently the Plume Pods and router is through a revamped My Sky app avoiding having to use the clunky web interface we all are used to on the older Sky hubs. If Sky get this right then I think its a winner. I have been offered a unit to try so will personally know if they have or not when it appears. Hope its better than the early Stream hub experience which was dire..

[content removed] Their target customers doesn't want or need to know the mechanics of their broadband they just want it to work. Ideally it should have the "latest" tech feature like wifi6 to boast about even if in all probability they never are going to remotely need the extra speed. Amusingly the Sky Stream pucks advertise that they support wifi 6 but only have 100Mb/s ethernet ports as the maximum bandwidth they will ever need is around 30Mb/s. 

Being older I am used to having to know how things I own work so I can get the best performance.. My current car manages everything I used to have to regulsrly check it doesntbhavecacdip stick, the typr pressiure monitring is far more accurate than a garage gauge etc it even tells me when it needs washer fluid and if I let it books itself in for a service. Broadband is yhe same it has gone from needing to know obscure things like noise margins etc to having a box you plug in and it just works. Devices link by scanning a QR code or simply by going near another linked device etc etc 

Utter joy for my wife who hates tech and just wants things to work but disapointing to a tech nerd like myself.

Moderator note: information removed

[Mr+Slant]

In terms of "rental/option costs" on the router/modem, its probably worth noting that this is standard practice on cable networks in the USA. Like Comcast's network 😉

[TimmyBGood]

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@Mr+Slant wrote:

 Like Comcast's network 😉

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https://www.xfinity.com/support/articles/why-rent-wireless-gateway 

[Aurynfire]

My hope is that its not more locked down than the SR203

[TimmyBGood]

@Aurynfire 

I anticipate it is: a mass market ISP just doesn't want to give customers hardware they can mess up by fiddling with.

Edit - just spotted this gem in the Help pages:

Good to know: The Sky Max Hub doesn’t support DMZ or Port forwarding at the moment.

[reddwarfcrew]

It doesn't support port forwarding.... wow.  Sounds very much like it's an beta model at the mo.

[Aurynfire]

Yeah that would absolutely suck

[Chrisee]

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@reddwarfcrew wrote:

It doesn't support port forwarding.... wow.  Sounds very much like it's an beta model at the mo.

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@reddwarfcrew the Superusers were warned that at launch some planned features are missing but are planned for later. However anyone expecting a more unlocked unit are going to be disappointed as we have been told that control is via the My Sky app with no direct access to the hub's own interface. Time will tell if there are backdoors but my guess there wont be.

[Aurynfire]

Guess I won't be "upgrading" if thats the state of things, the SR203 is locked down enough as it is. Having to access a likely incredibly locked down router via a phone app is pretty (removed) for a lack of a better term

Moderator comments - removed inappropriate language 

[TimmyBGood]

@Aurynfire 

Access through an app rather than messing around with local IP address and over-riding confusing browser messages about insecure communication is an 'upgrade' for the target market.

[Aurynfire]

That's true and sorry for my language in the last post.  Been trying to get the old man to switch to his mobile but he's refused so what I am likely going to end up having to do is buy a fixed wireless terminal and connect the dect phones to that and have it run off a sky mobile sim then have the home phone number redirect to the mobile number.  That way he can keep his damn dect phones and I can replace the SR203 with a decent router 😄