WiFi Max

[adwarduk]

@Chrisee @Chimpishuk so the hub seems not to be stable but the mesh behaviour of the pods / mesh is still irratic and unstable speed wise. Support ran the diagnostics tool and interstingly they could see the router but kept getting weird responses when checking the devices on the network.  We've fed back all the timings of what I'm seeing and the behaviour of the diagnostics. We've another call scheduled for Sunday. Interestingly it looks like the pod firmware is a build dates in March so suspect  is the devices are in the wild they'll get updates pretty quickly.  I'll keep everyone updated 

[Chrisee]

@adwarduk @Chimpishuk I received a second pod late yesterdat afternoon and it has improved sppeds a bit when installed midway between the hub and the position of the first pod as the signal strength the first pod was getting was marginal on the 5GHz band due to the layout of my home. 

However I too am get highly erratic speed tests. In general my wifi 6 devices give a reasonably consistent results. However wifi 5 devices can test at any speed varying from 300Mb/s at one moment down to 50Mb/s the next.  I have fed that back through a back channel to the project analysts the general point of the issues with Wifi 5 devices.  You can see this variation on Wifi Sweetspots where the speed trace can literally vary by over 200Mb/s over 30 seconds.

[adwarduk]

@Chrisee - I've volunteered to do the team a heat map of my network / home etc the support team have gone back to the team to see if the data would be useful. Looking at the raw data for me though I've spotted several things.  1) the 5 ghz WiFi signal strength is nowhere near as strong or robust as the even a certain 2 letter isps last gen devices. As a result the signal gets patch quickly. 2) The WiFi channel shifting on the bands is nuts even when the intital pod is fairly close to the router it does it (not a faulty pod both of mine do it if used as pod one) that continual shifting can kill the speeds especially as it shifts from the less congested channels (the channels our device connect to seem fairly stable). To me these all just look like early firmware teething troubles so I'll stick with it and have already volunteered to help the team work on the quirks from the end user perspective under NDA if needed. 

[Chrisee]

@adwarduk that mirrors my own findings and I 100% agree it looks like a firmware issue as there are no obvious issues reported on other Plume systems. 

Amusingly the Sky tech who was here on Wednesday pointed out the remarkable similarity between Sky's pods and Virgin's new wifi max pods. . 

[adwarduk]

@Chrisee they're near  identical I've friends who have the virgin system and thought it was max hehe.  I might ask them on the side if they see anything weird in there use. 

[Chimpishuk]

@Chrisee @adwarduk 

Well that's concerning. My pod is hard wired. Devices won't auto connect to the pod when I'm upstairs. I have to disconnect WiFi and reconnect.

[Chrisee]

@Chimpishuk I have reported that devices dont roam. Physically have to reconnect 😡

[Chimpishuk]

@Chrisee @adwarduk @KevNewMedia 

I thought the whole idea was that devices would switch to the router pod/s without interuption to provide you with the best experience.  That doesn't seem to be happening.  

I have a whole bunch of other issues with my sky accout right now - can't cancel Lionsgate - either by contacting them directly, attempting to cancel from stream settings and even Sky themselves can't cancel it. 

I pay my bills by automated card payment every month.  When I login to mysky on the website it tells me my bills are outstanding and that my account may be closed, to avoid this click to pay the balance.  I click the balance and it asks for card details.  Balance £0.00 

I check my Sky Stream due balance: £0.00.

I check my Sky Broadband due balance: £0.00

It's been going on for months.  It's always referred to back-office and nothing is ever done about it.  Say for example if I wanted to add TNT/BT sport or add a mobile to my account it says because of the overdue status of your account you cannot add new services and that my account may be passed onto debt collection agency.   I call Sky, they confirm I never miss a bill due date.  My account is in good standing.  It's really messed up.  I'm waiting for a call back to discuss the latest outcome of escalation to backoffice of this frankly awful customer service experience + the new router issues.  They said they'll call me back at four.  It's a real mess. And it seems nobody at Sky can help or take ownership of the ongoing mess. 

I've been a loyal customer for years.  So I've asked for some compensation for this, if/when they sort this out. 

[Chrisee]

@Chimpishuk seamless roaming is pretty much a basic requirement of a mesh network. Wifi Max is clearly in need of a fix.

[mae-3]

@Chrisee 

A fix, it needs to go back into beta testing to solve port forwarding, splitting bands, roaming, etc... 😎

[Chimpishuk]

@mae-3  @Chrisee 

On balance, I think it has been released too early.  This is more akin to Alpha dev testing than Beta end user testing.  

I wasn't expecting this product until end of Q3 or so several sources told me.  I just hope we get some firmware updates soon to resolve some of these fundamental problems.  

[Chrisee]

@mae-3 This afternoon I agree with you. I am leaving it to soak to see if the AI does kick in as it is supposed to.

Roaming is weird as the pods are Plume devices which work well according to reviews. The hub is as far as we know based on Comcast's Xfi Gateway which again gets decent reviews and works with the pods. Quite why the Sky kit is having issues defeats me. In practice, its usable if you avoid running speed tests but it no way is what the marketing claims. 

It comes to something when Instart thinking fondly of putting the SR203 back. 😀

[adwarduk]

@Chrisee  @Chimpishuk it definitely feel like late alpha / early beta product state ur right, it almost feels rushed to market because the team had to. Roaming just doesn't work round the mesh what's worse ive noticed some very weird ip6 behaviour as a result. You can definitely see the same device listed multiple times in the list sometimes with very random names as well. If it wasn't for the fact with my offers it's almost the same price id be sending the whole setup back. For now I'll stick with it if only because I'm weirdly enjoying delving into the guts of the product etc.  Hopefully we get an update on the firmwares soon. Our pods all have firmware built in March the other providers in the UK who use the same pods have much later firmwares. 

[Chrisee]

@Chimpishuk & @adwarduk I admitted defeat this afternoon after my Sky Stream units had repeatedly lost network connection on start up. I have re-installed a SR203 with its Wifi disabled and am using 3 Deco M4 units. These are only wifi 5 but speeds are better with a consistent 500Mb/s in my main living area. Devices roam to the other satellites without issue and overall speeds are reasonable 150 to 200Mb/s through out the house. Signal strength once I had optimised the network is stable.. 

I will talk to Sky to take the SR213 and pods back next week assuming there are no immeadiate firmware fixes forthcoming for the stability and roaming issues. It is disapointing as I dont give up easily.

[mae-3]

@Chrisee 

Sorry to hear you have almost given up, come on Sky does need alpha testers! 😎