Alternative to Sky Broadband with Sky TV

[BulletproofQS]

Hello

Has anyone out there successfully used an alternative internet service provider with their Sky TV?

I tried using Virgin last year and had to reset the Sky Q or reconnect the WiFi daily.

The main reason I ask is that Sky in my area is relatively slow only getting 15mb with a family of four and also working from home. 

I'm sure Sky will say any broadband works but I'm not convinced after the issues I had with Virgin. 

I can get the ISP's through the city fibre network - Vodafone, Talk Talk etc - speeds up to 900mb.

Anyone with positive experiences would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Richard 

[TimmyBGood]

@BulletproofQS 

From forum posts over eight years I'd think several million non-Sky broadband households use Sky Q, including on Virgin, largely without problems apart from generic issues with WiFi range that also occur on Sky.

[Chrisee]

@BulletproofQS as pointed out you can most any ISP you want with Sky Q however it helps if you understand how the Q boxes work. With any other router than a Sky hub the Q mini boxes cannot connect to the router's wifi. Instead the main Q box connects the 2.4GHz wifi from the router and uses its 5GHz band hotspot to generate a signal thst the Q minis connect to. By default this uses ch36 to ch52 so potentially interfering with the touters 5GHz signal.

There are ways round this first is to hard wire the Q boxes and turning off their wifi which works well where practical. People often connect the Q minis by ethernet to the satellites of a whole home wifi systems. The second method is to minimise interference by making sure the router and Q boxes are using different wifi channels to help with this uou can set the Q boxes to use half of the range from ch 36 to 52 so ch36 to 44 or ch44 to 52. 

[BulletproofQS]

@TimmyBGood 

thank you for your response. Do you have links to any of the forum posts that talk about these successes? Very keen to get someone's feedback who has separate providers.

many thanks.

[BulletproofQS]

@Chrisee 

thanks for the advice. I did read up on lots of forum posts where they'd discussed some of the options but none put it quite as clear as this.

hard wiring my minis isn't an option for me so I will try using the different channels. 

Very new to this so really appreciate the positive assistance.

Thanks 

[TimmyBGood]

@BulletproofQS 

Almost no-one ever posts to a forum like this about successes. Given there are millions more Sky Q households than the total number of Sky Broadband subscriptions, logic would suggest they are using different ISPs.

We had Q running here on BT Broadband (ADSL and then FTTP) for six years entirely successfully.

[BulletproofQS]

@TimmyBGood 

Wow those statistics are incredible! And very interesting. Is this data available to the public? I'd be interested to look at something like that.

Great that you had success with BT - even one good piece of feedback like that is enough to get me to try another ISP.

Thanks again! 

[Chodley]

Never used sky broadband. Wifi always gave me grief. Found a solution without having to run ethernet everywhere, don't use the Q's wifi at all.

[Invisiblename]

@BulletproofQS   Always been with BT and have zero issues with Sky Q

[BulletproofQS]

Hi @Chodley 

Can You give me a bit more detail on your solution? Do you just have your Q box hooked up to Ethernet? Do you run Mini boxes elsewhere in your house?

thanks

[nigea99]

hi @BulletproofQS 

 As the others have indicated there are many people with non SKY as their ISP who have a successfull Q set up. 

Personally I have always been with BT (7+ years on Q now) but my main box is connected via ethernet as I already had a cable in place for my old HD box. 

I only have one mini which proved problematic for the 1st few weeks - dropping out most evening just before I went to bed. 

I don't know if SKY did do anything to help me as I had a few tech calls  but I moved my mini slightly to the side of the AV amp unit it was resting on and also disabled wifi on said AV amp and it has worked with no problems ever since (I actually now  use the ethernet on the mini to provide network to said AV Amp)  

Even if there are problems often they can be overcome.

I know many use powerline adapters rather than ethernet cables.

 Of course other things include reducing / moving sources of  interference (possibly my initial problem) - we know DECT phones too close to Boxes or routers can be a culprit for example

[Chodley]

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@BulletproofQS wrote:

Hi @Chodley 

Can You give me a bit more detail on your solution? Do you just have your Q box hooked up to Ethernet? Do you run Mini boxes elsewhere in your house?

thanks

---

I've got a diagram of it somewhere but basically

minis both connected to powerline adapters.

Q via short ethernet into a switch

Switch -> ethernet into BT wifi mesh disc to access internet

Switch -> powerline to connect minis

Sounds more complicated than it is

[BulletproofQS]

@Chodley 

That makes sense. Do you the. Disable WiFi on the minis? I'm assuming that means you can't run them as a booster?

[oldfella]

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@BulletproofQS wrote:

That makes sense. Do you the. Disable WiFi on the minis? I'm assuming that means you can't run them as a booster?

---

Hi @BulletproofQS 

When all boxes are connected by Ethernet or Powerline  you can then switch off all Q box WiFi.

Start with main Q box and first carry out a Network reset with the Ethernet connected.
Network Reset found in Q box Home - Settings - Setup - Network.
Highlight Status and then select Reset on the right hand side. Select connect wired to non Sky Router (or Sky router if on Sky Broadband). Do not carry out any WPS and just wait for the box to connect. It may take a couple of minutes. If it does not connect there is an issue with the Ethernet connection.
As soon as it connects go into the Q box hidden menu and turn off WiFi.

To enter hidden menu press Home and navigate down to Settings but do not select Settings.
With Settings highlighted press 0 0 1 Select.
Go to Network to turn off both bands of WiFi. Confirm before exit.

Repeat the network reset on any minis in the Mini Home menu with the Ethernet connected. Again do not do any WPS and just wait for it to connect.
Once it is connected go into the mini hidden menu (same procedure as above) and turn off both bands of WiFi. Confirm before exit.

[xenon81]

I've been using Sky Q with Virgin broadband since 2016 and haven't had a problem. The Q box is linked via ethernet.