Internet slow sky q ethernet

[johnromiley]

Hi guys. I’ve just upgraded from sky broadband 72mb to sky fiber 900mb. My network switch and AP’s haven’t changed. I’ve now noticed the maximum speed I’m getting is 250mb. If I connect directly to the sky router I get the 900mb. But any device though the router is limited to 250mb. It feels like it’s something on the UniFi switch that is slowly it down. I’ve checked out a few things but no magic bullet solution.

thanks

john

[Chodley]

What switch is it?

[johnromiley]

Hey @Chodley. So it's a Ubiquiti USW 16 PoE. Then a series of other little Ubiquiti USW Flex Mini. 

[Chodley]

Hmm

250 is very specific. I'm wondering if there's a software config issue somewhere. Could you push 1Gb through it between local devices before?

[johnromiley]

Hey @Chodley .

Yeah so all the Sky boxes are Ethernetted and if they are all unplugged from the switch I get full speed internet. Locally between my PC's I think I'm still getting full speed. Slightly harder to test. Soon as more than one sky Q mini box is plugged in the network speed reduces. I thought it was a config thing too but I've tried most settings now but with no real improvement. One theory I've had is multiple switches. As I'm able to plugging the two mini boxes that have a direct cable. Trying to get a single cable to the thrid and fourth mini box is much harder as I've got other PC etc that need to be plugged in. 

[MightyQuinn]

Hi @johnromiley   Sky Q is famous for not liking managed switches. I have 3 unmanaged Netgear gigabit switches between my router and Sky Q boxes and I just measured my speed (using Netflix) on my Sky Q Main box and the speed is showing as 480 Mbps on 500 Mbps broadband.

[johnromiley]

Ah @MightyQuinn. I've read this a few times but have tried not to sack off my unfi setup that I've spent so much money putting into. Is yours something like this:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/NETGEAR-Ethernet-Unmanaged-Internet-Splitter/dp/B07PWHGQSS/ref=sr_1_3?crid=...

[MightyQuinn]

Hi @johnromiley   Yes, but I am using 2 x GS108 and 1 x GS116. Some say the GS3 range is cheaper and performs just the same, but I prefer the more expensive GS1 range for the metal case etc.

[ShabbyShabbs]

@johnromiley   I have a similar issue and coincidentally also have a UniFi switch, but mine is USW Lite 8 PoE.

Before 20th March 2024 I was getting speeds of around 500Mbps from devices connected via ethernet to the switch, which is then connected to my Sky router. This I could see from regular speed tests that my Fing network device does automatically every day and records in a log. Then at 3am on 20th March it showed a very short outtage, which my first assumption was to think it was a Sky router firmware update, and immediately after that and since then my speeds dropped by 25% to around 330Mbps.

It wasn't until I investigated further and noticed that if I connect directly to the Sky router then the speeds were back up to my expected 500Mbps, so then I started contacting UniFi support instead.

I then found out that there was a UniFi update to the switch on 20th March, so that is now the suspected culprit, due to the exact date being a big giveaway.

UniFi support gave me instructions on how to roll back the firmware,  but I've been away from home for a while so only just got round to rolling back the switch firmware today, so it is now back to version  6.6.61 before the 20th March update.  However, I'm still getting the same lower speeds through the switch.

UniFi support has just asked me to factory reset the switch and try speed testing after that, but I'm loathe to do that as it's managed by their cloud hosting service and all devices will be totally cut off if I don't have that set up, so I'm in limbo at the moment.

I'm not sure if it's a compatibility issue with Sky, or something has changed the maximum throughput if all my Sky boxes are connected to the UniFi, or what.  But if I unplug everything else from the UniFi switch  (3 x UniFi access points, 3 Sky Q mini boxes and my main Sky Q box) then the speed tests from the Fing device plugged into the switch are back to normal again.

Perhaps if you contact UniFi support they may recognise that something is causing this issue with Sky boxes on the network. I shall update my ticket with this information too.

[johnromiley]

Hey @ShabbyShabbs.

thanks for your input. Looks to be almost identical to my situation. Do you have a link to the UniFi forum that you posted on. Maybe I can drop a message on there. Replacing my kit with unmanaged switches sounds like still a plan be. 

[ShabbyShabbs]

@johnromiley 

It was a support ticket that I submitted, rather than a forum. 

https://help.unificloud.co.uk/support/home

[Chodley]

So you had Sky devices attached prior to the 20March speed drop?

(they definitely swamp the network with broadcast advertising packets)

[ShabbyShabbs]

@Chodley 

Yes, the main Sky Q box and three Sky Q mini boxes were all connected to the switch via Ethernet prior to the speed drop on 20th March. 

[johnromiley]

@Chodley. Unfortunatley I didn't have gigafast before the 20th of March so I'm unable to tell. But I've been wired in for a long time. Ever since I've had gigafast it's been slow. 

What does this mean? and who? Is there a solution? 
(they definitely swamp the network with broadcast advertising packets)

[ShabbyShabbs]

I did some further testing today and discovered the following...

(FYI, I'm on Sky Broadband Ultrafast Plus, 500Mpbs service)

With Ubiquiti managed network switch USW Lite 8 PoE:

Speed test with everything connected gave me 342Mbps down and 60Mbps up.

Speed test with the Sky Q boxes unplugged gave me 487Mbps down and 60Mbps up.

Changed the Ubiquiti managed switch to my original TRENDnet TPE-TG81G unmanaged switch:

Speed test with everything connected gave me 338Mbps down and 59Mbps up.

Speed test with the Sky Q boxes unplugged gave me 486Mbps down and 59Mbps up.

So, although I suspected the problem was the Ubiquiti switch firmware update on the 20th March, I have reconsidered that assumption after rolling back and getting the same problems, plus the further testing above with a different switch, I'm now wondering if it was in fact my original assumption of a Sky firmware update instead and just a coincidence it was on the same day as the Ubiquiti update.

Anyhow, it basically looks like Sky Q boxes just don't play nice.  However, getting information out of Sky or any hope of resolving this through them is in my experience pretty unlikely, but we can live in hope!