Is Sky ever going to fix Q box connectivity problems?

[Wibble]

Like many others, internet connection is lost many times a day plus the buffering issues with apps (Prime, Netflix etc). Never had problems with the old HD boxes. Considering what we pay, it's a pretty awful system. I've seen some fixes / suggestions from obviously very clever tech people which might as well be in Martian. And putting an Ethernet cable through 2 rooms is not an option. What I don't see is any response from Sky to other posts that they're fixing this. Are they, does anyone know? 

[TimmyBGood · Accepted solution]

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@Wibble wrote:

What I don't see is any response from Sky to other posts that they're fixing this. Are they, does anyone know? 

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Q will be eight years old in February 2024 and works for millions of households (otherwise this forum would be a whole lot busier)  Realistically its hardware is now not going to be developed further and its software is extremely mature.

Some properties will remain challenging (Q was initially intended to have built-in powerline networking to help in those) but the options are what they've always been: Sky wireless boosters, non-Sky mesh nodes with ethernet, full ethernet or no Sky Q.

[nstokes]

Personally i cant see them fixing this issue or others.  As above, its out dated hardware now.  Also i think they will want to keep promoting the Sky Glass and Sky Stream as they see that as the future.  Shame really as i prefer hardware over streaming

[TimmyBGood]

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@nstokes wrote:

Personally i cant see them fixing this issue or others. 

As I said, it is 'fixed' for many millions of households: there will always be exceptions.

Shame really as i prefer hardware over streaming

Unfortunately the c£100,000,000 required to replace each of the three rather old satellites in the Astra 28.2E cluster is something of a hardware issue.

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[Reg+Giles]

This is a worry.  Went to VM nearly 18 months ago, mainly because my Sky+HD box was giving up the ghost and they were offering a good deal (had broadband with them since blueyonder, though have always had Sky for the TV).

Want to come back to Sky for a number of reasons but don't want to just have stream.  Wife would really like the convenience of recording stuff and being able to watch it back without all the faffing about with apps, having to scroll through adds etc - or channels that don't offer any on catch up options.

Don't want to commit if the general opinion is Q is a dead man walking, or the wif fi connection is hit and miss.  Worse case however ... will it work without having an internet connection or is that required to activate it?

[TimmyBGood]

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@Reg+Giles wrote:

Don't want to commit if the general opinion is Q is a dead man walking,

Sky Group has a contract with SES (the satellite owners) through to the end of 2027.  Beyond then it's anyone's guess: but Comcast would appear to believe the future is in streaming.  As I've frequently commented elsewhere, satellite television broadcasting is a 1990s technology which periodically requires extremely expensive (and somewhat risky) orbiting platform replacement and has no inherent right to continue indefinitely.

or the wif fi connection is hit and miss. 

Millions of Q households without wireless problems are not posting here: that's the nature of support forums.

Worse case however ... will it work without having an internet connection or is that required to activate it?

Typically a Sky installer will use their own WiFi hotspot for activation. Q Mini boxes require an internet router to be present, as does (obviously) all non-broadcast functionality 

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[Reg+Giles]

Thanks Timmy that's really helpful.

[Chodley]

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@Reg+Giles wrote:

Thanks Timmy that's really helpful.

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I was one of the people with serious, hair-loss inducing wifi problems and mine has been stable now for 2 years. By not using the Q's wifi directly and not running ethernet through the house either. There's also a promising thread going on where a couple of people are using a tp-link wifi extender as a sort of wifi bridge off the back of their Q. This is similar to what I did although I used a BT mesh disc.

I will be quite sad the day that cool space robots are no longer involved in our TV watching but there are probably more important things to use the energy and money on.

[TimmyBGood]

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@Chodley wrote:

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I will be quite sad the day that cool space robots are no longer involved in our TV watching but there are probably more important things to use the energy and money on.

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Still plenty of satellites up there, and indeed more every month: it's just these days almost all new orbiting provision is either earth-observation or two-way datacomms infrastructure.

I'd note there is still some television broadcast hardware being launched, but that's typically to serve geographical regions which are much further behind in the rollout of high-speed internet access than the UK is.

[Wibble]

@TimmyBGood @Chodley @Reg+Giles @nstokes 

Thanks for the input everyone. I think I need evening classes on this subject as you're all way too clever for me. it's really appreciated though. I get the impression that sadly this is the way of things, & need to understand what's been suggested to improve our situation.