Issues with Sky Q mini connectivity

[CatDrummond]

Hi there.  I have sky q installed at my house - one main box and 4 minis.

The main box (in the house), and 3 of the minis (one in the house, and the other two in an outbuilding in the garden) are all hardwired and working well.  The 4th mini is in the upstairs (main house) bedroom and I'm not able to hardwire it without a lot of major work, so I need to connect it wirelessly.

I'm on Zen internet (not sky).  Wifi signal upstairs is good, but I cannot get the 4th mini to connect.  I believe that sky q boxes actually mesh over a sky mesh (even if using a third party broadband provider), and I am concerned that the other boxes are too far away from each other and the mini I am trying to wirelessly connect to, but I don't have any options in terms of moving them closer.  

Any suggestions please?

[TimmyBGood]

---

@CatDrummond wrote:

Any suggestions please?

---

Either get Sky to supply a Q wireless booster, or consider acquiring your own Powerline networking adaptors.

[CatDrummond]

Thank you.

I had understood that sky wirless boosters only work if you also have sky as your broadband provider (and therefore the router is a sky router).  Is this not the case?

[TimmyBGood]

@CatDrummond 

That's correct for general WiFi, but for Q television issues a Q booster is intended to strengthen the mesh link between the Q boxes.

As you are running your setup wired, I suspect Powerline networking is more viable.

[CatDrummond]

Thank you.  I'm keen to go down the booster router first as I've not had much success with powerline adapters in the past.

I have requested an engineer visit via the website in the first instance (seemed like an easy thing to do and have got that booked in for the end of next week).  However does anyone know if there is any mileage in calling sky and speaking to someone - eg could they send a booster out based on a phonecall to them, or does it require an engineers visit first?

(basiclly, should i try to call them to get the booster box sent to me, or must I wait for the engineer?)

[Chodley]

I would just wait for the engineer. Personally, I use powerlines for 2 minis to the Q (not to my router) and it works well.

[TimmyBGood]

---

@CatDrummond wrote:

I've not had much success with powerline adapters in the past.

---

Their success does depend in large part on the nature of the household wiring and consumer unit layout, bit a Q Mini only requires a bare handful of Mbs to function as long as that's delivered consistently.

[CatDrummond]

Ok great - thank you.

And re the powerline route - which I tried for general Wifi but not for sky q - could someone who has had this work well let me know a) what adapters the used and b) exactly what they plugged into what to get it to extend the sky q mesh (rather than the wifi, which doesn't need extending)?

[TimmyBGood]

---

@CatDrummond wrote:

b) exactly what they plugged into what to get it to extend the sky q mesh

---

You wouldn't be extending the mesh: you'd be providing the fourth Mini with pseudo-ethernet so its WiFi can be switched off.

[Chodley]

 

---

@CatDrummond wrote:

Ok great - thank you.

And re the powerline route - which I tried for general Wifi but not for sky q - could someone who has had this work well let me know a) what adapters the used and b) exactly what they plugged into what to get it to extend the sky q mesh (rather than the wifi, which doesn't need extending)?

---

Netgear. Can't buy the model any more, they've upgraded to a 1Gb version.

I have a diagram 

[CatDrummond]

Ah super.  So if i get the powerlines, do i need to "pseudo" link the mini box to the main box, or can it be linked to any of the other mini boxes that are etherneted properly?

[CatDrummond]

Ah thank you! So i can essentially try to link it up to any of the many hardwired hubs i have around the house, that ulitmately link directly to my router (and to the main box)? (ie I'm not limited to linking the powerline to my main box directly?)

[Chodley]

---

@CatDrummond wrote:

Ah thank you! So i can essentially try to link it up to any of the many hardwired hubs i have around the house, that ulitmately link directly to my router (and to the main box)? (ie I'm not limited to linking the powerline to my main box directly?)

---

Yeah they will see each other over the ethernet network. The Q loves spamming the network with broadcast packets.