Mini box doesnt work when main is off

[Alice....]

My mini box is downstairs close to the WiFi box and works fine when the main box is switched on upstairs but if I turn the main one off at the wall then the mini one says there's a satellite problem or a technical fault. 

I have these boxes a few years and the installer said that this shouldn't happen I should be able to use the mini box even if the main one is off because it uses WiFi and not satellite? 

[Daniel0210]

@Alice.... 

I think you've misunderstood or been incorrectly advised. Put the main box onto Standby when not being used. It's not meant to be unplugged when not in use. 

[Chodley · Accepted solution]

To expand on that,unlike multiroom on SkyHD, the Q mini relies on the main box for most things like storing recordings, satellite connection (you may have noticed there are no satellite cables going to the mini, for example) and viewing card identification and decryption. It can't do anything standalone.

The installer was wrong although maybe they meant the main box can be in standby, not completely un-powered and the mini does use wifi (not physical satellite cables) but it uses it to talk to the Q box mostly and piggybacks the satellite connection from there.

also it takes ages for the main Q box to start up from completely cold and turning it off at the wall isn't good for a hard drive system that's basically a PC. Best to just leave it powered on at the wall. It doesn't use much power in standby.

[Alice....]

He did say it could be turned off and he actually said that it could be taken to another house and used but we never tried. But from reading other threads of issues with mini boxes looking the answer to my question I can see that it wouldn't even work if it was in a granny flat too far from the main box. Thank you for your help you've both answered my question 

[Daniel0210]

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@Alice.... wrote:

he actually said that it could be taken to another house and used but we never tried. 

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@Alice.... 

And that would be contrary to Skys T's and C's which state the Q equipment must only be used at the account address and I dare say he could get in a bit of trouble for suggesting that to customers.