My sky q mini box is trying to connect to my neighbours Wi-Fi so won’t work in my house. How do

[Chodley]

I think your house might be haunted.

Does the Q box think it's on that IP address if you look at its network settings?

The slow network when the Q's connected is concerning too. It's been known to spam out a lot of broadcast packets. Like insane numbers. https://helpforum.sky.com/t5/Sky-Q/Main-SkyQ-causes-network-loop-on-switch-and-disconnects-from-netw...

[nuskyforum]

I am 99% sure this is one of those things that won't be resolved long-term. As in this is beyond just the strange occurrence of it joining the neighbour’s box. 

The problem essentially seems to stem from the common issue of the box not playing nice due to the use of a router and internet connection provided by a different provider (Virgin). So when the mini box is connected via Wi-Fi, it is frequently disconnecting from the main box. And is requiring a reboot every time to connect back again. Then during this attempted reconnect, I am getting unlucky enough to encounter another ridiculous bug where the box is 9/10 times connecting to a nearby box not owned by me. This is then creating some weird kind of network loop that is now messing up my network and slowing down my internet speeds because it is broadcasting the Wi-Fi signal from the sky box as a hub rather than my intended equipment (VM Hub in Modem Mode and TP Link Router).

As the problem is initiated by the mini box (connected via Wi-Fi) disconnecting from the main box, the only solution so far for me seems to be to make a compromise on my home setup by switching my tv connection to Wi-Fi and using that freed up Ethernet port for the mini box instead. This is the only way I don't seem to encounter a network disconnect between the mini box and the main box. But even getting this fix wasn't as straight forward because I needed to do multiple reboots of both boxes before I was lucky enough to hit the small 5% chance of it actually connecting to my main box and not the neighbours. 

I imagine the engineers only solution would be to try a new mini box but I hate to even think about having to spend even more time than I already have doing the whole song and dance all over again to get it to even connect to my main box and then giving it 24 hours to see how the connection fairs. 

Sky really needs to work on a better solution of how these boxes work so that if you are not a Sky Broadband customer you are still able to access the TV benefits just as easily. Otherwise this is all very anti-consumer.

[Chodley]

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@nuskyforum wrote:

So when the mini box is connected via Wi-Fi, it is frequently disconnecting from the main box. And is requiring a reboot every time to connect back again. Then during this attempted reconnect, I am getting unlucky enough to encounter another ridiculous bug where the box is 9/10 times connecting to a nearby box not owned by me. This is then creating some weird kind of network loop that is now messing up my network and slowing down my internet speeds because it is broadcasting the Wi-Fi signal from the sky box as a hub rather than my intended equipment (VM Hub in Modem Mode and TP Link Router).

As the problem is initiated by the mini box (connected via Wi-Fi) disconnecting from the main box, the only solution so far for me seems to be to make a compromise on my home setup by switching my tv connection to Wi-Fi and using that freed up Ethernet port for the mini box instead. This is the only way I don't seem to encounter a network disconnect between the mini box and the main box. But even getting this fix wasn't as straight forward because I needed to do multiple reboots of both boxes before I was lucky enough to hit the small 5% chance of it actually connecting to my main box and not the neighbours. 

I imagine the engineers only solution would be to try a new mini box but I hate to even think about having to spend even more time than I already have doing the whole song and dance all over again to get it to even connect to my main box and then giving it 24 hours to see how the connection fairs. 

Sky really needs to work on a better solution of how these boxes work so that if you are not a Sky Broadband customer you are still able to access the TV benefits just as easily. Otherwise this is all very anti-consumer.

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Do you have the "wifi hotspot" option switched on on your mini?

also, can you just put a small ethernet switch behind the TV to allow both to use ethernet?

[Jivebaby]

@nuskyforum 

It's almost as bad when using Sky entirely for  Broadband, Router, TV/Q-Box and mini boxes.

[stereohaven]

I don't suppose you have access to any powerline adapters you could use to take WiFi out of the equation do you?

The best thing I ever did for Q stability is to turn off WiFi on all the boxes and use powerline, although I appreciate it isn't feasible for everyone.

[nuskyforum]

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@stereohaven wrote:

I don't suppose you have access to any powerline adapters you could use to take WiFi out of the equation do you?

The best thing I ever did for Q stability is to turn off WiFi on all the boxes and use powerline, although I appreciate it isn't feasible for everyone.

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Yep that's exactly what I'm doing with my current fix. But I already have a few things I require to be connected via Ethernet I don't have room to add more unless I upgrade me Powerline adapter to one that has another port (already have 3). So that's why I've had to choose one device to swap out (the tv).

[Jivebaby]

@stereohaven 

Conundrim here then as Sky explicitly say that Mini boxes are better connected via WiFi to enhance the Sky Mesh network and not to simultaneously connect over the Ethernet. Existentially cabling may be possible but rather underlines the Sky objectives to create a faultless and seamless network experience. 

on balance,  given their dominant position an simplicity of the mission, they should have solved this problem well over a year ago.

[stereohaven]

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@nuskyforum wrote: 

Yep that's exactly what I'm doing with my current fix. But I already have a few things I require to be connected via Ethernet I don't have room to add more unless I upgrade me Powerline adapter to one that has another port (already have 3). So that's why I've had to choose one device to swap out (the tv).

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You can plug a simple 5 port switch into an adapter if you prefer, it is only an access point of sorts that acts like an Ethernet cable after all.

Be wary, once you get into the installer menu and turn the WiFi off, it will turn itself back on again at some point!

[stereohaven]

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@Jivebaby wrote:

@stereohaven 

Conundrim here then as Sky explicitly say that Mini boxes are better connected via WiFi to enhance the Sky Mesh network and not to simultaneously connect over the Ethernet. Existentially cabling may be possible but rather underlines the Sky objectives to create a faultless and seamless network experience. 

on balance,  given their dominant position an simplicity of the mission, they should have solved this problem well over a year ago.

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The Sky Q mesh is very old tech and has always been cranky. They are never going to improve it now Q is basically a legacy product.

[Chodley]

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@Jivebaby wrote:

@stereohaven 

Conundrim here then as Sky explicitly say that Mini boxes are better connected via WiFi to enhance the Sky Mesh network and not to simultaneously connect over the Ethernet. Existentially cabling may be possible but rather underlines the Sky objectives to create a faultless and seamless network experience. 

on balance,  given their dominant position an simplicity of the mission, they should have solved this problem well over a year ago.

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Like 5 years ago would have saved me a lot of hair.

[nuskyforum]

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@Chodley wrote:

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@Jivebaby wrote:

@stereohaven 

Conundrim here then as Sky explicitly say that Mini boxes are better connected via WiFi to enhance the Sky Mesh network and not to simultaneously connect over the Ethernet. Existentially cabling may be possible but rather underlines the Sky objectives to create a faultless and seamless network experience. 

on balance,  given their dominant position an simplicity of the mission, they should have solved this problem well over a year ago.

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Like 5 years ago would have saved me a lot of hair.

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Yes this is sort of what I meant by my opening sentence about it never being a long term fix as I've seen people make this complaint for years and it's clearly never been resolved. Hopefully Sky can invest some time and money in to a better solution one day because almost certainly after my contract is up I won't be renewing. Really not worth the hassle and will probably work out better for me to stick with VM 

[Chodley]

I think Stream works differently so at some point that will be unavoidable but for now my Q works fine with the network setup I have (don't know if it's the fact I have it wired to a wifi node that blocks packet spamming and mine has never done anything weird like trying to connect to other people's boxes) so I'll count myself lucky but I've probably spent tens if not three figures of hours trying to help people on here fight the Q networking.

[nuskyforum]

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@Chodley wrote:

I think Stream works differently so at some point that will be unavoidable but for now my Q works fine with the network setup I have (don't know if it's the fact I have it wired to a wifi node that blocks packet spamming and mine has never done anything weird like trying to connect to other people's boxes) so I'll count myself lucky but I've probably spent tens if not three figures of hours trying to help people on here fight the Q networking.

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Yes my thoughts on Stream are the same. Seems like their big push at the moment and the thing they try to sell by default. 

I too never had any problems for years untill now though.