Questions about Sky Q and Sky boosters

[peter_1979]

So my parents have Sky Q with 2 mini q boxes. The second one was installed a few years ago. At the time the WIFI would not reach the location of the second mini q box. So the Sky engineer seemed to install some booster boxes (I wasn't in the house at the time).

This is plugged into the router via ethernet in the hall.

This was placed in the hall near the mini q box which had poor WIFI at the time.

After this I setup a mesh system to tackle the general WIFI coverage issue in the house.  I setup 3 Deco M4's, the main unit was connected to the existing non sky router and configured in access point mode, the other 2 nodes were spread around the house.  I then connected all 3 sky boxes and everything worked fine (still does).

Anyway the other day I was visiting my parents and noticed the Sky boosters were still plugged in.  I assumed that since the sky boxes were connected to the new mesh the sky boosters were now redundant so I plugged them out, within 30 mins both mini q's disconnected from the main box and the main q box lost internet connectivity (all other non sky devices connected to the mesh had no disruption).  I plugged the boosters back in and the sky boxes recovered.

I went into the engineer menu on the sky Q box to see if these boosters were mentioned there.

So I'm guessing there is some hidden network that the boosters are using which is still connected to the sky boxes regardless of the mesh connectivity.  What is even more odd is that I can see a device called "skybooster" connected to one of the Deco nodes.  These nodes were installed after the boosters so I have no idea how it connected to the mesh.

Evertytinhg works fine with the sky boosters connected I'm just curious to know why the sky boxes are still reliant on them despite the fact i cant see any obvious connections.  Also cant figure how the booster connected to the mesh (unless its somehow using the sky q box as a proxy).

Would be nice if they could be removed from the setup as I would have though the mesh network makes them redundant? 

[nigea99]

hi @peter_1979 

When your (or in ths case your parents)  home wifi is not SKY then it does not use your wifi to connect but instead uses a wifi signal generated by the main box.

Was the main box connected to the router via ethernet ?

BTW not quite sure why a booster would be placed near a mini as the mini is likely to get as much signal as a booster unless it was marginal  

[peter_1979]

The main Q box was never connected to the router via  ethernet.  

Regarding the placwement of the booster I may not have described it propertly, it was placed approximately half way between the mini q and the router.

So are you saying even though its connected to the Deco mesh the boxes are actually talking to each other over a hidden WIFI network generated by the boxes? Assuming this is correct this is why unplugging the boosters causes the disruption?

How is the sky booster connecting to the Deco node considering it was installed and setup before the mesh system?

[TimmyBGood]

@peter_1979 

The fundamental concept is that Q Mini boxes won't stay connected to non-Sky wireless hardware: they talk to other Q boxes and Sky wireless boosters.

[peter_1979]

So despite showing as connected  to the Deco's the sky q's will always be reliant on the sky boosters the engineer setup on day 1?

If I connected all the sky boxes to Deco nodes via ethernet (the nodes would still be connected to each other via a wireless backhaul) would that then rule out the need for the sky boosters?

[Chodley]

Yes that has been done by other people. I do it just with my main Q (BT Wholehome rather than Deco)

And disable wifi on the sky boxes.

[nigea99]

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@peter_1979 wrote:

So despite showing as connected  to the Deco's the sky q's will always be reliant on the sky boosters the engineer setup on day 1?

If I connected all the sky boxes to Deco nodes via ethernet (the nodes would still be connected to each other via a wireless backhaul) would that then rule out the need for the sky boosters?

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hi @peter_1979 

I am not an expert but I ebleive this should work - I think you may need to switch wifi off on the minis to stop them trying to connect that way

@TimmyBGood  & others, hopefully,  may be able to confirm and/or give other advice