Sky Q Ethernet keeps disconnecting

[mgmidget66]

My Sky Q and Sky mini box are directly wired to my network - both are on ethernet and I've disabled the WiFi in both boxes via the 'secret' engineer menu. In fact, I've also disabled the wireless in my router too (I use a deco mesh system for wifi around the house). So I can't work out why my main Sky Q box keeps losing it's ethernet connection. The link light on the hub stays on but the status menu shows the network has disconnected. If I reboot the box it comes back up. I did think it was the network going into 'Eco' mode but I have disabled that too from the menu. Is anyone else seeing anything similar? Just to confirm my setup is:

Sky Q main box networked with ethernet (via a switch). All Wifi disabled

Sky Q mini also networked with ethernet. All WiFi disabled

Sky broadband router - wifi disabled but acting as DHCP server for my home network - also connected to ethernet

I've had Sky Q for a good few years and towards the end of 2023 it's became noticeably unreliable! First the wireless became eratic and now even a wire ethernet connection is starting to drop all the time. Upuntil then we never had an issue. Virgin are pushing themselves hard in our area with some good offers and its becoming hard to resist!

Sorry for the ramble but I'm after ideas! 🙂

[Chodley]

What type of switch?

[mgmidget66]

Actually goes via two switches - I have a tplink switch next to the Sky Q box which then connects via a Netgear switch to the router. I've got quite a bit on the network at home (both me and my wife work from home so our house is fully wired) and Sky Q is the only thing on the network that loses it's connection. I coule eliminate the first switch to see if that would work but it seems unecessary.

[Chodley]

The Q can sometimes flood the network with broadcast traffic and some switches disable the ports automatically to prevent it overloading the bandwidth. Managed switches are the most sensitive to this. Maybe worth experimenting.

[mgmidget66]

Interesting - my switches aren't managed but the TP Link one is old, so I can try to take that out. Weird that it floods the network like that. As I also said, this set up was fine until the later part of last year where it has become more unreliable which seems to be a theme in these forums.I run all sorts on my network from servers to a Raspberry Pi uploading data to Flightradar24 and the only thing that has an issue is Sky Q... Maybe I just need to recuce traffic. overall on my network...

[Chodley]

Yeah there do seem to be a lot of these problems recently. I regard myself as almost fortunate to have experienced all of them 3-4 years ago.

overall traffic won't be the problem. The issue with the Q broadcasts is that they get re-spammed and it spirals. May also not be that at all. There was some work done a while back to reduce the problem but not sure it eliminated it. We never get proper technical info out of Sky to be honest.

[mgmidget66]

Furgher to this, I've noticed that the ethernet drops at more ore less 22:30 every night.  If someone is watching the Sky Q Mini box witnout fail the ethernet link from the main Q box drops around that time and I need to reboot it. So strange....

[64monks]

I have had similar problems... fully wired, Sky Q + Minis. I noticed the network would occasionally lock up and the only cure was to power cycle "random Sky Q / mini boxes". 

The problem was further highlighted when I recently upgrade to Gigafast. I could not understand why when I ran SpeedTest I "only" got 450-500Mbs download. I though it was simply the speed of my line as it was new and settling, but I was not getting the full 900Mbs - even after a few days.

So, I connected my PC to a dediated Port on the Sky Router and suddenly, 900Mbs download. I moved it back to sharing a port on one of the daisy chain of swicthes I have, shared with the SkyQ and Minis, and back to 450-500Mbs!

To confirm what I was seeing, I turned off all of the Minis and the SkyQ with my PC on the SkyQ / mini port & switches - back up to 900Mbs!

I now have some devices (PCs, NAS etc) hanging off a dedicated switch on one port of the Sky Hub, and the SkyQ and Minis off the original daisy chain of switches on another port on the Sky Hub. All the decives on the non-SkyQ port/switch achieve ~900Mbs to the internet when speed tested. 

Throughout all of this, I have Sky Wifi turned off completely on the Hub, SkyQ and minis as I have 3 x BT Whole Home devices for Wifi. They are connected to the SkyQ side of things with a few other things. To truely isolate things, I'd need to run more wires so the SkyQ & Minis are on a dedicated switch going to a dedicated port on the Hub, but for the moment the above scenario is working for me.

I have tried running a managed switch, experimentred with VLANs but could not get the SkyQ + Minis to works unless STP was turned off right now, all switches are simple unmaned swicthes.

Other posts have confirmed the SkyQ boxes flood the network with broadcasts.

Hope this helps.

[rikofold1]

I've had endless problems with wifi, for years now but like.an abusive partner it drops the dopamine every now and again

I now use wired straight to the router - except in recent weeks the Internet connection lasts at best 20 mins before we're back to the same cycle. I experimented with turning the minis off,  but no difference. It basically renders anything but live TV or recordings unusable. I've had enough now. Networking is fundamental on TV services, and if Sky will only allow a good experience on their own routers then I think it's time to bid them farewell. They cost a fortune, and if it's not working then what's the point? 

[Chodley]

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@rikofold1 wrote:

I've had endless problems with wifi, for years now but like.an abusive partner it drops the dopamine every now and again

I now use wired straight to the router - except in recent weeks the Internet connection lasts at best 20 mins before we're back to the same cycle. I experimented with turning the minis off,  but no difference. It basically renders anything but live TV or recordings unusable. I've had enough now. Networking is fundamental on TV services, and if Sky will only allow a good experience on their own routers then I think it's time to bid them farewell. They cost a fortune, and if it's not working then what's the point? 

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Still got wifi turned on?