First of all I have to say that I think this is one of the reasons Sky Stream exists - because Sky Q is so badly implemented that having everyone just connect to their WiFi is the safest solution.
Although I have to say having a reliable satellite signal (except in very bad rain) is a big benefit over streaming. I will add myself to the list of customers who think that stream should be an option to avoid all the hassle of minis.
My actual issue:
- Connecting a replacement Sky Q box to my fast fibre network (that isn’t Sky) and the minis to it.
Background information:
- We have Sky broadband but due to the distance from the cabinets we have only around 15 mbits download.
- When we had Sky Q installed with Sky Broadband this made sense as it was the fastest we could get.
- Sky does not provide full-fibre to our addesss.
- However in the last year we now have two alternative full fibre providers to our address and so we now use that 1gbit connection for internet usage and use an Orbi mesh system which is great, fast and reliable. (Although its software interface is terrible and limited in its app).
- Sky broadband is therefore ONLY used by Sky Q and the mini boxes now. And we have a sky extender as well.
- This is because despite my best efforts to connect Sky Q to the full-fibre connection last year I could not get it to work.
I blamed this failure on the fact the Sky Q box was one of the older v1 models and it wasn’t designed with alternative broadband suppliers in mind.
When the V2 box turned up I thought I’d try it again.
Attempt 1 - just connect the Q box to fast WiFi.
Result 1 - it connects for maybe 30 seconds then disconnects and then reconnects. And is totally unreliable and usable.
Attempt 2 - try to connect the minis to the Sky Q box while it’s working on the fast WiFi.
Result 2 - I can connect the mini boxes to the faster network but not to the Q box so they don’t work. I also tried a wired connection to the mini boxes but the main Q box is not near enough to the router for a wired connection.
Attempt 3 - try to connect the booster to the sky q box first. Turn off the Sky Broadband router so it can’t try and connect to that.
Result 3 - this seems to somehow work! Pressing the WPS button on the booster and main box allows them to both connect to a special 2.4 GHz only network I created as I read Sky Q doesn’t like 5Ghz.
The Orbi app even tells me that the booster is on the network.
The mini box says it is connected to WiFi and the Q box (so close) but there is no picture.
The main Q box keeps dropping off WiFi which is clearly the issue stopping the mini working.
Attempt 4 - Give up and just turn Sky broadband back on and press WPS button.
Result 4 - within a couple of minutes everything is working except the Q and mini are on the slow network and I have to keep paying Sky for a slow useless broadband connection.
Any thoughts or suggestions?
