Sky Q box regularly disconnecting internet connection

[Curlyfries]

Hi. Our Sky Q box which is connected wirelessly and has been since installation years ago has started to randomly disconnect and drop WiFi connection. This prevents our sky go and mini Q box from accessing recordings. It's happening a few times a week. No other device is affected.

I called sky and they had no suggestions. They asked me to run a scan (after I had reconnected it) and unsurprisingly found no fault. I'm concerned that there is a fault with the box itself but the technician I spoke to didn't even mention that as a possibility. 

This is an issue we have had for at least a month but it's increasing in frequency. No new wifi equipment has been bought into the house or room to cause interference. Nothing has been moved or changed in our setup. 

Does anyone know what I need to do next to try and fix this? Sky technical support has not been helpful.

Cheers

[Chodley]

All too common an occurence. I lost a lot of hair. You'll find dozens if not hundreds of similar threads.

Honestly many people, me included, have given up on wifi and switched to ethernet or powerline or piggybacking a couple of wifi mesh nodes via a short ethernet cable.

I'll escalate this anyway in case the online team can help more than the phone. Look out for a blue chat bubble.

[Curlyfries]

Thanks for the reply. That's not good news as the router is in a different room. Sounds like the Q boxes use crappy wifi hardware. 

[Chodley]

I personally think they use crappy hardware and software but they did it to control as many variables as possible. Wrong decision imho because it loses all of us the ability to take advantage of technical progress and standards. The proprietary mesh they set up is based on old tech now (but writing that themselves would have been pretty hardcore engineering effort), way before very high speed wifi and domestic wifi mesh systems were common.

Most people have the router in a different room. With powerlines or the mesh nodes or a booster/extender half way (or properly routed ethernet) you're not trailing visible cables.

It is possible the tech team on here will be able to get your stable connection back. They have for others.

[Lisa-P1987]

Thanks for escalating this. We’ve sent @Curlyfries  an invite to chat.

[Gaz1]

Hello Curlyfries,

Luckily you are not alone with this problem. It is a problem that has occurred with SkyQ and the latest WiFi6 and subsequently WiFi connection to various Hubs / Routers.

There are a few options to try / use and one will definitely work.

1) Direct wired with Ethernet cable. This directly connects the SkyQ box to your Router with a 'Suitable' Ethernet cable. Clearly this can be an issue for some dependant on distance between Router and SkyQ box. Some it is successful for,some not. It did work on mine.

2) Range Extender. I originally fixed mine by digging out an old TP-LInk RE200 range extender. Set it up with my PC, connected it to my Router via WiFi. Then just plugged it in downstairs as my Router is upstairs and then connected SkyQ to that and not to my Router. This works perfect. The signal is not as strong but as UHD only requires 20 - 30Mb its plenty to function fully. When you set it up via a PC or phone 'Tether' app you give it a custom name. Then when in the connection settings for SkyQ wifi this will pop up in available networks. If you dont change the name it atakes the same name as the Router and can be confusing knowing whether your connected to the Extender or Router.

3) Powerlines. These pass the Router signal through the house wiring. You connect one via ethernet cable to the Router and plug it into a mains socket by the Router. The other you plug in by the SkyQ box and connect this again with an ethernet cable to the SkyQ.

There is more to setting these up rather than plug and play but they are not complicated.

I will attach the link to the originating Post for this problem for you to have a read through. Then if you have any problems or questions just ask on there.

https://helpforum.sky.com/t5/Sky-Q/Sky-Q-box-regulary-loses-internet-connection/m-p/4492655/emcs_t/S...

Kind Regards

Gareth

[Gaz1]

My Apologies...I had not spotted that Chodley had already assisted you.

[Chodley]

Not at all. Yours was much more detailed and useful 😃

[Curlyfries]

Thanks both. A bit out of my skillset so hopefully Sky can help. If not I'll have a look see at how to do as you suggest!

[Gaz1]

Curlyfries,

It is not as complicated as it sounds honestly. The Powerlines or range extenders all come with instructions that are pretty simple. I know TP-Link have all the videos on their website of how to connect them.

[Curlyfries]

A sky advisor contacted me to webchat but unfortunately I've been so busy at work that I missed my opportunity. I updated the software on Monday night and thought that had solved it but last night we lost connection again. Can an adviser contact me?

[Chodley]

Updating the software will do nothing. It uodates itself and never tells you "I'm already on the latest version so don't bother" when you do it manually. And the latest version does nothing to help this anyway.

[Curlyfries]

🤣good to know!

[Chodley]

I've re-escalated for you

[Curlyfries]

Thank you. Much appreciated.