Sky Q continually dropping connection to broadband network

[purcat33a]

We've had our Sky Q for three years. Our broadband initially came via a TP-link 4G router and, for the past year, it's been via Starlink. Starlink feeds a 16 way gigabit ethernet switch and from there I have a number of wired ethernet connections as well as a connection to TP-Link Deco P9 mesh network. We have very poor broadband speeds on  landline and thick walls throughout our house - hence this method of signal distribution. The Starlink provides the DHCP, everything else acts as AP. We don't use the wi-fi capability of the Sky Q box.

The network throughout our house has been rock solid, and continues to be. Our Sky Q has been connected via ethernet and has behaved faultlessly, until the past week or so (ironically, until about the same time that we nenewed our contract!).

While everything else in the house continues to be fine, the Sky Q is constantly dropping and then picking up the internet connection. It seems to cycle every ten seconds or so. Watching anything streamed now is impossible.  Nothing on our existing network has been changed.

I've tried having the Q box connected as a wired connection. I've tried wireless. No difference. The nearest Deco satellite is in direct sight, just a few metres away and a wi-fi Analyzer check suggests a download speed close to the Q box of about 25 MB/s - although this shouldn't matter with a wired connection (which is 200MB/s).

The only way that we can watch streamed content is if I watch it through the wi-fi on the smart TV  (just above the unit). As an example, with Netflix last night, a test of the connection speed through Q timed out and failed, the picture of the content buffering every 20 seconds or so. On the Sont TV it was rock solid, decent HD visuals and no buffering.

I've done all of the usual reboots - no improvement.

I'm loathe to call Sky and initially, just renegotiating the contract took three phone calls via a foriegn call centre. Any help that members of this forum can suggest are very welcome.

thanks.

[Chodley]

Could the firmware on the switch have updated itself?

Have you tried ethernet from the Q to a Deco?

btw do you mean Mb or MB/s? 25Mb would be close to the minimum for UHD.

[purcat33a]

Thanks for your reply Chodley,

the switch (probably really just a hub, even though it says "switch") is pretty old, and I'd be amazed if it could update itself to be honest!

Yes, I have tried ethernet from the wall socket directly to the Q box and also from the wall socket via the Deco and diasy chained out again to the Q box. The Deco shows that it is connected to the mesh via ethernet (as opposed to wi-fi or PowerLine), so I'm confident that the connection between the hub and the wall socket is OK.

TBH, I was suspicious of the connection speed when I ran a speed test using my mobile phone cited close to the Q box. However, I wanted to report the facts. I just run it again, twice, under the same conditions 352Mb/s down and 29.6MB/s up, consistent on both occasions.  However, connectivity through the Q box is still as before.

[Chodley]

You mixed Mb and MB again there but I'm assuming as it's Starlink that both were meant to be Mb.

352 down sounds fine!

Pretty sure it will be a switch - think hubs stopped being a thing and never went beyond 100Mb, but if it's not a high end one then probably no self-maintenance.

Strange that the behaviour has changed. Have you double checked wifi is still disabled on the Q?

[purcat33a]

Yes, I did, sorry, dyslexic speed fingers !

Both wi-fi bands are turned off.

I had, previously, tried it with both on and both off and with the channels separated from anything else in the house spectrum - no difference.

Just checked speedtest again 192Mb/s down, 28 up - so consistent with varaibility on any Starlink service.

Seems strange but network name on the status page is given as the box name (or I assume that's what it is) even though the connection is to the mesh network (which is a different name) - but I think it's always been that way.

[Chodley]

Yeah network name on the Q is useless info

Have you tried with the minis off?

Worth searching in here for ethernet, there have been some useful analyses of traffic that showed strange behaviour by the Q and other network devices reacting to it (like smart switches disabling ports because they thought they detected a network loop when it was really just the Q spamming broadcast packets.

[purcat33a]

I've bitten the bullet and contacted Sky technical support. After a fair bit of jumping through hoops I've convinced them to send an engineer out. We'll see if that fixes the problem.

Thanks for your help - fingers crossed - and I may be back if it isn't resolved!

[Chodley]

Come back if it is too, would love to hear how they did it!

[purcat33a]

The Sky engineer visited today. He was very good and I was impressed.

The root cause wasn't obvious so, with his agreement and just to eliminate one variable, he put in a new Sky Q box. The problem remained.

I suggested we isolate everything on the network and feed a DHCP router LAN cable straight into the Sky box using a long ethernet cable. The Sky box behaved fine. So, then we removed everything on the network aside from the plumbed in to the wall ethernet connection from the DHCP router to the Sky box - again fine. So, something else on my network must be playing roughly with the Sky Box.

Not being able to expect Sky to adapt their software to accommodate my edge case, I agreed that there wasn't much else the engineer could offer to I let him go.

After he went I had an extensive play with removing various components on the network and seeing if the Sky box continued to drop out.

I'm of the opinion now that the TP-Link Deco P9 mesh network isn't playing fairly with the Sky box. Certainly, when the mesh hub is connected up, we have issues and when it is not, the broadband to the Sky box seems stable.

Unfortunately, the P9 mesh - one hub and 8 satellites - is the major broadband distributor in our old and rather rambling house. 

I would love to know if this poor interaction is a one off or if others have had issues with TP-Link mesh systems and Q boxes and what was done to address the problem. To replace the mesh with something else would be a lot of cost and I would need to be confident that a different product wouldn't behave badly as well.

Your thoughts are welcome.

Thanks

[PandJ2020]

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@purcat33a wrote:

... had issues with TP-Link mesh systems and Q boxes and what was done to address the problem.

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Q is a 10 year old design, well before domestic mesh networks were available.

If you can connect each Q box to a node via Ethernet - it may work.  However, many have found it can still be disruptive due to the proprietry protocols employed for QoS.

[purcat33a]

Thanks PandJ2020,

My Q box is directly connected to the DHCP server via ethernet and I've turned off the transmitted wi-fi on both bands on the Q box. I have no minis. 

The Deco P9's are a combination of ethernet, PLE and wi-fi connectivity - largely on account of the way our old house is built and the access possibilities to each node. 

Can you give me a little more insight into what the issues are with QoS protocols and their proprietary nature? Is any other manufacturer providing a product which consistently works in a relatively large mesh environment with Q boxes?

[PandJ2020]

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@purcat33a wrote:

Can you give me a little more insight into what the issues are with QoS protocols and their proprietary nature? Is any other manufacturer providing a product which consistently works in a relatively large mesh environment with Q boxes?

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I'm not aware of any mesh network provider officially supporting AirTies: https://www.advanced-television.com/2016/01/26/airties-supercharges-sky-q-wi-fi-devices/

[Chodley]

Can you just try it? Are there tplink nodes near enough to each mini?

Some posters think wifi steering (which the mesh will do) causes it. I think I turned that off for the Q on my (BT wholehome) mesh to no effect. Ended up using ethernet from Q into one node via a switch and powerlines from minis to the same switch behind the Q. Wifi disabled on all sky boxes.

[purcat33a]

Sorry, I'm confused ....

I don't have any mini's in my system.

The dropping broadband is on my Sky Q box only.

For all of the other TV's in our house, we only ever watch iplayer and, occasionally Netflix or ITVX - to access these streams the other TV's are connected to the P9 satellite units.  Two TV's are connected this way (in addition to our main TV, connected to the Sky Q). The other P9 satellites pipe the broadband around the house for portable devices such as tablets and phones and smart speakers.

.... perhaps I am missing something obvious?

[Chodley]

Oh, just assumed you did have

In that case can you try just the Q via ethernet into a node?