Sky Q mini connection issues after moving to non-Sky Fibre broadband

[RichyJM]

We have recently moved away from Sky Broadband to full fibre non-Sky Broadband (still no Sky full fibre in our area).  We have a Sky Q box and a single mini box in an adjacent room.

On switiching broadband I successfully changed the main Q box to connect to the new broadband and then 'paired' the mini box with it.  All good so far - however, the mini box doesn't stay connected for long, the picture stutters, then freezes then we lose connection completely requiring a reboot of the mini box.

As I understand it the mini box connects to the main Q box, not to broadband itself, with the old Sky Q router acting to boost the signal between the boxes.  Now that the old Sky Q router is switched off, the connection is not as strong - hence the issues?  To try and test this, I plugged the Sky Q router back in and paired this back to the Q box and the mini box.  The connectivity issue seems to be resolved but we obviously have no internet capabiity now as it's all synced up to the old Sky Q router SSID which has no internet connection.

Is there a way we can use the old Sky Q router to boost the signal between the Q and the mini boxes, but have connectivity to the new broadband, or would a Sky Q booster box be needed for this? Or am I barking up the wrong tree completely! 🙂

Thanks in advance.

[TimmyBGood]

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@RichyJM wrote:

Is there a way we can use the old Sky Q router to boost the signal between the Q and the mini boxes, but have connectivity to the new broadband, or would a Sky Q booster box be needed for this? 

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You need to log the issue with Sky and get them to send a Sky Q booster, which will link between the main Q box and the Mini box using WPS.  A Q router isn't appropriate hardware (although Sky is apparently no longer requiring them to be returned)

[oldfella]

Hi @RichyJM 

Have you carried out a Network reset on the Mini exactly as follows?

Network Reset found in mini Home - Settings - Setup - Network.
Highlight Status and then select Reset on the right hand side. Follow instructions to WPS with main Q box.
You will be asked to press the WPS button on the main Q box (not the mini as the Network reset will start the mini WPS automatically).

[RichyJM]

Thanks for the reply.  Pretty sure this is what I did initially.  I manually connected the Q box to the new router (selected it in the network menu, then typed in PW), then went to the mini box - reset the network and pressed the WPS button on the main box.  The mini then goes through 4(?) steps and connects up to the main box.....for a bit!

Now that I've temporarily re-introduced the Q router to boost the signal, both the Q box and the mini box have connected back to the old router.  I'm guessing this may be something to do with the order I've connected things, or more likely that the Q router can't be used to just simply boost the signal between boxes without it effectively being the master SSID (if that makes sense! :))   If a Q Booster will allow this, then that would appear to be the answer.

[oldfella]

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@RichyJM wrote:

............

Now that I've temporarily re-introduced the Q router to boost the signal, both the Q box and the mini box have connected back to the old router.  I'm guessing this may be something to do with the order I've connected things, or more likely that the Q router can't be used to just simply boost the signal between boxes without it effectively being the master SSID (if that makes sense! :))   If a Q Booster will allow this, then that would appear to be the answer.

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Hi @RichyJM 

Its not a matter of the Sky router boosting the signal between the two boxes.

The mini can connect to the Q router directly as it broadcasting the same WiFi as the main Q box.

On 3rd party routers the mini must connect directly to the main Q box.

A Sky Q booster positioned midway between the main Q box and the mini will boost the signal.

First the booster is connected to the main Q box by WPS.  Once the booster is connected with a full complement of green leds then using a Network reset on the mini it is connected to the booster by WPS.

[RichyJM]

Hi @oldfella,

thanks - yes I think that all makes sense.  If I have understood correctly, it  seems odd to me that the boxes effectively need to connect in a chain if you're not using a sky router, espicially when the fibre router is in the the same room as the mini box and is happily serving up 800mbps download speeds.  But I guess it is what it is :). 

I'll get in touch with Sky and ask for a Q Booster, in the meantime I'll just leave the Sky router running, having no internet connectivity is mildly less annoying than having no signal to the mini box at all 🙂

Thanks for your help

[oldfella]

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@RichyJM wrote:

Hi @oldfella,

thanks - yes I think that all makes sense.  If I have understood correctly, it  seems odd to me that the boxes effectively need to connect in a chain if you're not using a sky router, espicially when the fibre router is in the the same room as the mini box and is happily serving up 800mbps download speeds.  But I guess it is what it is :). 

I'll get in touch with Sky and ask for a Q Booster, in the meantime I'll just leave the Sky router running, having no internet connectivity is mildly less annoying than having no signal to the mini box at all 🙂

Thanks for your help

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Hi @RichyJM 

Best option with 3rd party broadband is to connect all Q boxes to the router by Ethernet.  This can be done directly or through simple unmanaged Ethernet switches.  Doing this all the Q box WiFi can be turned off giving more reliability and no WiFi interference.

Obviously this is not always practical.

Powerline units can be used to make Ethernet connections but this is not guaranteed to be successful.