Sky Q + wired mini box - considering switching broadband provider (Brsk)

[DannyPBlack]

Morning all, 

I know this question (or some form of it) has likely been asked a million times but I think our setup is somewhat unique which is why I have never been able to move away from Sky. Recently Brsk have installed fibre in my area and their offers are really good but, still, my concerns over everything stopping working are still with me.

Our current setup:

Sky Hub in hallway connected to BT phone socket (old horizontal router type)

Ethernet up the stairs to a 3rd party router providing WiFi to the main house (there's an annex next door)

Sky Q main box in lounge of main house

Sky Q mini box in Annex (what used to be the garage which is now a granny annex) via ethernet from main Q box

WiFi provided in Annex via the mini box (which I understand is lost when not using Sky Q broadband service)

The annex is surrounded by breeze blocks and WPS has always been a problem getting in there, hence why we need the mini box to provide WiFi otherwise my in-laws WiFi devices don't work.

If I move the broadband to Brsk (10x faster for half the price) I know I'll lose WiFi repeating from the Q minibox, I assume that because the mini is ethernet connected to the Q main box Sky services will still function.

Is there any way that by switching broadband I can ensure that the WiFi still works in the Annex or do I need to find an alternative solution because the boxes only provide WiFi repeating when connected via their own broadband?

Any help greatly appreciated!

[TimmyBGood]

---

@DannyPBlack wrote:

do I need to find an alternative solution because the boxes only provide WiFi repeating when connected via their own broadband?

---

https://www.sky.com/help/articles/wifi-hotspots 

[DannyPBlack]

Wow thanks for this. 
has this changed? I'm sure in the past that this wasn't possible - did Sky change their policy and/or firmware to allow this?

[DannyPBlack]

---

@TimmyBGood wrote:

---

@DannyPBlack wrote:

do I need to find an alternative solution because the boxes only provide WiFi repeating when connected via their own broadband?

---

https://www.sky.com/help/articles/wifi-hotspots 

---

Thanks, I'm guessing this changed at some point because it never used to be possible. I assume Sky changed their policy and/or firmware.
That's good to know but one thing that I need to clarify - currently the minibox receives both the satellite signal and internet via the ethernet cable that goes around the outside of the house i.e. the mini box does not have any wireless connection to any other router or sky box in the main house - will that still be the case if I switch broadband providers?

Ideally, what needs to happen is the Main Q box continues to provides TV and internet signal via the ethernet cable and the mini box then provides WiFi for the annex.

The main house then has a new non-Sky broadband router, connected to another 3rd party router (to provide better 5G coverage in the main house) and all is well.

Is that therefore possible? It'll just essentially be swapping out the Sky router for a Brsk one and everything else works as it did? I'm just concerned the mini box will no longer provide WiFi unless it can 'find' another source of broadband via wireless (which doesn't work)

[TimmyBGood]

@DannyPBlack 

Sky has permitted Q hardware to act as hotspots on non-Sky broadband for several years: personally I suspect Ofcom had a quiet word about monopolies.

One point to consider is that while the Mini should function as a hotspot for your new provider, it's now effectively antique (2016) and will only be capable of passing on a small fraction of a gigabit connection (2.4Ghz only)

[DannyPBlack]

---

@TimmyBGood wrote:

@DannyPBlack 

Sky has permitted Q hardware to act as hotspots on non-Sky broadband for several years: personally I suspect Ofcom had a quiet word about monopolies.

One point to consider is that while the Mini should function as a hotspot for your new provider, it's now effectively antique (2016) and will only be capable of passing on a small fraction of a gigabit connection (2.4Ghz only)

---

That's not really a problem for me. The main house is covered by an ASUS 5ghz router and provides hardwiring to my home office. The annex (where the hotspot is needed) is only used to connect max 3 devices for my elderly in laws so they shouldn't notice a difference (shouldn't being the operative word)

If I can swap out the Sky router for another provider and the main Q box continues to provide internet and TV over cable and the Mini provides its own hotspot off of that, it should be fine for our needs.

[DannyPBlack]

Sorry to bang on about this but I'm like a dog with a bone now and Brsk will likely contact me again soon to sign up.

What I could do with being absolutely clear is whether the main Q box, connected to the network via wireless (currently provided by my Sky Hub) will continue to operate on a different provider.

And, when it is - can it provide internet and TV over the ethernet cable round the back of the house to the Mini Box, which in turn can then provide said internet connection as a WiFi hotspot.

Without that last part, I'm stuck with Sky because it's the only way that my in laws' devices can access the internet - via the Mini's hotspot.

So, connection would be:

Sky Hub (replaced with Brsk own) > WiFi to Main Q box > Wired to Mini box > WiFi connection to in laws' devices.

Separately, the Sky Hub currently has ethernet going upstairs to a much better ASUS Access Point which I don't think will be a problem if just swapping out for the Brsk router - it'll just ask as AP for any ethernet source. All my devices are either hard-wired to the ASUS router (PS5, work laptop) or the 5GHz WiFi it provides (some devices will still be on the 2.4 as they're not capable).

If the Mini still provides WiFi hotspot (even if 2.4Ghz) provided by ethernet from the Main box, which in turn is connected to the router via WiFi - I can finally achieve better speeds via Brsk.