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]

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@DannyPBlack wrote:

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

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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]

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@TimmyBGood wrote:

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@DannyPBlack wrote:

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

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

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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]

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@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)

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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.

[DannyPBlack]

An update on this, in case anyone else comes across a similar situation (or if anyone knows what I did wrong).

Basically, I thought I'd test connecting the Sky Q to a non-sky router this afternoon before I took the plunge and requested Brsk sign me up (turns out I've kind of missed the boat anyway because their Black Friday deal has ended....but that's a different story).

I turned off WiFI on the Sky Hub and only had WiFi being generated by my Asus 3rd party Access Point up the stairs which is hardwired into the hub.

The Sky Q box couldn't connect to it. Reset everything, including the Asus router - nothing worked.

The main Q box had TV (because it is connected to the dish) but the mini had nothing...obviously wanted the Sky Hub to be providing the internet. 

Took me about 3 hours to put everything back to how it was.

Looks like I'm stuck waiting for Openreach to upgrade the network in our area because my setup just won't allow for a non-sky broadband provider due to the 2ndary router I have to provide better WiFi and the hardwired connection between my Q boxes.

I don't know why everything stopped working; even my Asus WiFi wouldn't provide internet when the Hub wireless was turned off.

[nigea99]

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@DannyPBlack wrote:

An update on this, in case anyone else comes across a similar situation (or if anyone knows what I did wrong).

Basically, I thought I'd test connecting the Sky Q to a non-sky router this afternoon before I took the plunge and requested Brsk sign me up (turns out I've kind of missed the boat anyway because their Black Friday deal has ended....but that's a different story).

I turned off WiFI on the Sky Hub and only had WiFi being generated by my Asus 3rd party Access Point up the stairs which is hardwired into the hub.

The Sky Q box couldn't connect to it. Reset everything, including the Asus router - nothing worked.

The main Q box had TV (because it is connected to the dish) but the mini had nothing...obviously wanted the Sky Hub to be providing the internet. 

Took me about 3 hours to put everything back to how it was.

Looks like I'm stuck waiting for Openreach to upgrade the network in our area because my setup just won't allow for a non-sky broadband provider due to the 2ndary router I have to provide better WiFi and the hardwired connection between my Q boxes.

I don't know why everything stopped working; even my Asus WiFi wouldn't provide internet when the Hub wireless was turned off.

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hi @DannyPBlack 

I am not a network expert but the SKY Q boxes rely on the DHCP within the router to provide network addresses.

I suspect that the Access point will not do this, which is why I think your test failed. 

If you had  tried with a 3rd party router but just not connected to the internet I think you may have had a differet result

[DannyPBlack]

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@nigea99 wrote:

hi @DannyPBlack 

I am not a network expert but the SKY Q boxes rely on the DHCP within the router to provide network addresses.

I suspect that the Access point will not do this, which is why I think your test failed. 

If you had  tried with a 3rd party router but just not connected to the internet I think you may have had a differet result

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The Asus acts as an AP only so does not have any of the DCHP settings turned on. I reserve an IP within the Hub for the Asus and let everything get an address automatically. For some reason everything seemed to work for about a minute before all internet and connections went down again. The main Q box found the connection but couldn't use it for some reason.

I think you're probably right around gaining an address but this only seemed to work properly when I turned the wireless back on in the Hub.

For now, I'm not going to mess with it - my parents-in-law are heavily reliant on the TV and internet that our setup provides. They weren't too happy that their TV was off for 3 hours whilst I was faffing around trying to get it back working again...

[DannyPBlack]

I tried creating a new thread following my testing the other day but it got marked as spam so updating this one in the hopes someone can chip in (sincere apologies to the Mods, just really want to get some reassurance)

I would really like to change to a provider that can provide 10x faster speeds before Openreach get around to updating the steet (which will be several years off) but I'm not convinced it will for my setup, unless I'm doing something wrong.

As far as everyone's aware here, Sky Q should be able to connect to a non-sky router, right?

Would a 3rd party router but with a Sky Hub behind it providing IP addresses be seen as sky or non-sky broadband as far as Q box goes?

I'm going to attempt some further testing this weekend, with prior warning for the in-laws because they weren't happy when their TV and internet went off for a few hours!

[nigea99]

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@DannyPBlack wrote:

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!

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hi @DannyPBlack 

The main box will connect to a 3rd party router/network.

The minis will not, however, connect to any 3rd party wifi but use the (closed network) wifi generated by the main box  

[DannyPBlack]

Further update after some more testing today. Got everything working with Sky hub's WiFi turned off - all devices connected to my Asus router connected to internet and no issues.

Then comes the Sky Q main box - found the network, connected to it but for all of 10 seconds before dropping out having to reset the whole thing again. Seems many people (from posts on this forum) have similar issues. 

I've ordered some powerline adapters and a network splitter to remove the ridiculous way the Q box connects to WiFi. Sky have a choke hold on people trying to leave their broadband service and I'm very frustrated by it.