Sky q keeps switching back to wireless connection

[Chodley]

Unless you're on sky broadband the sky boxes won't be using the devolos so if they are affected, it's their mesh playing up and it's only on 5GHz of course (albeit a clash could affect both at the same time)

[Boshey]

I think it's shocking that Sky has a system that doesn't work well with other broadband providers and doesn't allow the user to choose to use a wireless or wired connection. I have tested this to destruction and my Devolo mesh network works beautifully, uninterrupted when I have the sky boxes off, the minute I turn them on the sky boxes on, the random wifi appears and Devolo starts dropping.

Regardless of this issue, honestly for the money, the SKU boxes are an awful piece of hardware. the services, channels UI are all good, but the boxes themselves are awful.

Not giving up yet but close, and sadly that will mean Virgin or BT TV, as the sky broadband is not even worth considering

[cuke]

Unfortunately your first sentence isn't strictly correct as Sky's hardware is compatiblewith many. Plus technology that was introduced in 2017 cannot always be forwards compatible with every, and more recent, wifi configurations.

Sky are unlikely to make so either.

[Boshey]

My first sentence is absolutely correct based on my direct experience. There is no way the Sky Q box behaves like 2017 hardware, it's slow, difficult to use and not designed to work with anything other than sky broadband. I have hardware that's 10 years older and the ability to switch off wifi is pretty basic 😄

Their choice if they want to keep customers or rely on people being lazy enough to buy TV and Broadband packages that aren't fit for purpose. 

[ksaro1]

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@Boshey wrote:

@IainMcc01 thanks a lot, I may try this although my issue is the sky main box switches back to WiFi randomly, sometimes less than 20 minutes after I've changed the settings in the engineers menu and while. m watching a show

I'll keep at it, but having thoroughly tested I can confirm the sky network absolutely plays havoc with my devolo mesh so it has to go one way or another.

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@Boshey - is there any way that you can check that your Sky Q box is indeed connecting to your home mesh wirelessly? My Sky Q box will also report that it is using its wirless connection, when in fact I know it isn't. And indeed my mesh shows that it is connected via Ethernet.

Even when I go into the Netflix app on the Sky Q box and test the network it too reports a wirless connection, when indeed the box (as shown above) is actually connected via Ethernet. I'm guessing that Netflix is just reporting what the Sky Q box tells it what its network connection is.

In my case I know that my Sky Q box can't be connected via WiFi because I've recently upgraded to a home mesh system and I've never entered the login details for the mesh WiFi. So, if I'm connected to the internet on my Sky Q box, which I am, then it can't be via WiFi.

[cuke]

Unfortunately basing your appraisal upon your own subjective experience is irrelevant. As stated, the hardware was first introduced in 2017 and at that time any 3rd party router setup was not supported. By Sky at all. Sky have relaxed that rule more recently but they will never be releasing any updated SkyQ hardware to make it more compatible with your particular setup.

[Boshey]

Thanks @ksaro1 , Yes I have checked, I can relatively easily get the SKY Q box to connect to ethernet, even tho it has this bizarre function that it reports the network as being whatever the last WiFi SSID it was connected to.

The issue remains that it randomly and unilaterally turns wifi back on. 

I have tested this by using and renaming my guest wifi to exclusively connect to the sky box, I then connect the box to ethernet, turn off wifi, change the name of my guest network and turn it off  just to make sure and the sky q box says its connected to the previous guest wifi SSID.. absolutely bizarre.

Anyway the main issue is that the box turns the wifi back on and this messes up my mesh network, annoyingly I have ethernet powerline as well as WiFi and these get impacted as well. Still trying every possible combination to keep the Sky box from not turning its wifi back on

[Boshey]

Everything is "unfortunate" for you it seems. 

It's objective experience, and I'm well qualified to comment. Sky has to deliberately make its hardware incompatible with other service providers, we are not talking about complex OS issues, just the ability to connect to any wifi and remain stable, something every laptop, phone and PDA can do.

It's shortsighted to not allow customers to make their own choice in what WiFi and home network to use, ultimately it will lose them more business than it gains. 

[ksaro1]

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@Boshey wrote:

Thanks @ksaro1 , Yes I have checked, I can relatively easily get the SKY Q box to connect to ethernet, even tho it has this bizarre function that it reports the network as being whatever the last WiFi SSID it was connected to.

The issue remains that it randomly and unilaterally turns wifi back on. 

I have tested this by using and renaming my guest wifi to exclusively connect to the sky box, I then connect the box to ethernet, turn off wifi, change the name of my guest network and turn it off  just to make sure and the sky q box says its connected to the previous guest wifi SSID.. absolutely bizarre.

Anyway the main issue is that the box turns the wifi back on and this messes up my mesh network, annoyingly I have ethernet powerline as well as WiFi and these get impacted as well. Still trying every possible combination to keep the Sky box from not turning its wifi back on

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@Boshey - I understand that you perceive the Sky Q box enabling its WiFi as messing up your network. But what I'm saying is that if your Sky Q box can't actually connect to your mesh via WiFi, e.g. no password, then I seriously doubt that the Sky Q box is the cause of your issue. For example, when someone visits your home and has a smart phone, that smart phone may try to connect to your mesh,  but can't connect without a login. Does the smart phone then mess up your mesh? It's the same as the Sky Q box as far as the mesh is concerned, assuming the Sky Q box can't connect to your mesh either.

Have you tried removing the mesh's SSID from the Sky Q box  and rebooting the Sky Q box? 

[Boshey]

No it's not the same, when Sky has its wifi enabled it creates a mesh network, and its that mesh network that interferes with my "real" mesh network. A guest's phone doesn't do that.

This is a well-known issue, and I have tested this several times, if I switch off all sky boxes my mesh network has zero problems.  It has nothing to do with whether the sky boxes are connected to the mesh Wifi, it's about the fact that Sky boxes (I have two minis) create their own network and it's that network I don't need and is causing the issues. Hope that helps you understand the issue

[ksaro1]

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@Boshey wrote:

No it's not the same, when Sky has its wifi enabled it creates a mesh network, and its that mesh network that interferes with my "real" mesh network. A guest's phone doesn't do that.

This is a well-known issue, and I have tested this several times, if I switch off all sky boxes my mesh network has zero problems.  It has nothing to do with whether the sky boxes are connected to the mesh Wifi, it's about the fact that Sky boxes (I have two minis) create their own network and it's that network I don't need and is causing the issues. Hope that helps you understand the issue

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@Boshey - Ok, I'd missed the bit about your Sky mesh network.

It is a bit worrying that Sky can put equipment into people's homes that interfere with the homeowner's  own equipment, regardless of what Sky claim about compatibility .

Also, how close are you to your neighbours? I know I can see my neighbour's SSID when I scan for WiFi networks. Why don't they interfere with my home mesh? What is it about Sky's mesh that interferes?

Have you tried your mesh's forum pages? Maybe others with your equipment have seen this and have a answer? I used to have a Sky mini box and my home mesh has always worked fine. So the Sky mesh that my Sky Q main box and mini box made didn't interfere with my home mesh, which is TP-Link btw.

[Boshey]

@ksaro1 Thanks, it's so frustrating, and it's a great point about neighbours wifi, I can occasionally see the SSID, but its infrequent and weak so maybe tahst why it doesn't interfere?  But the minute Sky network is up my mesh drops. It's only a second or two but frequent enough to be annoying.

I hate the fact that Sky don't seem to care about customer choice, I prefer their TV package and I prefer Virgin Fibre and I want a viable ethernet/wifi mesh network so I can have fast internet all over the house., currently its the sky product that prevents this.

I am currently testing another variation, don't want to jinx it but so far so good! 🙂

[Chodley]

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@Boshey wrote:

@ksaro1 Thanks, it's so frustrating, and it's a great point about neighbours wifi, I can occasionally see the SSID, but its infrequent and weak so maybe tahst why it doesn't interfere?  But the minute Sky network is up my mesh drops. It's only a second or two but frequent enough to be annoying.

I hate the fact that Sky don't seem to care about customer choice, I prefer their TV package and I prefer Virgin Fibre and I want a viable ethernet/wifi mesh network so I can have fast internet all over the house., currently its the sky product that prevents this.

I am currently testing another variation, don't want to jinx it but so far so good! 🙂

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I don't think Sky are trying to force people to get their broadband (though they would doubtless like to increase their ARPU). I think they wanted to simplify their support process by having certain things work together where they could diagnose them more easily by controlling all the moving parts. A big mistake imho if so.

But I think you are seeing behaviour not many have seen. My Sky Q wifi has never turned itself on. Good luck with the new config. 

[ChrisP1980]

I have exactly the same issue. I think I know what it is though. I have 4 boxes all connected via Ethernet with one of those being a poweine adaptor. I recently turned off the power line adapter to plug something else into that socket as a result of the a mini not able to use wifi it's like that as communicated with the main box and the wifi has kicked in even though I switched it off. 

[ChrisP1980]

Sorry I meant as a result of the mini not having the Ethernet active it kicked into the wifi.