SkyQ main box keeps losing wifi connection to router

[DaveB69]

I've researched the issue (which seems common) on here and other forums, but have yet to find a definitive answer.

Recently switched ISP from BT to Virgin (with Virgin Hub 4 modem/router). Never previously had problems with the BT hub. Have a Sky Booster (model SE210) and three Sky Q mini boxes. The main box is in the same room as the router, but on the opposite side meaning that an ethernet cable would have to go across a fireplace - not desirable, and I'm desperately tring to avoid having to hard wire it (not least because I don't have a spare ethernet port in my router).

From day one the wifi connection from the main box to the router started to drop regulary (several times per day, sometimes several times per hour). According to my research it seemed this could be because the Virgin 'intelligent wifi' would switch the connection between 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz, but the sky box will only work on the 2.4Ghz, and I saw lots of advice that the best solution was a home mesh system.

So, being unable to separate the Virgin wifi into dedicated 2.4 and 5Ghz SSIDs, i have spent over £300 on the LinkSys Velop home mesh system (one parent hardwired to the Virgin Hub 4 acting as the router, and three satellite nodes). I have created two SSIDs on this network (a 2.4Ghz and a 5Ghz), and connected the main Sky Q box to the 2.4 version by wifi. For the first few hours it worked perfectly, but now I am having exactly the same issue as I was with the Virgin network - main box regularly loses connection, I have to manually reset the connection, re-enter wifi password etc. This in turn drops the connection to the Sky Booster, so I have to reset that, and of course none of the minis work until both the main box and the booster are back up and running - which can take a while.

No other wifi devices in the house are experiencing similar issues.

I am now completely at the end of my tether, as watching TV has become impossible, and I am dealing with two angry children (who can't watch telly) and an angry wife (who can't understand why I've spent over 300 quid on something that doesn't work - fair comment I guess!).

Do any of you good people have a definitve solution to this?

Many thanks in advance.

Cheers,

Dave

[Chrisee]

@DaveB69 you are correct the Sky Q box uses the 2.4GHz channel to connect to any third party wifi and cannot use the 5GHz signal at all. I suspect your issue is interference which plagues the over used 2.4GHz band. You have multipe devices each producing a signal as each Q box generates a 2.4GHz hotspot add in your neighbour's netwworks and you can fill the band completely. 

You can try trying changing the channel your Velop mesh is using although there are 13 channels in the band the signals cover more than one channel so a signal on channel 6 will cause issues in ch4 and 7 as well. Therefore it is normally only worth trying the following ch1,6,11,3 or 9 to find the best. If youbwant tombe a bit more scientific downloadca wifi analyser app onto a phoone or laptop go near the Sky Q box and see which channel looks the least busy.

[DaveB69]

Many thanks for the reply @Chrisee . This is where things start to get too technical for me!

I've connected all our other devices to the 5Ghz band (or at least as many as I can - a couple only seem to be able to see the 2.4Ghz band) to try to give the Sky box as much 'room' as possible.

Any idea how I might change the channel the Velop mesh is using? I've scoured all the router settings and can't see this anywhere. The only reference to channels is the 'channel finder' function in the LinkSys app which scans and optimises, but doesn't seem to let you manually change anything (or even see what channel is currently being used).

And can you recommend a wifi analyser app? There are so many of them, and I really don't know what I'm looking for ...

Many thanks.

Cheers,

Dave

[Chodley]

If you have an iphone, Airport Utility has a wifi scanner. You have to turn it on in the settings or the text button doesn't appear

 

MacOS has one built in too.

[DaveB69]

Thanks @Chodley .

So according to the Airport wifi scan, my Velop 2.4Ghz network is using three channels: 5, 8 and 9.

Though still not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing, and if a bad thing how to change it ...

Cheers,

Dave