Sky Puck Buffering

[Christian62]

Hi everyone, first post and being lazy as the answer might already be in the community. But synopsis is moved to a new home in 2023 when sky broadband speed was 80mbs and ordered 2 pucks, one for main lounge TV and another for main bedroom. Router is in a halfway cupboard and can't be relocated because it would mean ripping out all cabling in the new bungalow but there's a booster in the lounge ceiling. 2023 and 2024 virtually NO BUFFERING but then early 2025 it started, not all the time but morning and then into early evening. We upgraded to Fibre 500 in July but issues persist. Service checker on my account shows both pucks working ok but the wi-fi dashboard shows a poor signal to my main TV which is where the problem lies. When I do a Netflix get help network check the speed fluctuates violently, as low as 7mbs and last month I did 3 checks one after another within 2 mins and results were 9 to 96 to 43. I rang sky and first time they sent an engineer who did no tests, didn't know about the netflix network checker and left. When I rang sky the next time they said they sent the wrong engineer but we went round in a loop about what it could be. And then I rang the last time where they tried to get me to remove the puck and use a longer HDMI cable which I don't have to isolate the problem. Result was they said they'd send me a link to redeem in Tesco for a longer cable and that was a fortnight ago and the link hasn't arrived!!! I can get > 190mbs on my main TV and then next to nothing like SEVEN and the comparisons are like for like e.g. no other devices on at the same time. So, calling sky tomorrow with a longer version of this saying is it the Puck or what and if I  get my own engineer in will they pay given I'm spending a lot of £ pa on streaming + broadband. If ANYONE has experience the above and knows the answer then grateful for advice. Oh and yes, I've done a rest of the puck and speed check on the other puck and the 2 TVs connected to wi-fi are all well above 200mbs:(

[lettice]

Your other puck is working fine, if I understand correctly.

Its your lounge one that is having issues.

If the speed is varying as you say from low to high, you have some kind of localised intereference that is affecting your wifi connection in the lounge.

Not really understanding the hdmi cable changeover. Unless Sky were wanting you to relocate your puck for some reason.

Use the Sky original supplied one would be best or make sure any replacement you buy is a high speed one.

You have I see tried some things.

Some useful pointers to work through and run some more tests and  let us know your speeds with the test below;

Having a good local network broadband reach is key to Sky Stream.

Not just broadband speed to your house and router, but for your local network supply via wifi or ethernet, that can be affected in a busy household.

Best way to test as you have tried is via a network speed test on each of your Pucks.
Launch Netflix on your pucks (you do not need to be logged into it, if you do not use netflix) and scroll down the left menu to Get help.
Choose Check Network.
Would suggest running the test a handful of  times, over say a half hour period during tests.
What is your speed for each puck?

Also, it may be suffering from interference, the puck much like a Sky Q box can for some customers suffer from this at times. More often seen as an intermittent blip.
Not always a cure, but the following may help to resolve;
Make sure you have a good 6-8 inches free on all sides of the puck.
Do not stack the puck on top of any other device.
Best not to sit it on a glass shelf. Wood is generally the best.
Make sure the puck is in the open, not tucked away in a cabinet or sat directly behind the TV.
Make sure you have no other devices that can cause interference closeby, like cordless phones, radiators, baby monitors, smart meter in home displays, microwaves and the like.
You should be using the Sky supplied hdmi cable or a high speed equivalent one.

Plus, change both your pucks to following recommended settings set in Settings>
Turn wifi OFF under Network if connected via ethernet.
Set Network standby mode to ON and Overnight power saving to OFF.

[Christian62]

Lettice - thanks and done all or most of that. The strange thing is the configuration has not changed for over 2 years and then suddenly out of the blue it starts lagging even after going from 80 to 500mbs. My logic is if there was no buffering in 2023 and 2024 and we've not changed anything e.g. puck is in the same place as it's always been then why now? But I will do some speed tests on both devices at the same time to record just in case there's something in that. Thanks for your reply, have a good one 😊

[TimmyBGood]

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@Christian62 wrote:

and if I  get my own engineer in will they pay given I'm spending a lot of £ pa on streaming + broadband.

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No: the profit margin on your subscription doesn't come close to covering that.

[TimmyBGood]

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@Christian62 wrote:

 My logic is if there was no buffering in 2023 and 2024 and we've not changed anything e.g. puck is in the same place as it's always been then why now? 

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If you have neighbours, it's in the nature of WiFi that what they do can have an impact even if you've made no changes yourself.

[Hunter2660]

Have you swapped the pucks over to see if the issue follows the iffy puck, just in case the puck is the problem?

[G+Webster]

There is a disconnection in the network. I need it to be fixed. This has been going on for months every time I tried to connect to the Wi-Fi on my second laptop. It doesn't connect fully but it tells me it's connected.

[Christian62]

Hi, thanks and that's my next step but also spoke to Sky today and managed to get the to send me a new puck, had to pay for it first but they're going to refund the amount. I'd like to think it's the particular puck that's causing the problem but have my doubts. Will update this thread when it arrives and I test my theory!