Sky Stream Poor

[Maccca1]

I’m getting really frustrated with Sky Stream to the point we hardly use it anymore. The picture and sound keep cutting out, and watching live sport is dreadful. We have Sky Broadband with a booster and speeds of 50mbps+, and all other apps (Netflix, Prime, Disney, Apple TV) stream perfectly in 4K on our Samsung TV without issues.

I’ve tried switching the Stream boxes on and off, resetting them, but the problems continue. Our contract runs until August 2026 — are we locked in even if the service isn’t working properly? The AI chat couldn’t give me a clear answer. 

[lettice]

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 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 few times, over say a half hour period during tests.
What is your speed for each puck?

The recommended minimum broadband speed for Sky Stream and Sky Glass reliability is 25Mbps.
Or 30Mbps if you add an extra Sky Stream puck or to watch in UHD.

Plus, using the Sky Sports live sync option adds a few Mbps per puck or Sky Glass Tv.

[BenJoBanjo]

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@Maccca1 wrote:

I’m getting really frustrated with Sky Stream to the point we hardly use it anymore. The picture and sound keep cutting out, and watching live sport is dreadful. We have Sky Broadband with a booster and speeds of 50mbps+, and all other apps (Netflix, Prime, Disney, Apple TV) stream perfectly in 4K on our Samsung TV without issues.

I’ve tried switching the Stream boxes on and off, resetting them, but the problems continue. Our contract runs until August 2026 — are we locked in even if the service isn’t working properly? The AI chat couldn’t give me a clear answer. 

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Sky won't hold you to your contract if you cannot get the service to function as advertised. Many customers have been released from 2 year contracts without penalty and without fuss. Sky know it doesn't work for everyone and won't charge you for a service that can't be delivered fully, once you've tried their troubleshooting. 

[peter-marlow+1966]

How is your  puck  connected to the Internet? And ethernet cable is more stable,  an 50mps is no where near enough, that is what  you are getting  to your  hub,i  would  say, to watch  hd channels on sky stream  sky say a minimum of 25mps to watch uhd channels you need  a  minimum  of  35mps, to see what speed  the puck is getting  open Netflix go to  help opening that and running check my network and that will tell your  speed  you are getting , the faster  the speed  to the hub the better the streaming  works 

[Maccca1]

Thanks very much for the helpful replies. I’ve carried out the suggested tests (though admittedly during the day) as it does seem a bit slower in the evenings. At the moment, we’re getting around 35 Mbps at the puck in the kitchen but only about 19 Mbps in the lounge.

The telecom cable comes into the back of the house upstairs, and since the lounge is at the front, it’s the furthest point away. Unfortunately, hardwiring isn’t an option as it’s an older house. We do have one Sky Wi-Fi booster in between—would adding another one in the lounge improve things?

[MarkGoldsmith]

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@Maccca1 wrote:

Thanks very much for the helpful replies. I’ve carried out the suggested tests (though admittedly during the day) as it does seem a bit slower in the evenings. At the moment, we’re getting around 35 Mbps at the puck in the kitchen but only about 19 Mbps in the lounge.

The telecom cable comes into the back of the house upstairs, and since the lounge is at the front, it’s the furthest point away. Unfortunately, hardwiring isn’t an option as it’s an older house. We do have one Sky Wi-Fi booster in between—would adding another one in the lounge improve things?

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@Maccca1 another option to look at is a powerline adapter. Essentially this allows you to hard wire the internet connection via a device that just plugs into your electrical supply ( so you only need a spare plug socket close to the affected puck).

[lettice]

Your speed is really going to cause you ongoing issues.

Your kitchen one will just about be ok at times, but will probably suffer during busier household internet usage times.

Your lounge one is going to be a very poor experience I'd expect most of the time, if staying connected at all most times.

To be honest a wifi booster is not going to really help, as it will drop the speed a little and so your not really gaining.

Assume your router is also located upstairs?

You could try the power line adapters as mentioned above. A few issues there is, you saying it's an older house. Older properties can often have a downstairs and upstairs separate power circuit. With power line adapters they all need to work on the same circuit.

Your best options would be to relocate your router downstairs in a more centralised position. Not sure if that's possible for you though.

Or to run a couple of cat 5e ethernet cables from your router to the Sky Stream pucks.

You can buy ones that are known as flat cable, they may be better to feed and lay under the carpets, skirting and the like at points or trails, than the more traditional round cable design, especially if being fed around the house and the round cables not so easy to pass along walls or hidden with  or by walls or skirting.

What is your recommended broadband speed that Sky say you should be getting to your router?

Just to be certain, are you sure you cannot get any kind of Fibre connection, bringing a much faster speed.

You can check that via the Ofcom broadband checker, by entering your postcode and house number;

https://checker.ofcom.org.uk/en-gb/broadband-coverage

As well as the speeds shown, look at the list of networks shown lower done on that page for all the broadband suppliers, like Virgin and altnet providers in your area providing fibre broadband connections.
That, when they show has links  to their sites.

[Maccca1]

Thanks again for the really helpful advice. Yes, the upstairs and downstairs are on separate power circuits. Moving the router would mean relocating the socket, which would need an engineer visit. Our broadband is guaranteed at 50 Mbps to the socket, and to be fair, we do get that in the room where the router is.

The question is whether upgrading the package would actually fix the issue — for example, if we’re only getting around 2/5 of the speed in the lounge now, would that same ratio apply if we upgraded to 100 Mbps?

Running cables isn’t really an option with parquet and tiled floors, and I’ve looked into Sky Max, but it seems they don’t provide booster pucks by default.

So the next step will be a phone call. Once again, thanks — it’s been really helpful in confirming that there is a problem!

[TimmyBGood]

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@Maccca1 wrote:

Running cables isn’t really an option with parquet and tiled floors, and I’ve looked into Sky Max, but it seems they don’t provide booster pucks by default.

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It's the WiFi Max subscription supplement which brings the option to claim booster pods: none are shipped initially.

[BenJoBanjo]

@Maccca1 

The other option would be to try powerline adapters. These send the broadband signal via your home's internal electrical wiring. One adapter connects to your router via ethernet cable, the other adapter is then plugged into a power socket next to the puck with an ethernet cable out of it into the puck. This can often provide a better, more stable connection than can be provided by a booster.

Worth experimenting though. 

[Hunter2660]

Maybe if things can't improve it's time to cut your losses and leave and take a look at Sky's Now service for Sky channels. That would be far more reliable as it's app based, unlike Stream which is run entirely on Sky's servers.

[lettice]

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@Maccca1 wrote:

Thanks again for the really helpful advice. Yes, the upstairs and downstairs are on separate power circuits. Moving the router would mean relocating the socket, which would need an engineer visit. Our broadband is guaranteed at 50 Mbps to the socket, and to be fair, we do get that in the room where the router is.

The question is whether upgrading the package would actually fix the issue — for example, if we’re only getting around 2/5 of the speed in the lounge now, would that same ratio apply if we upgraded to 100 Mbps?

Running cables isn’t really an option with parquet and tiled floors, and I’ve looked into Sky Max, but it seems they don’t provide booster pucks by default.

So the next step will be a phone call. Once again, thanks — it’s been really helpful in confirming that there is a problem!

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Ok, Powerline adapters are going to be no use then with your different floor circuits. Must admit Ive never  been a fan of them Myself anyway.

100Mbps if you can get that would work perfectly. The wifi reach based on what you are saying, would be around the 50+ mark, 45Mbps at worst case. That would work well for your Sky Stream needs.

[BenJoBanjo]

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@lettice wrote:

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@Maccca1 wrote:

Thanks again for the really helpful advice. Yes, the upstairs and downstairs are on separate power circuits. Moving the router would mean relocating the socket, which would need an engineer visit. Our broadband is guaranteed at 50 Mbps to the socket, and to be fair, we do get that in the room where the router is.

The question is whether upgrading the package would actually fix the issue — for example, if we’re only getting around 2/5 of the speed in the lounge now, would that same ratio apply if we upgraded to 100 Mbps?

Running cables isn’t really an option with parquet and tiled floors, and I’ve looked into Sky Max, but it seems they don’t provide booster pucks by default.

So the next step will be a phone call. Once again, thanks — it’s been really helpful in confirming that there is a problem!

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Ok, Powerline adapters are going to be no use then with your different floor circuits. Must admit Ive never  been a fan of them Myself anyway.

100Mbps if you can get that would work perfectly. The wifi reach based on what you are saying, would be around the 50+ mark, 45Mbps at worst case. That would work well for your Sky Stream needs.

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Don't discount powerline adapters and don't trust every electrician's advice about circuits.... I live in a Victorian property with ancient circuitry and some antique light switches and power sockets. There is no logic to how some of it has been wired up. Yet a pair of cheap £30 Powerline adapters allowed me to get a wired broadband speed of around 80Mbps to various corners of the house. 

If you don't want to invest in a decent WiFi mesh system which can cost a lot of money, or pay an additional monthly fee for some form of 'boost' from Sky, then they are worth a try. Get them from Amazon and they're easy and free to return if they don't work.  

[Maccca1]

Just spoke with Sky, and we’ll be switching to fibre broadband next week. The technical advice and support here have been really helpful, as we were able to explain everything we’d already tried. I’ll share an update once the new service is up and running next week.