Sky Stream takes 20+ secs to change channel

[IainBallesty · Accepted solution]

***ISSUE FIXED***

On 26/8 after talking to Dylan , a knowledgeable support engineer, the issue was fixed in the back end. Ie. I turned on the TV to the channels changing with the normal 1-2 sec lag.  

Entertainment OS

Build version

Hardware model

1.3

QS028.516.00P

1P061-ef

More details here: over a month of issue tracking and investigation, in order we (on my insistance and/or Sky's suggestion)

1. Replaced the router

2.  Replaced the puck. 

3, replaced the box where the fiber comes into the house. 

4. Replaced all ethernet cables. 

5. Moved the puck to where there was no possibility of interference. 

The killer was I went away for a weekend, took, the puck with me and connected to another network in the hotel I was overnighting in.  The issue went away.  That pointed to an issue with my house.  It was not.  It is a known issue, they suspect with Virgin Media and the puck.  They solved it in the back end.  Dylan, the support engineer, confirmed that multiple users have the problem. 

Iain. 

[PaulD24]

Update. I emailed a formal complaint to Sky and the channel lag is down to about 3 seconds. They have yet to respond to my complaint but it seems to me that this issue is known and if you go through the normal helpline, you will not likely get someone who can sort it.

[AamirArrar]

@PaulD24 Hi Paul. Would you let me know which email address did you sent the email to? Mine is also 5 secs lag at the moment which I do not think is normal. 

[IainBallesty]

https://t.co/JBeDNPMFin

The above link to an Irish times article makes reference to the lag

"Another knock-on is that it takes 10-15 seconds to change channel on the TV,” he said.

Iain. 

[PaulD24]

@AamirArrar 

You will have to contact them initially through the online form - no direct email addrees from Ireland anyway - just make sure you have the correct country selected in the bottom right corner.  They will then respond to this by email and you can reply to this thread as you will have a ref number. 

[blackadder_1980]

just had sky stream for 3 days and was watching tv ( before it was changing in 1 to 2 secs) the screen goes black and now changing channels takes between 10 to 20 sec with sometimes the channel is loading, I have checked both wifi and RJ 45 and it does it on both, I have 300 mb virgin media BB

[IainBallesty]

 hi

It is a known issue, in my case , they suspect with Virgin Media and the puck.  They solved it in the back end, ie there was nothing that could be done on the customer side to fix it. Do you know if you have Sky over the Virgin Media Fiber? 

Ring and complain.  

Iain

[domb84]

Hi ian, how did you get in contact with this engineer? Via the forum or

another means?

[Mark39]

@domb84 you can't contact an engineer directly. All calls are through the normal customer service centre.

[domb84]

Ok, for a routing issue i dealt with it directly with an engineer through the forum, but i look forward to getting nowhere on the phone and being asked to turn it off and on again!

[Sledgehammer1]

I had the exact same problem.  When I signed up initially I had no issues. I'm a Sky 500mb broadband customer based in Ireland. The Sky service runs on Virgin Media's fibre infrastructure.

I went travelling for a week and turned the Sky router off. When I returned and switched the router and puck back on, the channels took 15 to 20 seconds to change. I rang Sky and spoke to several employees who couldn't resolve the issue. They sent me a booster, changed the broadband frequencies and replaced the puck twice. Nothing worked so I ended up cancelling.

I signed up for Sky Stream a few months later and I've had no issues since 🤨

[IainBallesty]

hi,

I just persisted with the 1st level support, I was polite and insistent, and showed myself to be compentent and willing to work with them.  I too got a free wifi extender from them for my troubles, 

The fact that the issue was published in the Irish Times SHOULD be evidence enough for them to escalate it. 

Best of luck, 

Iain

[domb84]

I spoke to an engineer and referenced this post. The engineer basically said the sky stream is full of issues (not helpful), sent me a new puck (no new hardware revision or anything so pointless) and said the only thing they can change on the back end is turning off a security feature that only affects their own routers.

was promised a call back in a week to check, call never came. 

channels still slow to load, constantly out of sync which means flicking through channels AGAIN to force it back in sync. Theres clearly a fundamental issue here that isnt getting solved. 

[Anonymous]

@domb84 Regarding the lip sync, there is an update being rolled out now and should solve it.

Rollout may take some time because they have a slow and steady approach to rolling out updates across all pucks.

[domb84]

Good news i guess but i'll believe it when i see it!

On another note I had a another look at the channel issue this morning and enabled UPNP on my router and tada! Channel switching is down to a couple of seconds. I can't see this requirement documented anywhere so unsure if this is actually fixed. I'll monitor and see.