Can one use a different WiFi router for Sky Q?

[schmalex]

Hi folks

Perhaps someone could help me.

The situation is thus... We have Sky Q (broadband and TV). As part of this, we have the Sky supplied WiFi router connected to the main phone socket in the house (in the kitchen). We then have the Sky Q box with the TV in the lounge. There is about 10m and 2 walls between the two boxes. Initially, we were getting very poor on demand TV in the lounge so called Sky out, who plugged in a little Sky Q repeater upstairs for us. This gave great connection for the TV, but the ping is too slow to allow our lad to play on his X Box so he just keeps unplugging the repeater, meaning the on demand TV doesn’t connect.

TL:DR. Can I buy another WiFi router and replace the main Sky Q router in the house? If so, are there special setting to make in the router?

[MissChief]

TBH I'd just ask Sky back out and ask them to cable it.

My Son plays via a Sky Wireless extender that he has plugged a cable into and works like a charm.

[PisstNBroke]

I have NowTv broadband (owned by sky and runs off same server).
Supplied box came with only one connection port which isnt good when you add up the devices. TV, PS4, Hive, repeaters etc.
From what I read online they dont like you using other modems and dont give out information how to do it. But I read afew online tutorials, a bit of head scratching and it's possible to upgrade. Also the Devolo magic 2 works a treat.

[schmalex]

MissChief said:

TBH I'd just ask Sky back out and ask them to cable it.

My Son plays via a Sky Wireless extender that he has plugged a cable into and works like a charm.

Sadly, hard wiring doesn’t work. The lad’s room is a loft conversion and the repeater sits on the floor below (the normal upstairs). Without chasing some Cat 6 in, there’s no way I can get a cable up to his room without it dangling everywhere

[DoctorX]

I’m using a virgin router, works fine with Sky Q. BT whole home wifi discs take the WiFi up two floors where my son has no complaints about online gaming on his PS4. No Mesh network between the mini boxes without a Sky router but the BT kit does that.

[hobbiniho1]

what you need is a set of powerline adapters, your sky q will then be hard wired Powerline adapter on amazon

[Tycho]

hobbiniho1 said:

what you need is a set of powerline adapters, your sky q will then be hard wired Powerline adapter on amazon

This is a good solution but may not work depending on the wiring. I have this setup for my sons XBox and it works great though. You could also just buy a decent router and plug it into the main Sky router, set the new router to access point mode and disable the wifi on the Sky router. I bought a Netgear router and did this and my wifi speed more than doubled.

[schmalex]

Tycho said:

hobbiniho1 said:

what you need is a set of powerline adapters, your sky q will then be hard wired Powerline adapter on amazon

This is a good solution but may not work depending on the wiring. I have this setup for my sons XBox and it works great though. You could also just buy a decent router and plug it into the main Sky router, set the new router to access point mode and disable the wifi on the Sky router. I bought a Netgear router and did this and my wifi speed more than doubled.

I like that approach.

I assume the I would just connect the Sky Q box in the lounge to the new router and turn off WiFi on the main Sky Q router?

[xjay1337]

schmalex said:

Hi folks

Perhaps someone could help me.

The situation is thus... We have Sky Q (broadband and TV). As part of this, we have the Sky supplied WiFi router connected to the main phone socket in the house (in the kitchen). We then have the Sky Q box with the TV in the lounge. There is about 10m and 2 walls between the two boxes. Initially, we were getting very poor on demand TV in the lounge so called Sky out, who plugged in a little Sky Q repeater upstairs for us. This gave great connection for the TV, but the ping is too slow to allow our lad to play on his X Box so he just keeps unplugging the repeater, meaning the on demand TV doesn’t connect.

TL:DR. Can I buy another WiFi router and replace the main Sky Q router in the house? If so, are there special setting to make in the router?

YES you can.

It's a bit of a pain as your router needs to support Option 61 dhcp client identifier string.

I have a Netgear XR500 router and a Netgear DM200 modem (my mate worked at Netgear at the time ) and i was provided custom firmware for the XR500 to support Option 61

The original SkyQ router was alright in my peasant house but I do notice better signal with the Netgear. The reason I changed was the QOS controls.

Another option would be to run a cable direct from his Xbox to your Sky Router.

The string for Option 61 is "whatyoulike@skydsl|12345678" .

Thanks

[schmalex]

Thanks!

As an alternative, I ran Ethernet over powerline from the main Sky router to the Sky Q in the lounge and now get stable internet access on the TV.

Am I then able to run another EoP from the XBox to the main Sky Q router (assuming it’s on the same ring?)

[xjay1337]

You can certainly try.

My experience with powerline and gaming was awful

I had huge latency and packet loss which made voice chat pretty awful as well as rubber banding on a low demand online MMO RPG side scroller .

But this was quite a few years ago, and maybe that particular circuit was poor or something.

For gaming I'd recommend officially a wired connection, Wireless can be fine (I stream and game on Wireless with no issues) but I'd always say if you're going to go to Powerline buy a good kit and be prepared for it to not work.

[Dogwatch]

Surely the Sky router is simply a conduit for the broadband signal? I don't suppose the Q box gives a rats about where the signal is coming from.

I have a Sky+ HD box which is quite happy with the signal from TalkTalk and a couple of Devolo boxes. Helps that both are in the same ring.

[Tycho]

schmalex said:

Tycho said:

hobbiniho1 said:

what you need is a set of powerline adapters, your sky q will then be hard wired Powerline adapter on amazon

This is a good solution but may not work depending on the wiring. I have this setup for my sons XBox and it works great though. You could also just buy a decent router and plug it into the main Sky router, set the new router to access point mode and disable the wifi on the Sky router. I bought a Netgear router and did this and my wifi speed more than doubled.

I like that approach.

I assume the I would just connect the Sky Q box in the lounge to the new router and turn off WiFi on the main Sky Q router?

Yep, the wifi on the Sky routers is pretty poor.

[dogbucket]

I replaced my Sky router with a Netgear D7000 and as I half expected this did not result any significant improvement in signal through the walls despite the impressive looking antennas. Adding a Netgear EX7500 extender upstairs was the solution as this uses a dedicated backhaul channel and seamless handoff for devices. Much better than cheap extenders.

[eybic]

How old is the router? We moved house last month and have a new Sky router and the signal is brilliant, I can even get signal from the bus stop a good 50m from our house (the router is pointing at our patio doors then it's pretty much a straight line to the bus stop)