Question Sky 40mb on wireless.

andrewt9763

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Hi all
I have had Sky fibre broadband for around a year,but now seem to be getting constant low speeds on wireless to laptops,iPhone etc.Speed stays constant 36-39 on wired PC.

Router is SR 101
Firmware 3.49.1149.R

I spoke to them yesterday and they ran a line test and all came back as normal,the connection speed according to the router is 3996 down and 9996 up.
This being the case I was advised it was other users on the same channel,so I downloaded one of the analysers to scan for this.
It reported back there were three in range two other Sky users on channel 6 and one on Virgin using 11,so switched between all of them rebooting the router after every change.
I'm still dropping down to under 1 meg no matter which I use,a complete removal of power to both boxes cures the issue for short periods and then it drops off again.
 
Under 1 meg isn't acceptable.

So all your wireless devices connect at a 1meg speed test? Definitely an SR101 problem.
To be completely honest, the SR101 is absolutely pants. I'd recommend getting the Q Hub. Yes you may have to pay for it, £60 if I recall. But it would be worth it.

Or if your out of contract you could go through cancellation and see if you could worm your way to a free Q Hub :)
 
Under 1 meg isn't acceptable.

So all your wireless devices connect at a 1meg speed test? Definitely an SR101 problem.
To be completely honest, the SR101 is absolutely pants. I'd recommend getting the Q Hub. Yes you may have to pay for it, £60 if I recall. But it would be worth it.

Or if your out of contract you could go through cancellation and see if you could worm your way to a free Q Hub :)
Thanks for the reply
In contract til March,may ring again as fired up laptop and back to just over 1meg powered off and changed channel again worked ok for ten minutes at 29 meg wireless and the next test went to 28 and then just dropped back to 18 then 14 then 5.
At a loss as trying to stream or download anything is frustrating.
Cheers anyway mate.
 
The other thing you can do is connect another wifi ap to the SR101, turn off wifi in the SR101 and use wifi from the second ap
 
Testing with a different AP will help establish whether there's an "environmental" issue interfering with the radio frequencies or it's something wrong with your SH. The radio frequencies are "used by Wi-Fi" rather than being "the Wi-Fi frequencies" (Wi-Fi is actually regarded as "secondary" usage.) Microwave ovens, baby monitors, video senders, car alarms and weather RADAR are examples of other uses. You're average "Wi-Fi" scanner doesn't detect such things unfortunately.

Some "obvious" things you can also check is that you haven't surrounded/shielded your SH with anything that impedes radio waves - anything wet or metal can cause problems. So, for example, don't tuck your AP behind a fish tank or hide it in a metal cabinet.
 
Testing with a different AP will help establish whether there's an "environmental" issue interfering with the radio frequencies or it's something wrong with your SH. The radio frequencies are "used by Wi-Fi" rather than being "the Wi-Fi frequencies" (Wi-Fi is actually regarded as "secondary" usage.) Microwave ovens, baby monitors, video senders, car alarms and weather RADAR are examples of other uses. You're average "Wi-Fi" scanner doesn't detect such things unfortunately.

Some "obvious" things you can also check is that you haven't surrounded/shielded your SH with anything that impedes radio waves - anything wet or metal can cause problems. So, for example, don't tuck your AP behind a fish tank or hide it in a metal cabinet.
Router is just sat on computer desk in small bedroom,nothing placed around it,trouble is its been fine up until a couple of weeks ago.
Either removing power or a reboot normally cures it for a while,but it just keeps dropping speed after a short period of working fine.
I'm going to try going the Asus router route as posted in another helpful thread on here.
I've also replied to a Sky txt asking if it was cured,said no,I've since had two more asking again are they really that stupid.
 
Those are the "classic" symptoms of a new interference source popping up in your locale (or your router changing the channel it's using to one that has an interference source.)

Just don't be too disappointed if a new router doesn't fix it.

If you can borrow one from somewhere to test with, it would be really useful by way of comparison with the incumbent before you shell out any cash.
 
Those are the "classic" symptoms of a new interference source popping up in your locale (or your router changing the channel it's using to one that has an interference source.)

Just don't be too disappointed if a new router doesn't fix it.

If you can borrow one from somewhere to test with, it would be really useful by way of comparison with the incumbent before you shell out any cash.
Cheers,haven't got access to one to try so may get one and if it doesn't solve the problem just take it back.
 
Post back and let us know how you get on - I'd be interested to hear how it turns out.
 
Hi @andrewt9763 . How did you get on with sorting this as we have the EXACT same problem. Fibre for about a year, all working great, nothing changed in our home and suddenly down to speeds of 3-5mb on wifi yet a constant smooth 38-39mb if the laptop is connected via an Ethernet cable direct to the hub. Tried it with 3 laptops (7yr old HP, 3yr old Samsung, 6mth old HP) and all give almost identical results. Switch hub off wait 2 mins and turn back on and all is good for an hour or so the back down to 3-5mb again. Sometimes we'll get the odd spike up to around 15-20mb for a hour or two then back down. Seriously annoying and sky will only help if sign up to a new deal (currently playing the game of having cancelled and waiting for a sensible deal to be offered.....)
 
Hi @andrewt9763 . How did you get on with sorting this as we have the EXACT same problem. Fibre for about a year, all working great, nothing changed in our home and suddenly down to speeds of 3-5mb on wifi yet a constant smooth 38-39mb if the laptop is connected via an Ethernet cable direct to the hub. Tried it with 3 laptops (7yr old HP, 3yr old Samsung, 6mth old HP) and all give almost identical results. Switch hub off wait 2 mins and turn back on and all is good for an hour or so the back down to 3-5mb again. Sometimes we'll get the odd spike up to around 15-20mb for a hour or two then back down. Seriously annoying and sky will only help if sign up to a new deal (currently playing the game of having cancelled and waiting for a sensible deal to be offered.....)
No they won't help as everything checked out ok at their end,I highly suspect it's as mentioned already the rubbish wi-fi signal from the router,I've not had time to change it yet but will be doing so as thiers is total junk.
 
Generally an ISP will not be interested if you have wireless issues unless you can prove that it is their hub that is faulty. It's like buying a TV and then complaining to Samsung that the freeview picture keeps cutting out due to interference from trees in the area.
 
Generally an ISP will not be interested if you have wireless issues unless you can prove that it is their hub that is faulty. It's like buying a TV and then complaining to Samsung that the freeview picture keeps cutting out due to interference from trees in the area.

I think having 3 laptops sat next to each other, no more than 6ft away and in clear line of sight of the Sky hub, and said hub near nothing that could cause interference (sat on wooden table, radiator on the opposite wall, nothing electrical near it and 12ft from the nearest plug). Is a fair test of where the problem lies. Especially when each laptop is connected by an Ethernet cable and boom, straight back up to 38mb. It clearly points to the line into the house being all good. The internal wiring and filters being all good. The hub processing the signal and sending it out over a hard wired network being all good. But ask the little bugger to do what it used to do and what Sky says it should do over wifi, it now falls flat on it's face. Sky have admitted the box can be troublesome, but unless I sign on the dotted line for another 12mths a free new hub will not be sent out. In all honesty I'll probably sign up next week, I'm just hanging it out till the last moment to get the best offer I can. But what I wanted to find out was whether there was simple fix or trick to get it back to what it was or if I needed Sky to swallow the cost of a new hub.
 
Wireless interference doesn't have to be near the device. It doesn't even need to be in your house. Stupid things like a wireless doorbell, cordless phone or a neighbours microwave that is faulty can all cause issues. If sky are not playing ball you could always try something like buying a different router from amazon just to prove it and then return it to them.

I had the exact same issue as you but with BT and it was an absolute nightmare getting them to admit it was the router. I ended up borrowing someone else's home hub to prove to myself and then kept at BT till they finally replaced it.
 
Asus router on way will post back when changed,can't be any worse.
 
Singed new contract with sky so out came a shiny new box. Bingo!!! constant 38mb any time of day I try on any device.
Seems some of these boxes have a short lifespan or are even dodgy from the off. Our first lasted a year before tailing off and the new one is back to how it should be.
Happy family again.
 
Up and running now with the RT AC68U Asus router not had any drop outs as of Sunday and speed over wireless has been solid at 35-36mbps,whereas before best speed was 25mbps for a couple of hours then dropped to 1.5mbps when reboots became a necessity.
 
Hi @andrewt9763 . How did you get on with sorting this as we have the EXACT same problem. Fibre for about a year, all working great, nothing changed in our home and suddenly down to speeds of 3-5mb on wifi yet a constant smooth 38-39mb if the laptop is connected via an Ethernet cable direct to the hub. Tried it with 3 laptops (7yr old HP, 3yr old Samsung, 6mth old HP) and all give almost identical results. Switch hub off wait 2 mins and turn back on and all is good for an hour or so the back down to 3-5mb again. Sometimes we'll get the odd spike up to around 15-20mb for a hour or two then back down. Seriously annoying and sky will only help if sign up to a new deal (currently playing the game of having cancelled and waiting for a sensible deal to be offered.....)
Reply as above.
 

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