SKYQ knocked off Internet network

ok, so I thought that I would take a whiz through the SKYQ BB router settings. Most are at default and the only thing I was not using was the WIFI WPS function, so I disabled it.

Much later that day the other 1/2 complained the SKYQ mini was not working and after much resetting of all of the skyQ boxes (router/silver/mini) and waiting for 50+mins on a support call, it just was not working. Even the Silver box could not connect. Gave up in frustration...

So today I remembered about the WPS "disable" and thought, ok lets turn it back on, and hay presto the Silver & Mini boxes burst into life.


So, SKYQ is not just using WPS to get onto the house network & set itself up the first time, it is also using it to connect to the WIFI and if not on, you do not get on. I think it is using the WPS function to logon all SKYQ boxes onto the sky Mesh, and if that does not happen, the Mesh is not used and hence the SKYQ boxes do not communicate to the sky hub for an active BB link..

Go figure.....

Given the security record of WPS, I make sure it is disabled at all times. Pixiewps is very dangerous, more so than the previous exploits of Reaver and Bully, and those are only the ones we already know about.

I will do a more controlled test when the other 1/2 and kids are away for a few hrs...
but it looked like the full SKYQ online function was killed when I switched it off.

The requirement for WPS to be active on the router for the boxes to remain connected was mentioned and complained about on the Sky Community forums back in March.

thanks will take a look.

I have had Sky Q (Silver version with 1 Mini) since early April, and since system setup was completed I have as per best practice kept WPS disabled on the router throughout. In my experience WPS is not necessary for the correct operation of a Sky Mini box.

About once every three weeks the Mini box has stopped working properly (black screen; a much reported problem), but it is easy, if tedious, to fix: power off both Main and Mini; power on Main and wait until fully started; power on Mini.

JPL

hmmm. if I switch off WPS then the SKYQ interactive service goes offline on the skyQ box and the sky mini stops working. Wonder what is going on as it is a hard fault. If I turn WPS back on it all starts to work again.

Makes me glad I didnt upgrade to sky q when it first came out.

I have been hearing a few horror stories regarding it and I was so close to upgrading because of the promise of uhd content, but no matter how much I want more uhd content I will not sacrifice security for it.

I should avoid that awful, new Windows 10 too if I were you - there's nothing wrong with dear, old XP.

JPL

Interesting that two installations should behave totally differently. Assuming all boxes have updated successfully to the latest firmware, could it be a difference in configuration? It must be - perhaps even an unintended consequence of some seemingly unrelated settings.

Both my boxes have Standby Mode set to Active.

My main box is connected via ethernet cable (powerline), not wi-fi. (I should have mentioned this above. Have you heard of the phrase "set it and forget it". Well, I achieved perfect performance on the second part of that!) The mini box is networked only via wi-fi. The main box does have wi-fi switched on, though (access point).

Perhaps the main box requires ongoing WPS only when it is connected via wi-fi, while the mini box does not? If so, I would consider this to be a bug as surely WPS should be for setup only. Sky ought to be working on a fix for this.

JPL

Edited by deleted (Tue 07-Jun-16 12:08:56)