Router drops connection around 1pm every day

Hi, appreciate any thoughts or advice on this issue.

Recently moved into a new home & set up internet with Sky Broadband. Noticed that the wifi drops around 1pm every day.

Sky engineer has visited. He confirmed after speaking with OpenReach that the internet connection has been strong and reliable since I set it up with no outages. He was able to confirm the the internet connection has dropped around 1pm ever since set up & that because the connection has been 100% this must be power related.

The connection returns within 3-4 minutes, so it is like the power to the router is being turned off & back on again every day.

When the wifi drops there are no other power related outages in the house. The Sky engineer was stumped and mentioned that the issue may be specifically related to the power ring in the garage. Earlier today I powered the router from the study but the same wifi outage occurred.

This is a critical issue for us as we both work from home and the wifi drop often occurs during online meetings. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

You could try standing by the router and see what happens with the lights but its very strange if you're losing mains power to the router as it would be normally affecting other things as well. I would suggest getting access to the router's user interface as the security logs section will clearly show if you are losing power or the broadband connection is being lost.

Edited by deleted (Thu 12-Jan-23 22:51:24)

Thank you, I had no idea about gaining access to the router's user interface, have Googled it and will try to do this tomorrow. The OpenReach person who the Sky engineer called confirmed the broadband connection itself has been stable but what you suggested should confirm this. Thanks again.

You say WiFi, What if you have a neighbour with a microwave and he always cooks his lunch in that at 1pm every day, same ready meal each time which takes three minutes to cook. Maybe unlikely but microwaves also use the 2.5GHz band and could be interfering with your internet wifi.

It sounds too precise and regular to be an intermittent fault. So either

- if the LED sequence on the router markedly changes (like a power-on sequence) at 1pm the router is probably following a timed reboot sequence, typically set as an option somewhere in the router setup webpages.

- if the LED lights remain otherwise stable, and it is just the WiFi that drops out and restarts it’s possible it is WiFI interference from an external source, as noted above. You can check with a cabled LAN connection rather than WiFi connection if the internet connection thus remains stable and continuous in this brief period.

- it’s also possible that the router is simply faulty. Try a full factory reset first and set it up from scratch.

Hopefully you get to the bottom of it. Good luck.

Sounds like the visiting Sky Engineer is talking out of his back side as he first says this

In reply to a post by MJS1:

after speaking with OpenReach that the internet connection has been strong and reliable since I set it up with no outages.

then says this

In reply to a post by MJS1:

He was able to confirm the the internet connection has dropped around 1pm ever since set up & that because the connection has been 100% this must be power related.

You can't have both, I agree it sounds like the wifi is dropping and as has already been said something external must be causing it, there is no timed reboot option in the Sky firmware.

Edit: Wonder if this is FTTP and both Sky and Openreach are referring to a stable connection upto the ONT

Edited by deleted (Fri 13-Jan-23 11:24:52)

In reply to a post by dect:

]You can't have both, I agree it sounds like the wifi is dropping and as has already been said something external must be causing it, there is no timed reboot option in the Sky firmware.

If Sky used PPP then the Sky system could be disconnecting whilst Openreach is linked, but since Sky uses DHCP it is very odd.

If any testing can be done with an Ethernet cable that would rule out Wifi problems.

Yes a cabled connection will establish whether the whole shooting match is going down or just WiFi.

I've just witnessed what happens to the router when this issue occurs. The are 4 LEDs on the router: power, internet, wi-fi & voice. The power & wi-fi LEDs remained green, the internet & voice LEDs changed to amber. They remained on amber for just over a minute before turning green.

However I wasn't watching the router at the precise moment the issue happened, so there is a possibility that the power LED went off & back on again.

When the issue occurred my wife's laptop connection (on wi-fi) dropped as did the internet connection to my tv (connected via LAN).

Does this information help pinpoint what could be causing this?

Thanks again for all help.

In reply to a post by MJS1:

I've just witnessed what happens to the router when this issue occurs. The are 4 LEDs on the router: power, internet, wi-fi & voice. The power & wi-fi LEDs remained green, the internet & voice LEDs changed to amber. They remained on amber for just over a minute before turning green.

However I wasn't watching the router at the precise moment the issue happened, so there is a possibility that the power LED went off & back on again.

When the issue occurred my wife's laptop connection (on wi-fi) dropped as did the internet connection to my tv (connected via LAN).

Does this information help pinpoint what could be causing this?

Thanks again for all help.

Then the problem has nothing to do with wifi, or interference to your wifi signal.
It's either the router, or the Openreach ONT (if you are on direct fibre ?) or something external to your house.

Probably the next easiest diagnostic tool, is to get Sky to send you a new router, (that'll be cheaper (for them) than calling out a man in a van to visit (from either Sky or Openreach)

Edited by broadbandjockey (Fri 13-Jan-23 16:33:16)