Sky Hub

Well I paid £39 for the Sky Hub.

Overall WiFi range was the same as the previous Sagem router. Perhaps a little better.

HOWEVER, the router kept making a mess of the WiFi. My macbook pro would suddenly switch to transmit rate 1Mbps or 5Mbps despite me having full signal. It did this on all WiFi channels. I then realised other devices were having issues too. It basically made the internet unusable for a good 30 seconds, after which the Wifi would just pick up back to 144Mbps.

It's caused me headaches with me blaming my bluetooth keyboard & mouse, my airplay stereo etc. Eventually just gave up on it all together and everythings swimmingly great again.

It would make my macbook do what occurs in this video, where the wifi is full but the page just stalls.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHFUCkf8gCU

Back to the Sagem and no issues at all on anything. I'm wondering if my device was just faulty or that these have a few issues. I can't say I was impressed.

Edited by ukhardy07 (Sat 10-Nov-12 06:17:42)

Posted via Mac Book Air and Sky Hub.

Still using the review one here

Fair enough. Seems fine in the same room but once I go a little away problems occur.
Basically once RSSI goes -75 or below the issues occur.

FWIW after reading a number of reviews it seems the Hub may only be marginally better if that for wi fi compared to the Sagem, and that those with this router should perhaps stick with it if they have no issues.

Not got either, still using the original Netgear and not that impressed with the new hub especially if Sky do want to charge £69 for it in the New Year....I suggest they would be making oodles of profit for what is after all a fairly basic router and at £39 no bargain either.

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/hardware/reviews/77-sk...

You have obviously read it

In reply to a post by Sadoldman:

Not got either, still using the original Netgear and not that impressed with the new hub especially if Sky do want to charge £69 for it in the New Year....I suggest they would be making oodles of profit for what is after all a fairly basic router and at £39 no bargain either.

An expensive fancy UI too. Must admit though I love the new look of the UI.

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/hardware/reviews/77-sk...

You have obviously read it

Nice.

So the conclusion is if you have the Sagem 2504n, save yourself £39 and don't upgrade. If you have an older different model of Sky router then the upgrade might be worthwhile.

I've never used the WiFi in the 2504n as I used the 2504n only as the modem. External WiFi hub and another hub for the heavy duty stuff so there's no strain on the 2504n itself.

In reply to a post by Sadoldman:

if Sky do want to charge £69 for it in the New Year....I suggest they would be making oodles of profit

Especially if, as I suspect, Sky have dropped their traditional manufacturing partners (Sagemcom, Netgear, D-Link) in favour of knocking them out under their own name via a Chinese OEM.

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/hardware/reviews/77-sk...

You have obviously read it

Yep, but not only you arrived at the same conclusions as regards to the wireless... I also wanted to put the boot in regarding the next year price of this so called hub, £39 is reasonable in my eyes considering Sky insist their equipment is used...£69 is OTT.

The web interface actually reminds me of a Netgear firmware at its core on the SR101

perhaps I should rip its case open

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

The web interface actually reminds me of a Netgear firmware at its core on the SR101

Not a good indicator, because Sky standardised the Netgear-esque gui on all their routers following the DG934G, including the D-Link and Sagemcom models.

In reply to a post by Oliver341:

Especially if, as I suspect, Sky have dropped their traditional manufacturing partners (Sagemcom, Netgear, D-Link) in favour of knocking them out under their own name via a Chinese OEM.

And Sagemcom, Netgear and D-Link kit is built by - a manufacturing partner in China I would expect?

In reply to a post by greenglide:

And Sagemcom, Netgear and D-Link kit is built by - a manufacturing partner in China I would expect?

Sagemcom, Netgear and D-Link R&D their own routers, and unless something has changed recently, Sky don't.

In reply to a post by Oliver341:

Sagemcom, Netgear and D-Link R&D their own routers, and unless something has changed recently, Sky don't.

But Sky bought Amstrad for the set top boxes - given they have RF engineers for the satellite side, its very possible they can turn their attention to ADSL2+ routers.

And physical manufacture will be almost certain from a China operation, e.g. Foxconn (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co).

In reply to a post by jchamier:

But Sky bought Amstrad for the set top boxes - given they have RF engineers for the satellite side, its very possible they can turn their attention to ADSL2+ routers.

I didn't know they had acquired an electronics hardware designer/manufacturer. In that case, it's very likely these are Amstrad (now Sky) designed, and as you say, physically manufactured in a factory they own or use, in China.

Two thing support this, one being that the Hub states it is "Manufactured by Sky" (previously Netgear/Sagemcom/D-Link). The other is that the MAC address vendor id is registered to Sky (previously Netgear/Sagemcom/D-Link).

I spotted the SKY MAC association. Did not take the leap to SKY actually having manufacturing. I assume these are being made in batches for sky direct by some form of china supplier.

In reply to a post by iand:

I assume these are being made in batches for sky direct by some form of china supplier.

It would probably make sense if it was produced by Amstrad (in Chinese factories). Keeping it in-house would likely make things cheaper in the long run, especially when developing a new router.