SKY Q

Anyone ordered sky Q yet?

it is another £12 per month, which sort of works as the other 1/2 was asking for SKY in all of the rooms.

I have. Only £1.50 extra because I have sports,movies and multiroom as well.

Did you have to pay a one-off charge, £99 or something?

For £99 you get a Sky Q silver box and one mini. I have also ordered two addiontal minis at £99 each. Love the fact I can have upto 4 minis and you don't pay an extra monthly charge per mini. Also love how the mini doesn't need cabling in to the dish.

So don't you need to pay for multiroom anymore?
I have 3 x Sky+ HD, so i am paying for 2 x multiroom.
Might have to go and read the faq's.
But while i am here, does anyone know how many cables the main box needs?

The fact sheet on their website gives the following for physical connections
� 2x F-connectors (Satellite in 12V, 300mA)
� 2x USB (USB 2.0, max 500mA per port) � for future use
� 2x HDMI
� HDMI Out (HDMI 1.4b output with HDCP 1.2 � will be
updated after launch to support Ultra HD)
� HDMI In (HDMI 1.4 input (YUV & RGB) with HDCP 1.2) �
for future use
� Optical S/PIDF (Digital Audio)
� 1x 10/100 Mb/s Ethernet RJ45 port
� Mains (Mains input 230V 45W)

https://corporate.sky.com/documents/sky-q-2015/fact-...

Thats good news. I was kinda expecting more cables being drilled through walls from outside to indoors. I've got an octo lnb & a quad lnb with cables all hidden behind new walls, so its not a mess, but i would not have needed any of it. I've only done it all with the past year.

The big but is, a new 18 month contract.

I havent read all the small print myself yet but In one of the earlier news articles I read on Sky Q, it suggested that the box will be leased and not owned. Not sure if that was true or still applies but was in the back of my mind to check before committing.

The box is leased, stop paying subscription they want it back, advantage no paying extra if it breaks, downside if you are tight for money for a while and downsize you lose access totally and would need to get FreeView or FreeSat

Sky doesnt have a great reputation with major new hardware releases in my experience. The original Amstrad Sky+ box was a disaster of a thing but knowing you could buy your own Pace box removed that concern of an installer turning up with wrong type of box or one of the dreaded refurbished boxes. Sky+HD had similar issues albeit I think that Amstrad now manufacture pretty much all of the Sky+HD boxes as far as I understand it. I think I'll wait and see how the early Sky-Q adopters get on before I commit.

Also I think Sky have moved the Sky Formula 1 HD channel.
Currently I get it is part of the family/HD bundle but now I think it is only part of sports so forces you to take all sports channels to get the F1.

In reply to a post by craski:

Sky+HD had similar issues albeit I think that Amstrad now manufacture pretty much all of the Sky+HD boxes as far as I understand it.

Well technically Sky do given they bought Amstrad back in '07 to move production in-house and reduce costs.

In reply to a post by Davey_H:

Well technically Sky do given they bought Amstrad back in '07 to move production in-house and reduce costs.

Thats funny, I didnt know that ... but yes that would go some way to explaining why all boxes are manufactured by Amstrad.

In reply to a post by craski:

Also I think Sky have moved the Sky Formula 1 HD channel.
Currently I get it is part of the family/HD bundle but now I think it is only part of sports so forces you to take all sports channels to get the F1.

Sky made that change at least 18 months ago (July 2014 rings bell in my head)

The good news though is that if you do still have the Legacy HD Pack (i.e. the old HD pack which allowed F1 without Sky Sports) then Sky have said you can carry that over onto a Sky Q subscription.

I get the Jist of what all this about but even some of the Sky Sales staff seem unclear at the product there selling.

At present we have 2 HD boxes one situated in the Lounge and one in the bedroom where the girlfriends hard drive is virtually full with the normal reality programs those girls watch,she is constantly wanting to record at least 2 programs if not 3 so i don't see how this Sky Q is going to work for us.

Today when speaking to sky i explained this situation and to my surprise i was told that you were only allowed 1 Sky Q Silver box per household and as many Mini as you wanted.

Now i know that the mini has its own planner and can record stuff from the main box [I see a conflict of interest there] and then it can play the stuff in the other room,what I'm not convinced about it the Sky Hub Router and the fact that this mini box so the lady at Sky informed me just needs plugging into the mains and it streams the stuff wirelessly which is the part i don't like as wireless in most cases is the second option if you have not got direct Ethernet access or a home plug network which i have.

Is this going to stream stuff to the mini box without any problems,can someone explain this to me please,do i need there Broadband service and Sky Hub for this to work correctly and efficiently,I'm guessing that without there Sky Hub and broadband service this is not half of what its cracked up to be.

It pains me to think i got to ditch my real expensive nether router which is running like a dream for a Sky Hub they give away for free that can not possibly be on par with a £200 router.

I understand some of it,but its the Sky Mini that confuses me somewhat and the fact its not connected to the Sky Dish.

I think my concerns are the wireless bit and the connection dropping out,i know they are suppose to be some kind of wireless hotspot but I'm still not getting how this all works and if this suits myself and my girlfriends needs to be honest.

Apart from that i have to Join the Sky Broadband to even get this equipment at the moment as my contract with BT is now up.

I said i would never ever use BT but what they offered 18 months ago opposed to my other ISP i was saving around £30 a month and at the time BT Sport was free.

They haven't been to bad to be honest but i have my reservations about the Sky Broadband service unless someone puts my mind at rest.

Im not saying they are bad or any better or worse than BT,just need to make the right choices.

Edited by time2die (Thu 18-Feb-16 17:57:12)

I did not know this. Will check if it works or not. Never checked.

The boxes can use wireless or powerline networking, i.e. they basically can create their own network over the mains wiring.

All the actual recording is done by the Sky Q box, the mini are really just EPG/streaming boxes

I believe the integrated powerline and WiFi hotspot features are currently disabled, but will be enabled via a future update of unspecified date.

Nothing to stop people using their own powerline adapters in the meantime though

In reply to a post by time2die:

I get the Jist of what all this about but even some of the Sky Sales staff seem unclear at the product there selling.

At present we have 2 HD boxes one situated in the Lounge and one in the bedroom where the girlfriends hard drive is virtually full with the normal reality programs those girls watch,she is constantly wanting to record at least 2 programs if not 3 so i don't see how this Sky Q is going to work for us.

Today when speaking to sky i explained this situation and to my surprise i was told that you were only allowed 1 Sky Q Silver box per household and as many Mini as you wanted.

I really don't see the issue.

You currently have a total of 4 tuners available to you, with Sky Q Silver you'll have 9 (it has 12 but they've been quiet about what the other 3 will be for)

4 dedicated to recording, 1 for viewing TV on the Silver, and 4 for use by the Minis and tablets etc

Edited by Davey_H (Thu 18-Feb-16 20:17:21)

Hello,

With regards to the wireless you don't need to replace your current router, although if you want the mesh networking features (just like sonos does things) you need to use the SkyQ as your hub/router. If you don't use it in that way then standard ethernet and wireless can be used with each box.

What you *should* find though with using the SKY Q box is there is less configuration in terms of the wireless and the supposed setup will give a better signal as each box itself becomes an extender to ensure wide ranging coverage.

Thanks
Sam

Tuners on the Sky Q Silver (12 in total) allocated as follows:

4 for recording
1 for live TV on the main Sky Q box
2 for live TV on up to 2 minis
2 for live TV on up to 2 tablets
1 for EPG data
1 for mini-tv on EPG
1 reserved for future use.

Thanks guys

You can have up to 4 minis but you can only use 2 at any one time.

how much did you pay for the equipment, £99?

Shame they wont honor my current offer on the new boxes, if I upgrade not only does it cost me £150 for the boxes, but then my monthly subs go up by £45 per month!

Ill wait thanks!

Remember that you wont actually own the equipment, Sky are leasing it to you.
The charge is an installation/activation charge.

anyone obtained a better deal from sky in the last 2-3 mths. Parents paying >70 for TV/Movies/BB and still using the first sky box. Wondered if SKY would upgrade to SKY+HD+UnlimitedBB etc. for £60ish..., just like a new users

Unfortunately i think the only way is to either open your wallet or threaten to leave.
It would be quite refreshing if they called you up occasionally to offer you a deal that matched what a new customer gets. Thats business i suppose.

Yeah as long as they are not in contract or have an open offer going with them they should get a decent offer for staying.

Or get your parents to cancel sky completely and sign up as a new customer in your other parents name.

I just ordered it on Friday,our monthly bill has gone up by £1.50 which isn't exactly a lot but thats around £85 which is a extremely high cost to watch Tv.

Ordered the Silver Sky Q bundle and 2 Mini Boxes and when broken down into 3 payments taken over the phone using your keypad to enter credit card details.

It took the best part of 1 hour to sort it all out and it was getting quite tedious and boring,the guy was really nice but reading me my rights about the contract and user term agreements over and over agin was a real pain.

I moved our Fibre Broadband account from BT to Sky Fibre Unlimited as this was the only way at present to get the equipment .

Installation date is March 11th and in all the total cost for us after taking 3 payments was just under £300.

Broken down that was £99 for a silver Box with One mini free,then another £99 for a extra Mini box,£50 for the installation and then some other amount for moving our phone line and there charge for that.

I would think prices will go down in time but this is the biggest barrier for most people, the cost. Not only do you need to take a one off cost hit the price of the subscription will go up (and existing deals don't follow).

In reply to a post by time2die:

It took the best part of 1 hour to sort it all out and it was getting quite tedious and boring,the guy was really nice but reading me my rights about the contract and user term agreements over and over agin was a real pain.

You didn't want to sign up online?

I wanted to talk to someone Oliver really but didn't expect to be on the phone for over 1 hour and get all the constant user term agreements and the rest of the scripted read outs.

I didn't want to really take a chance with Sky Broadband as I'm not convinced about the service,so i wanted to question a few things.

I have not tried them and i guess you will find good and bad points regarding most ISPs .

My concern was the fact of taking sky broadband but I have spoken to a few neighbours in the area and they seem happy enough with it. Speeds seem good for them and no major downtime etc.

Thats what i have heard from people i know with the service,it was a catch 22 really and Sky been ultra clever by only giving Sky Q to Broadband customers first before another general rollout to every other customer with none Sky Broadband later in the year.

No problems here with Sky fibre.

Glad to here it mate Posts like this make me feel more comfortable.

There was the £99 "smart features" activation chartge plus another £50 for installation as I'm an existing customer. New customers get a free install.

Existing deals on Movies and/or Sports should carry over but any deals on Variety won't.

In reply to a post by time2die:

Glad to here it mate Posts like this make me feel more comfortable.

Sky was fine for me, their sky hub was poor but this is now replaced with the Q hub. You'll be just fine!

So have you ended up with a better deal being an existing customer.
Looking at their website as a new customer for the Sky Q Silver, it says:-

Sky Q Silver TV£54
Total monthly cost £54
Minimum 18 month contract
One-off cost £299
Equipment No cost

So looking at this, a new customer pays £299 and you paid £150.

Can anyone confirm

The £299 is reduced to £99 if you have Sky BB, Sports or Movies.

I have Sky BB, Movies and Sport.

and I have SKY BB, Movies and ................no Sport

I just phoned Sky to enquire about Sky Q.
I was told by the lovely Sky rep that I can't get Sky Q as I do not have Sky broadband or Sky Talk.......

I told them that was discrimination against a long serving customer just because I have chosen not to have Sky broadband and that they were monopolising their service regarding broadband.

I think 'Donna' [insert script name of the day] was getting a little hacked off with my bombardment of questions.

Oh well I will just have to slum it with the rest of the non Sky BB customers until they release it for non Sky BB customers.

Does Sky BB have something special my other provider[s] doesn't have? [yeah lower latency no doubt]

I would imagine they are tailing it on their broadband system to how it holds up at first.

I would imagine a global company the size of Sky corporation would research that before a roll out.

So, what happens if their Sky Q crashes their own LLU network?

They usually trial things on their own network before rolling it out

I've ordered it, and it gets installed on Tuesday. For me it is saving £10 or so a month because I have 2 multirooms at the moment that I won't have to pay for, although I do have to fork out for the extra mini boxes.

Also as a wee aside, I have some discounts currently running, and when I spoke to sky on the phone about getting Q I was told these discounts would not carry over to the Q subscription so I would be paying full price from the start. But I checked online and I was quoted a lower monthly cost as I have a discount that still has 5 months left to run. So I ordered online and saved myself £10 a month for the next 5 months compared with doing it over the phone.

last time I was on a non SKY ISP and changed to SKY to get access to their movies download options on the sky box. 2 weeks later they announced anyone can use it and removed the restrictions. Go Figure. That said I have not looked back. I went from 3rd party ISP -> Sky ADSL2+ -> Sky Fibre. All with no problems.

Given time I assume the same will be true around the SkyQ service being available from any ISP broadband connection, once they are happy the service is working correctly and is stable.

now just waiting on IPV6...

Took the plunge and ordered SkyQ silver. Only time will tell how well this works. Bought because of the extra room by default, plus the tablet access, which I was looking for, so made sense.

Received the new Sky Q compatible router Friday & installed last night. Main interface looks almost exactly the same to the original SKY FTTC box, with the same menu options. Now only need 1 box to get FTTC as it has the inbuilt VDSL model (I had one of the first FTTC sky routers+BT modem). Connected the router to the house power line "network" and have not noticed any difference to service around the house. The Wifi looks to be a little weaker upstairs.

Did get a first "how to connect up the router page" on most devices as they connected to the internet for the first time.

I also had to manually press <connect> to start up the FTTC WAN line, which could be why I got the hot to connect message above. Will restart the modem later today once its been running for about 24hrs, to make sure it auto connect on reboot.

VDSL modem speed is 9995/39998. The old BT modem connected at 9997/39998, so no real change there.

I had a spare hour today and went to my Sky.com homepage to take a look at the forum posts of users that have Sky Q Installed and what i read did not exactly fill me with confidence.

I would say at least 50% if not more of the posts have negativity surrounding the system,disappointments like not been able to view programs more than 2 hours in advance,mini boxes not working and dropping out because of poor wireless signals and range,Sky Q engineers having to revisit premises to put wi/fi boosters for the mini boxes,people complaining about poor picture quality and delays from main silver box and the mini boxes up to 3 seconds giving that echo around the house.

The Sky Hd menu has disappeared and its now harder apparently to find tv programs as it gives you top pick suggestions,some people even saying that Sky are been paid for promoting programs now in there listings.

Im seriously concerned and i feel i may cancel and stick with HD until they redesign there planner and home screen and iron out the faults that are obviously apparent.

I could go on and on about the negativity that i have read but i would be here for hours,i will say i also read a number of people that were completely happy and loved there new system,but 50/50 is disappointing to me and my original concerns about wifi and streaming to these mini boxes seems to have been confirmed.

I recommend any Sky HD user thinking of upgrading to Sky Q read the forums on the Sky site regarding Sky Q and the problems users are experiencing with the system and those that are happy.

It may or may not help you make up your mind ?

My Install is scheduled for Friday 11th March by the way.

Edited by time2die (Sat 05-Mar-16 19:48:31)

In reply to a post by time2die:

I recommend any Sky HD user thinking of upgrading to Sky Q read the forums on the Sky site regarding Sky Q and the problems users are experiencing with the system and those that are happy.

It may or may not help you make up your mind ?

My Install is scheduled for Friday 11th March by the way.

So you are saying people should visit the Sky forums to research the product before they buy it?
Sage advice.

Believe it or not mate not everybody that uses Sky even bother looking at there Sky Homepage until they have actual issues.

And since the information from current users with Sky Q is very thin on the ground because its only the last few days really that installs have started and reviews of the product by customers have become more obtainable.

I have been reading about Sky Q for months,but those are reports from journalists and newspapers and magazines that have had early access to the product,i much prefer to listen to actual customers with the product.

Do you really think in reality that everybody with a certain product reads reviews and visits the website,of course lots do but there are many others that buy a product through word of mouth or because they had the product before it and think the new one is obviously going to be a better upgrade.

Edited by time2die (Sat 05-Mar-16 19:56:31)

It looks like you researched it after you bought it?

No i read more user reviews after i ordered it and its not to late to stick with Sky HD for now is it,when i ordered the equipment there was not one customer with it so i personally went from the Sky Q adverts and the usual Journalism.

Will you be adding your review to the sky forum?

Well there won't be a review if i don't get the equipment and stick with Sky HD,Im more than happy to add my initial thoughts if i do indeed take the risk.

The old advice of for streaming in a home that an Ethernet cable linking source and playout device is best have not changed.

Sky Q means Sky is intermittently more involved in peoples home set-up and given the premium pricing many will expect it to work without the fiddling that they might accept with devices like Chromecast and FireTV

I really couldn't live with the setup costs. If those are removed, I may consider it.

yes, you have hit the nail on the head there. It is going to take a while to settle in the service inside everyone's home. Thankfully I know my way around the home network aspects, so will check both the power line and wireless performance once the service is installed, later this week.

As I mentioned previously, I have been getting hints from the other 1/2 about why can we not get sky channels in other rooms. Using SKYQ as a means to an end to get that.

Bear in mind. most people don't bother to post to say good things about a product, only when something doesn't work, so just counting complaints on there isn't exactly representative of their entire user base.

Most of those complaining about coverage issues and hardware faults seem to have had their problems fixed pretty quickly. In general, they're still very positive about the product.

I've had it since Tuesday.

Its brilliant, boxes are super quick and it just works. Would find it very hard to go back and I'm sure it will only improve.

So in adding & then configuring the SKYQ FTTC router the broadband parental controls reset to zero. Looks like the controls are associated with the Router and not the SKY account.

Is that what others have seen?

Use VPN into work from time to time. With the original SKY FTTC router the VPN took > 1 1/2 mins to connect to the VPN end point (checking IPv4 & IPV6 connections). On the SKYQ router this whizzed through in about 20secs.

Based on the fact that i have now had there Sky Fibre Unlimited broadband connected for about 5 days and they are optimising the line which takes about 10 days I'm far from impressed with The New Sky Hub and its wi/fi capabilities.

Constant drop outs on my Macbook pro and other devices when I'm literally just a room away,infant its that bad I'm connected to the Netgear wi/fi extender on the same network that sits upstairs in a bedroom plug.

Wired it seems fine but wireless next to useless,its that bad i am going to find out how to retrieve my username and password and go back to my Netgear router which didn't give me any wi/fi issues regardless of where i am in this household.

When you get freebie routers they are never going to be up to the standard of purchased routers £200 plus,i new this but i wanted Sky Q and there was no other alternative at present as you have to have Sky Broadband.

I have now cancelled the install of Sky Q this coming Friday until i feel that they have ironed out all the issues.

Don't get me wrong there are plenty of people on the Sky Q forums that like the product but way to many for my liking that don't.

What was strange based on previous moans and groans to Sky regarding cancelling there Sky Hd package is the fact that when i said i wanted to cancel they never once tried to persuade me to stay and asked why i wanted to do so.

Obviously i still have a Sky HD subscription so it didn't really matter i guess,normally when i threaten to cancel that based on there ultra expensive monthly subscription they throw every deal possible to persuade you to stay,infant i use this ploy at least once a year when they throw all sorts of price reductions at me so i don't cancel.

Edited by time2die (Tue 08-Mar-16 11:44:34)

In reply to a post by time2die:

I have now cancelled the install of Sky Q this coming Friday until i feel that they have ironed out all the issues.

So you cancelled Sky Q before you actually tried it?

I am not willing to take the chance with there wi/fi connectivity issues when the Sky Q and Sky Q minis losing connection and other errors associated with a new system launch,i appreciate that a lot of new products will have negativity surrounding them and more people post to complain than compliment.

I have spoken to Sky this morning and they were extremely helpful and understanding,the Sky Girl i spoke to said she has had the equipment since last September as she was a tester and hasn't had a single issue and she thought it was fantastic but she also told me that there had been issues with the boxes not talking to each other and the majority of the complaints were sorted within 24 hours with Sky Specialists returning to those premisses,but having to use Wi/fi boosters beggars the question why they released this system when its has Powerline built in but is disabled,even the girl thought that this would have been a better start point and should have been on at launch or tested before this Sky Q got released to the general public.

She pointed out that they were giving the system constant firmware updates to improve the issues but she did say that most of the complaints were wi/fi connectivity issues and most have been resolved by using other equipment like boosters.

When you are about 20 feet from the new Sky Q hub and my Macbook constantly tells me I'm not connected to the internet,something that has never happened with my Netgear then I'm prepared to wait and not take the risk on what at present is a wireless system.

The last thing i want is a pain in the ear from her upstairs telling me her box has switched of or the program she recorded won't play for all the reasons on the Sky Forums.

I have cancelled many things i fancied over the years without trying them mate and waiting a few months is not going to hurt.

To be fair the Girl who thought the Sky Q was fantastic all most persuaded me to give it a try out,especially with the 30 day cool of period,i did think it over but previously 2 hours earlier i had cancelled and the money has to be refunded before i can proceed with another order.

Im quite happy with my decision,because on many many occasions over the years myself and my girlfriend have been very early adopters and this on some occasions has come back to haunt us.

In reply to a post by BatBoy:

In reply to a post by time2die:

I have now cancelled the install of Sky Q this coming Friday until i feel that they have ironed out all the issues.

So you cancelled Sky Q before you actually tried it?

BatBoy do you have Sky Q or what ?

In reply to a post by time2die:

I am not willing to take the chance with there wi/fi connectivity issues when the Sky Q and Sky Q minis losing

you couldn't use an ethernet network cable? anything using radio is subject to disruption, including a motorbike going down the street, or neighbours with a high power (or broken) router stomping all over your WiFi channels.

Ethernet cables is the best, and homeplug second, and WiFi third in many many built-up locations - for reliable video streaming. WiFi 5GHz works a lot better than 2.4 due to the shorter range - but often only reliable across a room (e.g. router and Sky box in the front room).

Edited by jchamier (Tue 08-Mar-16 14:33:40)

Well thats the point,Sky Q is supported by built in Homeplug in The Sky Q hub but disabled at present.

I use Solwise Home Plugs at present and all work well with Sky HD,and once they enable there built in Homeplug there wouldn't be any need to use them i guess,but then again what about the set up i have at present with a Ethernet lead going from the Sky Hub to a Solwise Homeplug in the office and then i have one at the back of all my Tv stuff for the Tv,Sky Hd,Playstation 4 and Xbox One all running through a netgear ethernet switch,something I'm having to use with the new Sky Q hub as for some unknown reason they thought they would release a premium product with just 2 ethernet ports.

So to be honest once they enable the Sky Q hub and its Homeplug capabilities i don't really know how i am going to have all my other devices enabled if i don't use my solwise i use at present,its only really I'm guess for there Sky Q system.

To be honest mate the whole lot confuses me at present and as of this moment i wished i had just left my broadband contract with BT for now because the only reason i got Sky Fibre was for Sky Q.

And from what i learned regarding talking to the Sky Q girl this morning,it won't be many weeks before they will be giving this system to none Sky Broadband customers,she actually said it was all in place and they were just waiting for the word to roll it out to none broadband customers.

I wouldn't mind guessing that this will happen before March ends,but this is another confusing issue,the Sky Q system gets its best use apparently with the Sky Hub,unless they mean the alternative is third party homeplug adaptors .

Thats the only thing different in this Sky Hub than other routers i know.....Built in Homeplug.

It seems the way forward is to get your dhcp username:password
Use a 3rd party router that supports dhcp auth (e.g. asus)
Then proceed with the SkyQ and just have the SkyQ as a client box not the router hub.

Also on sky FTTC there is no 10 day training, thats mistrained staff for you.

No and I was looking forward to your review

So SKYQ being setup tomorrow morning. Can't wait, well I do have to wait. Will let you know how I get on. I do plan to run the service over homeplugs, but will initially use out of the box Wifi.

Regarding their router - this does not surprise me. Sky have always had poor wireless hubs, the DG934G range on their old router literally travelled through 1 wall in my house and no more... The SR101 and SR102 had good range, which compared nicely to virgins hub, although the HomeHub 5 puts it to shame with range going through an extra 2 walls.

SR102 would penetrate 3 walls before connection failed, HH5 will get through 5 walls on 2.4Ghz. Same location...

As I've said a few times here, Sky's connection is very good, the broadband is fantastic... The hardware is what lets it down, if you get your own router - or alternatively piggyback your BT Hub, I'm sure it'll be a lot better.

Let us know how you get on.

You could ask Sky for a booster - I think it would really help.

http://www.sky.com/help/articles/connecting-a-sky-q-...

I didn't use the Bt Hub and believe it or not they have now sent me a letter and email asking for it back .

In reply to a post by kingbiscit:

I've had it since Tuesday.

Its brilliant, boxes are super quick and it just works. Would find it very hard to go back and I'm sure it will only improve.

+1

Got mine on Monday and having taken a couple of days to familiarise myself with it, I can't fault it. You keep finding new features such as for example, watching a different channel whilst the football was on last night, swiping right to reveal last channel viewed which was in fact the football brought the game up live in the mini screen.

Thumbs up for Q from me.

These days with the number of devices the SR101/SR102 just can't handle it. With five AppleTVs, four iPads, two kindles, four mobile phones, Nest, Nest Protect and all wired devices in our house I gave up and went with HG612 and an Asus RT-AC87U.

Sounds like the new Sky Q Hub might be able to handle the devices but the wifi is only a minor step up. Will be waiting for them to open up to non-Sky broadband customers, I have wired the house for gigabit ether anyway

In reply to a post by Chrysalis:

It seems the way forward is to get your dhcp username:password
Use a 3rd party router that supports dhcp auth (e.g. asus)
Then proceed with the SkyQ and just have the SkyQ as a client box not the router hub.

Well thats [censored] considering the Sky Q boxes 'can' use powerline network from the 'Q' router to connect to WAN&LAN without the requirement of sometimes flawed WiFi and Patch Cables.

In reply to a post by Skilty:

Sounds like the new Sky Q Hub might be able to handle the devices but the wifi is only a minor step up. Will be waiting for them to open up to non-Sky broadband customers, I have wired the house for gigabit ether anyway

Depends if the Q Hub can balance the devices across the two wireless bands properly... so many router's (specially ISP ones) have the capabilities on the 5Ghz band but configure the router wrong so it doesn't connect 5Ghz capable devices first so it free's up the 2G for older tech devices.

Also bet the Q Hub won't use channels above 48 of 5G which in a case like mine where every other dual band router is sitting on channels 36-40-44-48 and bouncing off eachother it makes dual band as useless as the old 2G band.

(BT chap I spoke to about the "not so smart" wifi was pretty shocked about the fact there HH5's didn't seem to switch 'automaticaly' to other channels)

Might find this - http://www.wi-fi360.com/airties-can-finally-talk-ope... - interesting.

It explains the concept behind the mesh system Sky are using across the Q hub and boxes..

Really interesting article - thanks!

Makes interesting reading! The concern I have right now is that with PowerLine disabled the only way to create the mesh is via WiFi (unless each AP is hardwired via ethernet). Does that mean each Sky Q Mini is acting as a glorified WiFi extender?

If so does it also mean that the more Sky Q MIni's you have attached the less bandwidth each would have to stream TV from the Sky Q box and support wireless devices attached to that particular AP?

Would love a pretty picture to better understand what it looks like!

Well i haven't even gone as far as having Sky Q installed,was due Friday and my new Sky Broadband and Sky Hub went active last Friday,i have had nothing but dropout from the Sky Hub in the office a mere 20 feet away on the same floor when sitting in the kitchen,something that never happened with my BT Broadband connection and my Netgear router.

Based on the wireless performance of this so called new Sky Hub i have cancelled my broadband contract with them and returned to BT,for that reason and the fact no user name or password is given as they don't like you using third party routers way more expensive and better performing.

I know there is a way of retrieving your user/pass but to be honest i can not be bothered,i would much prefer to use my own routers with better Wi/Fi performance than suffer constant dropouts and i have only been with Sky 6 days,so in around 10 days time i will be hooking up my netgear router with 4 ethernet posts and not 2 like the new Sky hub and doing away with the ethernet switch.

My connection through home plugs with Sky has been really good from what i can gather in the short amount of time,but wireless is absolutely useless and this was the concern i have and the reason i cancelled Sky Q install yesterday.

Some on here think Sky Q is brilliant and i take that on board,and if this was not relying on a wi/fi signal i would not have cancelled.

In reply to a post by time2die:

Based on the wireless performance of this so called new Sky Hub i have cancelled my broadband contract with them and returned to BT,for that reason and the fact no user name or password is given as they don't like you using third party routers way more expensive and better performing.

It would be fairly trivial to configure your Netgear router as a wireless access point so you could have the wifi you want and more ethernet ports without cancelling.

Guess i could have done that but for me i would much prefer to use just the one device that does what i require.

At the end of the day and based on some information i received when talking to the Sky Girl yesterday,Sky Q is mere weeks away from other Broadband providers,its all set up and good to go and all they require is the ok to roll it out.

I will still wait for a later date in the year for Sky Q or if its compatible with other Home Plugs and not just there Sky Hub.

If i can rig it up through home solwise home plugs and ethernet cables it will make me a lot happier than depending on a wireless network which is all but useless on Sky Equipment.

There was a link earlier showing that SkyQ will be utilising a wireless mesh system that will give much better wifi coverage to their users.

I have just called BT to enquire about having it on the mini as well and to my surprise they have cut my bill. Currently, I pay £23.99 wihich is the £19.99 subscription over Sky plus £4 HD fee too. They have given me BT Sport on the mini for free (should have been an additional fiver), halved the basic monthly charge and given me free HD for 3 months.

In short, I was paying £23.99 which is now £9.99 rising to £13.99 in 3 months.

It seems they are keen to cut the bill for long standing BT customers receiving via Sky.

Had SKYQ silver installed today. Engineer was in the house for 2hrs before all done.
* Installed a new dish LBN
* Installed new drop cables from LBN to living room (old ones had a join in them)
* Used van stock for silver & mini box
* Installed SKYQ silver box in living room. Asked if I had a new card from sky, no, so had to use van stock. Also replaced power cable so compatible with PowerLine. replaced all cables to TV
* Used wireless to connect the boxes together
* Installed the mini box upstairs
* Did SW update on both units.
* Connected handset controllers to matching TV
* Showed all was working
then left out the door to next customer.

It was like a new installation.

In reply to a post by Skilty:

Does that mean each Sky Q Mini is acting as a glorified WiFi extender?

The main box and minis act as wifi hotspots not extenders so there isn't any loss of bandwidth and if they are all connected via ethernet you still have the option of setting them up as hotspots.

I had mine installed on launch day and I wouldn't go back now. OK I have posted a few negative comments on Sky.com but they are just niggles really.

So sky connect the boxes together with Ethernet cable?

My view was that right now, sky use wifi to link the boxes together, so when the second box re broadcasts the wireless signal there will be at least a 50% reduction in total wireless throughput.

Even if using power line adapters - those are not the same as Ethernet. Lots of home users will have their sky boxes connected via extension leads etc which reduce throughput of home plugs, but also many houses will have home wiring which slows down the home plugs. As an example in my house I only get 15Mbps over home plugs which are 1gigabit rated.

Ethernet gives me the full fibre speeds, home plugs do not. Actually in my home wireless AC gives me full speeds and is far better than home plugs.

This was exactly my point, if they are not using powerline or ethernet then they are acting as a WiFi extender (or AP) you will lose bandwidth if you connect to the mini.

In reply to a post by Skilty:

This was exactly my point, if they are not using powerline or ethernet then they are acting as a WiFi extender (or AP) you will lose bandwidth if you connect to the mini.

& if they perform anything like the current Sky WiFi booster, good luck.

Connecting the booster used to drop the connection speed down to 2Mbps on everything connected to the booster. If I placed the booster in the same room as the main router, I still only saw 5Mbps via the booster...

Even if they use the homeplugs / powerline, in a lot of houses, they will not yield the full speeds either. Homeplugs also cause gaming lag, I find it's better to have a slower speed on WiFi than a quick speed on homeplugs for gaming.

I personally think if they wanted to do this properly, they should have got an engineer to install ethernet between the boxes, even if they ran it externally.

Yes, right now the boxes I am using are using WIFI to connect together. The engineer did say that the sky boxes use the 5Ghz range and the normal house wifi uses the 2.4Ghz range. that has been confirmed by the router stats (I do not have any 5GHZ wifi devices apart from the skyQ boxes).

If that is so, then there is not a 1/2 of the speed as they are using different bands.

Will see how this goes over the next few days before I convert to Ethernet and external power line devices

I did have a laugh when I checked the devices connected to the network and noticed 2 "SKY+HD" devices connected to the network

Edited by iand (Thu 10-Mar-16 18:14:43)

Don't think they are going to send a Engineer out to rig these Sky Q boxes and Mini with Ethernet capacity,that would cost and take a very long time as much as i agree with what your saying.

Like i said a few days ago,i had been with Sky Broadband for 6 days and i have to say its the worse wireless performance i have had the misfortune to witness,and thats on there latest Sky Fibre Hub.

Now returned back to Bt Infinity and have the choice of using my own equipment ,like i said to Sky,i know you can find a way of retrieving the user/password combination but why won't they give me the option.

Obviously they want to support just there own equipment ?

From the IPV6 router type stats they operate 2% of non sky routers on their network, which is not a lot. This is similar to the 2-3% of sky routers that are known not to run IPV6.

I think we will see other WIFI boxes being sold which will attach to the SKY modem/router. For some houses a non SKY router looks better, for a lot of others, it makes no difference.

Wonder when someone will do some stats on how good wifi or Power line is in the house, just like the adsl/vdsl line stats for a house.

Don't think they are going to send a Engineer out to rig these Sky Q boxes and Mini with Ethernet capacity,that would cost and take a very long time as much as i agree with what your saying.

Agreed, although is it really much more work than multiroom already?

E.g. with multi room in my house, they ran a cable from the satellite at the front of my house, all around the property, into the back room - approx 50m of cabling total. They could have just got an engineer out to run ethernet in a similar way.

In reply to a post by iand:

Yes, right now the boxes I am using are using WIFI to connect together. The engineer did say that the sky boxes use the 5Ghz range and the normal house wifi uses the 2.4Ghz range. that has been confirmed by the router stats (I do not have any 5GHZ wifi devices apart from the skyQ boxes).

If that is so, then there is not a 1/2 of the speed as they are using different bands.

Will see how this goes over the next few days before I convert to Ethernet and external power line devices

I did have a laugh when I checked the devices connected to the network and noticed 2 "SKY+HD" devices connected to the network

So, if we assume the boxes connect over 5Ghz, perfect. So wireless AC is 1300Mbps, and I get throughput of around 400Mbps on my wireless AC network... Even with a 50% reduction that's still 200Mbps which is plenty for this to work nicely. So there is no issue with it... Also yes the boxes do re-broadcast 2.4 and 5Ghz signals, but as I've just demonstrated 50% reduction on wireless AC is not a big issue like it is at 2.4Ghz.

HOWEVER, take my household. The back bedroom is only reached by 2.4Ghz wireless, 5Ghz does not penetrate the walls enough to get there, what does SkyQ do in this situation? Surely then it starts using the 2.4Ghz band and the speed reductions happen... I'm assuming this is where the Homeplugs would kick in.

Like i said a few days ago,i had been with Sky Broadband for 6 days and i have to say its the worse wireless performance i have had the misfortune to witness,and thats on there latest Sky Fibre Hub.

I really wish you had the chance to try out the hub before SkyQ... You really would have not been happy. That box was a never ending reboot cycle.

Sky will give a wireless booster for free as the performance has never been incredible WiFi wise. You really should have got their SkyQ wireless booster before moving back to BT, it repeats the signal on the 5Ghz band so you don't experience horrific slowdowns. You'd have doubled the coverage.

Although I have to say, I am on BT now and very happy here.

Also RE Sky Fibre, they use MER so most third party routers will not work anyway, so it seems kind of pointless supplying the Username and PW.

netgear, billion and asus routers will work. Thats 3 big brands.

Sounds like you all live in mansions

Ethernet your rooms up

What do you mean by they use MER and most routers won't work .

What i mean basically is a new fit to a none Sky Subscriber,so thats main cables to the Sky Silver box and then they could be running ethernet cables to up to 4 mini boxes if that person required that amount of equipment.

When we moved our Sky Hd to this new house on 4th Dec last year,he wouldn't even drill a small hole in the side of the ageing wardrobe and insisted on taking the cable all around one of the bedrooms saying he couldn't do what i asked.

So imagine having to get a load of ethernet cables around someones nice house,besides that i have never seen that option offered on any Sky HD or Sky Q fit.

Say you buy a HG612 on eBay and a separate router, you have to ensure the router supports sky's MER which they use instead of PPOA. Lots of routers do not, although as has been mentioned manufacturers are now playing ball and apparently new netgear and asus models support it now. Say you have a 2 year old, perfectly good router which you want to use - theres a high probability it wont work on Sky.

As for the sky installs, they will not install ethernet - not a chance. I'm just saying for streaming it would be more reliable than wireless - but lets see, I actually think SkyQ will work pretty well especially with the 5Ghz boosters.

TP-Link have also started supporting it as of the VR900, in beta firmware. Another point is you can also continue to use the sky router and simply connect another router as an access point.

In reply to a post by ukhardy07:

Say you buy a HG612 on eBay and a separate router, you have to ensure the router supports sky's MER which they use instead of PPOA.

It's not really MER that's the issue here, so it's better to say that the router must support DHCP Option 61 on WAN in order for it to work on Sky Fibre.

Edited by Oliver341 (Fri 11-Mar-16 13:13:24)

yes absolutely agree with you

* If 5GHz wifi is used then no effect on normal wifi
* If 5GHz wifi can not work through walls then 2.4GHz used and hence a reduction with normal wifi. I suppose its 50/50 as to if you would notice a difference or not
* Then once power lines in use on the SKY equipment then that would take the load

I am also going to try a 4th option using my own power lines, which I used for SKY+HD, with the SKYQ boxes. Interestingly there is a "plug" over the Ethernet port asking for you to look at www.sky.com/ethernet

In reply to a post by iand:

* If 5GHz wifi is used then no effect on normal wifi

Don't forget lots of people have problems with 2.4GHz already, due to the sheer number in the street, or they live in close proximity (e.g. flats). So 2.4GHz ends up being slow / erratic - and people have been switching to 5GHz (via advice) for about 5 years now.

So if Sky think 5GHz is free for them, they may be surprised.

its all free, no one will send a bill to sky for using the 5ghz band, or am I missing something

Wasn't talking money more utilisation. 5Ghz channels around airports with radar are reduced too.

I connected the boxes via Ethernet after installation but with the Q hub you can still benefit from the wifi hotspot functionality. The Airties mesh system that Sky are using is a bit more involved than a basic wifi extender setup.

There is an article here.

when I first switched to 5ghz I was the only one, now there is 2 others using VM router's.

On 2.4ghz there is 19 routers detected by my phone. So yeah in highly populated city areas 5ghz is a god send. The performance difference and stability is huge even if a weaker signal. e.g. 1 bar 5ghz for me is faster than 5 bar 2.4ghz.

Signal strength however isnt much different in my flat, they both strong, to get my 5ghz down to 1 bar I can do so on my dongle by surrounding objects around the dongle so its in a enclosed space.

Edited by Chrysalis (Sat 12-Mar-16 13:12:44)

Yes, wonder if SKY are using some form of preference list, 5GHz, then 2.4GHz. So what happens when power line comes in, will it try to auto detect & determine the best method of talking to the different boxes in your house, which then may change over time.

Yes exactly I just can never remember those technical specifics - has been 3 years since I did it on DDWRT.

So had SKYQ for a few days now.
* Sky Silver box Touch controller is a bit sensitive
* Engineer did not match the mini box controller to the upstairs TV, just looking now to see how this is done
* SKYQ interface will take some getting used to. Would be better if the TV jumped to the current channel when in what's on TV mode, rather than sitting always at channel 101.
* Used to select if I wanted to download in SD/HD, still can but takes longer
* Know I can download a whole series at one go, but can not see this as an option
* Comparing the movies to Netflix, the number of movies looks small. May just be a perception thing.
* Using in 2 rooms works very well, so for now the extra £12ish looks to be worth it for now.
* Not a big change over SKY+HD. Assume SKYQ Gold/Platinum or some other upgrade for 4K will be the end game.

Would have liked native Netflix.

Having cancelled Sky I am now being deluged with offers!

So far it is:

35% off any Sky package for 12 months
£20 Sky Fibre Pro Unlimited for 12 months (Normally £30) if taken with Sky Q

Currently running two CAT5E cables so I can use CAT to HDMI converters to pump this around the house if I decided to go with it.

Have Sky Multiscreen (one extra box), so my question is knowing what you know now would you have subbed to Sky Q?

I decided to wait and cancelled Sky Q until later in the year and they sort out the problems associated with the system,like basic things missing from Sky Q that should have moved over from Sky HD.

From what i see its a bit hit and miss at present,some people absolutely loving it and all working as it should,then others saying that its giving them constant problems with Sky Q and Mini boxes needing constant reboots to connect and complaining about the touch remote been far to sensitive and a host of other things like wi/fi connectivity or lack of it.

As for Sky offering you better deals and reduced monthly rates,thats standard procedure when you threaten to cancel and the only way to reduce your monthly bill.

I have been with Sky since launch in 1989 when it was free,then the subscription a little down the line was a fiver,now we pay nearly £90 a month which is crazy when you think we all moan about the yearly BBC television license fee once a year.

Another thing that gets my back up is how they give all the discounts to people that refuse to subscribe to the premium sky sports and movie packages,my neighbour was always telling me he was paying half price for Sky Sports or Sky movies when this sucker here who has all of those packages year in year out is paying full price.

Every year i ring up moaning about the cost and telling them to cancel,and on one occasion i was offered 3 deals with one of those deals coming out at a reduced monthly cost of £25 for 6 months for the same subscription.

I know where you are coming from. I "threaten" Sky every year to reduce the bill, I can afford it but why pay more?

They would be better off actually having lower prices for all rather than new customers and existing customers that threaten to leave. But that is business I guess!

BT TV is becoming more attractive, if only they had Sky One (TalkTalk TV does) it would be a viable alternative to Sky+HD.

I have two weeks to decide, if I can't make a decision on Sky Q then I will take the 35% discount on my existing package.

I think the answer would actually be no, I would not recommend SKYQ. You either like the SKYQ interface or not. I do not like it at all. I do like the mini box to have SKY in a different room. But I have it now, so it will be the end of 2017 before I will decide what to do next. I assume that by that time IPV6 will be activated, Power line will be activated and 4K will be activated and available. Without these extra "features" you just have a new SKY+HD box, and yes for me the network thinks these are "SKY+HD" hardware on the network....

I agree on the retention deals. There is probably so many people on deals that the people not on deals are surely paying more to cover the cost.

Really all providers should have the price on the website and thats it for everyone, dont like it then dont sign up, sadly tho it seems there is all sorts of offers, and its up to the computer whether you qualify.

I can tell you when I cancelled sky tv years ago I was never offered a deal, so its not an automatic way to get a deal.

Edited by Chrysalis (Mon 14-Mar-16 18:46:05)

I took the 35% deal on the Sky package, Sky+HD works for us for now as does Sky Go Extra.

They even gave me a £50 credit for multi-screen, go figure.

Depends on your subscription and what you pay to be honest,it is hit and miss on who you get on the other end of the phone.

I mean they are not to worried if your paying just for a basic package and don't subscribe to the money channels such as Sky Sports and Sky Movies.

Its always worked for me and they have always reduced the subscription or offered me deals.

I've had Sky q a few weeks now and can honestly say we haven't found any issues and there is no chance we would go back. For us it just works, we now have sky in 3 rooms and the wifi signal is far better than previously with an AirPort Extreme. We live in a decent sized 4 bed.

I actually have Ethernet around the house but haven't bothered using it with the sky boxes.

Everyone will have an opinion i remember when the updated Sky hd UI went live everyone hated it.

For me Sky have delivered I now have access to all my sky channels around the house and would highly recommend it.

Didn't take long did it ?

Im still going to wait until they have ironed out some of the flaws,whats interesting is how is Sky Q going to work as well as it should when they advertise the system and Sky Hub as been pretty essential to get the best out of the system.

Looks like the SKY hub is needed for Powerline and also the 5Ghz, but it also looks like it would work for any "normal" house network.

I see 4K is coming to SkyQ this summer.

Wonder if that us an "upgrade"

No, it's free as part of the silver package.

There's an article, can't find it at the moment, which explains how the Airties tech works. Basically it does actively select the best way to connect all the devices together even splitting data across wifi, powerline and ethernet.

The Q boxes will preferentially connect over the 5GHz band if possible.

http://www.airties.com.tr/_press/Press_2016012613143...

thanks, found it.

There is also and interview with the chairman of Airties which goes into a little bit of detail about the system.

Here.

interesting read..

I have just cancelled my Sky Q installation after chatting to Q tech. My concern related to co-channel interference between the Mesh and my Fritz!Box router. This became a major issue with my Sonos system when I.connected one of my new Play 1s with a wired connection. I hadn't realised that this establishes the SONOS net. I reported frequent loss of streaming to Sonos and they identified co-channel interference. After running a few tests, it was clear that the issue was the auto channel changing on the router. The problem was solved by pulling the wire on the Play 1 and disabling the Mesh.

It would seem that when the Sky Hub is used, the Mesh changes channel along with the router.

I now need to see how early non-Sky broadband customers get on with Q.

wonder what the actual SKYQ take up is. It is not an easy upgrade as needs a new LNB on the dish.

Do you know how many feeds come off the new LNB?

There's two wideband feed on on the new LNB, one for V polarised channels and the other for H polarised channels.

There's an optional hybrid LNB for those with Freesat as well which has two wideband outputs for Q and 4 universal outputs for Freesat.

1 Power cable
2 LNB inputs (1 shotgun cable)
1 HDMI cable
Believe you can connect to Ethernet but optional)