Problem connecting to sky bb

DrewBrees

DrewBrees

DrewBrees

Associate
Joined
5 Aug 2010
Posts
129
hello all,
for the past few weeks i`ve been having problems connecting to sky broadband. I like to switch all my electrical stuff off at the wall before i go to work in the morning. However, when i get in and switch on my sky router, 99% of the time it refuses to connect to the network. more often than not, it takes an hour or two before it comes on, usually between 6pm and 7pm though sometimes as late as 10pm.
However, and this is the most confusing part (for me). if i leave the thing on all day it stays connected 100% of the time, when i get in it will still be on.
I`ve checked the sky website and it says they are working on servers in north wales, and apparently this is affecting parts of the wirral too (which is where i live). I just dont understand why if i leave it on it stays connected, but if i turn it off and then try to connect it doesnt work. I read the small print in my contract and i understand i get throttled for three months if i go over my limit, but nowhere does it state they will take away my service entirely during the day.
I`ve noticed if i download a steam game or something over the weekend it wont come on till say 9 or 10 pm, but if i havent used the web much it will come on much sooner.
anyways, sorry about the wall o` text, just wondered if anyone else has been in the same position.
 
you do realise it's not good practice to switch your router off don't you? Due to the way it works you'll probably be restricting your speed...
Just to make myself clear, it's designed to be on 24/7/365 and the electricity saving will be minimal. Switching it on and off really messes up some routers and isp's
 
i just knew someone would come on and say "just leave it on". But this has only been happening for the past few weeks. i suppose i`ll have to plug it in on its own and leave it.
 
It's not good practise to unplug the router. It's designed to be on permanently and may well put the line into an error status at Sky's end if it's constantly up and down.

Are you another one of these people who's scared of the house burning down if you leave the kettle plugged in? I remember a mate having big bust ups with the Mrs over the face she kept powering off the Sky+ box for that very reason!
 
yes, i`m one of those people who are afraid of the house burning down if i leave my router plugged in. i turn off everything at the wall each night. i unplug my sky+ box, tv, and kettle every night. maybe i`ll leave my router on from now on though.
 
DrewBrees said:
yes, i`m one of those people who are afraid of the house burning down if i leave my router plugged in. i turn off everything at the wall each night. i unplug my sky+ box, tv, and kettle every night. maybe i`ll leave my router on from now on though.
Click to expand...

Don't forget the fridge. ;)
 
:p:p

I have exactly the same issue that i turn mine off at night and when i turn it on it refuses to connect. However there is a way around it and i believe it affects the sagem routers provided by sky!. When you reset the router at the back or turn it on sometimes there is a red light at the front and this then goes to green. However what you want to do is reset the router at the back to make sure the first light that shows is green not red. For some reason the router hates a certain sequence on startup and won't connect. Keep pressing the reset button in and out till you get a first green light, then leave it to connect fully don't worry this wont affect your broadband because it hasn't connected yet it's just powering up.

Don't ask me why it does it, but this is the only way for me to connect when it's turned off at night
 
I think turning off a router once a day will be fine. Switching it on and off repeatedly would be bad. You should check in the router that LCP is allowed to come up and that it's getting synced to the exchange. Could be an ip allocation issue too.

Those Sky+ boxes waste 5 times as much electricity than a modem/router so is worth switching off. They just waste energy even in so called standby.
 
thanks Neil79 i`ll try that next time. and Tealc i keep my sky+ box off until i want to watch something, then i turn it on. I never have a problem with sky+ just the broadband.
 
You can turn off all of those things perfectly fine (kettle, tv, etc) - they aren't designed to be kept on 24/7 - except the fridge of course. :D

But the router as someone already mentioned are designed to be on 24/7/365 - not to say you are but you could potentially be causing yourself issues turning it off every day - in terms of sync speed & reliability.

Although it IS a problem that your router takes 1-3 hours to connect to the exchange/Sky network but if Sky is indicating they have some server issue(s) at there end for your area then that will definately be contributing, it could well be the LCP server is the server issue which would be delaying your router logging into it - hence keeping your router on 24/7 would be beneficial as you will be logged in permanently then until your line drops the sync which you have already realised by now. :)
 
PS The Sky+ box is designed to be connected 24/7 too. Infact if you read your Sky t&c's turning it off violates them...also anytime and recordings could be affected by turning them off, plus the increased wear on the hard drive...
However, each to their own and far be it for me to say how you should use and abuse your equipment. However I stand by leaving a router on all the time, the electricity it uses is minimal, and with a modern house with modern wiring the fire risk is also minimal too. Long gone are the times that a single faulty piece of electrical equipment will cause a fire. It *could* happen, but the risk is very low...
 
The router uses 12v at under an amp. There's more of a fire risk from a laptop battery. I bet you don't pull that out and stick it in an asbestos bag in a concrete bunker overnight...
 
I wasn't implying that turning off your Sky+ box was in any way related to your broadband issue.

Off topic: I didn't know it was against Sky's T&Cs but I think Sky can forget it if they think I'm going to waste a kwh of electricity per day powering their box so they can fill it with more dross programming that I will never watch. And hard drive wear from 24/7 use will be significantly higher than a hard drive that powers up just once a day for 3-4 hours. Just saying.

I leave my router switched on 24/7 simply because sometimes I like to browse with my iPod in bed. If it weren't for this I'd probably switch it off too. 7 Watts wasted is still 7 Watts wasted if it's doing nothing.
 
MagicBoy said:
The router uses 12v at under an amp. There's more of a fire risk from a laptop battery. I bet you don't pull that out and stick it in an asbestos bag in a concrete bunker overnight...
Click to expand...

now that would just be silly. surely its better off inside an asbestos bag inside an asbestos bunker.

looks like i better start leaving it on then. its on one of those power strip things with 4 plug sockets on. means i leave my monitor, pc, printer and of course router on standby. i`ll have to find it its own seperate plug `ole.
cheers everyone.
 
Tealc said:
I wasn't implying that turning off your Sky+ box was in any way related to your broadband issue.

Off topic: I didn't know it was against Sky's T&Cs but I think Sky can forget it if they think I'm going to waste a kwh of electricity per day powering their box so they can fill it with more dross programming that I will never watch. And hard drive wear from 24/7 use will be significantly higher than a hard drive that powers up just once a day for 3-4 hours. Just saying.

I leave my router switched on 24/7 simply because sometimes I like to browse with my iPod in bed. If it weren't for this I'd probably switch it off too. 7 Watts wasted is still 7 Watts wasted if it's doing nothing.
Click to expand...

I know where you're coming from mate, they addressed this issue (in their eyes anyway) by making the box turn off automatically. The reason it's in the t&c's though is because updates are pushed through to the box in the early hours...
 
I honestly believe it's much better left on. I have a mate who did exactly as you do until recently until it became impossible to connect. A quick visit, explanation, and electricity meter guestimation that it would add about £3 to his bill a year and he's had loads less problems since!
 
DrewBrees said:
hello all,
for the past few weeks i`ve been having problems connecting to sky broadband. I like to switch all my electrical stuff off at the wall before i go to work in the morning. However, when i get in and switch on my sky router, 99% of the time it refuses to connect to the network. more often than not, it takes an hour or two before it comes on, usually between 6pm and 7pm though sometimes as late as 10pm.
However, and this is the most confusing part (for me). if i leave the thing on all day it stays connected 100% of the time, when i get in it will still be on.
I`ve checked the sky website and it says they are working on servers in north wales, and apparently this is affecting parts of the wirral too (which is where i live). I just dont understand why if i leave it on it stays connected, but if i turn it off and then try to connect it doesnt work. I read the small print in my contract and i understand i get throttled for three months if i go over my limit, but nowhere does it state they will take away my service entirely during the day.
I`ve noticed if i download a steam game or something over the weekend it wont come on till say 9 or 10 pm, but if i havent used the web much it will come on much sooner.
anyways, sorry about the wall o` text, just wondered if anyone else has been in the same position.
Click to expand...

can you login to your router and post your connection statistics?

Should look something like this:
ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 18644 kbps 1023 kbps
Line Attenuation 15 db 6 db
Noise Margin 7 db 8 db.

Also, when you have issues does your router report it is sync'd with the exchange? This is reported as "Modem Status Connected" on the main login page.

This info should help determine where the issue lies.
 
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