Whatever you do don’t get #SkyQ until it’s working properly. Had the guys round this afternoon. Between them they were here for over four hours and I have to say that they were great. The bottom line is that it doesn’t work for non Sky broadband users. I now have two Sky extenders installed (one hard wired), we tried two top of the range routers (Belkin N1 and N600) with factory resets and we disabled 5Ghz connections to force the 2.4Ghz connections which it apparently requires. I’m also now getting random drops on my broadband connection which have not happened since the early days of broadband. I suspect that they are attributable to the relay boxes which aren’t working.
The upshot is that I have a primary box which works for live broadcasts but doesn’t work for any network facilities including catch-up TV and the link to the second TV simply doesn’t work. By the way, when you get SkyQ you can’t access your prior recordings on previous boxes because of a LNB change which hasn’t been advertised.
Subject to the new line drops the rest of the network (non-TV) is working like a treat and I’ve used the Ofcom app to make sure that reception is OK throughout my house. I live in an entirely average sized house (1930s semi) so there are no range issues.
I’ve been a Sky customer for 14 years 4 months (they told me this when I placed the order and got a discount on installation). This service costs £79.50 per month and it’s not good enough. (Update – I’ve just received a letter to let me know that my subscription is increasing by £5.50 a month from 1 June.)
It’s all very well having a (well overdue) facelift to the interface but it’s an annoying waste of time if it doesn’t work. Apparently I’m going to get a call from a senior tech at Sky and my request will be a return to the prior system (which worked!) until they get their network issues sorted out.
Be warned!
Update – 27 April
I had a further visit from a Sky installer last Thursday. Initially Sky Q still didn’t work. However, after a replacement Sky Q Silver box was installed and three signal boosters were used to relay the signal from this to the Sky Q Mini it is now working. Is it stable? I was away from Saturday to Tuesday and returned with some trepidation. It’s still working but if there is a need to reboot or re-pair the boosters I’m not confident that it will stay that way. It’s hard to describe but it doesn’t feel solid and we all know that wi-fi can be unpredictable. I think that it’s still flaky and I’m still reserving judgement. My advice is that if you have Sky broadband, wait until they add the powerline option (signal via the home electrical circuit) and if you haven’t, think long and hard before taking the plunge. If you have wi-fi issues in your house (and many do), avoid at all costs. It’s a very expensive option for a system that might work and there’s no option to roll back unless you spend money on installing a hybrid LNB (which Sky don’t want to offer you). If, like me, you use Sky abroad (France in my case) you will also have big problems viewing while you’re away until the new LNB becomes the norm (probably not for a few years). By the way the Sky Q app doesn’t work in France (“this content in not available in your territory”) unless you’ve downloaded to the app what you want to view, hence no good for live viewing. I suppose that you could use TunnelBear or similar, but that is expensive for high bandwidth and you’ll need to have a very big monthly usage allowance if, like me, you’ve got metered satellite broadband.
The concept is great and I expect that they will get it right in the end. However, unless (like me) you have a determination to be an early adopter, give it a year or two!