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Gigacube and Sky Glass

Bare_Gills
3: Seeker
3: Seeker

I switched to Sky Glass shortly after replacing Virgin fibre with Gigacube.

Sky Glass is a complete streaming service for all content.

It seems that Gigacube has a habit of causing the Sky service to drop out from time to time which leads to picture freeze and a very angry wife.

I read that the 5G service is set up to prioritise voice traffic and this can lead to occasional speed reductions, but I have not experienced any problems with other streaming services so I'm not really sure.

Any ideas on fixing this would be appreciated.

 

10 REPLIES 10

MarkD
Moderator
Moderator

Hi @Bare_Gills, this is strange that it's just happening with one with device. How long has this been happening for and have you noticed any patterns with the drop outs, such as a particular time of day? Also, do you need to restart the GigaCube to get connected again following a drop out? 

Hi Mark.

Thanks for the reply.

This has been happening since I switched to Gigacube (which was only three months ago) and my initial reaction was to think it was a Sky issue since there were many reports of this problem in the Sky user forum, although these reports have now reduced in frequency. Sky Glass is new and the previous service (Sky Q) had similar issues when it was launched a couple of years ago.

I also have a Sky Puck, a simple streaming box for additional rooms and this also demonstrated the same issue although due to infrequent use of this device, it did not present a real problem .

After much end user dissatisfaction, I returned the old LG TV to our living room and it has been there for several weeks. Last week I suggested that we try again with the Sky Glass TV but the same problems arose straight away.

I tried all the fault finding I could think of to see what could be causing the issue. I placed the Gigacube right by the TV and used both wifi and Ethernet and of course reset the Gigacube just in case.  

I contacted Sky and after carrying out all the usual reset activities suggested, they asked me to monitor the performance and said they would replace the TV if the problem was still there.

The TV started to play up almost immediately and I tried the Sky Puck and it too played up.

With two independent devices showing the same fault I could not expect Sky to replace the TV and so I advised them that we had a problem on two devices and they reasonably suggested that the problem probably lies elsewhere. 

I have monitored the performance of the internet from my Gigacube as best I can using Ookla Speedtest and the typical speeds are 100 mbps down and 5 mbps up - (Why so low?). 

Sometimes it's better and sometimes worse. I have seen the speed briefly drop to below 10 mbps down and that could be an issue. Sky state that their box expects 25 mbps but make no statements about that being constant or what deviations are allowable.

There is no obvious pattern to the dropout problem. It occurs at random times.

 Thanks again for your help.

Amanda
Community Manager
Community Manager

Thanks for getting back to us @Bare_Gills and providing that information 👍

What did you use before to connect your Sky Q and did that work okay after the initial teething issues? 

We can certainly go through some troubleshooting steps via social media with you and check the network in your local area, though it does seem to be more device specific for you. 

Using a streaming service is a data heavy way to watch television and it needs to use large amounts of data very quickly - this will be where you may see buffering where you hadn't previously, when doing less data heavy things such as browsing online. 

Come and have a chat with my team on the link above and we can double check things for you 🙂

I have the Sky Glass streaming service connected via Gigacube.

The service suffers from occasional picture and sound loss leading to freezing of the picture and periods of sound not in sync. There is no obvious pattern to the timing of these problems.

Before getting Gigacube I was on Virgin 300 mbps fibre without issues.

I have two Sky boxes and both suffer from this problem.

Testing my internet with Ookla shows a wide variation in download speed with a typical rate of 100 - 200 mbps but sometimes dropping to 10 mbps or lower.

Sky state a minimum sustained download speed of 25 mbps is necessary and my testing shows that is clearly not being achieved.

I am not sure what else I can do, but this is not a happy situation.

Anyone able to assist in any way would be very much appreciated.

WelshPaul
16: Advanced member
16: Advanced member

There isn't much you can do! Speed and latency will fluctuate over a 3G, 4G and 5G connection and there are several reasons why (poor signal, interference, weather, congestion at the mast to name but a few).

Thanks for that.

I did wonder when placing my order and stressed to the sales rep that I would be streaming.

I was assured that the service would be totally capable for that.

It seems I may have been rather too trusting!

WelshPaul
16: Advanced member
16: Advanced member

What signal levels are you seeing? Try moving the router and see if you can find a better spot.

I would recommend reading some of the threads and maybe asking for advice here.

 

 

Hi. I appreciate the advice.

I am apparently receiving a full strength 5G service but other than that I can't tell you.

I have moved the router around to maximise signal, but it seems I am in the best position right now.

I have seen the download speed as high as 300 mbps at quiet times, although the typical speed is around 100 - 150 mbps. 

I will follow your advice and examine the threads you mention.

WelshPaul
16: Advanced member
16: Advanced member

I always found Vodafone 5G speeds pretty poor. The fastest 5G speeds I ever had on Vodafone was around 250MB - 300MB, although the norm was more 150MB. This may sound fast, but I now get 500MB - 900Mb after switching networks. Anyway, I suspect your issue is likely down to congestion in your area, and that's why you're seeing massive dips in the speed at certain times. If so, only Vodafone can fix that. Good Luck!