Homepage » News Archive » View News Item 5504

New Sky Broadband Router Reviewed
Thursday 18 October 2012 21:06:51 by Andrew Ferguson

Sky Broadband customers from today should receive a new Sky Hub rather than the previous Sagem 2504n router. The new router lays claim to offering the best wireless signal from the four major broadband providers, with Sky backing this up with their own testing.

We have taken the new Sky Hub for a quick trip around the block to see how its wireless signal performs, allowing people to see how different the performance is compared to the older Sagem 2504n model.

Click image for larger version

The same router is also used by Sky for its fibre services, with the router re-assigning one of LAN ports to connect to the Openreach FTTC modem.

[ Topic: Hardware | 21 comments | link to this item ]

Comments

Posted by Spectre_01 7 months ago
much like the BT home hub £70 will be alot of money to spend on something that will only work with 1 ISP.

Posted by Jayster 7 months ago
Looks like they have a done a virgin... form over function.

Posted by chris6273 7 months ago
Not much of a difference then.

Did you happen to test the difference in ADSL sync rates and reliability in comparison with the old Sagem?

Posted by andrew ( staff member) 7 months ago
On the ADSL and sync rates need to live with the router for a longer period to get a good feel for that side.

Review will update with more detail if we find anything significant in that field.

Posted by jumpmum 7 months ago
Andrew, are you going to publish a similar review on the BT homehub 3, I would like to know how good it is, still on the original white version now 5 years old and still going strong!

Posted by ukhardy071 7 months ago
The HH3 definitely has great WiFi. If it's free why not get an upgrade ;)

Posted by Spectre_01 7 months ago
Whats great about it? I roughly have 1 less bar per room with it - don't use it anymore. It was reported that it actually has a lower power output then the HH2 it replaced.

Posted by ash76 7 months ago
Great review for both content and style. *****

Posted by otester 7 months ago
I prefer to buy my own router.

Just use the MAC code from your Sky box and a user/password generator and it will work.

Posted by ukhardy071 7 months ago
otester it's not quite that simple on the Sky fibre products.

Posted by philce 7 months ago
Surely on FTTC you can use any router as the modem is BTO supplied?

Posted by andrew ( staff member) 7 months ago
Sky uses MER based authentication which can cause issues with third party routers for the FTTC.

Posted by otester 7 months ago
@ukhardy071

Since the alternatives are rather bare when it comes to FTTC I'd just use their modem and then add an access point.

Posted by Dixinormous 7 months ago
Well played Sky having a Virgin Super Hub running a software revision with known WiFi issues. Good timing.

Posted by herdwick 7 months ago
"the Sky Hub has the best wireless range (as measured by throughput)" - range is traditionally measured by distance, shirley ?

Posted by Spectre_01 7 months ago
The range is traditionally measured by distance and don't call me Shirley!

Posted by ukhardy071 7 months ago
Sky FTTC does not work like BT infinity. If you plug in your own router into the openreach modem chances are it will not work.

There's a couple of expensive Billions (maybe) that work and then custom firmware such as DDWrt can get it working.

Generally it's openreach modem - sky router - own router IF you want to use your own router. Without a fair amount of messing.

Posted by ukhardy071 7 months ago
It's because Sky use MER authentication not PPOE. Most routers don't support MER. Even the ones that do often still don't work as Sky have customised it slightly beyond bog standard.

Posted by andrew ( staff member) 7 months ago
Since I have it and was writing next review today, switched the Sky device to its Ethernet router mode thinking it might work as an Ethernet router if the MER auth fails.

No such luck, was worth a go though.

Posted by offcs 7 months ago
Did you try turning the router on it side during your tests? That may be the cause of the speed difference in the lower rooms.

Posted by jchamier 7 months ago
Sky's MER is quite simple on FTTC lines and is just a custom DHCP request. Draytek and Billion have firmware to support in beta.

Might be more complex on ADSL but most likely just the same as BE/O2 but with the custom DHCP.