Reasons why your Sky broadband is not working

The first thing you need to do before you go further is to connect a tradition phone handset directly into the broadband phone socket on the wall. Connect it directly into the wall socket - remove the micro filter.

You should hear a dial tone. If you hear a cracking sound or it is silent, contact Sky as the issue appears to be with the broadband internet connection line.

If you get a dialling tone continue reading this Sky broadband fault-finding guide.

We have provided a checklist of the basic things that may have caused your Sky broadband internet connection to stop working.

Unfortunately there is no silver bullet (one tweak resolves all) to resolve your specific issue however, the list below will help rule out (or rule in) possible cause or reason why the Sky broadband is not working.

Make sure that it is not your PC or device that has the fault

Before we start investigating the issue with the Sky broadband internet connection, we will need to rule out your device to make sure that its not the problem.

Are you experiencing the same issues on a different device?

If the Sky broadband has stopped working on your PC/device, do you have the same problem on a different device? Are all members of your household having the same fault on their device(s)?

If everybody has the same issue then it is likely that it is the Sky broadband internet connection that is not working.

Likewise, if its just one device that's having the fault then the issue is with that device as opposed to the Sky broadband being at fault.

Is the fault still present when you change between wireless and a wired connection?

Test if the problem with your Sky broadband is still present when you switch between wireless and wired connection.

Find a device that has a ethernet network port and connect it straight into the Sky broadband router. Most broadband service providers include an ethernet/network cable in the box that the broadband router is shipped in.

The problem may be with your Wi-Fi network if you find that the Sky broadband internet connection is working fine when you’re connected via an ethernet network cable.

If the issue is still existent when connected wirelessly and wired, continue going thru this problem solving guide to try to establish the reason why your Sky broadband is not working.

Is it a particular application or website that is not working?

Try accessing a different website or application to test if the issue on your Sky broadband internet connection is still the same.

If you can’t get onto any websites or the problem is the same across various applications and websites, continue to the next part of this Sky broadband trouble-shooting guide.

Want to switch from Sky? Here are some Sky alternatives.

Has anyone recently made any changes to your Sky Broadband internet connection?

Think about any technical or physical changes that could have stopped the Sky broadband working.

• Have you added any new electrical equipment into your home?
  Devices such as Televisions, monitors, microwave, toaster, halogen lights, Wi-Fi devices, dimmer switches can obstruct or interfere with your Wifi signal. Extension leads can cause interference.
• Have you moved the Sky broadband router or positioned furniture or ornaments in front?
• Has anyone recently logged into the Sky router and changed any settings?

A recent change may be the reason why your Sky broadband is not working. Undo any recent changes.

My Sky broadband is working but slow

Broadband Traffic Management

You may notice that your Sky broadband is gradually slowing during peak times. Peak time tend to be evenings and weekends.

That is the reason why some broadband internet connection providers or broadband packages have 'Traffic Management' (also known as Traffic Shaping).

That is when the broadband service provider will begin prioritising certain types of internet traffic in a bid to limit others from using up all the available capacity.

Check or contact Sky to find out if there is traffic management on your broadband package.

Is your broadband overloaded?

Do you need to think about upgrading your Broadband package or switching?

• What broadband internet connection speed would I need?
• Best Broadband Deals this week

Has your wireless network been compromised?

If you are confident have the sufficient bandwidth for your home, ensure that it is not being used by unauthorised people or your neighbours.

Log into the Sky broadband router and there will be a section that shows a list of all the devices that are connected to your broadband.

Are there any device names that you don’t recognise?

Restarting your Sky router will disconnect all the devices connected to your broadband.

After the reboot, if some of the unrecognised devices re-connect, you will have to investigate what they are.

Some wireless devices or smart devices may have some strange names that you may not recognise.

The best method to identify them is to power off all your wireless gadgets e.g Amazon Alexa, Google Hubs, Smart speakers, etc and then reboot your Sky router and check if the unrecognised devices re-connect.

If they still re-connect, your options are to either check if the router model/version has the feature to block or blacklist devices (this is usually done by blocking their *MAC address). Alternatively,  you may have to change your Wi-Fi password.

*All internet enabled devices have a unique MAC address which you will be able to see on the Sky broadband router when the device is connected.

If you would like to to take it a step further, you can change the Wi-Fi network name (the SSID) and hide the wireless network so it is not broadcasted and visible to anyone.

To allow other devices to join your Wifi network in the future, you can unhide the network temporarily while you join the new device. The alternative is to enter the details of your wireless network into the new device.

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Are you seeing a high number of Wireless networks in your house?

Slow Sky WiFi speed may be caused by sharing overpopulated Wi-Fi channels.

Overlapping with your neighbour may cause problems on both of your wireless networks.

You can use applications such as Wi-Fi Analyzer (Android) or Network-Analyzer (IOS) to check what channel your Wifi network is operating on and how busy the channels are.

You can switch the channel to a less busy one by logging into the wireless settings section on your Sky Broadband router.

The Sky broadband router might be already set to automatically select the best Wifi channel.

We do not recommend making changes if it is already configured to automatic.

If you manually change it, you may find that you are always in a cat and mouse situation of repeatedly having to changing it as and when the neighbouring Wi-Fi networks increase or change their channel settings.

Rebooting the Sky Broadband router will cause it to analyse and change to the best possible channel.

• How to find the best wireless Channel for my Sky broadband

7 Steps to fix your Sky broadband internet connection

Follow these steps to fix (or help determine) why your Sky Broadband is not working, slow or keeps dropping. For this trouble-shooting guide to be useful, ensure that the recommended actions in the above sections have been performed.

1. Restart the Sky broadband router

You are probably sick and tired of hearing this but it is a must. Broadband routers are just mini computers which is time require a restart to clear any issues after they have been running for extended periods.

This also enables them to establish and negotiate a new connection with Sky.

Your Sky broadband router might take 3 - 5mins to run through the reboot and broadband negotiation reconnecting cycle. It may take slightly longer if it is performing an update on restart. Please be patient.

Important: Don't switch off your Sky broadband router for long periods or regularly restart it.

Standard broadband (ADSL) and Fibre-To-The-Cabinet (FTTC) broadband run a process known as Dynamic Line Management (DLM) which attempts to stabilise a broadband connection by reducing the line speed to make it more stable.

Regularly rebooting your broadband router or switching it off for extended periods makes DLM believe that you have an unstable connection and thus slows it down.

2. Check the Sky broadband router lights

If any of the Sky broadband router status lights are red or amber, this is a sure sign that there is a fault with your Sky broadband line.

You should contact Sky customer services to report this issue. Ensure that all the cabling from the wall socket to the Sky broadband router are securely connected before getting in touch with customer services.

3. Check the Sky Broadband Phone Line

If you still have a landline handset, plug it directly into the wall socket and check if you hear a dialling tone. If all you can hear is noise or silence, there is a fault with the line.

Get in touch with Sky to report this fault.

Check out the Best UK Broadband Deals This Week

 

4. Are there are any known problems with Sky broadband in your area

Check if there are known issues on the Sky network that might be causing your Sky broadband to stop working.

Check if other Sky customers have reported issues with their broadband.

• Check Sky Broadband Status on Downdetector website
• Check Sky Broadband Internet Status on Is the Service down website

5. Check if you have an IP address

Every device need an IP address to be able to connect to the internet.

This is something that happens in the background when you connect to any broadband Wifi or wired network.

Your Sky broadband router is set up (by default) to assign your device(s) an IP address automatically unless you have manually changed the settings.

If your PC/device does not get an IP address, it will not be able to connect to the internet or any other devices that you connect to in your house (e.g. smart speakers, Amazon or Google devices, gadgets, etc).

The screen shots below are where your would check to see if your PC/Laptop has an IP address on Windows and MAC OS.

Windows

Go to Start > Control Panel > Network and Internet > Network and Sharing Centre.
Click on the name of your network connection and click the Details button. Your IP address will be displayed.

 

Apple MAC

Go to System Preferences and click on the Network preference pane.

Your IP address will be displayed as per the image below.

You may search How to Find my IP Address on YouTube to find video guides on finding the IP address on different make/model devices and operating systems.

If your IP address starts with 169, it is not a valid IP address. It is a way that your device tells you that it was not given an IP address so defaults to a 169 address.

If you are not getting an IP address or your IP address starts with 169, log into the Sky broadband router and look for the section that refers to DHCP.

DHCP stands for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol and is the process that is responsible for assigning IP addresses. Ensure that it is enabled.

Get in touch Sky Broadband support to assist in checking issues on your DHCP service if you are uncomfortable or don’t have the knowledge on how to do this.

If you do get an IP address, make sure you also have a Default Gateway (or Router IP) and a DNS server IP address as per the image below.

IP address
IP address has already been explained in the above section.

Default Gateway or Router IP address

This is the device in your network that is the ‘gateway’ to the outside world/internet. In 99.9% of the time this is the IP address of the Sky broadband router.

This is also referred to as a Router address on Apple Macs.

DNS Server IP address

This is the device that translates any website name that you type into your internet browser e.g www.google.com to an IP address.

Computers and internet enabled devices ‘talk’ to each other using IP addresses.

When you enter www.google.com into your browser your PC/device asks the DNS server for the IP address for that website.

If you do not have a DNS server in your IP address configuration, you will be unable to get onto the internet because your device will not know the IP address for the website or anything else that you are trying to get to.

It is like trying to send mail to your friend John Smith’s house but do not have his home address.

6. Test if you can connect to the internet by ‘Pinging’ google.com

If you have followed the above step and confirmed that your device has an IP address, you can test internet connectivity by Pinging google.com

PING, is a diagnostic tool that tests connectivity between devices.

• How to ping a website

If you do not have a connectivity to google, check that you can ping the default gateway.

If you can ping your Default Gateway but not google, this would indicate a problem with your BT broadband as that is the route to google.

7. Get in touch Sky Broadband customer services

If you have followed this troubleshooting guide to this point. Its time to get in touch with Sky Broadband support and tell them that you have completed the above checks.

The problem that has caused your Sky broadband to stop working is outside of your property and control.

We hope this Sky broadband troubleshooting guide has been useful.

If you’re planning on switching your broadband internet connection, you can check out:
Top 6 broadband internet deals this week.

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