How to troubleshoot Sky internet performance issues

Before starting to troubleshoot the speed of your Sky internet connection, we recommend that you run a Sky Broadband Speedtest to confirm your current connection speed.

It is also a good idea confirm the guaranteed minimum download speed you have subscribed to from Sky.

You can get this info by checking a Sky broadband bill, your Sky contract or by contacting Sky.

Probable causes of Sky’s slow broadband speed

Is it the Sky internet connection that is running slow or could it be your device (laptop/smartphone/PC)?

You may need to consider the number of apps are currently running on your device.

The performance issue may be due to over-utilization of your device’s resources e.g Memory/CPU and not an issue with Sky’s internet connection.

If you are on a PC then you can use the task manager to check your CPU and Memory usage.

On other device, you should try rebooting the device which hopefully will terminate all programs that may have been hogging your device resources.

Run the Sky Speed test on your personal computer and your phone to check how the results differ between the 2 devices.

This should hopefully give you more information to help determine if the issue is with your PC/Smartphone or the Sky broadband connection.

• What does the Sky download and upload speed mean?
• Who’s the best Internet Service Provider in the UK?
• 5 ways to improve your Sky Internet speed
• DNS hack to speed up internet browsing speed on Sky

Is the Wi-Fi network the issue?

The cause of the performance problem may be your internal Wifi network as opposed to the Sky broadband internet connection.

You can rule out the Wifi network by connecting your PC directly to the Sky broadband router with an ethernet cable and then run the Sky Speed checker again.

If the speed test result improves when you’re connected by a network cable, this proves that the problem may be with the wireless network.

A few other things to check:

• Are the Wireless channels that you’re using for your Wifi network network (SSID) overlapping with your neighbours?
• Is the Wifi network signal from the broadband router obstructed?
• Does the speed improve when you’re standing directly in-front of the Sky wireless router?

Who is connected to my Wifi network?

Have you checked that your Wifi network password has not been compromised? Do you have an open Wifi network? How strong is your Wi-Fi network password? It may be time to change it.

Neighbors could be using your wireless network and eating up all the Sky bandwidth by downloading, uploading or even streaming music or videos on your Sky internet connection! Worse still, they could be conducting illegal activities on your Sky internet connection.

There are 3 apps that you can potentially utlise to analyse your Wi-Fi network to see who’s connected:

• Microsoft users can use Wireless network watcher
• IOS users can use whoFi (who is on my Wifi)
• Wireless troubleshooting tool WiFi Analyzer

The above applications scan your wireless network and produce a list of the connected devices.

• How to check who is on your Sky wireless network

Should I get a wireless booster for my Sky broadband?

You may discover that you have Wi-Fi coverage holes at your property, a wireless extender aka a wireless Booster may be the best solution to strengthen your Wi-Fi signal to cover any coverage gaps.

• Best Wifi Signal Boosters

The Wifi booster picks up the existing Wi-Fi network signal as it is starting to become weaker and re-transmits the Wi-Fi network signal to increase it’s coverage.

Place the Wifi network extender near the position where your Wifi network signal from the Sky internet router is becoming weaker.

Position it approximately where your Wifi signal drops down to less than 2 signal bars. Walk around your home with a tablet to find where this location is.

When did you last upgrade the Sky broadband router?

The Sky and broadband infrastructure, in general, are frequently upgraded to support new features and improve performance as technology evolves.  Ensure that your Sky broadband internet router is running on the latest software.

The majority of Sky internet routers allow you to carry out the software update by simply logging on the Sky broadband router and simply clicking on a button to do the upgrade.

If you can’t do this, contact Sky and they will be able to perform the upgrade for you or guide you through performing the upgrade yourself.

In addition to updating the software, if you have had the same router for a long time, it’s worth talking to Sky to ask for a hardware upgrade.

Is the problem outside your property (at the exchange)?

This is probably the most common reason for Sky broadband performance problems in your home and is more common with broadband connections that are delivered using copper phone lines.

If you are unsure if this is applicable to you, contact Sky who will be able to run the appropriate line tests to check if there is a problem on the Sky broadband line.

Is the issue due to Sky Internet congestion?

If you are finding that the Sky internet connection speed in your area is slow during certain times i.e. weekends or evenings, it may be because of congestion during peak hours.

• What’s Broadband Contention Ratio and does Sky have contention?

You should speak to Sky to find out your minimum speed.

Test your Sky broadband connection

After the issue has been resolved either by yourself or Sky, re-test the internet connection using  at least 2 independent Speedtests to ensure the problem is fixed:

• • Use the ookla internet broadband speed checker to test your Sky broadband
  • Test your Sky broadband speed using Ookla Offical Speed Test
  • Test your Sky internet connectionspeed using fast.com speed test
  • Check My Broadband Speed Checker Sky broadband speed checker
  • • 0845UK Broadband Speed Checker and troubleshooting