Wondering if anyone out there is able to educate me on this... I have SkyQ with 80mbps Fibre. The skyQ router is atrocious. The main problem being it doesn't handle many wifi users at once, without basically developing its own DDoS type symptoms. (I've read a maximum of 4 wifi connections - which doesn't work in modern life) So I've bought a 2nd router to handle the Wifi side of things. This one: https://eu.dlink.com/uk/en/products/dir-878-exo-ac1900-mumimo-wifi-router (cheap black friday purchase, didn't want to spend a fortune) It's set up nicely as a wifi AP, with a separate SSID so I can keep wifi traffic away from the SkyQ router. Sky don't like you using 3rd party routers- for a start the skyQ mini boxes can be tricky to get working with them, so I figured that I would keep the wifi on for the skyQ boxes/miniboxes so they keep working normally, and the new router can deal with everything else. But this means having the SkyQ router be the DHCP one and the new one being just an AP. I would love to have a VPN set up on the new router (the skyQ box won't allow this), but because its only an AP it doesn't seem to work, traffic bypasses all the settings and just jumps straight to the SkyQ router. I could run the Sky router as a modem only, and configure the new router as the DHCP router, but then the SkyQ boxes will struggle. I wondered if you could have 2 DHCP's running at the same time - one handing network addresses 192.168.0. 1-100 (for LAN connections) and the other 192.168.0. 101-255 (wifi), but when I try this I can't access the new router on the network to get to its settings, despite setting a static IP for the 2nd router. Any thoughts? At the moment everything is working except the VPN, and I might just have to accept this.
You can’t have two DHCP working in the way you want. You could plug the WAN port of the new router into the LAN port of the Sky router. But you’ll end up with a double-NAT situation which will break stuff like VPN and stuff like UPnP. Your only choices are to get Sky to give you a modem only solution or to move to someone who will let you change your router out.
At first I was very confused why do you need a modem if you have fiber, but then remembered this takes place in UK. First of all, have you forwarded VPN port on sky router? Secondly, how are devices interconnected? Sky Lan to Dlink WAN or Lan To Lan? From you decription I'm guessing lan-to-lan. This might be a problem, because Dlink might not be listening for incoming VPN connections on LAN interface. Theoretically you can run dhcp on any device in the network, but for that you must be able to switch off DHCP server on router, set static IP on router LAN or switch LAN port to DHCP client. Most consumer grade routers (without 3rd party firmware) do not allow it.
I've always used my own router, except for a year when I was with Virgin. I use TP-Link products which I upgrade every 3-4 years as something else becomes available for £20-30 (in China). 300N, 900ac, 1750ac with 6 antennas and this year 1900ac gigabyte. The only downside with the cheaper model is Chinese firmware the lack of network storage.
You are quite right, I've had to go Lan to Lan. Going to WAN made the dlink unreachable from a web browser, so couldn't adjust any settings. Worse, once it had been connected this way it needed a hard reset to be findable again. I don't understand why, but a Google search suggested that all routers need connecting Lan to Lan if they are being used as access points. Seems I will have to forgo router side VPN. Ah well, I've lived without it for the last 15 years or so. Thanks for all the info everyone
It seems Dlink only supports ipsec, so unless you put your sky router in bridge mode (modem only), it will be pain in the a** to set up if not impossible For connecting lan to wan, you would need to set up different subnets and open ports 80/443 on dlink or connect over wifi/dlink lan.
IIRC, you can't put Sky in bridge mode so you're forced into wifi AP for your new kit, sadly. If you're having issues with your Sky Q, network cable them with homeplugs. It solved all my issues. Sky Q boxes, both full size and mini are like mini-APs themselves, swamping wifi channels (if you've got an android device, download a wifi scanner and see for yourself). Cable them up and go into the engineers menu (cursor on settings, 001, select) and disable both wifi bands on both boxes and you'll see a vast improvement in your wifi environment and your Sky On Demand will be much snappier too.
Yep, you are spot on. The sky miniboxes are flooding the channels. (I had done the scan already prior to buying the new router/AP - I thought it was channel congestion, changed the channels and realised the congestion was in fact due to my sky boxes!) For various reasons I can't network all the boxes with homeplugs. I could network some of them, but one would still need the wifi on, and that would defeat the object. How ironic that Sky advertise how good their Q system is at extending network range throughout the house, but have developed a system that can't actually support an average house sized number of users.
If wifi is still your limiting factor, I'd seek alternatives rather than relying on Sky's extremely poor implementation of a mesh network. There are plenty of alternatives, so do your homework and if you get stuck, post back in here.
You dont say what you want the vpn for but try zerotier. https://www.zerotier.com/ it might give you what you want.
