Broadband Hub keeps rebooting itself multiple times per hour

[MattC3]

Hi all,

I've done a search and seen some similar issues but was hoping for a bit of help.

My broadband hub has been repeatedly rebooting itself (full cycle of lights on front of hub) multiple times per hour for about the last few weeks. Some days it'll happen only a few times but others (like today) it'll happen upwards of 15 times. Sometimes 2-3 times in the space of about 15mins.

I suspect it could be a hardware fault as 80% of the times I've managed to get on the Sky app quickly enough to do a broadband test it thinks the connection to the hub is OK... when the hub is visibly suggesting its still reconnecting with amber lights. Today I managed to catch the test without a connection so it's helped me book an openreach engineer to rule out it being a line fault

Hub stats below:

Connection is completely lost on all devices wireless and wired - laptop, phones, ipads, 3 Xboxes (1 wired). 

Tried 2 factory resets on (SR203 model) , UPnP on/off. Static IP addresses. Nothing has helped

Thanks

Matt

[freestylefrog]

I am having the same problem. I also notice also slowdowns at random times and some websites don't load. This started for me about 5-7 days ago, no problems previously. A new router was sent out and same problem still. Now running SR203 router.

[Chrisee]

@freestylefrog if you are getting the same issue with a replacement hub I would check the mains supply as it is highly unlikely you had two units with the same fault. You might need to use a surge protector.

@MattC3 any unit that spontaenously reboots is likely to be faulty so call Sky but as I point out above check thst the issue isnt being caused by an issue with the power supply.

[freestylefrog]

@Chrisee Thanks for taking the time to reply. Good shout on my issue as a first pass.

I will try this and reply if things settle down as a result, or not. The random slowdowns/ are not explained by this however, but it could be Murphy's law and not Ohms.

[MattC3]

I hadn't considered power supply until now as its been plugged into the same socket that my old ISP router had always been plugged into. The power cable appears undamaged also.

It's rebooted at least once this morning already so I'll try moving it to the same surge extension lead that my TV is plugged into and will give Sky a call today.

[freestylefrog]

Just an update after a few days of testing, unfortunately, after adding power surge protection, the problem is still present. It got better for a couple days randomly, then today has been consistentnly disconnecting every 15-30 minutes. Very painful.

[freestylefrog]

I swapped to an Asus router today and it has been rock solid. Given it wasnt a power issue and it happened over two different SR203 devices i can only assume some sort of bug with SR203 related to FTTP high bandwidth connections, SkyQ or otherwise. Something happened over the last month to create the instability which is causing the box to disconnect. Anyway, ill update once ive had more (fingers crossed) stable time.

[freestylefrog]

Just to update this, had a few days of complete stability with Asus router. I purchased the RT-AX88U Pro. Wireless performance is also much better in a two bedroom terrace, same placement of router, no longer relying on SkyQ mesh.

[MattC3 · Accepted solution]

Update regarding my issue.

Openreach came out 10 days ago and identified that the pre-filtered master socket that was replaced by an Openreach engineer 2years ago had resulted in one of the cables becoming pinched when he had screwed the socket into the wall.

The latest engineer found a tiny break that he believes was shorting out on the screw causing the router to momentarily lose connection and go through the reconnection process each time.

My issue had become much more noticeable over the past few months as he believes one of my kids may havr accidentally knocked the socket when playing with their toys.

Socket was replaced 10days ago, connection has been completely stable with only one reboot a few days after the work was completed and my speeds have steadied back out at 50-55Mb d/l

Will update again if I have any further issues.

TLDR

Old Openreach Engineer's previous work wasn't perfect

Don't have kids, they knock into things.