AirPort and Sky On Demand won’t cooperate
Q I have an iPhone 5s, iPad mini, 3rd gen Apple TV, iMac, Panasonic Smart TV and a Sky On Demand Connector. Everything was working fine until I connected the Sky On Demand Connector. I found it would see my AirPort, but fail to connect to it. I checked the AirPort settings and both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz channels were set to Auto. I ran iStumbler to see what other routers were nearby so I could move away from their channels. I changed the channel on the 2.4GHz to 11 and the Sky Connector would connect. However, all of the Apple devices would see the AirPort, but wouldn’t connect to it.
The only thing I can do to get the Apple devices to connect is to reboot the AirPort – but then I lose connectivity to the Sky Connector. Glenn Kelly A I’ve come across lots of cases of incompatibilities between Apple and Sky networking devices. But normally these are of the SRW variety (Simply Refuses to Work). This intermittent connection you’re seeing suggests wireless interference, rather than a problem with settings. That’s very hard to troubleshoot at a distance, but one of my personal rules for networking bliss is to avoid mixing manufacturers wherever possible. You can’t help using a Sky router and set-top box, but if you can make sure that the only devices broadcasting a Wi-Fi signal are Apple’s, I think your system will be a lot more reliable.
Try disabling Wi-Fi on the Sky router and then run Ethernet cables to the AirPort base station and from there to your Sky settop box. If that isn’t practical, you could tackle this from the other end and replace your AirPort base station with a Sky Wireless Booster. This obviously involves more money, but my other rule for networking is ‘never network on the cheap’.