Sky WiFi Max and boosters: set-up and lights

Find yours here: the set-up steps, buttons and light colours differ.

WPS (WiFi Protected Setup) is the press-a-button way of joining two devices without typing a password. Sky's reset steps for the Broadband Booster and Q Booster use a RESET button on the back of each, and the photo on its fix page shows an Ethernet port beside it.

What an extender can and can't do

Sky is clear that an extender improves WiFi coverage but won't improve the speed you get to your hub. Our guide to mesh Wi-Fi vs Wi-Fi extenders explains extra WiFi kit in general; this guide sticks to Sky's own.

WiFi Max and Broadband Boost are different add-ons

Max Pods are supplied under WiFi Max. The older Sky Broadband Booster is linked to a separate, older add-on called Sky Broadband Boost, which Sky says is offered to new Ultrafast customers and to existing Boost customers taking a new contract.

WiFi Max is an add-on for Sky's Part Fibre and Full Fibre broadband. Sky says it isn't available with Sky Broadband Essential Plus, Ultrafast (G.fast) or Unlimited Pro, or with a Sky+ TV package. It carries a monthly charge, except on Full Fibre 2.5 and 5 Gigafast+, where Sky includes it at no extra cost. Check what applies to your package with Sky.

Three practical points from Sky's WiFi Max pages shape the set-up:

• You get the hub first. With WiFi Max you get a new Sky Max Hub or Sky Gigafast+ Hub, unless you already have one.
• Pods aren't sent automatically. If your WiFi doesn't reach the guaranteed speed, Sky checks the set-up in your home and might send a Max Pod or book an engineer. Up to three Pods are provided.
• Test fairly. Sky says to switch Device Priority off before testing WiFi coverage (My Sky app: Manage, Broadband, Device Priority, End prioritisation), and to use its Service Checker to test the broadband itself. The guarantee starts 14 days after your broadband and WiFi Max are activated.

If you're on Gigafast+, note that Sky's guarantee page lists Full Fibre 2.5 and 5 Gigafast+ among the packages with a 25Mbps-in-every-room target, and its terms say a claim is valid with a Sky Max Hub or a Sky Gigafast+ Hub, plus Sky Max Pods. Our guide to provider Wi-Fi guarantees covers the other targets, what you get back and how Sky's promise compares.

Can you use a shop-bought extender instead?

Sky recommends its own Max Pod over another provider's or retailer's extender because the Pod is designed for the Sky Max and Gigafast+ Hubs. Its guarantee terms say money back doesn't apply while you're using extenders, boosters or routers Sky didn't provide. Sky doesn't say whether other extenders work with its hubs.

1. Get the hub working first. Sky's Pod set-up page says to set up your Sky hub before the Pod.
2. Check the hub light is white. If it isn't, Sky says there might be a problem with your broadband rather than your WiFi. Our guide to broadband hub lights explains the Sky Max, Gigafast+ and Broadband Hub colours.
3. Check other devices can join your WiFi. If they can't, Sky's next step is to check that all the WiFi bands are on: in the My Sky app go to Manage, Broadband, WiFi settings, Advanced settings, Disable WiFi, Continue, then GATEWAY, and make sure 2.4GHz, 5GHz and (if your hub has it) 6GHz are On.
4. Know where your weak room is. The Pod goes between the hub and that room, not in it. Our dead-spot mapping guide helps if you're unsure.
5. Use Chrome on Android. Sky says to open the Pod set-up link in Google Chrome: Samsung Internet, a Google shortcut or another browser won't work.

For a first-time set-up, Sky's instruction is simply to use the My Sky app, which takes you through it; Sky calls this the easiest way. Around the app's steps, Sky describes these parts:

1. Choose the spot using the placement advice in the next section.
2. Start the Pod set-up in the My Sky app and follow it.
3. Watch the front light. Flashing means the Pod hasn't connected yet; once the light goes off it's connected to your hub. Sky's steps allow up to three minutes. An unlit Pod is a working Pod.
4. Confirm it in the app. Go to Manage, Broadband, My devices. Your Pod appears under My Network hubs by its serial number, as Online or Offline. The serial number is on the back; Sky says to unplug the Pod if you need to check it.

If the Pod isn't listed, Sky says to set it up in the My Sky app; you might need to connect it manually using the serial number, and the app walks you through it.

Moving a Pod that's already set up

Sky gives separate steps: plug the Pod in at its new spot and switch on at the mains, and the front light starts flashing. Wait up to three minutes for it to go off. It reconnects automatically as long as it stays in range of the hub.

Sky gives the same placement advice for the Max Pod and all three older boosters.

About halfway

Put the extender about halfway between your hub and the place where your WiFi is struggling. Sky explains why: too far from the hub and it won't get a signal to pass on; too close and it won't extend the signal far enough to make a difference.

An example, not a measured case: in a three-storey townhouse with the hub on the ground floor and a weak signal in a top-floor bedroom, Sky's rule points to a socket on the first floor, not in the top-floor room itself, where the Pod would be furthest from the hub.

In the open, with space around it

• Keep it out in the open: not in a cupboard or cabinet, not on the floor and not stuck behind the TV.
• Leave about 30cm of clear space around it.
• Keep it away from other wireless devices such as cordless phones and baby monitors.

Sky gives the same advice for the hub, so if yours is shut in a cupboard, bring it out before deciding you need a Pod.

Ventilation and heat

Sky asks you to keep vents clean, use a well-ventilated spot, and keep the kit away from heat, smoke and candles. A warm Max Pod is normal: Sky says a small fan pulls air in and out through the vents. For marks on the wall near a Pod, Sky's advice is to keep the area dust-free, not block the vents, and keep incense away too.

Warm is fine; these are not. Sky says to contact it if a Pod has a burning smell, is very hot, shows scorch marks, melting or damage, makes unusual noises, or otherwise isn't working normally.

Moving it later

Sky says Pods and boosters reconnect automatically after a move while in range of the hub. Our suggestion: try two or three positions and keep the one where your weak room improves most.

All three older boosters pair with the hub the same basic way. Sky's steps are:

1. Power it up. Plug the cable's blue end into the booster's blue port and switch on at the wall.
2. Wait for the start-up lights. On the Broadband Booster and Q Booster, wait until the power light and the wifi or wireless light turn green. On the Wireless Booster, wait for the power light to turn white.
3. Press WPS on the booster. Hold the booster's WPS button for 3 seconds until it flashes amber.
4. Press WPS on the hub within 2 minutes. Hold the hub's WPS button for 3 seconds. Sky's booster set-up pages say it flashes amber; on a Sky Max Hub, WPS mode shows as a flashing blue light instead.
5. Wait a few minutes. The Broadband Booster's and Q Booster's connected light turns green; the Wireless Booster's wireless light turns white.

Two timing traps

• The 2-minute window. Our suggestion: if the hub is on another floor, press the booster's button and go straight to the hub. Sky says a Sky Max Hub flashes blue for 2 minutes, then stops; to retry, hold its WPS button for 3 seconds and let go.
• Don't hold the hub's WPS button too long. Sky warns that holding a Sky Max Hub's WPS button for 30 seconds or more factory resets it, restoring the default password details printed on its base and undoing any settings you've changed. Three seconds is enough.

Sky has no single light chart for its extenders. This table gathers the meanings its set-up, fix and reset pages give; for any other colour, use the fix steps below or contact Sky.

Work through these in order. Steps come from Sky's help pages unless marked as our suggestion.

• A phone or laptop stays on the weaker signal. Some devices don't switch automatically between extender and hub as you move around. Sky's fix: turn the device's WiFi off and on, and it connects to whichever has the best signal. For particular devices that struggle with a Sky Max or Gigafast+ Hub, Sky also suggests changing the WiFi security level.
• Device Priority doesn't work through a Pod. WiFi Max includes Device Priority, which lets you put one device first. Sky says devices connected to a Max Pod can't be prioritised: move the device closer to the hub and try again.
• Hub device restrictions don't carry over. Sky's extenders don't support the hub's Wireless Station Access List (a list of devices the hub allows or blocks). Any WiFi device connecting through an extender is allowed, whatever you've blocked on the hub. Your WiFi password still protects the network as normal.
• Short overnight drop-outs. Sky updates hub and booster software in the background, usually overnight. While it does, the power light flashes and broadband is unavailable for a few minutes. Don't turn the hub off during an update; the lights return to normal afterwards.

Max Pods are loaned at no extra cost, and Sky says they must be returned if you cancel WiFi Max; the same goes for a Broadband Booster supplied with Sky Broadband Boost if you cancel Boost. Taking WiFi Max starts new 24-month minimum terms on WiFi Max, broadband and talk, so check your contract summary for the dates.

On returns, Sky's WiFi Max Guarantee page says Sky will text or email to tell you exactly which equipment to send back, you can print a pre-paid label at sky.com/returns, and keeping a hub Sky loaned you means a non-return charge. If Sky doesn't ask for something back, such as an old booster, it suggests recycling it. For a Pod or booster that's lost or damaged, see our guide to lost or damaged broadband equipment.

No extender fixes a slow line. If a test at the hub, for example with our broadband speed test, shows the connection itself is the limit, the fix is a faster package or another provider, not more kit. Our Sky broadband deals page and the tool to compare deals at your postcode show live deals from our partner, and our broadband providers list covers the alternatives. Neither shows WiFi guarantee terms, and we don't switch you ourselves, so confirm those with the provider. Weighing Sky against Virgin Media? Our guide to Virgin Media WiFi Pods covers Virgin's kit.