sky broadband problems via lack of mac drivers?

Hi I have just joined this forum so greetings to all users

I moved my broadband provider from virgin to sky in October - 11 and everything worked OK.
I am not a heavy user, just the occasional music video and woodwork streaming however, since early January when downloading/streaming any kind of video, I am unable to view them due to the picture jumping and freezing and being corrupted with bits of flashing text. This also happens to the sky logo and the banner type adverts at the top and sides of the page. I have contacted sky and they apparently ran tests which indicted my broadband was running OK, i.e. speed etc. The couldn't suggest any other reason except that there may be a mac related problem such as needing new drivers.
I am using an iMac with OS X Leopard.

I would appreciate it if any other sky broadband users having had similar experiences or forum members could make any suggestions.

Thanking you in anticipation.

Jimturn

Hi,

How is your cable modem connected? are you using a broadband card?

Hi MDavid,

thank you for replying so quickly.

Sorry I should have realised you'd need this info. I have a wifi set-up and I have checked my airport settings etc and everything appears OK. I have also set up my mac next to the router to check if the router signal was any stronger i.e. not enough signal where my mac is usually sited upstairs and there was no improvement to the video streaming.

Have you had any similar experiences?

Thanks again

Jimturn

I've had similar issues.

If you are connecting with wifi, then the problem might be the provision of the service or your router.

what happens if you connect directly to the modem? do you still have the same problem?

Hi MDavid,

I haven't tried connecting directly to the modem/router. I think I may have a cat cable and I'll give this a try.

Regards,
jimturn.

Hi

Im on sky to, not had any issues, however i have changed the default router they sent to one of my own(netgear dgng3700), if you need to get your details from the router so you can change it have a look here Sky router password generator

This isn't a Sky issue. But I'd suggest it's a wifi connectivity issue.

Things to try:
1. connect an ethernet cable directly to you Mac - try again - if the issue remains it's likely a broadband performance or failing router issue
2. If the issue is resolved by using a cable then it's a wifi issue - Use iStumbler to check for other wifi networks in the area and ensure your wifi channel is as far from the surrounding networks as possible

Hi bazanders & mrplow,

thank you both very much for your advice, I'll try the ethernet cable and take it from there. I'll leave a post to let you know how I get on.

Many thanks.

jimturn

Hi To MDavid, Bazanders and Mrplow.

I have just connected my mac to the router via an ethernet cable and the video problem still remains. So I guess the next step is to try a different router. Do any of you have any suggestions as to a reliable model - preferably wifi as my main socket is in the lounge and my mac is usually in my study on the first floor. I am hoping to use it in my loft after a bit of work to floor and board it out - and where they can be purchased.

Thank you for your assistance, it is really appreciated.

jimturn

Unless your connection is really slow I wouldn't expect those problems when connected by Ethernet cable. Your router may be failing but replacing a Sky router with a third party one can be troublesome - not all of the supplied routers can have the username and password extracted but Sky can be persuaded to part with them if you can demonstrate their equipment isn't performing correctly. However, before you head down the pain of that road:

1. What speed is you net connection (you can log into your router to see the downstream speed)
2. Have you tried a different browser (Firefox, Chrome, Safari) - are the results the same for all browsers?
3. Have you or a friend/colleague/family member got another Mac/PC/wifi capable phone/tablet that you can try connected to your network? This will help narrow down if it's your network setup or your Mac

I would also check to make sure that Flash is up to date:

Adobe - Install Adobe Flash Player

Hi MDavid,

my router/modem is a sagemcom (no model number on the case) connected via a microfilter to the main (first) telephone socket and an ethernet cable to my sky+HD box. The router does not have a card but the HD box has a card however, I believe that this card relates to my access to TV services, but I'm not absolutely sure of this point.

At this moment, I'm connected via an ethernet cable inserted into one of two yellow sockets - there are two further sckets coloured blue and green. I have tried the mac ethernet cable on these other two sockets but there appeared no improvement or difference in the broadband signal.

I hope this is helpful

Regards,
jimturn.

jimturn said:

Hi MDavid,

my router/modem is a sagemcom (no model number on the case) connected via a microfilter to the main (first) telephone socket and an ethernet cable to my sky+HD box. The router does not have a card but the HD box has a card however, I believe that this card relates to my access to TV services, but I'm not absolutely sure of this point.

At this moment, I'm connected via an ethernet cable inserted into one of two yellow sockets - there are two further sckets coloured blue and green. I have tried the mac ethernet cable on these other two sockets but there appeared no improvement or difference in the broadband signal.

I hope this is helpful

Regards,
jimturn.

Click to expand...

jimturn,

I thinks MDavids questions were aimed at the popular US/Canadian DSL setup using a separate modem and cable router. Whereas the setup you have (the most popular UK setup for ADSL) is a combined 1 box modem/router.

Reply to MDavid, cwa107 and Mrplow

Hi guys,

MDavid, you may have guessed from my earlier reply that it related to your previous post.

I will check out the three suggestions you made earlier today. Thank you.

cwa107, I will also download the latest flash player and check that out. Thank you.

Mrplow, thank you for your clarification.

Many thanks to you all, I'll keep you posted.

jimturn

Hi Guys,

sorry for the delay but I decided to check out the flash player issue first then discovered in order to do so, I needed to upgrade to snow leopard to upgrade the flash player. The OS X upgrade wasn't available via a download so I had to wait for about a week for this to arrive via post then on reading the installation info, which indicated enhanced media playing I installed snow leopard, tried to stream music and woodworking video's and they worked perfectly. I decided not to upgrade flash at this time and everything seems OK.

Thank you everyone for your assistance, I am very grateful.

jimturn.