Airport & Sky Broadband

I'm in the process of switching to Sky Broadband but understand I cannot use Airport Extreme and must use the Netgear box they have sent me. Anyone know if there is a way around this?

Tigermac said:

I'm in the process of switching to Sky Broadband but understand I cannot use Airport Extreme and must use the Netgear box they have sent me. Anyone know if there is a way around this?

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I am not familiar with Sky Broadband what exactly has lead you to believe this I find it unlikely that you could not use any router of your choice with the service. But sky is new territory so I could easily be proved wrong.

It may well be that they don't want you connecting more than computer through a router. You could try spoofing the MAC address so it appears that only one computer is connected.

Thanks Guy's but the blurb from sky says categorically that only the supplied Netgear router will work. I don't think they are worried about more than one computer. It supports 235 wired users and 32 wireless!
They don't supply server details, just a SSID number and a network key. As Sky Broadband has only just started I guess I'm alone on this one for a while.

I'll admit I don't know much about airport extreme - but why is this a problem? If the supplied netgear supports a wireless 802.11g connection then surely you can use that and it'll work just as well?

They probably only "allow" you to use their's as they don't want to have to support customers using different equipment.

I say plug it in and see what happens

just plug it in and see if it works !

I use a Netgear DG834G with my MacBook without any problems. If you have any concerns, could you not also use the Sky Broadband Netgear router to function as a router and then use your airport extreme as a wireless access point?

Not too sure about the Airport Extreme being a 2 day old switcher!

Tigermac said:

Thanks Guy's but the blurb from sky says categorically that only the supplied Netgear router will work. I don't think they are worried about more than one computer. It supports 235 wired users and 32 wireless!
They don't supply server details, just a SSID number and a network key. As Sky Broadband has only just started I guess I'm alone on this one for a while.

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Yes, it's new rollout so you might have to wait. If you are unable to get into the router then it's an issue. What IP address does the sky equipment give your machine, is it 192.168.0.xxx? If it is then try accessing the router by typing in 192.168.0.1 in your browser.

It should come up with box asking for username and password. I'm guessing sky engineers will have changed this but worth trying the defaults which i think is admin and password.

If you can't get into the router's config, then you may want to call up the support number and say you need to reset your router coz it's not giving you wireless signal....possibly they'll tell you how to get into the router?

Also, have you checked adslguide.org.uk and digital spy forums?

Thanks to you all for your replies. Jem, I prefer to use Airport as my printer is hooked to it. And Airport is Apple & looks nicer!! :mac:
I'm still waiting to go live with Sky so can't try the other suggestions yet.
pritska, 192.168.0.1 doesn't accept the SSID or network key. Have looked at web site suggested but no real help there.
Just spoken to Sky & guy rekons another 24hrs before I'm connected. Good job I'm still on virgin.

I have just switched over to talk talk free broadband today and everything is fine, although i have not got airport so cant comment on that.
What i do have is a netgear router which as soon as i gave it the username and password supplied worked first time.
I have not even received the modem from talk talk yet.

I say it will work when you try it.

i would like to use my existing router and modem too, and have had no luck so far. I do know the default login for the netgear router is user=admin password=sky

i'll keep me eyes peeled for any info too

Any Joy?

HI There i have been trying to find this info out myself and have been very frustrated with Sky Broadband. I have been having trouble with my signal...even to my mac, the router they supply really doesn't like old houses! i've tried a N grade router....no joy....i've been toying with idea of an airport extreme but have held off buying one incase it is going to be another £150 down the toilet..so what i'm asking is

does the airport extreme work with Sky broadband? does it improve the signal?

Really hope it does or i'm tied into a 12 month contrct and wireless that is as useless as a chocolate teapot!

Lee

Well, it sounds as though your issue is more with poor reception, so you might want to add an external antenna or wifi booster if the sky router has a antenna connector.

Hey there, i have had nothing but problems trying to connect to sky broadband via airport. Customer services haven't been very helpful either i started by updating my old clamshell to mac os 10.3.9 which sky assured would work then called again today as i was having problems and guess what.... now i'm told that sky broadband is not compatible with airport. Does anyone know if this is true or not as the guy i was talking to readily admitted that he had no idea what he was talking about.

thanx

Airport Express & Sky

There's no problem running Airport with Sky Broadband. Sky provide you with a modified version of the Netgear 834G but this will work no problem. You can set up an Airport Express to 'Join' your existing network and use it for AirTunes and Wireless printing. Use the Airport Setup Assistant for this. Lee's problem is different. I also have connection issues with my PowerBook, everything on the ethernet LAN works fine and so does my old iBook G3 but the G4 PB is terrible. Problem is the Sky netgear doesn't support WDS so you can't use an APX to boost (extend) the signal. Only option is to run an ethernet cable from the Sky box to a good location and plug it into the AP Express. Then use the setup assistant to create a new wireless network for the APX. OK you'll have two wireless networks but choose the one your closest to for good reception. The APX will pick up it's internet connection over the LAN from the Sky netgear router.