Can you connect your youview box to your broadband via a wireless connection?

[Martin099]

Hi everyone,

I have successfully connected my new youview box to my broadband home hub via the ethernet cable provided...this gives me access to BTSport and all the other internet channels etc. However this is not a long term solution because the cable is not long enough to go right round the room from hub to you-view box - it only reaches if I lay it out diagonally across the room! I know you can get broadband extenders / adaptors but I was wondering whether it's possible to connect to a small wireless adaptor - we previously had this successfully connected to our old SKY box. The difference here is that the SKY box used to ask for our broadband pw/code, but the BT You View box doesn't ask for the code, and then the internet channels are not available...even though the blue light is on to indicate connection. Can anyone help???

Thanks, Martin

[4KMarty · Accepted solution]

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@Martin099 wrote:

Hi everyone,

I have successfully connected my new youview box to my broadband home hub via the ethernet cable provided...this gives me access to BTSport and all the other internet channels etc. However this is not a long term solution because the cable is not long enough to go right round the room from hub to you-view box - it only reaches if I lay it out diagonally across the room! I know you can get broadband extenders / adaptors but I was wondering whether it's possible to connect to a small wireless adaptor - we previously had this successfully connected to our old SKY box. The difference here is that the SKY box used to ask for our broadband pw/code, but the BT You View box doesn't ask for the code, and then the internet channels are not available...even though the blue light is on to indicate connection. Can anyone help???

Thanks, Martin

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No. It's not posisble. You have to use a cable or the powerline adapters. 

[gomezz]

Get a longer ethernet cable that *does* run all the way round the room?

Cheaper and more reliable than powerline adaptors

[siteguru]

Can you connect the YV box via a WiFi adapter? Yes.

Will it work? It depends on what you want to watch and where the WiFi adapter connects to.

If the WiFi adapter connects to the HomeHub then most internet channels will NOT work. This is because many of them use multicast technology, but the HH doesn't send multicast via WiFi. (Most apps, like Netflix, will still work). The way I worked around this was to connect a WiFi access point to the HH via Ethernet, then connect the WiFi adapter to the WiFi AP. This works fine for me.

OR ... as suggested earlier ... use powerline adapters. I used to do this but found that Netflix would buffer a lot. (Well known, long statnding problem that still hasn't been fixed, to my knowledge).

[4KMarty]

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@siteguru wrote:

OR ... as suggested earlier ... use powerline adapters. I used to do this but found that Netflix would buffer a lot. (Well known, long statnding problem that still hasn't been fixed, to my knowledge).

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I use Netflix all around the home with powerline adapters and have no buffering. 

[rarmitage124]

It depends on your internal wiring. You must have good wiring but some people don't

[freid]

I purchased a TP-LINK TL-WR802N wireless nano router, £20 from Amazon, connected it to my BT YouView box ethernet port, followed the instructions which initially required I log into the device via my laptop. Wiithin minutes I have successfully connected my YouView box to my home WiFi. Perfect.

I've been plagued over the years with bandwidth issues when using the recommended power socket based approach, and I am hopefull this has resolved those bandwidth problems. Time will tell. I do wonder however why BT doesn't recommend this in the first place, or better still provide one of these WiFi devices with the box when purchased. Very frustrating. 

[ney]

I use Powerline adapters for living room and if I move the Youview box that I use for BT TV to the living room so dad can watch I find the TP Link 300mbs pass though powerline adapters to be only 96% reliable.

Darren

[PaulD63]

I have followed your advice and purchased a router and set up as client but it won't work with my youview box, do I need to connect manually and alter IP address? Thanks

[Devon_Dave]

What router have you purchased as not all are compatible with youview