Split WiFi Bands on a Sky Hub: SR203 Steps and the Max Hub Workarounds

Splitting the 2.4GHz and 5GHz WiFi bands on a Sky hub is the classic fix for smart plugs, cameras and bulbs that only speak 2.4GHz, and whether you can do it depends entirely on which hub Sky sent you. The black Sky Broadband Hub has a proper split option buried in its settings, while the white Sky Max Hub and the newer Gigafast+ Hub have no split option at all, and no amount of digging will find one. This guide covers the exact steps for the hubs that can split, the honest truth about the hubs that cannot, and the workarounds that get stubborn smart devices connected anyway.

The black Sky Broadband Hub (SR203) can split its WiFi bands: log in at 192.168.0.1, untick Synchronise 2.4GHz and 5GHz settings under Wireless, rename the 5GHz network and apply. The white Sky Max Hub (SR213) and Gigafast+ Hub cannot split bands at all. On those, temporarily disable the 5GHz band in the My Sky app while your smart device connects, then switch it back on.

Key Takeaways

• The Sky Broadband Hub (SR203) splits its bands properly: untick Synchronise 2.4GHz and 5GHz settings at 192.168.0.1, then give the 5GHz network its own name.
• The white Sky Max Hub (SR213) and Gigafast+ Hub cannot split bands, the combined network is a deliberate design choice, and no hidden settings page changes it.
• On the Max Hub, temporarily disabling the 5GHz band in the My Sky app is the most reliable way to get a 2.4GHz-only smart device through setup.
• Dropping WiFi security from WPA3 to WPA2 in the My Sky app fixes many older smart devices that refuse to join the Max Hub or Gigafast+ Hub.
• A 2.4GHz-only device stays on 2.4GHz once connected, so re-enabling the 5GHz band after setup does not knock it back off the network.

Band splitting on a Sky hub depends entirely on the model

Sky has shipped five main hubs, and they sit in three camps. The old flat black Sky Hubs (SR101 and SR102) broadcast on 2.4GHz only, so there is nothing to split and every smart device already lands on the right band. The black dual band hubs, the Sky Q Hub (ER110 and ER115) and the upright Sky Broadband Hub (SR203), can split their bands through the admin pages at 192.168.0.1. The app-managed hubs, the white Sky WiFi Max Hub (SR213, WiFi 6) and the Gigafast+ Hub (WiFi 7, supplied on Sky's CityFibre multi-gigabit packages), cannot split their bands at all.

The reason anyone cares is smart home kit. Most budget smart plugs, bulbs, doorbells and cameras only have a 2.4GHz radio, but during setup your phone does the talking, and the phone usually sits on 5GHz. When both bands share one network name the phone and the plug can end up on different bands and pairing fails. Splitting the bands gives the 2.4GHz network its own name so you can put your phone on it during setup. If your device still refuses after that, work through our guide to a smart plug that will not connect to WiFi, because the cause is often the device rather than the hub.

The Sky Broadband Hub splits its bands at 192.168.0.1

On the Sky Broadband Hub (SR203) the whole job takes about ten minutes:

1. Connect a phone or computer to your Sky WiFi, or plug into a LAN port with an Ethernet cable.
2. Type 192.168.0.1 into the browser address bar and press Enter.
3. Log in with the username admin. The password is the default WiFi password printed on the sticker on the back of the hub, and it stays the original printed one even if you have changed your WiFi password since. Full credential details are in our Sky Hub login guide.
4. Select Wireless from the navigation bar.
5. Scroll down, untick Synchronise 2.4GHz and 5GHz settings, then scroll to the bottom and select Apply.
6. When the page reloads, open the 5GHz settings page that now appears, find the Name (SSID) box and add something like 5G to the end of the name, then Apply again.

You now have two networks: the original name on 2.4GHz and the new 5G-suffixed name on 5GHz. Join your phone to the 2.4GHz name, run the smart device setup, and it will pair first time far more often. Devices that were on 5GHz need reconnecting to the renamed network once. The hub's WiFi restarts briefly when you apply changes, which is normal; if the hub's LEDs look wrong afterwards, decode them with our Sky Broadband Hub lights guide. The Sky Q Hub offers the same Synchronise tickbox in its wireless pages, with sky as the default admin password, and you can leave the bands split permanently on either hub with no penalty.

The Sky Max Hub and Gigafast+ Hub cannot split bands, and no setting changes that

The honest answer for the white Sky WiFi Max Hub (SR213) is that band splitting is not possible. There is no Synchronise tickbox, no separate SSID fields and no manual channel selection. Visiting 192.168.0.1 on the Max Hub shows a read-only status page, and WiFi management lives in the My Sky app, which offers no split option either. The same applies to the newer Gigafast+ Hub, which runs a combined tri-band network across 2.4GHz, 5GHz and 6GHz.

This is deliberate. The Max Hub keeps both bands under one name so it can steer WiFi 6 devices between them automatically, and Sky removed the separation option rather than let a manual split undermine that. No firmware update has restored it, Sky support cannot unlock it, and any web page describing a Max Hub split setting is describing a page that does not exist. If a permanently separate 2.4GHz network name is a hard requirement for your smart home, the Max Hub and Gigafast+ Hub will not provide it, and the realistic choices are the workarounds below or different hardware, with the caveats that come with Sky's no-bridge-mode setup.

The workarounds that get smart devices onto 2.4GHz on the newer hubs

Four approaches cover almost every stuck device on a Max Hub or Gigafast+ Hub, in order of reliability:

• Temporarily disable the 5GHz band. Open the My Sky app, go to the hub's settings from the Home or Broadband tab, and use the WiFi settings to toggle the 5GHz band off. The hub then broadcasts on 2.4GHz only, your phone drops onto 2.4GHz, and the smart device pairs normally. Re-enable 5GHz once setup finishes. Every device that was using 5GHz loses WiFi while the band is off, so warn the household first.
• Drop the WiFi security from WPA3 to WPA2. Sky's own guidance for connecting older devices to the Max or Gigafast+ Hub covers this. In the My Sky app, open the hub's advanced settings and change the security mode from the default WPA3 to WPA2. Keep the same WiFi password and your existing devices stay connected. Many older smart devices simply do not support WPA3 and refuse the network until this changes.
• Use distance to force 2.4GHz. The 5GHz signal fades faster than 2.4GHz, so at the far end of the house or garden your phone naturally falls back to 2.4GHz. Running the pairing there sometimes works, but it is hit and miss and best treated as a last resort rather than a plan.
• Use the device's AP pairing mode. Many smart plugs and cameras, particularly Tuya and Smart Life models, offer an AP or hotspot pairing mode where your phone joins the device's own temporary network instead. This sidesteps the band problem entirely, and the steps are in our smart plug connection guide.

Life after setup stays simple because 2.4GHz devices hold their band

The part that worries people most turns out fine: a 2.4GHz-only device physically has no 5GHz radio, so once it has joined the network it stays on 2.4GHz forever, even after you switch the 5GHz band back on. The temporary toggle on the Max Hub is only needed at setup time, then repeated for each new smart device you add.

Two settings are worth leaving alone afterwards. If WPA2 got your smart kit connected, keep the hub on WPA2, because switching back to WPA3 will drop the same devices again. And on a Sky Broadband Hub, a split done once can stay split permanently; phones and laptops simply join the 5G-suffixed name for speed while the smart home lives on the 2.4GHz name.

If the workarounds still fail, the problem usually sits with the device or the app rather than the band, so check the smart plug troubleshooting steps before blaming the hub. Replacing the hub with your own router is the nuclear option, and it comes with real caveats on Sky: there is no bridge mode, and Sky authenticates with DHCP Option 61 rather than PPPoE, all covered honestly in our Sky Hub login and settings guide.