BT Home Hub 5

[Troll]

I was under the impression you got both, but as you say little point in having the Open Reach Box with a HH5, might check eBay

Is that the white box thingy that sits alongside a HH4 ? - I was trying to get an free upgrade to HH5 to go to a one box solution but BT would only supply at renewal time

[rajp]

I found the wifi on the HH5 pretty poor so have turned that off and instead, purchased a Ubiqiti Unify Access Points.. since installing this, wifi signal thru out the house has been rock solid and not had a need to restart the router to cater for poor wifi..

Since installing this at my house, I have done the same for my brothers house and he has Virgin Broadband and again, the WIFI signal is superb compared to the router provided by the provider..

[jbond007]

I found the wifi on the HH5 pretty poor so have turned that off and instead, purchased a Ubiqiti Unify Access Points.. since installing this, wifi signal thru out the house has been rock solid and not had a need to restart the router to cater for poor wifi..

Since installing this at my house, I have done the same for my brothers house and he has Virgin Broadband and again, the WIFI signal is superb compared to the router provided by the provider..

Most broadband providers (in fact all) subsidise the routers and hence will try and make savings where ever they can, be it using a cheaper chipset, cheaper casing, etc, etc. You will always find commercially available routers to be better than those provided by the ISP.

Unless they themselves start charging for the router, this will continue to be the case

[WTFH]

Most broadband providers (in fact all) subsidise the routers and hence will try and make savings where ever they can, be it using a cheaper chipset, cheaper casing, etc, etc. You will always find commercially available routers to be better than those provided by the ISP.

Unless they themselves start charging for the router, this will continue to be the case

Also the number of "IT Experts" who don't know how to configure one in their own home so it works well is quite astounding. Bad workmen always blame their tools.

[rajp]

Also the number of "IT Experts" who don't know how to configure one in their own home so it works well is quite astounding. Bad workmen always blame their tools.

Perhaps you could enlighten the other "IT Experts" then on how they should configure their router?

[WTFH]

Perhaps you could enlighten the other "IT Experts" then on how they should configure their router?

I'm not an IT Expert in the area of broadband/wifi, but I have taken positive advice from others, rather than the negative stuff of "the equipment is cheap/nasty".


Why spend £50+ on a new router if your existing router is perfectly adequate?


If your issue is WiFi performance then check the location of the router and check for interference. The tool I use is iNNsider.


Sometimes the issue is as simple as resetting the router (with it on Auto channel) so that it picks up a clear part of the spectrum.
Sometimes the issue is resolved by taking the router off auto and manually assigning a channel by monitoring what other channels are in use.
Sometimes the issue is caused by dual frequency devices (router or PC/tablet/phone) e.g. where it is trying to choose the faster connection when the slower one is a stronger signal.


When many people get a BT/Virgin router, they just plug it in and let it configure automatically, but when they buy a 3rd party one they tend to take the time and effort to configure it. If you take the time and effort to configure a BT/Virgin one, you'll benefit.


...but I am not an expert.

[MrMarkyMark]

FTFY

Also the number of "IT Experts" who don't know absolutely anything is quite astounding.

[d000hg]

Most broadband providers (in fact all) subsidise the routers and hence will try and make savings where ever they can, be it using a cheaper chipset, cheaper casing, etc, etc. You will always find commercially available routers to be better than those provided by the ISP.

Unless they themselves start charging for the router, this will continue to be the case

This is not strictly true. You will always find expensive, top-end routers to be better. You won't automatically find that any router you can buy commercially is better than every 'free' router from your ISP. Companies selling routers also want to cut costs just as your ISP does.

[rajp]

I'm not an IT Expert in the area of broadband/wifi, but I have taken positive advice from others, rather than the negative stuff of "the equipment is cheap/nasty".


Why spend £50+ on a new router if your existing router is perfectly adequate?


If your issue is WiFi performance then check the location of the router and check for interference. The tool I use is iNNsider.


Sometimes the issue is as simple as resetting the router (with it on Auto channel) so that it picks up a clear part of the spectrum.
Sometimes the issue is resolved by taking the router off auto and manually assigning a channel by monitoring what other channels are in use.
Sometimes the issue is caused by dual frequency devices (router or PC/tablet/phone) e.g. where it is trying to choose the faster connection when the slower one is a stronger signal.


When many people get a BT/Virgin router, they just plug it in and let it configure automatically, but when they buy a 3rd party one they tend to take the time and effort to configure it. If you take the time and effort to configure a BT/Virgin one, you'll benefit.


...but I am not an expert.

That is all sound good advice.. one other thing people should also try is where their routers come with dual band WIFI, most routers will give the same SID for both bands.. it is advisable to give them different names so that you are aware of which band it should connect to. I found the 5Gz is pretty poor at travelling thru walls.. I did all that you mentioned and that still didn't resolve the issue.. so when all else fails, the best option is to invest in a good AP. And there is nothing wrong in that.

[WTFH]

So, why did you turn off the wifi on your HH5? Why not use it AND the access point(s)?
Run a cable to the AP in another part of the house, put both networks on different channels and you've got better coverage.