Upgrade BT Router or Add Mesh WiFi?

wndsr · 27 Apr 2020 at 12:02

Hi folks,

I'm with BT FTTP on a 50Mbps connection. Wired performance is absolutely brilliant, no complaints at all. WiFi performance is average at best and I'm wondering whether it is worth replacing the BT Smart Hub with a new router, or buying a Mesh system to serve as the wireless network.

Attached are two speed test results from both my iPhones:

My gut feel is that going for a decent router with WiFi strong enough to get through the entire house would be sufficient, but will take any guidance.

Would welcome advice on (1) router upgrades (2) Mesh networks to bolt on to the existing BT Smart Hub.

nlel1975 · 27 Apr 2020 at 13:12

If I stand next to my router with my iPhone XR I get this...

How far away are you from the router when you use your iPhones?

wndsr · 27 Apr 2020 at 14:23

nlel1975 said:
If I stand next to my router with my iPhone XR I get this...

How far away are you from the router when you use your iPhones?

Is that with a BT router? I assume not?

Layout below...

nlel1975 · 27 Apr 2020 at 14:27

wndsr said:
Is that with a BT router? I assume not?

No I’m using a Netgear R6800 AC 1900 router connected to a Genexis ONT/modem over the WAN port. It’s nothing special cost £ 66.66 ex VAT when I bought it 1.5 years ago.

wndsr · 27 Apr 2020 at 14:29

nlel1975 said:
No I’m using a Netgear R6800 AC 1900 router connected to a Genexis ONT/modem over the WAN port. It’s nothing special cost £ 66.66 ex VAT when I bought it 1.5 years ago.

Cheers. Definitely starting to think it's isolated to the WiFi on the BT Smart Hub...

Caged · 27 Apr 2020 at 14:59

The Smart Hub has good Wi-Fi in my experience, if you're getting such poor performance then it's potentially faulty.

Edit: People get a bit excited about mesh products, but assuming your house is over two levels and it's a timber framed new build then covering that whole space from a single central location shouldn't be a struggle really.

WJA96 · 27 Apr 2020 at 15:21

I would agree with that. Are your phones definitely connecting on the 5GHz band? From memory you need to split the bands on the BT hubs then only connect on 5GHz. After that the BT mesh units have a decent reputation but they’re sticking plasters rather than proper treatments for your issue.

Caged · 27 Apr 2020 at 16:03

Here's a really good way to perform Wi-Fi diagnostics on iOS devices:

https://developer.apple.com/service...h=/iOS/iOS_Logs/WiFi_Logging_Instructions.pdf

I don't think you need a developer account to access them. The profile can be installed from:

https://developer.apple.com/service...th=/iOS/iOS_Logs/MegaWifiProfile.mobileconfig

And it adds diagnostics to your Wi-Fi settings, you get things like this out of it:

wndsr · 27 Apr 2020 at 22:39

Thanks all. I've checked the router and it seems I had disabled the 5Ghz connection for some reason. I've re-enabled that now and seeing better speeds. It looks like it doesn't create two separate networks but just keeps the one - is that correct?

@Caged I've downloaded the diagnostics and found it very interesting. There certainly wasn't an issue with signal strength which was reassuring.

Caged · 27 Apr 2020 at 23:28

Are you sure you don't have a Smart Hub 2 if you can't see an option to split the SSIDs? I don't like doing it in any case, I prefer to have devices pick whatever band they feel is best - most of my things will default to 5GHz and roam to 2.4GHz as they move away. You might be able to turn off 2.4Ghz but it depends on what your phones, tablets, IoT etc. support, and whether you want to try and get a connection in the garden.

WJA96 · 28 Apr 2020 at 04:05

It makes no difference if you have one or two SSIDs. The device will still choose the one with the highest perceived signal strength and that tends to be 2.4GHz. Unless you have band-steering of some description or manually set the RSSI levels for each band you have no control over the process. If you split the SSIDs, you can manually force the device onto the 2.4GHz or 5GHz channels which gives you options to see what’s going on.

wndsr · 28 Apr 2020 at 07:32

Here is a screenshot of the wireless settings in the Smart Hub 2 admin console. I guess it's just transmitting on one SSID?

WJA96 · 28 Apr 2020 at 07:38

Yes, there doesn’t appear to be any option there to split the SSIDs, but if enabling 5 GHz gave you the speed boost, you’re picking up the 5 GHz anyway. So I think that’s probably about as far as you can sensibly take this.

wndsr · 28 Apr 2020 at 07:47

Thanks, I'll keep an eye on it.

Caged · 28 Apr 2020 at 09:06

The reason I asked is because the Smart Hub and the Smart Hub 2 are different products and have different options - giving the two bands different SSIDs is one of those differences (the Smart Hub 2 was built to work with the Wi-Fi discs so doesn't give you that option). The Smart Hub 2 is a 4x4 802.11ac Wave 2 device so you'd have to spend a not insignificant amount of cash to get a router with the same specs.

If you try with the 5GHz band enabled for a bit but are still having problems then try moving the router just to the outside of the cupboard and see how you get on - it's possible that your internal walls are metal framed which could cause issues.

kinetic747 · 28 Apr 2020 at 09:32

I've just installed a Tenda Nova MW6 to try to sort out WiFi dropouts on a BT Smart Hub. It's a bit overkill as I'm on an ADSL connection, but so far so good, no dropouts and I even get a good signal at the bottom of the garden lol.