I wish I had stayed with BT

[#1]

I've recently moved to Plusnet, thinking that it would be cheaper than BT. I've shelled out on the adaptors, but they do absolutely nothing, and also a booster, which somehow 'boosts' the signal from 500 mb/s to 2.5 mb/s if I'm lucky in the 'dead zones' of the house, where I was previously getting 150, and I'm back to watching the spinning circle on the TV in the middle of watching something. BTW the 500 mb/s only applies within about 1 m of the hub, elsewhere it is considerably less.

I wish I had stayed with BT now as I had a nice reliable and strong signal all over the house. I've kept the BT disc and I'm going to try and get it working with the plusnet hub. I'll have to take the financial hit.

If anybody else is thinking of moving over I'd advise them to think about it very carefully.

[#2]

@Gerry5  the Plusnet supplied Hub 2 is basically the same as the BT Smart Hub 2, so if you needed wifi extenders with the BT hub then you'll need similar with the PN Hub.

Whether the BT ones will work depends on which type they are , the Black ones won't ( see here https://community.plus.net/t5/Full-Fibre/Compatibility-of-BT-Black-Disc-Range-Extenders-with-Plusnet... ) but the White Whole home wifi ones should https://community.plus.net/t5/Tech-Help-Software-Hardware-etc/BT-Whole-Home-Wifi-with-PN/m-p/1652505...

[#3]

Sorry I didn't get back on this earlier - I've been pootling along on dial-up speeds, but my son complained to me today as he is having problems playing on his games console, so I called plusnet, and I'm still none the wiser - the adviser informed me to get a TP-link, but not a 'mesh'. It's all Greek to me, but from what I can see all the TP-link boosters mention the word 'mesh'. I really don't want to fork out on something that isn't going to work.

Thank you for the link, but I was blinded by science, so I got lost almost immediately Do you have a recommendation for a whole house system, such as the BT disc, that I can just get from Amazon and plug in without having cables everywhere, and without breaking the bank? I have no need for alexa or fancy apps or anything like that, just something that will allow me to get what I am supposedly paying for, i.e. Full Fibre 500, which I think means 500 mb/s? 

Thanks for any help

[#4]

@Gerry5 

Just to be clear - if you are receiving the expected speed at the router and it's WiFi you have trouble with then it's your problem, not PlusNets.

PN are supplying the service you pay for. They do not guarentee WiFi speeds.

Brian

[#5]

I know this I just need to find a machine that will extend my wi-fi speed around the house like the BT black disc used to do.

[#6]

@Gerry5 

The wording of a previous post implied you didn't think you were getting what you paid for from PlusNet, hence my clarification.

I can't help with mesh systems or the like but have you considered running ethernet cable (if possible) and working from that. This gives you a solid starting point to work form elsewhere in the house.

If not possible indoors consider getting someone in to run external cable, terminated at either end by ethernet wall sockets. Not the cheapest option but it is future proof.

Brian

[#7]

That would probably work, but it would be messy and expensive, and would sort of defeat the purpose of wi-fi. However I can't plug an ethernet cable into my phone or laptop as they don't have the requisite ports. 

As I said, the plusnet advisor mentioned TP link, but not one with 'mesh' as it wouldn't be suitable. He couldn't remember the particular model number. I was just wondering whether anybody on this community knew of something.  

[#8]

@Gerry5 the adviser informed me to get a TP-link, but not a 'mesh'. It's all Greek to me, but from what I can see all the TP-link boosters mention the word 'mesh'. I really don't want to fork out on something that isn't going to work.

Thank you for the link, but I was blinded by science, so I got lost almost immediately Do you have a recommendation for a whole house system, such as the BT disc, that I can just get from Amazon and plug in without having cables everywhere, and without breaking the bank?

The BT black disc system is a 'mesh' and so if you need something similar you do need a mesh system. Since you have Full fibre , you can dispense with the Hub 2 completely and connect the master mesh unit to the ONT directly.

As I said, the plusnet advisor mentioned TP link, but not one with 'mesh' as it wouldn't be suitable.

I'm sorry but the advisor was talking rubbish!

First thing to say is unless your wireless devices are Wifi 6 capable then they are going to be limited to around 350-400Mb wireless speeds, so don't expect to get the full 500Mb on those devices.

Ok, so on to mesh systems. Fisrt I must say I've not used these personally as I have no need. The TP link systems seem to get good reviews and they also now have a budget brand called Mercusys which seem to be identical units but considerably cheaper. For instance the Tplink  Deco X55 triple pack is £250 on Amazon wheras the (on the face of it) the identically spec'd Mercusys H80X triple system can be had for £160.

You need to look through reviews I'm afraid, come up with a short list and maybe ask for specific advice here

[#9]

---

@Gerry5 wrote:

I can't plug an ethernet cable into my phone or laptop as they don't have the requisite ports. 

.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/AmazonBasics-USB-Type-C-Ethernet-Adapter-White/dp/B01M4J1H1U 

[#10]

Thank you for your reply.

Re: Since you have Full fibre , you can dispense with the Hub 2 completely and connect the master mesh unit to the ONT directly.

I'm afraid I might be lost already - so I don't need a router at all? Is the master mesh unit the TP link?

Sorry if I am sounding stupid, but I have zero idea when it comes to this sort of thing, I need it to be put into idiot terms

I'm not that concerned about 500 mb/s - the old BT bl;ack disc gave 150 throughout the house, and to be honest, I'd be happy with a constant 20 which would be more than sufficient. As it is, I'm getting about 5-10 outside the room where the router is actually located and directly underneath it, and close to zero in the attic room and the 'granny flat' downstairs.

The advisor said that I should be able to get something for about £35. As per my original message, if I had known that changing supplier would have necessitated a financial outlay such as you suggest, and I am sure your advice is rock solid, I would have never moved over. Oh well ... 

[#11]

Interesting, but it would be cumbersome to take this around the house when using my 'phone - I might as well go back to having a landline, albeit with an extremely long cable!  

[#12]

On your advice, I've gone for this - from the description it seems to be able to do what I need, and I can live with the price.  

They only have one left, so I snapped it up before somebody else does. I'll let you know if it works.

Just one thing, though - would I plug this straight into the openreach modem, or into the router?

[#13]

I'm afraid I might be lost already - so I don't need a router at all? Is the master mesh unit the TP link?

@Gerry5  There's a good explanation of mesh systems here https://www.howtogeek.com/290418/what-are-mesh-wi-fi-systems-and-how-do-they-work/

the BT black discs that you previously had, used the BT Hub as the master 'node' of the mesh and the discs were 'slave' nodes. With a third party mesh system, the base node can act as the router and thus is similar in functionality to your BT Hub. You would merley have to configure the base node with your PLusnet credentails i.e username/password and then connect it with an ethernet cable to trhe ONT.

I'm not that concerned about 500 mb/s - the old BT bl;ack disc gave 150 throughout the house, and to be honest, I'd be happy with a constant 20 which would be more than sufficient. As it is, I'm getting about 5-10 outside the room where the router is actually located and directly underneath it, and close to zero in the attic room and the 'granny flat' downstairs.

TBH the Plusnet Hub ought to be capable of better than that. Have you tried the traditional methods of changing the wireless channel on the router ? These days routers try and be 'clever' and scan for adjacent interfering wifi networks and then adjust the channel they use automatically. The problem can be that interference as seen at the router location can be considerably different to where the actual wifi devices are being used. A better method is to use a wifi analyzer app on a phone and scan for adjacent networks, both at the router and where the devices are used. A compromise can then be selected of the channel that has least interference from adjacent networks. That information is then used to disable the automatic channel selection on the router and set the channel manually.

[#14]

I wouldn't know where to start with signal analysis, changing channels (I didn't even know it had different channels),  etc so I'll see how it goes with these mercusys things - I might call a neighbour if I get stuck.

Thank you for the time you have taken answering my query, nonetheless. At least you have pointed me in the right direction.

[#15]

On your advice, I've gone for this - from the description it seems to be able to do what I need, and I can live with the price.  

They only have one left, so I snapped it up before somebody else does. I'll let you know if it works.

Just one thing, though - would I plug this straight into the openreach modem, or into the router?

@Gerry5 you have two options:-

1) leave the base H30G in its default router mode, when going through the setup, configure its internet connection as PPPoE with your plusnet username & password. Then connect it directly to the ONT.

2) change the base H30G to 'access point' mode and then connect it to a LAN port on the Hub 2, leaving that connected to the ONT. No need to configure username & password as the Hub 2 automatically makes the internet connection. It would probably be best to disable wifi on the Hub 2 to prevent it interfering with the H30G mesh.

edit: I might have been inclined to go for the H50G at £10 more as (on paper) it has better wifi specs

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mercusys-Coverage-Halo-H30-3-pack/dp/B09C7JDYJ1

click the AC1900 mesh (3 pack) box

[#16]

On your advice, I've gone for this - from the description it seems to be able to do what I need, and I can live with the price.  

They only have one left, so I snapped it up before somebody else does. I'll let you know if it works.

Just one thing, though - would I plug this straight into the openreach modem, or into the router?

@Gerry5 you have two options:-

1) leave the base H30G in its default router mode, when going through the setup, configure its internet connection as PPPoE with your plusnet username & password. Then connect it directly to the ONT.

2) change the base H30G to 'access point' mode and then connect it to a LAN port on the Hub 2, leaving that connected to the ONT. No need to configure username & password as the Hub 2 automatically makes the internet connection. It would probably be best to disable wifi on the Hub 2 to prevent it interfering with the H30G mesh.

edit: I might have been inclined to go for the H50G at £10 more as (on paper) it has better wifi specs

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mercusys-Coverage-Halo-H30-3-pack/dp/B09C7JDYJ1

click the AC1900 mesh (3 pack) box