WiFi repeaters on FTTP

[#1]

Hi, after several weeks of problems with our broadband we have upgraded to Full Fibre.  Took several days and engineer visits to get it sorted but it went live today. Standing right next to the router we are getting speeds of 150mbps which is great.  However in other rooms it drops significantly, and in the room where my computer is I'm getting less than 10. On the old copper connection we used a WiFi repeater - without this I'm getting no signal at all upstairs.  One of the engineers told me that these repeaters can cause signal interference, and that seems to be right - as soon as I switch it on speeds drop even when close to the router.  But without it I can get no signal at all to my computer upstairs. It had worked perfectly well on our old connection until OpenReach started work installing FTTP to our little village - since then everything has been a nightmare and Plusnet can't seem to resolve the issue.  We'd hoped Full Fibre would solve all our problems but it's pretty useless if I can't get a WiFi signal upstairs!  Do I need a better repeater? Or is there another way to improve WiFi signal around the house?  It's not a big house so I really think we should be able to get a WiFi signal upstairs!

[#2]

Moderator's Note

This topic has been moved from Full Fibre to My Router

[#3]

@sallysturgess 

Ome thing to consider is running an external ethernet cable terminated with ethernet wall sockets at either end. This gives you a solid starting point upstairs.

It'll cost a bit but might also add value to the house.

Brian

[#4]

Thank you, I can see how that would be a good option to consider at some point.  However I don't think I'm being unreasonable to expect an acceptable WiFi signal without having to be right next to the router or without having to hardwire anything?  The speed reduces significantly even in the next room downstairs.  With our old copper wire connection and a WiFi repeater we had excellent signal all over the house and garden, so my question is specifically about the repeater on the new FTTP - the OpenReach engineer told me that they can often distrupt signal and this does seem to be the case.  He said that there is an alternative - I can't remember if he called it an extender or something like that... so I'd like to know if I should be replacing the old WiFi repeater with something else or an upgraded version or something to give us the decent signal all over the house that we used to have?

[#5]

With our old copper wire connection and a WiFi repeater we had excellent signal all over the house and garden, so my question is specifically about the repeater on the new FTTP

@sallysturgess 

The wifi repeater should work just as well on FTTP as it did on the old copper wire connection.

Ok, some questions that may help us to understand what the problem might be , and whether some minor reconfiguration is possible

What make/model is the extender ?

What model router did you have on the old copper connection ? and do you know which wireless channel it was using

What model router do you have now ? ( Plusnet Hub 2 I guess ?)

Are the old and new routers in the same place ?

[#6 · Accepted solution]

@sallysturgess 

Have you upgraded your hub as part of the move to Full Fibre? If so what did you have before your new Hub 2?

Wireless performance is a mixed bag and outside of the responsibility of Plusnet. At Full Fibre speeds it's always preferable to use Ethernet wherever practicable. The Openreach explanation should be taken with a large pinch of salt.

It could be that this could be no more than the wireless channel needing changing. If you log in to the hub and go to the Advanced/Wireless settings you can change the channel selection from Auto to manual and try different channels. If you need help with this then do ask.

Other options  https://community.plus.net/t5/Tech-Help-Software-Hardware-etc/Distributing-Data-around-Larger-Proper...

[#7]

Hi, thanks for your reply.  Not sure of the make/model of the WiFi repeater - on the back it says WiFi AP/Repeater, there is a MAC number and URL : aigital.com. I think we got it from Amazon.  More than happy to replace or upgrade with something better if you have a recommendation. We had the Plusnet Hub2 on the old connection and this hasn't changed - it's the same router in the same place. Just to explain a little what happened, an engineer came on Tuesday to install the FTTP and put the new box on the wall but couldn't get it working.  So we were left with our old line and router, but the new box there ready to go when they fixed the problem (which was external).  When OpenReach called this morning to say that they'd fixed the issue he just told me to plug an ethernet cable from the new box on the wall into the port on the Hub2 router and disconnect the old cable - which I did.  They didn't actually visit the house again to plug in and test or anything. I'm afraid I don't know which channel the old connection was using - I'm afraid I don't understand much of that stuff!

[#8]

Very strange!

So, just to be clear, you are using the same physical Hub 2 that you were before , in the same place , you've just literally removed the cable from the DSL port and connected an ethernet cable from the ONT (the new BT box) to the RED WAN port on the Hub 2 ?

If that is the case , I cant see why the repeater performance should be any different...

[#9]

Thanks so much! I have changed channels, and fingers crossed... so far there seems to be a big improvement

[#10]

I spoke too soon... a channel change improved things for all of 2 minutes. Yes, everything is exactly the same as before except that I unplugged the cable from one box, and plugged in a cable from the new box on the wall. I'll keep messing with the channels and see if I can get some improvement again. Thanks for your input

[#11]

@sallysturgess 

One thing not mentioned yet is power line adaptors.

As you are speaking of different floors you'd need ones which handle this OK (the signal has to go through the fuse box). You'd also need to ensure you get ones capable of high speed. I'm sure others can recommend good ones.

You get two types (three if you include power pass through - where you don't lose a socket). First is ethernet only - cables at either end or secondly ones which have WiFi capability.

Brian

[#12]

@sallysturgess 

If you have an Android phone then download a free WiFi sniffer app. I use WiFI Analyzer. This lets you see which channels are busy. Check at both your device and router locations. Choose the quietest. Check both the 2.4 and 5GHz bands.

[#13]

I too have a similar mystery. New plusnet hub FTTP @ 500. THEN into a Google mesh with 4 nodes. Node1 reads at 500 but the max I can get elsewhere is 70. This is Ok, BUT🤔? 

Are there settings that I have missed? Any help appreciated.