Problems with BT wifi consistency

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-Rob-

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I was wondering if anyone could give me any advice as to why I might be getting really intermittent wifi signal at home.

I’ve had BT Infinity wifi since Feb of last year and up until about 2 months ago it has worked flawlessly. Very consistent wifi signal and good speed of 30mb+. However about 2 months ago I started getting a very inconsistent wifi connection on 2 smart phones, an ipad and laptop. The connection would just drop periodically but if you then switched off the wifi on the phone/ipad/laptop and back on again then it would reconnect. This is now happening every few minutes and is VERY annoying.

I also have a wired connection from the BT Hub to my PC and a media player and the wired connection never drops off.

I’ve tried changing the wifi channel, I’ve tried doing a BT Hub reset, I’ve tried turning it off and on again, I’ve tried moving the BT Hub in case there is interference, BT have even sent me a replacement Hub but nothing has made it any better. I’ve called BT and they’ve run tests on my wifi and acknowledged that there is a problem but as yet they’ve been unable to come up with a solution. They said the next step is to send out an engineer but there is the risk that I may be charged for it if the fault is found to be with my environment rather than their equipment.

Anyone any experience of this and any ideas what I could do to improve my signal?
 
^^ as above, cordless handset, or do you have wireless CCTV? - these typically 'broadcast' over all the channels and so will often knock out any wireless signal in the vicinity :|
 
The router has been in my tv cabinet since day one along with sky box, Wii, NAS drive and with TV and cordless phone on top. Nothing in the cabinet has moved or changed to cause the poor WiFi.

I've also tried sitting the BT hub in the middle of my lounge floor, as far from anything else as it can possibly be but the WiFi still drops out.
 
-Rob- said:
Nothing in the cabinet has moved or changed to cause the poor WiFi.
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That's the great thing with wi-fi - you might not change anything - your environment may well do though.

If you have a Windows laptop, download InSSIDer and run that. This will give you a map of what wireless networks are in your area to see if you have interference with others.

To be honest, I'd just dump the HH and buy something like an Asus RT-N66U (I assume you are on Infinity if you mention 30+Mbits). I have never had a good ISP provided wireless/router - they have always been flaky in one sense or other. The Asus is far, FAR better than anything BT will supply. I replaced an old Linksys with mine and it is superb.
 
arad85 said:
To be honest, I'd just dump the HH and buy something like an Asus RT-N66U (I assume you are on Infinity if you mention 30+Mbits). I have never had a good ISP provided wireless/router - they have always been flaky in one sense or other. The Asus is far, FAR better than anything BT will supply. I replaced an old Linksys with mine and it is superb.
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Slightly OT, but can I ask why?
We've got the HH3 and have had no issues with it, but I keep reading how they're rubbish.... whats rubbish about them? would I get a faster transfer over a different (better) router?
As we get 80MB/s using a cable into the hub, but only 30-50 over wifi. :shrug:
 
Perhaps the HH is dying? I'd contact BT. They'll probably send a new one.
 
arad85 said:
That's the great thing with wi-fi - you might not change anything - your environment may well do though.

If you have a Windows laptop, download InSSIDer and run that. This will give you a map of what wireless networks are in your area to see if you have interference with others.

To be honest, I'd just dump the HH and buy something like an Asus RT-N66U (I assume you are on Infinity if you mention 30+Mbits). I have never had a good ISP provided wireless/router - they have always been flaky in one sense or other. The Asus is far, FAR better than anything BT will supply. I replaced an old Linksys with mine and it is superb.
Click to expand...

I had considered the option of replacing the hub with something else but that Asus one is over £100. Are there any cheaper routers that would do a good job?

Also, at the moment I have a white box as the router and the black Home Hub 3. Would the Asus replace both boxes with a single box?
 
RacingSnake said:
Slightly OT, but can I ask why?
We've got the HH3 and have had no issues with it, but I keep reading how they're rubbish.... whats rubbish about them? would I get a faster transfer over a different (better) router?
As we get 80MB/s using a cable into the hub, but only 30-50 over wifi. :shrug:
Click to expand...
Generally, they tend to have bugs that show up when you stress them, can be unstable and with the HH it only has a single Gbit port. Also the wireless tends to be pants in comparison to better boxes (lower power, less stable).

-Rob- said:
I had considered the option of replacing the hub with something else but that Asus one is over £100. Are there any cheaper routers that would do a good job?

Also, at the moment I have a white box as the router and the black Home Hub 3. Would the Asus replace both boxes with a single box?
Click to expand...
Hmm... The old rule of you get what you pay for applies here unfortunately. My personal opinion is that £100 for stability and the wireless performance that box has isn't too bad a price to pay. Asus do do cheaper ones (56 I think) and you can get some good older routers if you only want G speed. I tend to look around here: http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/ when it comes to wireless... Although an American site (so doesn't cover some UK specifics) it is a useful source of what's good and bad (although it is very technical in places).
 
-Rob- said:
As I mentioned above, I've had a replacement already.
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Didn't notice that bit!

If you do a check of nearby wireless networks and pick the leased used channel and fix the BT router to it and see how you get on. If it is still poor then it looks like you may need to try a better and more robust router. Some deal with interference better than others.

There will have been some change that has triggered this behaviour. Could be something minor that you would never imagine would make a difference.
 
arad85 said:
To be honest, I'd just dump the HH and buy something like an Asus RT-N66U
Click to expand...

Done!!

If it doesn't improve things I'll send it back. If it does improve I'll be a bit ****ed off its cost me £110 to fix the problem but at least it'll be fixed.
 
-Rob- said:
Done!!

If it doesn't improve things I'll send it back. If it does improve I'll be a bit ****ed off its cost me £110 to fix the problem but at least it'll be fixed.
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<gulp> My geek reputation depends on your findings ;) :D
 
You don't have a wireless doorbell do you - the plugged in sort, rather than battery operated ?

I know of a few where the mains powered wireless door bell has been interfering with the wifi...

Hope you get it sorted out...
 
-Rob- said:
Done!!

If it doesn't improve things I'll send it back. If it does improve I'll be a bit ****ed off its cost me £110 to fix the problem but at least it'll be fixed.
Click to expand...
And do you still have it?
 
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