Replace EE router - Explain it to me like I am 5!
Discussion
Our EE supplied router has died.
Another is in the post, but honestly its performance is so crap I want to upgrade it with something that provides better range / speed.
We have a modestly sized home, with internal brick walls and the EE router struggles to provide a decent wifi signal to the other side of the house. I have got around this using a home plug kit, but honestly thats also pretty naff and also means a 75% or more drop in speed.
Honestly I have tried to get my head around this but for every bit of information there seems to be a conflicting claim elsewhere.
So questions:
1 - Can I completely remove the EE smart hub and replace with something like a TP Link AXE75?
2 - Or do I need to retain the EE smart hub and connect something like a TP Link AXE75 to it?
3 - Whats the advantage of either approach.
4 - Due to poor signal in and around the house, I had looked at a Mesh set up using a TP Deco M4. Does using mesh impact download speeds, like I have experienced with the home plug kit?
5 - Would combining a mesh set up with the EE smart hub negate the need for a new router?
Thanks in advance for the advice.
Another is in the post, but honestly its performance is so crap I want to upgrade it with something that provides better range / speed.
We have a modestly sized home, with internal brick walls and the EE router struggles to provide a decent wifi signal to the other side of the house. I have got around this using a home plug kit, but honestly thats also pretty naff and also means a 75% or more drop in speed.
Honestly I have tried to get my head around this but for every bit of information there seems to be a conflicting claim elsewhere.
So questions:
1 - Can I completely remove the EE smart hub and replace with something like a TP Link AXE75?
2 - Or do I need to retain the EE smart hub and connect something like a TP Link AXE75 to it?
3 - Whats the advantage of either approach.
4 - Due to poor signal in and around the house, I had looked at a Mesh set up using a TP Deco M4. Does using mesh impact download speeds, like I have experienced with the home plug kit?
5 - Would combining a mesh set up with the EE smart hub negate the need for a new router?
Thanks in advance for the advice.
We have a 4 bed detached house with a double garage on the side - the supplied BT router was poor at best at some parts of the house - and terrible in the garage.
I got a TP link mesh set up - was about £120 I think, it's brillant. One box in the study, another in my office upstairs and one in the garage and the wifi everywhere is great.
You plug it into your existing router with ethernet - set up a the new wifi network and you're sorted. In our case it offers much better and simpler control - you can set up guest networks, limit access, it tells you when someone is trying to connect a new device and you can accept / decline.
I got a TP link mesh set up - was about £120 I think, it's brillant. One box in the study, another in my office upstairs and one in the garage and the wifi everywhere is great.
You plug it into your existing router with ethernet - set up a the new wifi network and you're sorted. In our case it offers much better and simpler control - you can set up guest networks, limit access, it tells you when someone is trying to connect a new device and you can accept / decline.
The new router they send may be an improvement on the old one, so worth putting it in and seeing how it works. If you have a lot of wifi devices around the house consider logging in to the new router and changing the SSID and password to that if your old router rather than changing every device in the house.
Some providers will include wifi repeaters in the deal, this is a small device that you plug in to a mains socket somewhere that has a reasonable wifi signal, and it rebroadcasts the wifi.
Mesh setups like above work well, the TP-Link Deco range for example, but loads of other manufacturers do something similar. With these, you connect one unit to your EE supplied router with an ethernet cable, and then the others are like wifi repeaters above. You can either use them in access point mode, where the EE router does the routing, or you set the EE router to "passthrough" mode where it just acts as a modem, and the first node of your new system acts as the router.
If you have the ability to get ethernet cables around the house you can wire the remote nodes back to the master node and get better speeds.
You can replace the EE router with your own device, but you need to set it up properly and if you get any issues EE won't help. Putting it to passthrough/modem mode and having your own mesh or access points is an easier option.
Some providers will include wifi repeaters in the deal, this is a small device that you plug in to a mains socket somewhere that has a reasonable wifi signal, and it rebroadcasts the wifi.
Mesh setups like above work well, the TP-Link Deco range for example, but loads of other manufacturers do something similar. With these, you connect one unit to your EE supplied router with an ethernet cable, and then the others are like wifi repeaters above. You can either use them in access point mode, where the EE router does the routing, or you set the EE router to "passthrough" mode where it just acts as a modem, and the first node of your new system acts as the router.
If you have the ability to get ethernet cables around the house you can wire the remote nodes back to the master node and get better speeds.
You can replace the EE router with your own device, but you need to set it up properly and if you get any issues EE won't help. Putting it to passthrough/modem mode and having your own mesh or access points is an easier option.
Harpoon said:
What sort of broadband service are you on from EE? Do you have another BT device which plugs into the Internet "side" of the EE router? Depending on the service could be a fibre ONT or VDSL modem.
Good question, its a rural location, so we just have copper to the house, no fibre or ONT box. EE router just plugs into the master socket for the phone line, however we don't bother with a home phone.RizzoTheRat said:
The new router they send may be an improvement on the old one, so worth putting it in and seeing how it works. If you have a lot of wifi devices around the house consider logging in to the new router and changing the SSID and password to that if your old router rather than changing every device in the house.
Some providers will include wifi repeaters in the deal, this is a small device that you plug in to a mains socket somewhere that has a reasonable wifi signal, and it rebroadcasts the wifi.
Mesh setups like above work well, the TP-Link Deco range for example, but loads of other manufacturers do something similar. With these, you connect one unit to your EE supplied router with an ethernet cable, and then the others are like wifi repeaters above. You can either use them in access point mode, where the EE router does the routing, or you set the EE router to "passthrough" mode where it just acts as a modem, and the first node of your new system acts as the router.
If you have the ability to get ethernet cables around the house you can wire the remote nodes back to the master node and get better speeds.
You can replace the EE router with your own device, but you need to set it up properly and if you get any issues EE won't help. Putting it to passthrough/modem mode and having your own mesh or access points is an easier option.
Thanks for the detailed explanation. Thats been really helpful. It would appear that investing in a mesh set up like the Deco M4 (or similar) and operating the EE smart hub in pass through might be the best solution.Some providers will include wifi repeaters in the deal, this is a small device that you plug in to a mains socket somewhere that has a reasonable wifi signal, and it rebroadcasts the wifi.
Mesh setups like above work well, the TP-Link Deco range for example, but loads of other manufacturers do something similar. With these, you connect one unit to your EE supplied router with an ethernet cable, and then the others are like wifi repeaters above. You can either use them in access point mode, where the EE router does the routing, or you set the EE router to "passthrough" mode where it just acts as a modem, and the first node of your new system acts as the router.
If you have the ability to get ethernet cables around the house you can wire the remote nodes back to the master node and get better speeds.
You can replace the EE router with your own device, but you need to set it up properly and if you get any issues EE won't help. Putting it to passthrough/modem mode and having your own mesh or access points is an easier option.
At the moment I have an Xbox connected to the home plug set up which then goes to the EE smart hub. Would it be possible to keep this wired connection, whilst also using a Mesh set up? I am assuming the wired home plug connection, doesnt have the same drop off in speed as it does when accessing it over Wifi.
Thanks
The Deco P series (P9, PX50 etc) have powerline built in, so can use that as well as wifi to talk to the master unit, might be worth considering if you're getting decent speed with your homeplug and aren't able to put ethernet in. Otherwise yes you could use your existing homeplug to connect one of the mesh units, but check what speeds you're getting. I *think* that if you have an ethernet plugged in to a Deco it will only use that and not the wifi, so if the homeplug is slower than the wifi it would slow your whole system down.
Also the deco P and M models are wifi 5, which is getting old now, depending on your budget and required speeds the X models (X20, PX50, etc) are wifi 6 and may be worth a look.
Also the deco P and M models are wifi 5, which is getting old now, depending on your budget and required speeds the X models (X20, PX50, etc) are wifi 6 and may be worth a look.
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