Q about fibre router (Plusnet) and waps
Discussion
Hi, this is a 2 part question if anyone can help as I want to sort an issue at home and also I'm sorting a problem at a charity I'm involved with.
1- I'm with plusnet at home. Fibre to the port. I've got an ont which I assume is in old language a modem, this connects via a LAN patch cable in to the plusnet "router" wan port. I assume this router is just being used as a WiFi device? I ask because we have 500 speed and if I'm being honest it doesn't seem much if any quicker than the copper it replaced. When you do a speed test it scores fine, but in real life I find the signals not great and the speed suffers.
What I would like to do is use a better router box as I used to on copper, because I had a similar issue with the supplied router then and as soon as I went to a good quality unit the difference in performance was substantial. Can I do this, and do I need to enter the credentials for the internet account in to it or is all that done by the ont?
2 - I'm a trustee of a charity who owns a public building, cash is very tight so we need to deal with this as cheaply as possible rather than go to a company to do it.
At present we have incredibly slow internet which is beamed in via a relay, we can have fast fibre to another building nearby which is ours, and I can run a network cable down to the main building. That's all fine. In this building we've got a switch already and wireless access points in the ceilings. The signal off them is rubbish, are they generally only good for covering a room or do they normally have a decent range, the are circa 10 years old. It's almost as if they have lost potency. So I'm thinking to replace them which is a simple job, do we think that waps have improved in the last 10 years?
1- I'm with plusnet at home. Fibre to the port. I've got an ont which I assume is in old language a modem, this connects via a LAN patch cable in to the plusnet "router" wan port. I assume this router is just being used as a WiFi device? I ask because we have 500 speed and if I'm being honest it doesn't seem much if any quicker than the copper it replaced. When you do a speed test it scores fine, but in real life I find the signals not great and the speed suffers.
What I would like to do is use a better router box as I used to on copper, because I had a similar issue with the supplied router then and as soon as I went to a good quality unit the difference in performance was substantial. Can I do this, and do I need to enter the credentials for the internet account in to it or is all that done by the ont?
2 - I'm a trustee of a charity who owns a public building, cash is very tight so we need to deal with this as cheaply as possible rather than go to a company to do it.
At present we have incredibly slow internet which is beamed in via a relay, we can have fast fibre to another building nearby which is ours, and I can run a network cable down to the main building. That's all fine. In this building we've got a switch already and wireless access points in the ceilings. The signal off them is rubbish, are they generally only good for covering a room or do they normally have a decent range, the are circa 10 years old. It's almost as if they have lost potency. So I'm thinking to replace them which is a simple job, do we think that waps have improved in the last 10 years?
Wifi is just radio and performance in the real world is subject to building construction, interference from other radio, even atmospherics. This is even more of a problem with faster speeds demanded by modern devices. To answer your first question it's best to test the internet service separately from wifi, so best plug a laptop into the router directly with an decent ethernet cable and run your speedtest from there, you'll no doub't find it's much better than from the other side of the building on a wifi connection. Re your second question, yes new wifi standards have emerged over the last few years and Wifi7 is now a thing, if you've got 10yr old access points then replacing them even with Wifi6 versions will likely be an instant improvement, but depending on expected traffic levels and building construction you may want to consider business class AP's with higher MIMO numbers or ariels.
Q1
Perhaps. You’ll need to look at the management portal and see how your service is defined.
Some simply use dhcp, others pppoe and other methods.
Once you have this you can decide on the replacement kit.
The ont simply converts the fibre to Ethernet the router comes after that point.
You could use a mesh system and connect the nodes via Ethernet to the “router”
You could move to unifi, to-link Omada, pfsence or other routers and hang switch’s and ap's off that.
The question kind of becomes what requirements do you need to service
Perhaps. You’ll need to look at the management portal and see how your service is defined.
Some simply use dhcp, others pppoe and other methods.
Once you have this you can decide on the replacement kit.
The ont simply converts the fibre to Ethernet the router comes after that point.
You could use a mesh system and connect the nodes via Ethernet to the “router”
You could move to unifi, to-link Omada, pfsence or other routers and hang switch’s and ap's off that.
The question kind of becomes what requirements do you need to service
wildoliver said:
1- I'm with plusnet at home. Fibre to the port. I've got an ont which I assume is in old language a modem, this connects via a LAN patch cable in to the plusnet "router" wan port. I assume this router is just being used as a WiFi device? I ask because we have 500 speed and if I'm being honest it doesn't seem much if any quicker than the copper it replaced. When you do a speed test it scores fine, but in real life I find the signals not great and the speed suffers.
What I would like to do is use a better router box as I used to on copper, because I had a similar issue with the supplied router then and as soon as I went to a good quality unit the difference in performance was substantial. Can I do this, and do I need to enter the credentials for the internet account in to it or is all that done by the ont?
I'm with Plus Net, and have recently switched from a land line to full fibre. There was no change in router - they took my old one, didn't make any configuration changes, and plugged it into the new termination box, and once connected, it all just worked. That suggests to me that it you used the other box on copper, it would work on the fibre connection too. If your ONT is the box on the wall that the fibre is terminated into, I don't think that has any of the internet connection credentials - they didn't ask me for anything during the installation. I expect it could have been pre-programmed (as the router was when they sent it) I guess.What I would like to do is use a better router box as I used to on copper, because I had a similar issue with the supplied router then and as soon as I went to a good quality unit the difference in performance was substantial. Can I do this, and do I need to enter the credentials for the internet account in to it or is all that done by the ont?
There are a few things here:
ONT - Optical Network Terminal
Simply - the ONT converts the optical signals in to digital signals for your router to understand.
WiFi performance
This can be down to the location of the wifi router, or a poor quality ISP supplied router.
You can use your own access points around your house and run cables back to the router (that's what I have done) and/or your own router.
Plusnet have a helpful guide for setting up your router here
Note you need to add in the vlan (I have to do this with my ISP too.)
WAPs
They might be running onto 2.4GHz frequency which is heavily congested - I would try to find out the make and model of the APs and see if they can do 5GHz or not.
ONT - Optical Network Terminal
Simply - the ONT converts the optical signals in to digital signals for your router to understand.
WiFi performance
This can be down to the location of the wifi router, or a poor quality ISP supplied router.
You can use your own access points around your house and run cables back to the router (that's what I have done) and/or your own router.
Plusnet have a helpful guide for setting up your router here
Note you need to add in the vlan (I have to do this with my ISP too.)
WAPs
They might be running onto 2.4GHz frequency which is heavily congested - I would try to find out the make and model of the APs and see if they can do 5GHz or not.
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