Weapons-grade home WiFi suggestions
Discussion
Is there anywhere you could run a cable to the top floor (or loft) and put an a second access point up there? Otherwise if it's pretty clear up a stair well a mesh node or repeater at the top of the stairs might do the job but make sure it's in a spot with a decent reception from the main router.
DoctorX said:
We have an Orbi Mesh set up connected to a Virgin Superhub. Has worked flawlessly for years. Received an email to say the Orbi is now end of service and will receive no further software updates. Obviously, they want me to buy a new one and indicate that my current gear is a now a security risk.
Can any learned people advise whether this is indeed the case and am I likely to be hacked forthwith?
Many thanks.
Same. They include a helpful link to a replacement system costing £750 Can any learned people advise whether this is indeed the case and am I likely to be hacked forthwith?
Many thanks.
I bought most of the system in November 2018. I bought the 4G router component in November 2023.
Obviously when hardware goes out of support it doesn't immediately become a security risk, but it is likely that it will eventually become vulnerable. Exactly how much of a threat that amounts to is debatable. There are IoT devices on it - Hive heating, cameras, thermometer/hygrometers, lights, TV, audio streamer. My laptop and our phones, when we're there.
What could a bad actor do? What would they want to do?
There is no valuable information available. There is no direct way to steal money.
It would be possible to cause disruption or damage, for example by bricking vulnerable devices or the network itself. That could be done for ransom purposes by criminals or by a state actor to attack and disrupt the UK - the latter would not be worth doing unless it was possible to hit a large proportion of households, and while I'm sure Putin would love, for example, to brick everyone's heating in the middle of winter, it's not a realistic scenario. The former - technically feasible, but difficult to execute and get paid.
It would be technically possible to steal electricity by running crypto mining software on IoT devices, but most of them have so little processing power onboard that it's not worth it.
They might be able to run some sort of MITM attack on user devices used on the network to steal credentials, but most of those still require the end user to do something stupid.
I'm not hugely worried and not in a rush to replace the kit, but I'm afraid that when I do I won't be buying Netgear.
I just picked up 3 deco P9s off eBay for £65.
Fortunate to have ethernet connections from the main router location to the front room and upstairs so it's using ethernet backhaul.
Getting c350+ Mbps on my phone sat here. Low end is around 80 in the further reaches of a couple of the kids bedrooms.
Loads better than the previous hack I had going on with the standard Plusnet router and a repurposed router as an access point upstairs.
Main difference is my Google home devices (speakers, heating, vacuum) appear to react a lot more quickly. Particularly my speaker setup, casting was often painful, it's now instant(ish).
Fortunate to have ethernet connections from the main router location to the front room and upstairs so it's using ethernet backhaul.
Getting c350+ Mbps on my phone sat here. Low end is around 80 in the further reaches of a couple of the kids bedrooms.
Loads better than the previous hack I had going on with the standard Plusnet router and a repurposed router as an access point upstairs.
Main difference is my Google home devices (speakers, heating, vacuum) appear to react a lot more quickly. Particularly my speaker setup, casting was often painful, it's now instant(ish).
Connections are generally 5Ghz. You get 350mbps on the ground floor and about 25 on the top floor with the router placement. I work from home on the top floor and rarely have any performance problems, even when using Sky Go during conf calls snd stuff. To be honest it might just be the aging PS4 having a fit.
I wonder if I ought to just go Mesh. I can put another Mesh point almost directly above where the first is which ought to be fairly robust.
I wonder if I ought to just go Mesh. I can put another Mesh point almost directly above where the first is which ought to be fairly robust.
RizzoTheRat said:
Is there anywhere you could run a cable to the top floor (or loft) and put an a second access point up there? Otherwise if it's pretty clear up a stair well a mesh node or repeater at the top of the stairs might do the job but make sure it's in a spot with a decent reception from the main router.
Would love to run a cable but that isn’t massively practical. Arranguez said:
Connections are generally 5Ghz. You get 350mbps on the ground floor and about 25 on the top floor with the router placement. I work from home on the top floor and rarely have any performance problems, even when using Sky Go during conf calls snd stuff. To be honest it might just be the aging PS4 having a fit.
.
25 is going to feel slow if they're doing any large game update type downloads, especially if they know downstairs is faster. OTOH, it is comfortably enough for reasonable resolution streaming and video calls. I wonder what WFH on the top floor when the kids are also using that wifi connection is like?.
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