Improving home WiFi

[usn90]

my service provider is virgin fibre and I get around 600m, however upstairs and the downstairs dining room the WiFi signal is rubbish, admittedly between us we have more tech/gadgets than you can poke a stick at.

The hub is the hub 3, I have 2 virgin boosters which seem to help a little however we still have issues with buffering which surely shouldn’t be the case at those speeds.

Is there a better hub out there? One with preferably more than 4 Ethernet ports

[smn159]

usn90 said:

my service provider is virgin fibre and I get around 600m, however upstairs and the downstairs dining room the WiFi signal is rubbish, admittedly between us we have more tech/gadgets than you can poke a stick at.

The hub is the hub 3, I have 2 virgin boosters which seem to help a little however we still have issues with buffering which surely shouldn’t be the case at those speeds.

Is there a better hub out there? One with preferably more than 4 Ethernet ports

The Virgin hub is absolutely hopeless. Stick it into modem mode and get something better. I use the Google mesh puck things and they seem to work well, but pretty much anything will be an improvement.

[Gary C]

There are lots of hubs out there, but these days I would recommend two things.

Hardwire any fixed equipment, this unloads the wifi channels for devices that need it.

Get a mesh. Even better, get a mesh and hardwire in each access point..

Any wifi router is going to suffer with dead spots, but cheap, none mesh extenders have you swapping SSID's or relying on your device to jump by itself (and windows devices are notorious to hanging on for grim death to a connection)

I actually use the BT mini discs, as they are cheap and effective mesh devices but as they are single channel, they use the same radio channel for getting and sending the data so in true mesh mode they run at half the advertised speed so about 300-400mbps, however, mine are all hardwired so I get ~800mbps out of them and three are often on sale for <£100 which is a lot cheaper than other meshes.

It means that when I walk to the second floor with my laptop, there is no hint of changing access points and the speed is great (even if it cant quite manage the full speed of my internet connection).

[xeny]

smn159 said:

The Virgin hub is absolutely hopeless. Stick it into modem mode and get something better. I use the Google mesh puck things and they seem to work well, but pretty much anything will be an improvement.

Certainly pick something else to do the wifi - Mesh products or more "serious" access points such as Unifi are popular choices depending on your level of technical skill/interest. The routing aspect of the superhub is reasonable, so it's perfectly possible to leave it routing and turn the wifi off.

If you need more wired ports, 8 port gigabit switches are under £20 from the online retailer of your choice.

This thread https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&... has 40 pages of discussion of home wifi options.

[HRL]

I setup a mesh yesterday using the TP-Link Deco X60 kit and it’s superb.

Very old house made of stone and prior to installing the Deco kit the WiFi barely travelled more than 2 rooms.

Now full signal in the entire property. Bit pricey but excellent result with a very easy setup.

[efcgriswold]

We suffered this with virgin. As suggested we put it in modem mode and got one of these… ASUS RT-AC86U Wi-Fi AC2900

No longer needed the range extender for the Ring cam outside and wifi in the rear garden, router in the front room of a 1930 detached.

[Captain_Morgan]

There are a number of factors to consider, size and construction of the property, ability/willingness to install some Ethernet cabling, number of devices both wired and wireless, budget, technical ability, etc.

Often folk recommend mesh systems and in many instances they work well and are a good fit, though some generally they work better if hardwired or have dedicated channels for the backhaul. Some of the more expensive options come close or are more than more flexible offerings from unifi or tp-link Omada.

Some more details would help

[RizzoTheRat]

Another Deco fan here. My P9 system uses powerline for backhaul as well as the wifi, and each unit has 2 ethernet ports so can be hardwired back to the router or used as a wireless bridge.

Set the Virgin hub to router mode, plug one Deco node in to the router, and scatter the rest around the house as required. If you want more stuff wired then get a relatively cheap switch on the other port of the master node. I have PC and NAS drive on a wired connection like this. The playstation is plugged in to another node so communicating with the system over wifi despite not having wifi itself.

[Mr E]

For ease of deployment, mesh WiFi with seperate backhaul (tri band)

For 600mb, you may want to consider 801.11ax (wifi6). This will be expensive.

[Magnum 475]

Gary C said:

Hardwire any fixed equipment, this unloads the wifi channels for devices that need it.

This. If it doesn't move, and you can get cables to it, cable it. It's usually faster, and leaves wifi bandwidth available for devices that can't be wired.

Mr E said:

For ease of deployment, mesh WiFi with seperate backhaul (tri band)

For 600mb, you may want to consider 801.11ax (wifi6). This will be expensive.

Seconded - Mesh without Tri-band will work, but you'll be using some of your main wifi bandwidth for backhaul so it's going to slow down. WiFi 6 is the latest standard, so you're not buying a device that's already effectively obsolete.

I've just uprated my house to Wifi 6 all round, but on wired APs not on mesh. I've now got much better signal / coverage (could be due to change of brand too), and much better management of multiple connected devices.

[dmsims]

Deco or Orbi

You could probably reduce your Fibre speed and save some money!

[Gary C]

Magnum 475 said:

Seconded - Mesh without Tri-band will work, but you'll be using some of your main wifi bandwidth for backhaul so it's going to slow down. WiFi 6 is the latest standard, so you're not buying a device that's already effectively obsolete.

I've just uprated my house to Wifi 6 all round, but on wired APs not on mesh. I've now got much better signal / coverage (could be due to change of brand too), and much better management of multiple connected devices.

Yep, backhaul via hardwire is the best, just more difficult. But if you have run a network around the house, its worth getting mesh units that can use it for the backhaul.

I spent a few days crawling in the eves of the house running good quality cat6 cable and it was well worth it.

[usn90]

Captain_Morgan said:

There are a number of factors to consider, size and construction of the property, ability/willingness to install some Ethernet cabling, number of devices both wired and wireless, budget, technical ability, etc.

Often folk recommend mesh systems and in many instances they work well and are a good fit, though some generally they work better if hardwired or have dedicated channels for the backhaul. Some of the more expensive options come close or are more than more flexible offerings from unifi or tp-link Omada.

Some more details would help

-Detached 60’s 3 bedroom, 3 rooms downstairs + attached garage, brick internal walls.

-Ethernet routing is a no no, just had a full house re wire and full re-decorate, ( yes I feel a complete idiot, had the ceilings down and eveything!)

Wired (living room)
- PS5
-HIVE Heating bridge
- Phillips hue bridge
-Smart cat flap bridge

Wireless downstairs
- smart tv
- Sonos ( playbar, sub, play 1’s)
- Alexa echo show
- virgin box
-Ring doorbell
- printer
- hue lights ( if these use WiFi, can’t remember!)

Upstairs
- 3 smart tvs
- ps5
-Xbox
- 3 echos
-1 virgin box
- hue lights (?)
Anywhere

3 iPads
iPhones
MacBook


I did have the upstairs PlayStation wired into the virgin booster although that has since stopped working, the upstairs tvs, PlayStation and iPads are on most the evening if bandwidth use is a factor

Budget wise, I’d be happy to spend up to £150, a little more if it meant something more substantial

Technical ability, I’m fairly ok, although computers and networking are my downfall!

Edited by usn90 on Tuesday 29th June 21:40

Edited by usn90 on Tuesday 29th June 21:41

Edited by usn90 on Tuesday 29th June 21:42

Edited by usn90 on Tuesday 29th June 21:43

[usn90]

Thanks for the suggestions, I’ll be having a look at each

[Gren]

Got a similar setup to yours - Hive heating and bulbs/switches, loads of google home stuff and smart TVs/Chromecasts. Every corner of the house has something that needs wifi and some bulbs are outside.

Both of us working at home now constantly on video calls running 2 PCs at a time each.

Virgin hub3 in modem mode. Nest router upstairs and a router (in point mode) and point downstairs. Never missed a beat and so simple to set up and manage. I'm sure all the other mesh brands are as good.

[usn90]

Gren said:

Got a similar setup to yours - Hive heating and bulbs/switches, loads of google home stuff and smart TVs/Chromecasts. Every corner of the house has something that needs wifi and some bulbs are outside.

Both of us working at home now constantly on video calls running 2 PCs at a time each.

Virgin hub3 in modem mode. Nest router upstairs and a router (in point mode) and point downstairs. Never missed a beat and so simple to set up and manage. I'm sure all the other mesh brands are as good.

As I said networking is unfamiliar territory for me, assuming
Your virgin hub is downstairs, do you have an Ethernet running upstairs and into your nest router?

I’m assuming with these mesh products, one connects into my virgin hub via Ethernet and a plug socket, I then place the other mesh products into other rooms creating hotspots?

[xeny]

usn90 said:

I’m assuming with these mesh products, one connects into my virgin hub via Ethernet and a plug socket, I then place the other mesh products into other rooms creating hotspots?

Yes.

[RizzoTheRat]

usn90 said:

I’m assuming with these mesh products, one connects into my virgin hub via Ethernet and a plug socket, I then place the other mesh products into other rooms creating hotspots?

Spot on. If you can get ethernet to the other nodes so they use that as a backhaul instead of wifi it's worth doing as it frees up wifi bandwidth, but isn't essential. Another option is to use powerline (uses your mains electricity cables for networking) to link them together, either as additional connections or built in like my Deco P9. Mine's only dual band though, newer systems are tri band, meaning you get an extra 5GHz channel, giving higher bandwidth.

TP-Link have a pretty good description on thier site
https://www.tp-link.com/pt/mesh-wifi/

I'm pretty sure TP-Link Deco, Google Nest, Linksys Velop and Netgear Orbi all have option in your price range.

[Mr E]

usn90 said:

I’m assuming with these mesh products, one connects into my virgin hub via Ethernet and a plug socket, I then place the other mesh products into other rooms creating hotspots?

Exactly that, with the additional step of putting your virgin box into modem mode (turns the virgin router and WiFi function off)

[Captain_Morgan]

usn90 said:

-Detached 60’s 3 bedroom, 3 rooms downstairs + attached garage, brick internal walls.

-Ethernet routing is a no no, just had a full house re wire and full re-decorate, ( yes I feel a complete idiot, had the ceilings down and eveything!)

Wired (living room)
- PS5
-HIVE Heating bridge
- Phillips hue bridge
-Smart cat flap bridge

Wireless downstairs
- smart tv
- Sonos ( playbar, sub, play 1’s)
- Alexa echo show
- virgin box
-Ring doorbell
- printer
- hue lights ( if these use WiFi, can’t remember!)

Upstairs
- 3 smart tvs
- ps5
-Xbox
- 3 echos
-1 virgin box
- hue lights (?)
Anywhere

3 iPads
iPhones
MacBook


I did have the upstairs PlayStation wired into the virgin booster although that has since stopped working, the upstairs tvs, PlayStation and iPads are on most the evening if bandwidth use is a factor

Budget wise, I’d be happy to spend up to £150, a little more if it meant something more substantial

Technical ability, I’m fairly ok, although computers and networking are my downfall!

Edited by usn90 on Tuesday 29th June 21:40

Edited by usn90 on Tuesday 29th June 21:41

Edited by usn90 on Tuesday 29th June 21:42

Edited by usn90 on Tuesday 29th June 21:43

That’s a bummer having just rewired, I’d always recommend putting in a few runs these days wherever a tv is likely to go, wherever you have a desk where your phone / cable line enters the building and in the loft, but to late now.


I’d normally recommend a unifi udm and a ap or two but this is out on price and needing wires.


The netgear orbi offerings are okay but I think they are out on price.

You want a triband system ideally as this uses a dedicated radio channel as the link between the master and slave units.

If the master unit doesn’t have enough Ethernet ports no bother just budget for a small 5-8 port switch.

So id suggest either a tp-link deco or tendra mesh offerings though these are around the £220 plus range so already over budget

If you have power in your loft id try a two node system and place one up there as close as possible to being directly above the master node

The radio waves generally have an easier time through domestic floors than brick walls, so you could find you get a good link into the loft and as the radio is above the walls it gives a good signal throughout the first floor.
I have a single ap in our loft and get good coverage throughout our place and garden which is a 3 bed 1900’s with a rear extension

I’d use amazon buy a three node system and try the loft thing with two nodes and see if I had any dead spots where a third node was needed if not perhaps send back the three node and buy the cheaper two node pack?

When you set up the new system if you use the same wireless ssid and password as on the current virgin box you shouldn’t have to reconfigure any wireless clients.

Put the vm box into modem mode and then let the mesh system do the routing and dhcp etc

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01N5M9NNB/ref=emc_b_5...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tenda-Tri-band-Coverage-R...

Edited by Captain_Morgan on Wednesday 30th June 09:55