BT WiFi Disc Question

[Pookie123]

Hi all, I have BT internet at home using a smart hub (1st gen), I also have cat6 internet ports in all the bedrooms at home. I’ve been offered a WiFi disc (white one), if I have my smart hub where it normally is downstairs, can I plug the WiFi disc into one of the internet ports in my bedroom thus extending my WiFi upstairs? Tried Googling but couldn’t find anything.

Many thanks for your help.

Edit: forgot to add my BT Package is Fibre1 if that makes any difference

[51mes]

I've put a couple of BT whole home WiFi systems in for friends and family (and myself).

You put the first disc in plugged into your router, then turn off the router WiFi or you end up with 2 networks.

New discs then either link via WiFi to the other discs or via a ethernet link back via the router. (backhaul). They form a mesh to distribute a single wifi network around your house - so you can move around and the mesh will transparently hand off to the closest disc as you go...

A single disc wont give you any more than you have today - with your BT homehub router. though you could buy one or two more to deploy the Wifi mesh using the CAT6 ethernet to distribute it round your house.

S.

[Pookie123]

Thanks for the reply, so my next question is there something I can buy that will plug into the Cat6 port in my bedroom that will extend the WiFi upstairs?

[NDA]

Pookie123 said:

Thanks for the reply, so my next question is there something I can buy that will plug into the Cat6 port in my bedroom that will extend the WiFi upstairs?

Yes. Take a look at an 'Access Point' - this being slightly different to a repeater or extender.

Having said that, the BT disc that you've been offered would also work. If you plug it into your bedroom's CAT6 and ensure that the SSID and password are identical to your BT Hub, then it should work fine.

I have 6 of the BT discs around my house and 2 are hard-wired back to the router. Sort of defeats the purpose in some respects, but they are on the limit of the mesh.

[Pookie123]

NDA said:

Yes. Take a look at an 'Access Point' - this being slightly different to a repeater or extender.

Having said that, the BT disc that you've been offered would also work. If you plug it into your bedroom's CAT6 and ensure that the SSID and password are identical to your BT Hub, then it should work fine.

I have 6 of the BT discs around my house and 2 are hard-wired back to the router. Sort of defeats the purpose in some respects, but they are on the limit of the mesh.

Sorry is there a way I will know if the CAT 6 port has the same SSID? Also what is an SSID

[NDA]

Pookie123 said:

Sorry is there a way I will know if the CAT 6 port has the same SSID? Also what is an SSID

The SSID is the name of your home wifi.... nothing to do with CAT 6. CAT 6 is merely the wiring that connects your router to the socket - I assume it's plugged in? i.e. There is an ethernet cable going from your router to the socket?

So let's assume your home wifi network is called Pookie and the password is 1234. These will be settings on your BT Hub (router).

When you plug your BT mini disc in, you will need the BT Whole Home app on your phone to set it up. Get into the admin settings for your mini disc (via the app) and change the SSID (network name) to Pookie and the password to 1234. It should then perfectly replicate your BT Hub's wifi signal and extend its range.

Make sense?

[Pookie123]

Perfect. Thanks a lot for helping me with this.

[NDA]

No probs, do report back!

Also check that your router is actually connected to the CAT 6 cabling.

[Pookie123]

Just so you get an idea this is what was installed under my stairs with all the sky boxes in it too.



Excuse the mess recently had some work done and due to clean it out!

[NDA]

Probably not that difficult to sort out actually - but by someone who has a rough idea how these things work.

I assume there's an ethernet switch in there - a rack mounted things with loads of green lights on the front... the lights won't be illuminated at the moment (one or two might be). Your BT Hub will have a cable going into this switch. The switch is then feeding the different sockets.

[Pookie123]

NDA said:

Probably not that difficult to sort out actually - but by someone who has a rough idea how these things work.

I assume there's an ethernet switch in there - a rack mounted things with loads of green lights on the front... the lights won't be illuminated at the moment (one or two might be). Your BT Hub will have a cable going into this switch. The switch is then feeding the different sockets.

So does that mean if I plug my Disc upstairs into the Ethernet port am I good to go?

[NDA]

Pookie123 said:

So does that mean if I plug my Disc upstairs into the Ethernet port am I good to go?

Yes. Should be.

You need to install the disc via the BT Whole Home app. You need to make sure the CAT 6 socket is connected to the router.

You should change the SSID and password of the disc (via the app) to be IDENTICAL to your BT hub.

Should work!

[Lucas Ayde]

The discs basically replace the WiFi in your router/hub. You plug the first disc into an ethernet port on the router, the rest just need power as they will form a wireless mesh. On some of the BT offerings (the two lowest tiers I think, not the top one), you can use wired connections for each disc if they are available as then they won't have to use your wireless bandwidth to talk to each other theoretically increasing performance, but generally they work really well without doing that.

Once you set them up, you are best to turn router WiFi off to reduce congestion and the WiFi network that the discs provide is what you now connect to. You still go through the router for your internet or to route traffic between devices in the house.

I've got the WiFi mini set. Excellent value at £75 for three. Wired connection from my router to the first disc and the other two placed around the house, meshing wirelessly. Rock solid coverage of the entire house and maxes out my 75mpbs internet. A mate has them and gets 200mbps from his internet no problem. According to the specs, they will theoretically go over 800mpbs, but probably you would get more like 400mbps in real world conditions. Still excellent.

I got them because the built in WiFi on my HomeHub5 is unreliable - it keeps crapping out every four or five days with all the extra internet traffic of working from home, necessitating a router reboot to get it working properly again. They have been rock solid for me so far and were a great alternative to buying a new router.

[NDA]

Lucas Ayde said:

Once you set them up, you are best to turn router WiFi off to reduce congestion and the WiFi network that the discs provide is what you now connect to.
.

In this particular application - which is not quite normal - the OP is going to use the disc as an access point/extender, rather than creating a mesh network. He has, I assume, a freebie single disc and wants to use that.

[LeoSayer]

Not sure one disc on it's own will work but by all means give it a go. It's designed as a mesh system that interacts with the other discs.

The right solution (that worked for me) is exactly as Lucas described above.

[Lucas Ayde]

NDA said:

In this particular application - which is not quite normal - the OP is going to use the disc as an access point/extender, rather than creating a mesh network. He has, I assume, a freebie single disc and wants to use that.

That would work, sure. Just give it the same SSID/pw as the router WiFi (without turning off the router WiFi) and it would work like an extra access point for increased coverage (with the ethernet to the router).

Though it'd be better to pick up a second disc cheap off of eBay and benefit from the zoned coverage of a proper mesh network. ie. The discs hand off to each other. Using as a means to increase coverage with an identical SSID, devices are still going to try to stay connected to whatever AP they originally connected to - so if you move around the house to where the other AP is stronger you'd have to manually select the stronger access point. A mesh network will 'steer' the device to the best possible connection - It's pretty impressive and seems to work flawlessly.

Edited by Lucas Ayde on Saturday 13th February 17:02

[Pookie123]

Edit. Ignore there was a part I didn’t see to remove on the back

Edited by Pookie123 on Thursday 18th February 13:09

Edited by Pookie123 on Thursday 18th February 13:09

[595Heaven]

The admin password is for the whole mesh, not for the disc. Just grab the password from the plastic panel on any of your other discs

[Pookie123]

Ok so connected it to my bedroom, changed the name and password to my router downstairs and think it’s working!

[NDA]

Great!