FTTC with TG582n not fit for purpose

[#1]

Quote from: dc42

I find it amazing that some folks here choose a low-cost fibre service and expect that a router they pay £4.99 for will give them perfect high-speed wireless connectivity in any environment.

I couldn't agree more.
Wireless capabilities vary a lot amongst routers. I do agree that the TG582n is one of the poorest N routers I have used (weak wireless and restricted GUI) but after all it is a freebie. People have for years bought higher specification boxes to suit their own requirements (as I do) so why not just do that and stop going on and on.
This has been done to death. Time to shut the thread down.

[#2]

I think the main issue here is that the Plusnet website should specify the limitations. Don't forget the £4.99 and the £40 if you leave within a year is not an option for a fibre install - people should be able to opt out and source their own equipment having had realistic information about the router.

[#3]

Technicolor TG585v8 - wifi issues causing it to crash and reboot and/or abysmal upload speeds.
Technicolor TG582n - getting a lot of complaints recently about weak wifi.

[#4]

Actually, I just went through a switch from ADSL to FTTC and in the product change wizard (which I ran through maybe 6 or 7 weeks ago) I had the option to decline the PN supplied router, so I don't believe it's forced on anyone.  I saw the comments on the threads here about the TG582n, did a bit of research into what other routers offered vs price and considered the way I'd use it.  My conclusion was that it may not be the greatest router on offer but it was adequate for my use and the price was "right", so I accepted it.
Bottom line is that if everyone were to be supplied with a better router (or demand some form of compensation as seems to be mooted by some here) then the product cost would go up as the extra costs have to be covered somehow.  For the majority of non-tech savvy users who just want something that works pretty much out the box and isn't going to get hung up on the finer points of performance then the TG582n fits the bill just fine.  Not everyone will get 80mbps out of their fibre anyway (I get 53-ish).  The spec. sensitive user simply ought not to take the default router and instead find their own.
I've got my router wall-mounted, high up on the wall in the middle of my downstairs hallway (with the power lead dropping through the ceiling from a socket on the floor above) and the WiFi signal reaches all through the house at no less than -62dBm.  I think wall mounting puts the PCB antenna in a vertical plane which couples better with the orientation of the antennae in the laptops (which is just two bits of wire running up either side of the LCD panel).

[#5]

Quote from: mcintoshuk

Actually, I just went through a switch from ADSL to FTTC and in the product change wizard (which I ran through maybe 6 or 7 weeks ago) I had the option to decline the PN supplied router, so I don't believe it's forced on anyone.  I saw the comments on the threads here about the TG582n, did a bit of research into what

Well I went through it on 20/9 and I WAS NOT given the option of opting out on it.

[#6]

Funny enough, i came to the forums to find info about the router's signal being not too great 
After reading the whole thread, i think the Plusnet staff are in the right about the router they offer. No matter what price they get it for, it is a decent router albite some features not being up to power user expectations. I have just joined up and the wireless is usable. I have 3 laptops, 3 mobiles and my 360 connected on wifi. Its even scaled to 54mb because of one of the devices not being N capable.
Advertisement is a funny issue. When i first ever got "unlimited broadband", i hammered it downloading games from Steam. Tiscali's automated system had a heart attack and sent me all THREE warning letters after 4 days all on the same day
Offering money to one customer also seems a nice gesture due to your specific circumstance.
I did not see the option to not choose the router either, but i would think that anyone who is tech savy and a power user would get their own better one for a better price (ebay? amazon? ). It would be a nice gesture on plusnet's part to discount the bill if the router was sent back. Until something like this is in place, back to work for me. Gotta get me a TP Link WR1043ND

Quote from: tstaddon

Totally agree with h4cked. A barebones router provided for a tenner is hardly likely to be "Rolls Royce". My wise old dad used to say three things about hi-fi in the 1980s: 1. Go for seperates instead of an all-in-one. If nothing else, it does mean you don't lose your record player when your tape deck goes up in smoke. 2. If buying different components from different manufacturers, check they'll play together. 3. An expensive tape deck connected to cheap speakers won't sound half as good as a cheap tape deck connected to expensive speakers. I tend to think the same rationale applies just as well to 21st century tech.

Wise words. Totally agreed
Pleasure to meet you all

[#7]

Welcome to the forum muratmeah

[#8]

@Hairy Biker - It was 2/10 when I went through the Product Change: The option to decline the router was on the "Choose Hardware" page - there was a radio button that allowed you to deselct the option of paying the £4.99 postage (although I think there was a note that existing ADSL routers weren't suitable and strongly recommending that you accept the one on offer - I don't recall the exact wording).  I ran through the wizard up to the final commitment two or three times during September (from around 15/9) with different options to see what would happen before finally committing and I'm pretty sure the option was there throughout. 
It runs through "Review current products" -> "Choose Broadband" -> "Choose Hardware" -> "Choose Home Phone" -> "Confirm Address" -> "Engineer Appointment" -> "Confirm upgrade" -> "Finish" but the wizard does seem to be sensitive to what you already have and will skip steps.  For instance someone upgrading from 40/10 FTTC to 80/20 FTTC will skip "Choose Hardware" (you must already have some), "Confirm Address" and "Engineer Appointment".

[#9]

Quote from: muratmeah

Pleasure to meet you all

You too, don't be a stranger!  This forum (these Fora/Forums) is/are very informative and can be a great deal of fun (better, in most people's opinion, than watching BBC4) please feel free to 'jump in' and enjoy..

[#10]

Quote

a dewoo martiz can still do 90MPH, i.e. can exceed that which is required of its primary function.

For how long though?
I had a Daewoo Nubira 1.6 Estate that was alright for the school run, tip run, shopping runs, and moving house and yes it could do >80mph if not fully loaded.
But it wasn't designed for serious business-level punishment so if I'd booted it at 90 from one end of the country to another then along with all the speeding tickets I'd have been lucky to get 60,000 miles out of the jalopy before the engine blew up.
Just to inject a bit of light relief into the thread... I once left the DN parked unlocked in a South East London council estate for a week with the keys in the ignition and went back to it to find it was untouched. Even the paperwork on the driver's and passenger's seats hadn't been disturbed. My cousin drily explained - "round here, a tramp would not stoop so low as to sleep in that; there's only so much self-respect you can lose".

[#11]

May I add my voice to the complaints about the Technicolor TG582n router. I upgraded from 40/10 to 80/20 and before with the old Netgear router I was getting a wifi signal rated at ca 38mbps next to the router, with an input broadband signal at the wall od just under 40mbps . Now after the upgrade and with the new Thomson router I am getting 78mbps at the wall - but exactly the same strength wifi download speed out of the router as before (38mbps) - which is not what I expected.
I am on my second TG582n router now, and after a long exchange of comments with technical support over the last 2 months, and a lot of channel tweaking etc on the router - no improvement in the wifi output speed has been achieved. Indeed the wifi signal coverage in the house from this router is inferior to that of the previous Netgear - and I have now been forced to reinstate the wifi range extender that I was using before fibre.
I was told by technical support that the reason they replaced the Netgear router was that it was not capable of wifi speeds in excess of 40mbps (!!) which now also seems to be true of the TG582n.
The final comment, in this saga of frustration, from technical support is:-  "The problem with wireless connections is that they have their speed limitations.  The encryption slows things down and generally all wireless routers will have a cut off speed to one particular device.  To be honest 35Mbps is more than I would have expected to one wireless device."
If this situation that I see is representative to everybody - and that we can never get more than 35-40mbps via wifi from these routers - then I guess a number of people might not be so keen to upgrade to 80/20 - and at the very least Plusnet need to start managing peoples' expectations about what can be achieved with wifi from these routers!

[#12]

I need to echo the same about this router! it's not fit for speed even on desk within 8cm getting at best 60% of speed on wi-fi vs cable, the past Netgear's since 2003 have give way faster speed! Very happy with FTTC but not the wi-fi of 'the white' box....
The options, wi-fi extended?
New cable router, think Apple Airport one?
Any comments

[#13]

I'm not happy with my router either.
I have 40/10 on coming in which drops considerably once it gets to the router and fluctuates, generally, between 5/2 and 20/6 - and the LAN is slow, which is ass because all my day to day business work is on a NAS.
As for gaming, wow, 40ms-200ms up and down constantly, people glitch all over the place, its actually unplayable (not hardware. Old PC, quad 2.4m 8gb ram, just built a new PC SSD, 4.2Ghz Quad, 16GB RAM 2GB Gfx)
So, out of interest, does anyone have any proven recommendations?

[#14]

Have you proved whether it is the wireless causing an issue by trying it wired? If the issue is the connection itself (e.g. cross talk with another user) changing router may not help.

[#15]

With me it's seems wi-fi, please plusnet don't tell about use ch1 or 13 etc, I've had a wi-fi since 2003 and work in IT. Using a cable get about 60-70mb (right next to street box) down to 20-30mb when right on top the "white box", talking 2" hear.... Wi-Fi with mine is total rubbish and yes changed all the channels. Borrowed a friends  old netgear cable box and got near 70mb right on top of my mac.   
Plusnet your router is not fit for fibre and your fibbing if you say it's is.....