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Wifi works in Currys but not at home

TCSC
Dabbler
Posts: 12
Registered: ‎19-01-2008

Wifi works in Currys but not at home

First of all apologies if this has been addressed somewhere in the forum as I have not been able to find anything like this.
I bought an ex demo ACER Aspire V5-5 73P (touch) laptop with Windows 8.1 from Currys. At home, on my plusnet wi-fi I have very short range and can only connect to my wi-fi by sitting right next to the router. Also a speed test showed download of 3 Mb/s at the same time that another laptop showed the 30 GB/s we expect. We have 40Gb/s plusnet fibre essential.  We have no problems with a range of other PCs with Windows 7 or older we have used on our home W-Fi, with range or speed.
I took the ACER into work and got similar poor performance on their Wi-Fi. I took the ACER back to Currys where it worked perfectly operating over a large distance from the Wi-Fi and a download speed of 50Mb/s! Upon return to home the ACER showed the same previous poor performance. Going back to Currys they say it must be a router fault at home, but then I asked why do all the other PCs work well at home?
I have had Wi-Fi drivers reinstalled twice and a ll the Windows updates. Any idea what may be going on or what settings to look at? How do I convince Currys that my Wi-Fi is ok?
Thanks in advance.
7 REPLIES 7
chenks76
All Star
Posts: 3,274
Thanks: 338
Fixes: 12
Registered: ‎24-10-2013

Re: Wifi works in Currys but not at home

i assume that's a type, you don't have 40Gb/s fibre !
my thoughts are the laptop is at fault, it's an ex-demo after all and will have had everyone poking and prodding it.
adamwalker
Plusnet Help Team
Plusnet Help Team
Posts: 16,871
Thanks: 882
Fixes: 221
Registered: ‎27-04-2007

Re: Wifi works in Currys but not at home

Hi TCSC,
A few things worth trying would be to log into the router at home, change the channel selection to manual then cycle through some of the different channels available. If you're unsure about how to do this take a look here:
http://www.plus.net/support/broadband/wireless_broadband/wireless_signal.shtml
If this post resolved your issue please click the 'This fixed my problem' button
 Adam Walker
 Plusnet Help Team
TCSC
Dabbler
Posts: 12
Registered: ‎19-01-2008

Re: Wifi works in Currys but not at home

Yes, 40Mb/s of course. Things on my mind!! Chenk makes a good point about not buying an ex demo.
Thanks Adam. I am loath to alter anything with my router because I might mess it up for the rest of my family, but I will have a look at the advice in your reference and see if I understand it. Cheers
adamwalker
Plusnet Help Team
Plusnet Help Team
Posts: 16,871
Thanks: 882
Fixes: 221
Registered: ‎27-04-2007

Re: Wifi works in Currys but not at home

No worries and I understand your concern, it's one a lot of us have Smiley
Have a look through the page I've linked you to and let us know if you have any questions.
If this post resolved your issue please click the 'This fixed my problem' button
 Adam Walker
 Plusnet Help Team
TCSC
Dabbler
Posts: 12
Registered: ‎19-01-2008

Re: Wifi works in Currys but not at home

Problem solved! It was a hardware fault in the ACER as I suspected. I tried several Wi-Fi networks and they all showed poor performance on the ACER. I also tried a usb stick Wi-Fi and it worked well.
Feeling I had enough evidence that it was not my plusnet router or anything at home I went back to Curries for the third time ready to hammer the desk if they persisted in telling me it was my router. This time however, a lad who had not served me before simply used a USB stick with diagnostic progs on it and announced that "There was a hardware problem in the ACER." and immediately offered me my money back, a replacement or a credit note. I bought a HP Pavilion instead and have just been setting it up. Seems ok, and certainly no problem with Wi-Fi range or speed.
Why the other two shop assistants didn't do that I don't know.
Lessons learnt -
1/ Find the right person to talk to! (Nothing new there then!) 
2/ A working pc is essential for modern living. Saving a couple of hundred £ on a demo model is perhaps a bit of a lottery and not really worth it, certainly in this case. I was getting very stressed out dealing with the problem and having to borrow other peoples' computers to carry on with life!
3/ Shops that sell PCs and bits have blooming powerful Wi-Fi to show their equipment off to best advantage, but can clearly cover up certain Wi-Fi faults. (It wouldn't surprise me if they are nearing their radiological field strength legal limits.)
So thanks for looking at my problem Adam. I was getting desperate as to how to deal with it. Cheers.
TCSC
Dabbler
Posts: 12
Registered: ‎19-01-2008

Re: Wifi works in Currys but not at home

Oh, - and Chenks, - it's "typo" from "typological error", not "type". Bit of a typo there then.
chenks76
All Star
Posts: 3,274
Thanks: 338
Fixes: 12
Registered: ‎24-10-2013

Re: Wifi works in Currys but not at home

Quote from: TCSC
Yes, 40Mb/s of course. Things on my mind!! Chenk makes a good point about not buying an ex demo.

yes typo... like the one i bolded and underlined?