New Fibre Extra customer, poor wireless, modem/router advice please

[#1]

Hi guys

Am a new Fibre customer with Plusnet, and have been having trouble with the wireless connection since we upgraded. At first I assumed this was due to the regular Fibre upload speed, so we upgraded to Fibre Extra. Wired connection tests show our service is operating at around 75mbps/18mbps, which is great, however the wireless consistently keeps dropping in and out around the house, running very slowly at times, and since we got Plusnet I haven't been able to Facetime with my partner once (I do this every night) without either my video constantly cutting off or losing connection to her completely. 

We had the openreach engineer out and he identified faults with the wiring outside our property which boosted our speed up to the aforementioned near-80mbps, however this hasn't affected the wireless. I'm thinking it must be this Hub One that we've been provided with, as I had better wireless reception on our old BT broadband with a home hub. 

Therefore I'm looking to upgrade the router, though I know little about this sort of thing technically so could do with some advice. I've been pointed towards this:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-LINK-Archer-VR900-Connections-Compatible/dp/B01132GCP0

However I would need to know if it's possible to use this in conjunction with the Hub One? I've been told that I would need to set the Hub One into 'modem' mode or similar, but from reading various posts it doesn't seem that this is possible? Or if it is I misunderstood the process to get this working.

Could anyone lay this out to me in laymen's terms please?

Thanks very much!

[#2]

@Phaynes888

Welcome to the forums.

The VR900 is an all in one box so will totally replace the Plusnet Hub One.

The 4th picture at the Amazon link shows how to connect it and is the 1st one for VDSL/ADSL Connection

[#3]

Why do you want to use both routers, the one in your link is VDSL capable, so could replace the Hub 1, and no it can't be set to modem mode, although there are ways to connect another router..

However before you do spend any money, have logged into the Hub 1, added a 5 to the 5Ghz SSID and make sure the synch with 2.4Ghz is unticked. That way you will know which service you are connected to, as some Apple and other products get confused with having both services with the same name.

[#4]

Hi Mustrum thanks for the reply

I've actually deactivated 5ghz, as all our devices only support the 2.4ghz channel. I've tried the wireless with it both activated and deactivated and it didn't make much difference

[#5]

Thanks SpendLessTime, good to know

[#6]

I have that TP Link router/modem and can confirm that it has worked flawlessly, for the past two months, on both 2.4 and 5GH wireless chanels.

I too bought it to replace my either useless or faulty Hub One which was doing exactly the same, wirelessly, as you describe. Constant disconnections of connected equipment and speed reductions to less that the ADSL I used to get before fibre. Wired connection was fine even when there was a wireless speed reduction or disconnection.

Be aware that I've found the VR900 tends to run a bit hot and care might be needed with placement!

[#7]

@newagetraveller

Yes I think it was actually your post I read on here which linked me to that router - good to know it's still working as intended. Was a bit unsure of a purchase given the price tag but it sounds a good replacement for the hub one

[#8]

Before you buy a new modem/router I'd try a bit of troubleshooting first though. There could well be some information in PN's help and support section. Look round this forum for relevant info too. Even a wifi channel change might be all that's needed.

Over £100 is a lot to fork out just to prove or disprove a problem with your Hub One.

[#9]

I think you should upgrade your gear to 5Ghz before you jump for new router.Try to connect to 5 Ghz using something like this: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Wireless-Dual-Band-2-4G-5GHz-802-11ac-433-150Mbps-USB-Wifi-Dongle-Lan-Adap...

I had similar problem before.I did replace the old plusnet router with Asus one but still I was getting up to 40mb on wifi on 76mb connection as all my devices were on 2.4 Ghz. One small adapter ( i bought Edimax ) made big difference.Now I'm getting almost the same speeds wired and wireless.

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