Poor broadband speeds

[#1]

Having real issues with our broadband at the moment. It’s incredibly patchy and drops out frequently.  It also struggles in outside of the lounge (where the router is) and is practically unusable in other rooms.  

Ever since we have had plus net we have struggled outside of the lounge, but the issues in the lounge has started about 6/8 weeks ago.  It is becoming unusable and incredibly frustrating. I have reset the router, done all the checks the website say, but neither isn’t flagging anything is wrong at our end. 

[#2]

Hi James, I have exactly the same problem. From the advice in the community I have bought a new BT Business Smart Hub 6, as recommended though I believe the BT Smart Hub works equally as well. If that doesnt give me the coverabe then I will install a whole home mesh system. Due to install the former on Monday.

[#3]

Thanks for getting in touch @jamescg1307 I'm sorry to see you're experiencing connection problems. So we can advise further what troubleshooting steps have you carried out already and are you just experiencing issues over WiFi or do you have any computers/laptops using a wired connection that are struggling also?

[#4]

We have nothing that can use a wired connection. 

[#5]

Hey @jamescg1307,

No worries, everything looks spot on this side. When the WiFi drops, are you noticing anything turning on such as the heating, dvr recorders, baby monitors etc I ask it could be something within the environment that may be causing this. It may also be worth looking at splitting the frequencies on your connection and then changing the channels. You can find the guide for changing your channels here and the guide for splitting frequencies is here.

Let us know how you get on.

Thanks.

[#6]

We are also experiencing what I can only describe as DNS issues.

When I type in for example http://news.bbc.co.uk I get a message saying my iPad/phone is not connected to the internet. This is the message you get when the website is not working or unable to connect. If I change to another tab and refresh that works fine. If I close the tab and try again it sometime starts working or does the same.

The iPad/phone are always connected to the internet.

[#7]

Hi @jamescg1307,

Is this only happening on your iPad and phone, or is it also occurring on other devices? If the iPad and phone are both Apple devices, are they both fully updated and on the latest firmware?

[#8]

My iPad and iPhone and my wife’s iPad and iPhone all on the same version 13.1.2

[#9]

@jamescg1307,

We're trying to remote access our router on your line but aren't able to do so as it's showing offline (despite you having an active connection). 

If it's not our router can you confirm what router make and model you're using. 

If it is our router, please factory reset it holding a device in the reset hole for 10 seconds and then leave the router to set itself up for 10 minutes (without trying to access the internet). Once you've done that then let us know so we can try again. 

EDIT: If it's ours would it be possible to get us the firmware version of the router too, you can get this by browsing to 192.168.1.254 and seeing software version at the bottom of the page. 

[#10]

It’s is the plusnet router.

The firmware shows

Software version 4.7.5.1.83.8.263 | Last updated 12/03/19

which I guess is quite old.

[#11]

Hey @jamescg1307,

Thanks for getting back to us.

My guess at this stage is that the Apple products are not connecting correctly via WiFi, something that may be helpful is splitting the frequencies and connecting the devices to either frequency. You can find more info on how to split the frequencies here.

Give us a nudge once you've tried this and we can go from there.

[#12]

So I have split the frequencies but still get the same issues. Some devices are on 2.4ghz and some on 5ghz.

We have more devices than just the two iPhones and iPads. 

I have experienced the connection issues on my Xbox and also a Windows 10 laptop.

[#13]

Hi @jamescg1307,

Thank you for confirming that you've split the wireless frequencies bu this hasn't resolved the problem and that this is affecting all of your devices. I'd now recommend that you try changing the wireless channel to see if this improves the connection. I'd suggest downloading a free WiFi analyser app which will scan your area for all the routers and show what channels they are on between 1-13. Although the above app isn't essential it helps you pick where your router would be best in terms of channels and saves a lot of time doing it via trial and error.

1) To connect to your Hub One, you will need to open a browser and go to 192.168.1.254 If you have any issues doing this via Wireless, we recommend trying to do it via Ethernet cable instead.

 2) You should come to a page with information about your connection, click 'Advanced Settings' at the top and it will ask you to sign in with a Password. This is located on the back of your router under 'Admin Password'

3) Under the correct heading, you will need to find 'Channel Selection' on the list and change this from 'Automatic' to any one of the other channels, This can also need doing under '5 GHz Wireless' to cover both signals. Give it 3-4 hours of testing to see if the issue still persists and try to change the channel again if you see little or no improvement.  

[#14]

I have tried various different channels with no much change. Some channels can be worse than others.

For the past 30 minutes or so the internet has been almost unusable, very slow loading data and also saying the device is not connected to the internet.

[#15]

Hi there, if you haven't already I recommend using an app such as "inSSIDer" or "WiFi analyzer" as they will show you the best channel that's free from interference to connect the router to. 

Adam