Remote Support for my Router

[#1]

Hi hope Plusnet Fibre Broadband support can assist,

I'm away from home and probably won't be home until the end of May. I still have need for my Broadband as I have some devices which I need to communicate with while I'm away. I have a Nest thermostat, security cameras and a couple of other WIFI devices I need to check.

Before I left home a few weeks ago I had been having some performance issues with my Broadband. I found that devices were often very slow with both Ethernet and WIFI. I reset my router but there was no obvious improvement and as I was busy getting organised for my departure I didn't have time do anything else apart from trying a few different wireless channels assisted by a WIFI analyser App on my phone to choose the strongest signal.

An example was that my WIFI connected Nest thermostat which had been stable for about two years started to lose its WIFI connection. I tried to move it to different locations but it still intermittently failed. When browsing the net, the response was often very slow, and sometimes when this was happening I ran a few speedtest.net checks which often returned very poor statistics with less than a quarter of my usual speed.. As I said earlier, I didn't have time to follow through with the problem.

Now a security camera has decided to quit and the associated help suggested a power off and on of the router to regain WIFI contact. I have not prepared for the ability to restart the router remotely and I will need to get one of my sons to restart the router for me.

I don't know the extent of what Plusnet Support can do to help remotely, my sons work differing hours and it's difficult for me to get them to help. Can Plusnet Support access the error logs to see if there is an obvious problem with the router or the Fibre link? Can they restart the router? If it was determined that there is a fault with the router and a replacement was being sent, I could arrange that one of my sons could get it set up with telephone assistance from me to restore the configiuration.

[#2]

If you're using PN's HubOne router it is not the best, and performs poorly on wifi.

Buying your own router should be considered; a BT Hub off E BAY can be configured to

work on PN.

In short term are the 2 frequencies using differing SSID's on your router?; if not implement.

5ghz is far less crowded than 2.4; are all wifi devices able to use 5ghz? If so.

Try switching off 2.4ghz.

[#3]

Hi @Nomadic1,

Unfortunately there's no way we can remotely identify /log wireless performance.

My first recommendation would be to try changing the wireless channel you're connecting on to see if this gives you a more consistent wireless connection. 

More information on changing wireless settings can be found here: https://www.plus.net/help/broadband/router-user-guides/

As @Gel mentioned, It may also be worth de-syncing the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz connection frequencies by changing the SSID for one of them so your devices doesn't automatically try switching between these.

More information on de-syncing the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz connection frequencies can be found here: https://community.plus.net/t5/My-Router/Devices-stop-working-on-5-GHz-connection-Wifi-drops/m-p/1395...

[#4]

My post wasn't just about the wireless problem, the performance is very bad at times on Ethernet and WiFi. I was hoping that Support could restart the router as well to regain connection with dropped devices. Normally my WiFi performance is very good and almost matches the Ethernet speed.

[#5]

Thanks Gel and Optimatts, I will certainly have a look at sorting out the frequencies when I get home.

[#6]

No problem @Nomadic1, Let us know how it goes