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Alternative for HubOne for WiFi distance

Regb2004
Newbie
Posts: 4
Registered: ‎04-06-2018

Alternative for HubOne for WiFi distance

Hi. I moved to PlusNet recently, The service seems fine so far, but the Hub One has poor WiFi over long distance (the house is long from end to end and the master line socket is at one end) - I'm getting poor speed and intermittent WiFi signal at the far end of the house so things like my Sonos system and TV On Demand isnt working well, if at all.  I'm happy to buy a replacement hub/router, but don't know anything about configuring them, so need it to be plug and play as a replacement for the HubOne.  Can anyone suggest some suitable replacements?

Thanks!!

8 REPLIES 8
Mav
Moderator
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Registered: ‎06-04-2007

Re: Alternative for HubOne for WiFi distance

Moderator's note:

Thread moved from Fibre Broadband to My Router.

Forum Moderator and Customer
Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear - Mark Twain
He who feared he would not succeed sat still

corringham
Seasoned Champion
Posts: 1,211
Thanks: 634
Fixes: 16
Registered: ‎25-09-2015

Re: Alternative for HubOne for WiFi distance

I'd recommend the Ubiquiti UAP-AC-LR wireless access point - I have 3 of them and one UAP-AC-Pro, and I cover a 4 bed house with stone walls, a 2 bed bungalow, and 2 acres of garden with them (I can get a usable signal 200 yards from home, but I have no neighbours to interfere with the signal).. One should cover most houses - they are beam forming and designed for long range coverage. They are enterprise kit, and are much more capable than consumer devices. See www.broadbandbuyer.com/features/3256-increasing-your-wifi-range-with-ubiquiti-unifi-uap-ac-lr-access... for some info on them.

bill888
Champion
Posts: 1,254
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Registered: ‎18-10-2008

Re: Alternative for HubOne for WiFi distance

If you don't mind me asking, what make/model router did you previously use before coming to Plusnet, and was it on fibre?

ex-Plusnet (ADSL, FTTC) 2008-2023. now BT (FTTP) 2023-
TheMightyAJ
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 2,511
Fixes: 126
Registered: ‎26-03-2018

Re: Alternative for HubOne for WiFi distance

Hi @Regb2004,

 

While I'm afraid I can't give any advice or suggestions on third party equipment, it may be worth looking  into changing the wireless channel on your router to make the most out of the WiFi signal that the Hub One can offer you.

 

1) To connect to your Hub One, you will need to open a browser and go to http://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 '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) Select the option for 'Wireless.'

 

4) If this is the first time trying this, you can select the option to 'Refresh' at the bottom of the page which will force your router to rescan for the best channel for you.

 

5) If you are still having issues then you may wish to change the channels manually. To do this, repeat the above steps but select 'Advanced Settings' instead of 'Settings' and this will give you several other options.

 

6) Under 'Channel Selection' you will want to change this from Automatic to any one of the other channels and see if it improves your wireless. Give it 3-4 hours of testing to see if the issue still persists and change it again if you see no improvement. If you are having the same issue on 5 GHz wireless then you can also change the wireless channel under the subheading of '5 GHz Wireless'.

 

Any Wireless channel is prone to interference and can be caused by a number of factors, changing this channel will usually resolve the issue, if problems are still persisting after this then it is likely that something else is causing the issue. Further help can be found here.

 

If this post resolved your issue please click the 'This fixed my problem' button
 Alex H
 Plusnet Help Team
Regb2004
Newbie
Posts: 4
Registered: ‎04-06-2018

Re: Alternative for HubOne for WiFi distance

Thanks for the recommendation Corringham - much appreciated.  Does the AC-LR continue to use the existing HubOne as a hub (i.e you connect it to the HubOnevia an Ethernet cable)?   And looking at the Ubiquiti site, it looks like the AC-Pro is simply a more powerful version of the AC-LR....so is there any reason (other than to save about £30) to buy the AC-LR over an AC-Pro?

Thanks again!

Regb2004
Newbie
Posts: 4
Registered: ‎04-06-2018

Re: Alternative for HubOne for WiFi distance

Hi Bill - I was previously on copper with EE ... the service was OK but their fibre offering wasn't great and EE's customer service wasn't good either - so I ditched them and went to TalkTalk Fibre.  That was just horrendous.  TalkTalk messed up the line transfer, and their customer service was worse than non-existent, so I walked away from them and came to PlusNet, where the service seems better at least!  It's all OK, except for the WiFi coverage in the house.... 

Regb2004
Newbie
Posts: 4
Registered: ‎04-06-2018

Re: Alternative for HubOne for WiFi distance

Thanks MightyAJ.... I'll give that a try....

corringham
Seasoned Champion
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Registered: ‎25-09-2015

Re: Alternative for HubOne for WiFi distance

Yes, the AC-LR is just a wireless access point - you can use is as well as, or instead of, the wifi on your existing router. I has a PoE gigabit ethernet port, so you only need one cable to it (no need for a power socket where you install it). They can be used wirelessly in a mesh, but  ethernet is much better. The PoE adapter comes with it.  I have two in my loft (actually one AC-LR one AC-PRO), one at each end of the house. That minimizes the number of stone walls the signal has to travel through.

I have another in my home-office (aka 2 bed bungalow), and another in a barn to cover the large garden.

The AC-LR actually has a longer range than the AC-PRO, although the AC-PRO has a higher max throughput (IIRC 1750Mbps versus 1300Mbps). Both are faster than the gigabit ethernet, and of course Plusnet broadband 😉   It is the high gain antenna on the AC-LR that give it the range - it needs to hear the connected devices, so just transmitting a strong signal isn't enough to give a good range. I probably sound like a salesman, but I am just a satisfied customer (as is one of my colleagues).