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Help a newbie?

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disgracie
Hooked
Posts: 7
Thanks: 1
Registered: ‎22-06-2021

Help a newbie?

Hi I’m having WiFi issues (surprise surprise) I’ve just came accross all the information on the forum and have learned I’m not alone and it’s a common fault with the PN hub. My house is nothing flash, a detached 4 bed, perfectly average and my WiFi is horrendous unless standing next to the router or weirdly in the room directly above it. I have just moved into this house, my old house was smaller new build and the WiFi was great all over the house and garden. Now in the new house it’s terrible. I assume it’s building construction is the issue.

I wondered if someone would be so kind as to explain to me the differences in the two band withs on the PS router, when I go to the settings there is a list of my devices, some are 2.4 and some are 5. I have absolutely no idea how or why they have been allocated those particular ones. For example my i phone is on 5 but my wife’s is on 2.4. Would someone be able to explain why? Why is there two different band withs and do the devices change which band with they are on depending on which area of the house I am in? If I stand next to the router I will get a Speedtest result of 60 ish then I can test again and get 20. If I am
Upstairs this can be as low as 2/3 in the back bedroom. Whilst I do expect the WiFi to not be as good the further away I get I do think it’s ridiculous it is so bad in my situation. The house is not big thick brick walls or anything, it’s just your standard house.

Secondly I see many people are using HH6 and this was an option I was looking at, the other option was mesh WiFi. The tenda nova mw6 was recommended by a friend but is a little more expensive. Any opinions or advice for me regarding these two options would be greatly appreciated. Im so annoyed with this WiFi.
6 REPLIES 6
Longliner
Seasoned Pro
Posts: 586
Thanks: 294
Fixes: 7
Registered: ‎22-10-2014

Re: Help a newbie?

@disgracie 

Yes, many of us use HH6, I find wifi about 20% better coverage than Hub One. One clue might be your router works fine directly above -- some houses have foil backed wall plasterboard (for insulation) and it's death to the wifi signal. Our house has concrete block walls and while HH6 does penetrate a couple of them we use powerline extenders for the far end of the property. We have considered mesh but the extenders work fine for our purposes.

You're in the right place for help. Others better informed than I will explain the band differences and maybe offer other solutions.

disgracie
Hooked
Posts: 7
Thanks: 1
Registered: ‎22-06-2021

Re: Help a newbie?

Thank you mate. Interesting to hear you need power line as well as the hh6. Did you find it easy to set up the hh6 I have read the guide and seems like I could manage


My concern is I may need to buy the mesh anyways so possible be better though straight to that….
Longliner
Seasoned Pro
Posts: 586
Thanks: 294
Fixes: 7
Registered: ‎22-10-2014

Re: Help a newbie?

I'm no techie either and had no trouble setting it up. Baldrick posted an excellent guide and you should follow it in every detail particularly in regards to usernames etc. You can get a HH6 for £5-£15 on Gumtree or ebay so it won't break the bank.

Baldrick1
Moderator
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Posts: 11,618
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Registered: ‎30-06-2016

Re: Help a newbie?

@disgracie 

The reason behind the band confusion is because the default setting on a Plusnet Hub One is for the two to use the same SSID and password. The connected device then has to decide which to use. This works fine for many devices but others get confused. This can be resolved by separating the two bands, see https://community.plus.net/t5/My-Router/2-4ghz-and-or-5ghz-best-practice/m-p/1351966#M840. If you do this then when you look at your device available networks you will see the two and you can try each in turn to find the best.

In terms of improving your wireless strength a Smarthub 6 will help, this is a superior device to Plusnet's offering. Settings are linked from here: https://community.plus.net/t5/My-Router/Using-A-BT-Smarthub-An-Update/m-p/1795292#M24601

Be careful if considering spending big bucks on a Mesh system. Many of them rely on wireless communication between the satellites so if the wireless is bad you may be no better off. The answer to that is to get units with an Ethernet backhaul. But this needs the installation of Ethernet cable. Also be aware that some will need a different separate modem to use their full facilities as the Hub One can't be used as a bridge modem.

Other ideas to consider https://community.plus.net/t5/Tech-Help-Software-Hardware-etc/Distributing-Data-around-Larger-Proper...

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disgracie
Hooked
Posts: 7
Thanks: 1
Registered: ‎22-06-2021

Re: Help a newbie?

Baldrick. What can I say. Thank you so much. I have today installed my new hh6, it took around 15 mins. So easy. I can’t thank you enough.

Top tip from your rivised post is to change the network name and password so all your devices just change over. Fantastic.

One question….

I didn’t separate the WiFi bands, should I? What’s the benefit?

The hh6 is working well, the WiFi is massively improve, I’m so thankful.
Baldrick1
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Registered: ‎30-06-2016

Re: Help a newbie?

Fix

@disgracie 

There's no need to separate the bands if everything works to your satisfaction. The reason to do it is that some older devices have problems with synchronised bands, which can cause wireless connection problems.

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