Help with 2704N router - cannot do my job.

[#1]

Hi All,

On this forum for the first time. I have been having troubles with my original plusnet router, the SAGEMCOM 2704N, for months. The connection is very unstable, and it's been getting worse. There are now several dozens of cuts a day (around 20 in the last hour). That was sort of okay-ish as long as I was doing non-clinical work, but I will be returning to clinical practice in several weeks and there is no way I can practice from home (I am a GP - PlusNet team, please do verify my registration on the General Medical Council website). One of the first question by the recruiting GP was: how is your internet connection at home? (not enough offices at the practice for all clinical staff).

Like many other customers on this forum, I have been trying various solutions (resetting the router seems to reduce the number of cuts for the upcoming 15-20 minutes, but is an impractical). My new laptop seems to have made things worse.

To rule out the obvious: we live in a small flat, no dog or child to knock the router down, situation nomade worse by thunderstorms etc, maximum 2 devices connected to wifi at a given time.

If I am not mistaken, PlusNet has no Live Chat function anymore. Does anybody know of a way to get in touch with PlusNet so that they can audit the router and perhaps send me a more up-to-date one, please?

Thank you in advance for any suggestion.

[#2]

You could try and put the sagecom router in a box and use an alternative modem/router

[#3]

Thank you for your message. Yes, I definitely could. However, that would put subsequent problems on me. Shouldn't a functioning router be provided, not just any router? I read in the community forum that many people have purchased routers for themselves. Self-help is great, but I was wondering how that works with some disabled people (thinking of my father).

If PlusNet is not keen on replacing or updating the driver of my router, what would be lush is for PlusNet to advise on what new modem would work best. Could PlusNet help set it up for me and other customers?

I really prefer PlusNet as a company - compared to internet service providers!😊

[#4]

The troubleshooting section in Help and Support would be a good place to start.

How is the phone line, any noise, dial 17070 option 2?

Is the router / phone plugged into the test socket?

Have you reported any faults to CS?

Not sure why you would choose a budget supplier if you are reliant on internet for your job - is it even a business account?

[#5]

Hi @venom44,

I'm sorry to hear that you're experiencing issues with your connection. Having taken a look into your account today I can't find any faults when testing your line and so I believe this is most likely a Wi-Fi signal issue. I would recommend connecting via Ethernet cable wherever possible, especially for work purposes, as this will always be a more stable and consistent connection than a wireless one. On the Wi-Fi side of things, I would recommend running through this guide to see how you can get the most out of your wireless connections. Please be aware that whilst we will try and support wireless queries when they're raised, we're unable to guarantee a minimum download speed over wireless connections as per our T&C's.

Regarding 3rd party routers, as you're probably already aware, these can be setup on our network as long as they've not been locked down by another provider. These forums are probably the best place to ask people for help with 3rd party hardware and there's already years worth of threads and discussion about various routers on here, which may already answer some the questions you might have.

[#6]

@venom44 

The first question that comes to mind is why are you using a 2704N hub? Are you a long time fibre customer and never had an upgraded hub or are you on ADSL? If so you are really going to suffer if doing any serious uploading, like video links.

If you put your telephone number in here it will tell you what services are available at your address  https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADSL

[#7]

Thank you for your message.

Not a business account as I am salaried with NHS England on a fixed-term contract. This is actualy a good point you are making and I shall look into it. Confidentiality-wise, they ask for a VPN and other safety features.

Trying to find my landline telephone apparatus to test the quality of the line. Thanks for this tip.😊

[#8]

Thank you for your answer.

Yep, this is the router PlusNet provided 3 years ago. Being a tad gullible, it hadn't crossed my mind that there might be any problem with it. You are right about video links. Thank you for the link to the broadband checker - much appreciated!😊

[#9]

Thank you for your prompt answer; I appreciate it.

You must have done something beyong simply checking the line: there have been a remarkable low number of cuts over the past 12 hours! That is fantastic and hadn't happened in months!

No complaint about the download speed (15 Mbps) or the upload speed (1Mbps) - not super fast obviously but it is a matter of value for money. My only subject of concern is the unstability of the wifi and the strikingly frequent cuts (over the past weeks, sometimes every 1 or 2 minutes for hours).

A lovely neighbour has just provided me with an old BT Home Hub 2. Antique, but might help before I take the jump and buy a BT Home Hub. Would PlusNet have advice on what model would suits my ADSL need best? For instance, is BT Home Hub 4 sufficient, or should I get 5 or 6? I read there are two types of BT Home Hub 5 (A and B); is the difference relevant in my case? Is a SmartHub 6 of interest if I don't do gaming or watch much videos? Besides the numerous, informative community forum threads, is there a technical guide summarising all that on the PlusNet website? Thank you PlusNet.🙂

[#10]

@venom44 

You can get a BT Smarthub 6 for very little money from an auction site. These dual band hubs have far better wireless than the Plusnet offerings and early BT Home Hubs but be aware that the limited upload speed from ADSL will still affect video conferencing, the only solution to that is to upgrade to FTTC. The Smarthubs work on both services.

You will find more onformation and links to how to connect the Smarthub here https://community.plus.net/t5/My-Router/Using-A-BT-Smarthub-An-Update/m-p/1795292#M24601

[#11]

@venom44 

Baldrick's excellent guide as per the link in his post has helped many PN customers including myself. Don't consider anything less than the HH6. Plusnet's Hub One is an improvement on the 2704 which served me well for several years, but it is based on the HH5; the HH6 which I bought on Gumtree for £15 produced easily 20% better wifi. I think the HH6 will do your job very well.

[#12]

Ive always thought of it as the internet service provider supplies the internet down the wires to your property, and its up to you how you get that service from the wires to whatever devices you are using. Most ISPs will provide a basic router/modem device that will just about get the job done, but if you want the job doing better, your better off with a better router that you supply yourself.

The best analogy that i can think of is that in the old days, British Telecom as it then was would supply a very basic handset ( which they would then charge you "rental" for on top, if you wanted better you could get your own, and not pay British Telecom for renting one of their basic handsets.

 Fortunatly ISPs haven't yet cottoned on to renting out routers, and fortunately plusnet haven't yet started giving their routers daft names like the not so "super Hub"

[#13]

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@pint wrote:

 Fortunatly ISPs haven't yet cottoned on to renting out routers, and fortunately plusnet haven't yet started giving their routers daft names like the not so "super Hub"

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BT now supply a hub for as long as you take their service. If you leave they will charge for it unless you return it. So effectively it’s a form of ‘free’ rental.

[#14]

@venom44 

Leaving aside the quality of the router (as others have said the"free" router is for basic requirements) I found that the increasingly "cloud" nature of Internet services (One Drive, Sharepoint and other similar systems) meant that the upstream speed tended to be the limiting factor.

I think you probably need to change to "fibre" broadband (which still appears in most cases on the copper phone lines but from a green box nearer to your home).

The other complicating factor is that other devices (phones etc.) will use upstream bandwidth as well. My ADSL was slower than yours (about 8Mb/s down and perhaps 0.5Mb/s up) and what killed anything working well was One Drive deciding to sync my files. Getting Plusnet fibre fixed that (the "Extra" had better upstream performance and is worth having for working from home).

If you really get the speeds you quoted (I assume you tried a speed checker rather than using the "up to" sales figures) then you have a good line and are likely to get good "fibre" performance. 

[#15]

Thank you for your response. All relevant points to me. Indeed fibre is an option I would considering now, especially taking the upload speed into account. Glad that you are happier with your fibre setting! 😊