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Hub One WIFI problems

Nomadic1
Dabbler
Posts: 13
Thanks: 1
Registered: ‎02-02-2018

Hub One WIFI problems

Hi, I have been having intermittent WIFI  problems for some time. I hope I can get advice or technical support.

My usual WIFI speed tests on my laptop record 46 Mbps download 6 Mbps upload and almost identical results with an ethernet connection but when the fault occurs the WIFI speed is reduced to as low as 11 Mbps download and 4 Mbps upload. I get similar results when using another laptop and my mobile. These speeds are the same when I run them within 6 feet of the Hub One.

When the fault occurs the ethernet speed is usually normal.

Rebooting the Hub One usually restores the WIFI speed to normal immediately.

I live in a rural area and when checking with a Wifi Analyser app I can only see 3 other routers and none of them are sharing the channels I have been using.

The problem appears to be getting worse and today my phone and laptop have both been disconnected several times from the WIFI. I have also experience with my Nest Thermostat losing connection and requiring a reset and my WIFI printer has also gone offline.

I haven't tried the BT speed checker recently and for convenience just use the Thinkbroadband.com speed tester.

5 REPLIES 5
Optimatts
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 442
Fixes: 19
Registered: ‎25-09-2018

Re: Hub One WIFI problems

Hi there @Nomadic1,

 

I remember previously when you contacted us regarding a similar problem via this thread: https://community.plus.net/t5/Fibre-Broadband/Remote-Support-for-my-Router/m-p/1622273#M92141

 

Did you give any of the troubleshooting guides a go? If you haven't I would highly recommend changing the wireless channels and even splitting the 5Ghz from the 2.4Ghz.

From personal experience, as much as you're close to the router and the analyzer app isn't showing any conflicting wifi channels, you could potentially just be on a bad frequency. In general, wifi analyzers only tend to show other routers and not other sources of interference.

 

Last time you mentioned there was a similar problem on Ethernet too, is this still the case now? or is the problem purely with your wifi connected devices?

 

 

 

 

Nomadic1
Dabbler
Posts: 13
Thanks: 1
Registered: ‎02-02-2018

Re: Hub One WIFI problems

Hi Matt, thanks for your response and yes I do remember your recommendations. I did go through those guides but didn't find anything specific. If I remember correctly I was having bad performance with Ethernet and WIFI and I still experienced some problems.

I've been away from home on two occasions since then, for a period of four months and then three months and I was busy when at home so I put up with it and powering the router off and on was a temporary solution. 

Since returning home two weeks ago I have been experiencing a lot more trouble and the problems appeared to be only with WIFI performance because the ethernet related speeds were apparently normal.

After posting the message earlier today, I was forced to do a bit more diagnosis (wife was watching a program via an Amazon Fire stick and it kept hanging. I believe I have narrowed the problem down to an 8 port ethernet switch or one of the devices connected to it. I should have thought of it earlier, previously I reset the router and reconnected everything but it didn't appear to make any difference.

I was about to go through the reset process again when I remembered that the switch was sometimes going offline and all the link lights went off. The power led was still on and I just put it down to a bad cable connection. I disconnected all the ethernet cables from the router and since then the WIFI speeds are back to normal. 

I was speaking to one of my sons earlier today and have arranged that he will bring me a switch he is no longer using, I will give it a try and update you on my progress. 

 

MatthewWheeler
Plusnet Help Team
Plusnet Help Team
Posts: 8,896
Thanks: 1,506
Fixes: 480
Registered: ‎01-01-2012

Re: Hub One WIFI problems

Glad to hear you found the cause!

Let us know if you have any further issues

If this post resolved your issue please click the 'This fixed my problem' button
 Matthew Wheeler
 Plusnet Help Team
Nomadic1
Dabbler
Posts: 13
Thanks: 1
Registered: ‎02-02-2018

Re: Hub One WIFI problems

Hello again, an update.

Further to my suspicion about an ethernet switch, cabling or device, I found that none of these was responsible for the problem.

I have determined the answer was that I had too many WIFI devices and the Hub One was unable to cope. Until I discovered this problem I didn't know that the router cannot support a large number of device until I Googled it.

What initially led me to believe that it was down to an ethernet problem was that I have three devices connected by ethernet to the router via the switch and these devices also use WIFI. Disconnecting the ethernet switch effectively stopped their normal operation.

I was able to prove this by pinging the router and observing the effect when a security camera image was accessed. I also contacted my son who remotely accessed the camera and I could immediately see very erratic ping responses.

I now have the camera connected via a Powerline Ethernet link and since then I have monitored the pings to the router and so far things are looking good.

Can anyone let me know of a cheap solution to increase the WIFI capability to support more devices. We currently have up to 15 WIFI devices (Not always used at same time) and I have taken to using mobile data on my phone to lighten the load. Adding more Ethernet cables is not convenient and I'm not keen on the expense of buying devices to boost the WIFI capability.

 

MasterOfReality
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 1,640
Fixes: 57
Registered: ‎26-03-2018

Re: Hub One WIFI problems

Hi @Nomadic1 

 

Thanks for that extra information. 

 

15 devices on your WLAN shouldn't really cause the router to act up, there is no limit to the number of devices connected to the router, and there are other threads where users have upwards of 18/19 devices connected without issue, however, this would of course cause the available bandwidth to be spread around more devices each time one is used. 

 

There isn't anything we offer in the WiFi booster area I'm afraid. 

 

I know other users do run 3rd party routers on our connections - whilst this is something which I can suggest, I can tell you that it poses no issue as we can assist in authenticating these onto our network if you have trouble doing so. It might be an avenue to explore? 

 

Thanks, 

MoR