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WiFi Woes - Constant Dropping

stevecrawf0rd
Newbie
Posts: 3
Registered: ‎05-10-2020

WiFi Woes - Constant Dropping

Hi,

After leaving Sky a few months back and thinking I was going to a better provider that has a better router I’m starting to wish I hadn’t.

The WiFi constantly drops connection from laptops in my home and I frequently have to switch on and off WiFi on my iPhone to get websites to load.

Can I can I change any settings from the default ones to eliminate this so I’m not forced to fork out money for a new router or mesh setup?
11 REPLIES 11
wakeman
Aspiring Pro
Posts: 264
Thanks: 58
Fixes: 3
Registered: ‎20-04-2020

Re: WiFi Woes - Constant Dropping

@stevecrawf0rd  First welcome to the forums.

You do not say which router you are using. But yes you can split the 2.4 and 5Ghz Wi-Fi and this has been recommended by PlusNet staff in the past.

You need to logon to your router (probably 192.168.1.254) then go to advanced settings tab and then enter the admin password then the wireless tab and go to the 5Ghz page and turn off sync with 2.4Ghz. Remember to change one of the SSID's either the 2.4 one or the 5 one.

See how that goes.

Marvo
Dabbler
Posts: 16
Fixes: 1
Registered: ‎18-09-2020

Re: WiFi Woes - Constant Dropping

I joined PlusNet in August and have to reboot my router at least once every 2 weeks since joining for exactly the ssame reason. WiFi disconnects.

This according to the Community forums is a Firmware issue and been doing the rounds since 2019 so find it hard to comprehend just why there hasn't been a new Firmware released to resolve the issues. Fixed LAN connections are fine but it impacts both DHCP assigned and static IP addressed Wi-Fi connections.

 

I have the Sagemcom Hub One. I would go back to my old BT Smart Hub 2 if it wasn't for the fact that they don't like secure passwords for your internet connection. I think it might be time to make the PN Hub into a modem only device and plug in my Fortigate firewall directly off the back of it.

wakeman
Aspiring Pro
Posts: 264
Thanks: 58
Fixes: 3
Registered: ‎20-04-2020

Re: WiFi Woes - Constant Dropping

@Marvo 

The Firmware update you mention is still officially a beta I understand. But if you comment on the sticky thread re the Wi-Fi issue they might do a manual push of the newer firmware to you. Some users have purchased via eBay a BT Home Hub 6 at low cost as this has a better Wi-Fi.

The Plus One Hub is basically a rebadged Home Hub 5a apparently.

Marvo
Dabbler
Posts: 16
Fixes: 1
Registered: ‎18-09-2020

Re: WiFi Woes - Constant Dropping

Thanks - I know it's a rebadged HH6 but even they have an issue with the BT firmware wanting unsecure passwords for Broadband connection which means changing your PN account password to be unsecure... the amount of Dodgy traffic/bots going over the BT broadband network would make me certainly want to keep my secure account password #DateBreachAhoy

Baldrick1
Moderator
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Registered: ‎30-06-2016

Re: WiFi Woes - Constant Dropping


@Marvo wrote:

Thanks - I know it's a rebadged HH6


No it's a rebadged Home Hub 5A


.... which means changing your PN account password to be unsecure... the amount of Dodgy traffic/bots going over the BT broadband network would make me certainly want to keep my secure account password #DateBreachAhoy


You'll have to explain this one. Are you referring to the fact that some versions of Smarthub 6 firmware won't accept special characters in the password? If so how significant do you think this is in terms of reduced security, especially if you add a few more characters to your password to compensate?

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Marvo
Dabbler
Posts: 16
Fixes: 1
Registered: ‎18-09-2020

Re: WiFi Woes - Constant Dropping

Thanks @Baldrick1 my typing error with the HH5 & 6 Sad

using alpha numeric passwords significantly reduces the time it takes to hack the password. 12 character Alpha numeric passwords can be hacked in approx. a day. Having special characters increases the time to hack to weeks

 

Will the HH6 which is a recommended BT alternative support special characters? I might just resurect my Fortigate FWF-60 Wifi firewall and just use the PN Hub as a modem

dvorak
Moderator
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Re: WiFi Woes - Constant Dropping


Moderators Note


This topic has been moved from  Fibre to My Router

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Baldrick1
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Re: WiFi Woes - Constant Dropping


@Marvo wrote:

using alpha numeric passwords significantly reduces the time it takes to hack the password. 12 character Alpha numeric passwords can be hacked in approx. a day. Having special characters increases the time to hack to weeks


I don't know how many characters can be used with a Plusnet account but looking at your 12 alpha numeric characters then presumably your 1 day to hack quote is based on having a rather fast connection to the router or finding a short cut to cracking it. My sums may be a bit rocky but based on upper and lower case letters plus the numbers 0 to 9, that's 62 options, I calculate that there are about 3,227,000,000,000,000,000,000 different combinations so if you are going to try to find the magic number by trying each in turn in 24 hours you need to be sending a new password to the hub and looking for a response at the rate of about 37,300,000,000,000,000 tries a second to cover every combination within 24 hours.

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JoeJohnJames
Hooked
Posts: 6
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Registered: ‎16-10-2020

Re: WiFi Woes - Constant Dropping

If your occupation or business is such that you might be subject to the type of hacking that could render the level of security provided inadequate, then you shouldn't be using a domestic provider like Plusnet! Or domestic hardware like a supplier-provided router.

Lots of things might be theoretically possible, but are you realistically likely to experience such an attempt in reality?

wakeman
Aspiring Pro
Posts: 264
Thanks: 58
Fixes: 3
Registered: ‎20-04-2020

Re: WiFi Woes - Constant Dropping

@JoeJohnJames 

PlusNet do have a business broadband service you know.

Sadly hacking can affect anyone, the recommendation now is use a passphrase as a password rather then just a mix of letter and numbers, minimum should ideally be 12  characters - 16 better.

Of course you should not use the same password on other websites. 

JoeJohnJames
Hooked
Posts: 6
Thanks: 1
Registered: ‎16-10-2020

Re: WiFi Woes - Constant Dropping

"Sadly hacking can affect anyone" - yes, but you have to consider the likelihood of the type of hacking which could break your security. 

There is a lot (and I mean a lot) of scaremongering about this type of thing. There is very little common-sense evaluation of how likely it is that espionage-scale penetration will occur but everyone is always told that "it could happen to you"..

Much more likely for most situations than anyone actually hacking a password is that it leaks, and it doesn't matter how complex the password or phrase is if that happens.