Faulty talktalk router - flaky wireless

[matteocerutti]

Hi,

this problem started several months ago and I am now no longer able to work effectively from home. 

I got in touch with the tech support about the fact that the wireless kept dropping. It's not an issue of distance as I am sitting a few meters away from the router. It's not an issue of channel interference either as I tried rebooting the device multiple times over the months so that it'd select the best channel. Additionally, the router is sitting on an open shelf.

I told the tech support team to just replace the router as it's clear there's some fault with the built-in wireless access point. They decided not to and sent a wireless extender free of charge instead.

Unfortunately, even the wireless extender stopped working, and I knew all along that was just a shortcut and not really solving the underlying issue.

To give you an idea, yesterday I was working from home and my wireless dropped every 15 minutes. It was impossible to have a call or videocall with my colleagues and it was extremely frustrating. Rebooting the router doesn't solve the problem.

My contract comes to an end in June this year. I am even thinking of paying the early termination charges and just move on to another provider.

I am happy to change my mind if TalkTalk sends me a new working router free of charge and the situation resolves. There's only a couple of months left for me to try and decide whether it's worth staying or not.

I've opened a new (and it will be the last too) case: REP-14129335.

Let me know.

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Hello,

Just checking back in to see how you're getting on and if you still need assistance with this?

Thanks

Michelle

[Debbie-TalkTalk]

Hi matteocerutti

How's the connection been?

[Debbie-TalkTalk]

Hi @matteocerutti - Thank you 🙂

[matteocerutti]

Thank you - will test it and come back to you with some feedback in the next days.

[Debbie-TalkTalk]

Thanks @KeithFrench  🙂

[KeithFrench]

Thanks @Debbie-TalkTalk 

Hi @matteocerutti 

See how this goes and if WiFi reception is still poor, let me know & I can offer a lot of help to improve the situation.

[Debbie-TalkTalk]

@matteocerutti 

Apologies for this. I've switched the WIFI optimisation off, please let us know how the connection compares.

Thanks

Debbie

[Gliwmaeden2]

This may be done Monday, @matteocerutti. Otherwise Tuesday. Leave the router on for them as they start early in the morning. 

[matteocerutti]

I cannot disable it myself. I see this message every 15m, which is mental.

Can I please have this disabled?

@Michelle-TalkTalk

[KeithFrench]

Thanks for that. Yes, every time in the log that you see the message "WiFi security settings have been successfully saved", all of your wireless devices will be forced off briefly and have to reconnect. The most obvious cause of this is TalkTalk's WiFi optimisation being enabled.

When this is enabled, as it is by default, it has the power to override any Wi-Fi configuration changes previously applied. When it makes its changes, it will save them & that is why you get that message in the log. Only TalkTalk can disable this feature for you, you cannot do it yourself. If not, just request they disable this for you in your reply.

[matteocerutti]

Hi Michelle and Keith,

the issue persists. The technical support was absolutely helpless, and I am being kind with my feedback. They just offered yet another wifi extender which is not solving the underlying issues. They are just wasting my time.

Additionally, I tried several times changing the channel to a less busy one and the situation doesn't change. I've used the wifi analyser on multiple occasions to pick good channels, for both 2.4G and 5G. I also noticed that the router after a certain amount of time reverts my change and I have no way of fixing the channel to what I want. The router is an useless TalkTalk Wi-Fi Hub 2 version SG4K100174.

I told the support team that every time I see in the router's logs "WiFi security settings have been successfully saved", you can see the clients disconnecting right after. It happens every single time, which clearly indicates a router's issue.

I have tried and failed to get this issue permanently fixed and I am tired of having to deal with incompetent technical support. I have decided to move on to another provider.

Best,

Matteo

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Morning,

How are you getting on?

Thanks

Michelle

[KeithFrench]

Just because turning the router off & on does not fix the problem, does not rule out WiFi interference at all. Perhaps all channels are bad, it needs diagnosing properly, or the Wi-Fi band that your devices are trying to use, particularly if it is the 2.4GHz band. To this end, I can help a lot.

Slow speed, intermittent dropouts, breaks in the signal, no signal on some or all devices or no internet access might be caused by Wi-Fi interference from other local networks, which can also lead to a permanent reduction in speed. No ISP can be responsible for your local environment, this is mainly a byproduct of the popularity of Wi-Fi.

Generally speaking, the 2.4GHz band suffers much more from interference than the 5GHz band, but the 2.4GHz one can sometimes have a better range, but this all depends on your local area.

In other words, I try to help you optimise your Wi-Fi connection. If you would like me to help you, please can you specify the make/model of TalkTalk router that you are using?

The information below is provided by TalkTalk, for confirmation please contact @Debbie-TalkTalk or@Michelle-TalkTalk.

KeithFrench is one of our valued Community Stars and can help with a range of issues related to wireless and networking. At times he may ask you to send him test results via a Private Message to help analyse/diagnose an issue. Although Keith does not work for TalkTalk, he very kindly shares his time and knowledge to help with others.

If you need further help or, if we need to take any details such as personal information about your account like phone numbers, account numbers etc. one of the TalkTalk team will jump in and help out.