Inconsistent wi-fi

[delypo]

I have had  the Huawei HG633 router for nearly 10 years. Whilst the fibre broaband speed coming into the house meets what Talk Talk guarantee, I experience WiFi inconsistency most days, with devices dropping connection, which requires frequent reboots of the old router to re-establish the WiFi connection.

I can see you offer a superior router to your new customers. As a customer of almost 18 years standing, could my old router please be upgraded? Thank you.

DP

[KeithFrench]

Hi @Debbie-TalkTalk @Michelle-TalkTalk @Chris-TalkTalk 

This customer has a bigger house than some would really benefit from a Sagemcom FAST266 WiFi Booster to go with his 5364/5464 router. Would this be a possibility?

[delypo]

Hello @KeithFrench 

The router is situated at the front of the house, on its own cupboard shelf, in the lounge with no other electrical equipment in its immediate vicinity.

Moving from that room to the other two rooms mentioned there are no large expanses of metal nor any fish or water tanks.

[KeithFrench]

Hi @delypo 

Your problem was easy to detect from those screenshots, but before recommending a solution, please can you tell me where the router is located. Is there any other electrical equipment near it. Enroute from there to the three rooms that you mention, are there are any large expanses of metal or any fish or water tanks in the way?

[delypo]

That's good to know, thank you @KeithFrench and there's no rush - appreciate your help in this.

[KeithFrench]

Hi @delypo 

I have them all now. It is really helpful that you have thought to get them from all three locations. I will try & look at them a bit later this afternoon.

[delypo]

Good Morning

Screen shots have just been sent to @KeithFrench for analysis

[KeithFrench]

No problem @delypo 

[delypo]

Thank you @KeithFrench, will get back to you over the course of the next few days.

[KeithFrench]

I will PM you a link for a guide of mine on Wi-Fi interference & initially look at the section called "Are you suffering from interference – prove it first". This section includes full details of Wi-Fi analysers that I recommend for Windows, Windows phone, Android and Apple operating systems. However, I have no way of testing the Apple product. Do not worry about interpreting the results, I will do that for you.

Please post the screenshots to me in a PM (to protect your privacy), which I have requested in my guide. No photos please they can be difficult to read as text can get out of focus when zoomed in, from the analyser you are using (also in my attached guide). Please ensure that the analyser window is maximised (if Windows) before taking the screenshots & upload them via the "Insert Photos" button (in a mobile browser it's the picture icon) on the post editor's toolbar with the Size parameter set to Large. If they are too small, I will not be able to read them & although I can enlarge them, this puts the text out of focus. 

[delypo]

Hello @KeithFrench

Thank you for your response. The replacement router is the Sagem Wi-fi Hub 2 Fast 5464. This has been in situ from Fri 10th May and we have seen no intermittent drop outs and the light has remained a solid white. If we use the laptop wired, then it performs well at a speed of 67Mbps.

Any help you can give to try and improve our 2.4 GHz WiFi speed around the house would be appreciated and so we would be grateful to receive your guide and any support you can give. Thank you.

[KeithFrench]

Hi @delypo 

@Michelle-TalkTalk has asked me to help you to try & improve your 2.4GHz Wi-Fi speeds. I assume that your replacement router is the Sagemcom FAST5364?

Slow speed, intermittent dropouts, breaks in the signal or 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.

However, other factors should be investigated first. When this happens, what are the lights showing on the front of the router? Do you have any wired connections & if so, how do they perform?

Generally speaking, the 2.4GHz band suffers a lot more from interference than the much faster 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. The next stage involves sending out a guide to you to help you get me some important diagnostic results so that I can analyse them for you and recommend changes to your router configuration to solve them.

I only send this out to people who request it.

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.

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Morning,

Thanks for confirming. @KeithFrench - Would you be able to offer any advice on this please?

Michelle

[delypo]

No, they are older devices and will only connect at 2.4 GHz.

[Debbie-TalkTalk]

Hi delypo

Thanks for your reply. I'm glad to hear that the connection has improved.

Can these devices not connect on 5ghz or will they only connect at 2ghz?

[delypo]

Hello Debbie

We have seen an improvement with the new router.

A more stable WiFi connection has been witnessed (notably our CCTV playback is constant, compared to several gaps we were seeing with the old router) and we have not noticed any drop outs.

We have moved two mobile phones and a Tablet onto the 5GHz Wi-fi frequency and get consistently good speeds of 60-67Mbps on these devices in every room of the house.

However whilst speeds on devices using  the 2.4GHz frequency are better than they were, they still vary from room to room (between 20 and 50 Mbps -  most often on the mid-low end of this range). Unfortunately, our laptop is not dual band and is used in an office-come-conservatory at the back of the house (router is situated on the same level but at the front of the home). Similarly devices on the 2.4 GHz frequency situated in the back bedrooms also produce slower speeds. 

So, whilst things are better on the whole, do you have any further suggestions that may improve speeds on those devices restricted to 2.4 GHz?

[Debbie-TalkTalk]

Hi delypo

How's the connection been over the weekend?

[Debbie-TalkTalk]

Hi @delypo 

That's great 🙂

I will check in again with you on Tuesday to see how the connection has been over the weekend.

[Chris-TalkTalk]

OK thanks delypo 🙂

[delypo]

Hi Debbie, the new router has just arrived. I will set it up at the weekend and will provide some feedback in a week or so to give me time to test it and to compare its  performance to that of the old router.

[Debbie-TalkTalk]

Hi delypo

That's great, thanks for letting me know 🙂