Alternative Router/Modem with WiFi Button for Full Fibre

[Dinosaur2]

Can anyone give me some suggestions for an alternative router/modem for Full Fibre that has a physical WiFi button on?

We don't usually use WiFi in the house (Ethernet connections for most things) and it's a nuisance to have to switch on the computer to turn the WiFi on or off when someone visits. In fact, I wonder what many elderly people do who have to have an internet connection installed as they will be needing it when copper landlines are switched off in the future, and who may not use computers themselves and wish to turn off WiFi?

I have the Sagemcom FAST 5464 at the moment.

[amahle-TT]

@Dinosaur2 confirmed that we can close the thread as the issue has been resolved, thanks.

[ferguson]

It may be physically similar, apart from having Shell Broadband emblazoned on it, but the software and settings are different. There is no way that this can be modified by TalkTalk, I am not sure why you presume otherwise. As you have a solution with which you are satisfied, perhaps we can close this matter now?

[Gliwmaeden2]

I'll close the thread to new posts now - our last posts crossed, @Dinosaur2 !

[Gliwmaeden2]

@Dinosaur2, I think I mentioned before that ex Shell customers had a dedicated team dealing with "tweaks" arising from their migration to Talktalk. 

Your situation wouldn't normally  be handled by them as you were not in that situation - just asking the normal technical teams for help, as you are a regular Talktalk customer, they were in no position to help. 

[Dinosaur2]

@nambuso-TT  and @Mandisa-TT PROBLEM NOW SOLVED! No need for further comments, so please close this thread. 

[Dinosaur2]

Sorry, to clarify, I meant the Shell one (Sagemcom F@st 5359 with the physical WiFi switch) which, according to some people on this forum (and elsewhere) is identical to the newest version of the WiFi Hub 3 that is currently supplied by TalkTalk - and is still being used by those who've migrated over from Shell Energy when it was taken over by TalkTalk. So presumably, those ex-Shell customers will have had their routers (the one I now have as an "extension") somehow "tweaked" so that they have VOiP enabled - so presumably it is technically possible, if TalkTalk were to oblige (as they have in the past). 

[ferguson]

I thought you had VoIP on your Sagemcom hub? Or do you mean the Shell router which you bought yourself? Which is not supported by TalkTalk.

[Dinosaur2]

I was expecting that someone in TalkTalk's "technical expert" department could have enabled the VOiP on the Sagemcom router, which they have apparently done in the past in similar circumstances, according to reliable information I was given.

Also, failing that, they might have suggested using the Shell Energy router as an "extender" to the TalkTalk one, which is what we've now done, thanks to my wife's searching on the internet and help from others on here and from the seller. So now we have sorted out the original issue that I first posted about, as well as having the VOiP facility if needed and all issues are now solved. 

[ferguson]

Your current router works. I am not sure what you were expecting. 

[Dinosaur2]

I have been told from someone with experience that they DID used to be very helpful for such requests, but now they "follow a script" and don't actually know enough about their products to be able to help in this way. Seems to be the way things have been going in many different areas of life, sadly. 

[ferguson]

@Dinosaur2 

To be fair to official TalkTalk support, they cannot be expected to help with an esoteric subject like this which was never really a TalkTalk "issue" as such. 

[KeithFrench]

You are very welcome @Dinosaur2. It is just that although I do not work for TalkTalk in so much as I do this work voluntarily, I do, I guess, work on behalf of TalkTalk, but from an independent perspective.

[Dinosaur2]

You ARE one of the most helpful people on here!! As is slarty*1. You two weren't the people I was referring to...and I thank you and others who were helpful, very much indeed!!

When I referred to "TalkTalk's technical experts", I actually mean the ones I chatted to on their website, not people in the Community Forum who, like yourself, were FAR more helpful than their own "experts". The chap I bought the router from was also very knowledgeable and helpful as well 🙂 

[KeithFrench]

Sorry @Dinosaur2 , I thought that I had spent a lot of my own time trying to help you, as one of TalkTalk's technical people.

[Dinosaur2]

I was prepared not to have access to the "landline" if that was the eventual outcome. As it turned out, I now have WiFi control via a switch, and also access to the landline. Win-win situation!! What's not to like? No thanks to any of the "TalkTalk technical experts" though...but thankfully there were SOME people on this forum who were extremely helpful and not "judgemental" or sarcastic, unlike some users on here 😉

[ferguson]

That's not what you said previously, never mind. 

[Dinosaur2]

We never use it for outgoing calls but VERY occasionally a family member, eg a cousin in Australia, will phone and it's more comfortable to sit for over an hour with the landline phone than a mobile - plus we don't need the WiFi switched on for that scenario, thus not affecting the family member here with electrosensitivity. Glad to see you are so "understanding" 🤔 !! Plus, I am paying TalkTalk for a landline service that I wasn't being able to use, IF I wanted to...

[KeithFrench]

No, that is not double NAT & is OK.

[ferguson]

Allowing you to use the VoIP phone line that you never use? Carry on, nothing to see here!  🙂

[Dinosaur2]

Yes, the primary one being the TalkTalk hub which is now allowing us to use the VOiP phoneline. Before disabling the DHCP, the WiFi came on briefly but then disconnected, so I guess there had been some kind of conflict going on. Seems fine now.