Routers

[BroadAmbition]

Not a forum problem but a 'Griff at home problem' for three weeks now my internet access both using a browser and e-mail has been getting nigh on impossible.  Normally up to half an hour to get on the web and when I do we suffer with terrible slow 'speed'  This morning took me nearly an hour to acheive a speed test (Kept dropping out) it recorded download of 0:00 and upload of 0:67.  Now even I know it should be a tad better than this.  I have spent literally hours and hours on the phone to bt.  Their latest diagnostic test suggests that my router home hub 3 is going faulty so they are sending me a new home hub 4, plus giving me 3 x weeks refund and money towards my many phone calls / time.  There have been times when If one of their 'Expert' advisors had been in front of me, I would have happily throttled them.  Hopefully now it will get fixed once and for all, just got to wait for the new router to arrive

Edited to add, that as bad as it is / has been, it is still yards better than my one and only foray with TalkTalk a couple of years ago - they really were a confirmed nightmare

Griff

[BroadScot]

The BT Hub5 Infinity is quickish, so far know problems, bar when they are updating down at the exchange. (Lose connection briefly)

Hope the new unit resolves your speed troubles Griff.

Iain

[Siddy]

The BT HH5 is a good hub but having had 6 in 16 months the wifi can be poor and had to get them swapped,

The HH4 wifi at my old terrace house went up 3 floors so you should be ok.

When you get the hub you may have to ring the helpline to get them to reset your line which will be done whilst on the line. Each time your current hub drops it slows your speed down to try get a steady connection in your case back to snail rate.

You can login to your new HH and see line speed.

Note a email to Libby Barr get you a call back from a UK helpdesk.

 

 

[Jim]

All BT Routers are poor in my opinion, even the latest ones.  So far, I am not aware of one model they supply that will allow remote access which means you need to be on site, have a laptop connected and then wait for them to join you on "Go To Assist".

D Link, Draytek, Netgear much better options in my opinion and all the remaining BT units on my customer sites are soon due for the "sack"

PS , if anyone has an issue rebooting a router when not on site, I have a solution I can share with you!

  

[BroadScot]

Now had my BT Hub5 for 15 months, and no issues worth talking about. A lot will depend how up to date the underground wiring is I suspect. I am though less than a mile from our local exchange, so it may also be a reason I am mostly trouble free. We are plagued by reams of junk mail from Virgin Media, not a company I wish to deal with,  As for Talk Talk I hope you are clever at languages! 

Iain

[BroadAmbition]

Still waiting for our new HH4 hopefully it will arrive tomorrow.  took me nearly an hour to get on-line today.  Pointless us getting a HH5 as we do not have infinity available in our area as of yet

Griff

[Jim]

2 hours ago, Jonzo said:

I suspect that's intentional - It's not meant to be a pro bit of kit so disabling stuff like that keeps it more secure. Not ideal, though.

Not ideal if you are in the IT trade (albeit we only touch on certain sections).  In our case, we provide remote monitoring for CCTV so if for example, the control room calls with a suspect bband fail, we can log into the router to see if it is the BB or transmitter failure. If you can access the router, another item is at fault...simples!

[Jim]

2 hours ago, Jonzo said:

I suspect that's intentional - It's not meant to be a pro bit of kit so disabling stuff like that keeps it more secure. Not ideal, though.

Must be username and password (strong) of course for remote access!

[Speleologist]

I have never used the free routers provided by an ISP. I have yet to find one that is full enough featured. My own preference is the Draytek SOHO range. I currently use a 2840. Full MAC address security on the wifi, two separate wifi access points so I can keep visitors off my network. Support for VPN remote access and Site to Site VPN. Support for failover to 4g via an installed dongle. Remote management that can be switched on and off. Add to this good technical support. (They were superb whan I discovered a firmware bug). Something that actually does the job.

[Bound2Please]

3 minutes ago, Speleologist said:

I have never used the free routers provided by an ISP. I have yet to find one that is full enough featured. My own preference is the Draytek SOHO range. I currently use a 2840. Full MAC address security on the wifi, two separate wifi access points so I can keep visitors off my network. Support for VPN remote access and Site to Site VPN. Support for failover to 4g via an installed dongle. Remote management that can be switched on and off. Add to this good technical support. (They were superb whan I discovered a firmware bug). Something that actually does the job.

could we please have that in English

[Speleologist]

In summary it meand that only computers whose network card has been added to a list on the router can connect. It also means that when I am away I can make a secure, encrypted connection to access computers and network storage at home. additionally, if my Broadband goes down, it will auto connect via 4G. (Plus a lot more).

[quo vadis]

I made my own one out of sticky back plastic and coat hangers works fine for me 

[Viking23]

34 minutes ago, quo vadis said:

I made my own one out of sticky back plastic and coat hangers works fine for me 

The word router ( pronounced row-ter) has been in my vocabulary for over 30 years.

Here is a picture of mine. Still works. :lol

 

[Siddy]

I now live in a bungalow and thought the wifi would be great but as above the HH5 is pants for wifi.

A few weeks ago I got a Netgear AP500 repeater all singing unit that splits wifi ie guest & private loads of options. setting up was a pain and it sat 10 feet above the router in the upstairs room (ok the upstairs is converted) and the signal got to the garden at the rear just. It locked the internal wifi up after a few hours, after 4 days it went back.

Today I got the TP-link powerline unit to match the others I have and it extends the wifi with 3 rj45 ports on it so replaced the unit for tv/sky in the bedroom and the reception round the house is great and even out in the garden & garage. £50 on Amazon. It comes as a starter kit. This doesn't pick your signal from the router and repeats it. This unit takes the connection over the mains sockets and then put the wifi out so your not looking for a socket half way from your router like other repeaters.

Also has a guest wifi so them little darlings that come and visit and want the net.

[MauriceMynah]

To be honest Viking23, I thought it was a news agency!

[grendel]

my  wife always complains about the wifi dropping out - funny I have never noticed it, but then all my computers run through the wired ethernet network I have laid around the house, when running on BT infinity a network that is capable of using the 60Mb download speeds helps, some of my computers also handle the gigabit connection (1000Mb / s internally).

[Viking23]

Most BT hubs use your power to provide BT hot spots, provided you have signed up for it.

I sometimes wonder if priority is given to these hot spots, as there are places around our property there were "cold spot" lol. Sometimes I see the BT hot spot, and not our Hub.

I had to drill large holes through walls to pass the cable and plugs through, so the new position of the wi fi box had the best possible internal range. It now rests on top of the kitchen cupboard, resting on a metal biscuit tin, acting as a ground plain.

I found trying to get the signal through two solid walls was very intermittant.

 

[Siddy]

There's 3 wifi signals from my HH5 the free one and wifi X.

I remember on the HH1 & 2 you had to sign up to access the free wifi from other people was it called zen or something now you've no choice from what I see.

I knock the hubs but there internet telephone system used to have was great, free and a good sound on hands free.

I use an app called wifi analyzer to move my channels away from nextdoors which improves things.

[BroadAmbition]

HH4 arrived, installed and working - much better, wifi now back as it used to be.  I can now access the web first time of asking and stay on-line.   5:06 download speed - that'll do for me.  This means I can also get our new home cctv swann system on line with remote access from iphone/ tablet and the like.  Onwards and upwards once more

Griff

[BroadAmbition]

Whilst I'm on with mentioning home security and cctv - I'm a bit pleased with the swann 4-4000 dvr system.  I put the led lights up on the house to aid vehicle and house security. (Switch-able from upstairs).  They do make the house look kinda nice at night too.  Our local council have recently replaced the old style sodium yellow street lamps with downlighting LED versions - much better, use less power and less light pollution, the house fronts are however are now not as brightly lit. (Not a bad thing when drawing the curtains trying to keep the light out)  That imho is a home owners responsibility not the councils lighting department.     Lights   -   Camera(4)   -   Action

Griff

 

 

[Siddy]

I've got the 4600 version of the swann same box as griff's and they are pretty good. are you having problems with the bottom right pic over night? I've had to move mine across to the right to stop flash back from the wall and then masked the picture on the unit so it doesn't show next doors windows and they happy. The remote play back apps are very good.

Our local Facebook reporting car breakings over passed month and moving round the area, comments were it was around us Tuesday night and checked back and it showed 2 guys checking doors. 4 reported there cars having stuff taken, guess what all 4 said they hadn't locked the car!!

 

[BroadAmbition]

Nope no problem with the bottom right, I initially thought I would have to mount the cam on a block to move it away from the wall but it's working fine up to now.  The clarity / resolution is very good.  I've not got all the apps set up yet or the system fine tuned, a man 'That Can' is coming round to guide me through it, he's got a similar system

Griff

[BroadAmbition]

You couldn't make this one up - MrsG signed up for a new contract with BT (Over the phone) this gave us a HH4 and a better deal than the present one - now installed, up and running - we also signed up for them to be our phone provider bringing us back to BT from utility warehouse, all good so far.  Today the new account went active, I was supposed to log in to a set up account with 'MyBT'   Our Landline number - we have had it since 1986, 30 years.  It's on my business cards, webiste, van, local advertising etc etc (Along with mobile number and e-mail address) and 30 years worth of friends/contacts.

Only there is a slight problem. (Wouldn't you just know it)

Bro' rang me this morning on my mobile telling me your landline number is stating ' Incorrect Number'  I have opened up e-mails to find BT have allocated us a new number - AAAARRRGGGHHHHHH

I rang them immediately - and yes, they have made a mistake, apologised BUT they now cannot guarantee we can get our original number back and even if we can have it back it will take up to 24Hrs to do so, in the meantime I'm left in limbo hoping they can allocate back our original number.  I've got a good grip on it refusing to let stress levels go through the roof, but it's far from good. On top of that I shouldn't be here right now, I should be over in Spain with MrsG and friends.  Not a happy Griff today I don't mind admitting

Griff

 

[grendel]

I bet if you tell them that due to their mistake the cost of rebranding your business (new signs for the van- website changes , business cards, etc) will be down to them, that they will miraculously find that your number is available.

[BroadAmbition]

I hope so, I have explained the consequences to them in clear and simple Yorkshire speak, as of yet the original number still not active.  I don't think the 'Advisor' was very impressed with the end of our conversation:-

BT    -    Once again Mr Griffin, I apologise for what has occurred, hopefully it will be resolved satisfactorily with in the next 24 x Hrs.  Is there anything else I can do for you today?

Me    -    Apologies won't sort it, and as for anything else today, I think you have done enough for one day, don't you?   Other than reinstating the original number, we'll leave it well alone before you do anymore damage

 

Griff