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Whole Home Wifi is the most frustrating tech I've ever used

blowdog — Fri, 05 Aug 2022 22:14:07 GMT

I'm sorry in advance for the hyperbolic post title but I've honest had enough.

Now in all honestly, I've had this kit for well over a year, maybe 2. But it has never ever done its job properly.

It's a 3 + 1 kit so I've got 4 discs that are spread across a 1940's brick house. Set up is painful, but once it's set up, it works. That is until somehow, it completely loses all its settings and gives me a red light.

Resetting it all is extremely frustrating. Sometimes, turning off my BT Home Hub 3, then systematically turning off, then on the discs in order of the parent, can fix, but most of the time it requires a full on factory reset.

Even this doesn't work sometimes and I have to leave them off for a few days for it to magically work again. However, for 4 weeks now, they've all been dead and I can't even get a successful connection with the Whole Home Wifi app to recognise when it's connected to a disc (any of the discs) even after a factory restore - either a single press, or a 30 second long frustrating press.

Problem is, this can happen up to a dozen times a year and frankly I'm just about done with them - I'm going to ask for a refund.

As a software company who makes applications for a living, how the app is approved for use is beyond me when it simply cannot provide any decent trouble shooting diagnostics, instead providing a static slider for options to fix.

These were not cheap devices - not sure if a refund will even be entertained, but right now, I simply have 4 bricked discs all with red lights and this is exactly why I also have a virgin line installed for backups when BT borks.

Would like to hear if anyone else has similar issues.

Re: Whole Home Wifi is the most frustrating tech I've ever used

blowdog — Thu, 11 Aug 2022 14:41:11 GMT

Nothing eh...

Re: Whole Home Wifi is the most frustrating tech I've ever used

BuyingNetgear — Thu, 11 Aug 2022 15:15:44 GMT

I totally understand your pain - trust me!!!

I've had a very similar experience until I finally had had enough. Personally I don't think this stuff should even be on sale.

I finally bought 5 x Netgear WAX218 units. Initial set-up was a little tedious given I had 5 to do but the end result has been excellent! They have been rock-solid now for several months.

I currently have 6 x WHWiFi discs in a box and have been impressed by their stability since disconnecting them - they just sit silently in the box and don't give me any further problems!

I really wanted a single-supplier installation for everything from line / broadband / router / wifi but that has proved impossible using BT. I am staying with BT for the line and broadband but the router and wifi will be from other suppliers.

I haven't bothered attempting the refund battle because I simply cannot be bothered with wasting any more of my life on a product which is not fit for purpose.

Re: Whole Home Wifi is the most frustrating tech I've ever used

Earthling — Thu, 11 Aug 2022 20:54:23 GMT

Just how big is this brick house? I ask because ours is 50' wide two storey and Whole Home WiFi works just fine everywhere with just Smart Hub 2 and one black disc. Maybe you could try it with just one disc? Shot in the dark admittedly but little to lose.

EDIT - forget that, it's Complete WiFi I have, not Whole Home. Apologies

Re: Whole Home Wifi is the most frustrating tech I've ever used

blowdog — Sun, 14 Aug 2022 11:44:12 GMT

Hahha - appreciate the giggle. I too am looking forward to monitoring the performance levels of my discs after I take a sledgehammer to them.

I am not joking. As a technologist, these are genuinely the worst A grade items I've ever purchased. What makes the pain so much worse is just how expensive they were.

Re: Whole Home Wifi is the most frustrating tech I've ever used

ross745 — Mon, 15 Aug 2022 16:57:03 GMT

I have a similar issue.
Six disc Whole Home network which loses internet connection completely every fifteen minutes or so for about three to five minutes before coming back.
has been stable and working until may this year and is slowly driving me crazy.
Is it a faulty disc?
is it corrupted firmware on one or all of the discs?

whatever it is BT are trying but failing to diagnose the problem….

any suggestions for diagnosis or even better a cure?

Re: Whole Home Wifi is the most frustrating tech I've ever used

Earthling — Mon, 15 Aug 2022 18:07:31 GMT

Hopefully you have already tried disconnecting the Whole Home system from your router and checked that your broadband or router is not the problem? If not then that's the very first thing to check.

Re: Whole Home Wifi is the most frustrating tech I've ever used

blowdog — Wed, 17 Aug 2022 16:09:42 GMT

How would one diagnose that?
I don't talk on behalf of everyone here, but my BT router is working fine - ethernet and wifi are working as expected. Also, appreciate the tip - but I think it's a significant burden on the customer for companies like BT to assume we will do their testing and diagnostics for them. These are very expensive bits of kit.

Re: Whole Home Wifi is the most frustrating tech I've ever used

ross745 — Wed, 17 Aug 2022 22:50:22 GMT

Good question. I have tried that. I’ve had 7 separate engineer visits. There are no internal wiring issues. The line to the cabinet is good and the connection in the street cabinet has been moved twice. External interference has been eliminated using a Rain test. The master socket has been replaced. The intermittent drop in internet persists. And affects all connected devices. Though WiFi remains available and whole home configuration doesn’t change. Really running out of options unless it’s disc firmware??? Any thoughts?

Re: Whole Home Wifi is the most frustrating tech I've ever used

BuyingNetgear — Thu, 18 Aug 2022 07:14:49 GMT

@ross745

I think your problem may be different to that experienced by @blowdog and me.

My problem was totally related to the WH WiFi discs. I did not experience any internet drops at the hub (BSH2).

After replacing the BT discs with Netgear units I have enjoyed rock-solid WiFi throughout the house, into the garage and in the garden - albeit with some drop in signal strength.

Over the last 2 - 3 years I have developed a lack of confidence in the software associated with BT products. I tend to be reasonably happy with hardware but find the configuration and management software to be (IMHO) both limited in function and reliability.

I have just ordered FTTP to replace my FTTC. Once installed, everything connected to the ONT will be third-party. I am planning either Cisco or Draytek for the router followed by 100% Netgear for the wired and wireless components.

It sounds like you have already put considerable effort into your problem. However, I would focus totally on ensuring a solid connection at the hub before potentially confusing the fundamental problem with a possibly non-existent disc issue.

Once you see hub connection times measured in days or weeks then turn to any remaining Wi-Fi problems.

EDIT: Have just read back through the thread again and both @blowdog and @Earthling are already saying the same thing as me - apologies for repeating their suggestions.

Re: Whole Home Wifi is the most frustrating tech I've ever used

ross745 — Thu, 18 Aug 2022 07:23:43 GMT

Thanks for the useful insights.
According to BT and Openreach the broadband to router ( already replaced twice) is rock solid and hasn’t dropped its connection. Whether that’s right is an open question. Which is why I’ve moved on to try and diagnose the WH disc network.
Is there any info to help understand the logs?
As you say the BT software is

Re: Whole Home Wifi is the most frustrating tech I've ever used

BuyingNetgear — Thu, 18 Aug 2022 08:38:24 GMT

@ross745

So, you are typically seeing a network uptime measured in days?

Do you have wired components - if so, do they stay fully operational when disc problems happen?

Do you have at least 1 disc hard-wired into the hub?

Have you switched off the hub's wi-fi or left it operational?

I genuinely spent weeks trying to get mine working as a replacement for an Apple solution which I had used for several years. I really wanted a BT end-to-end solution. I did factory resets on them, I upgraded firmware, I deleted and reinstalled the BT app. I even took all discs into the same room at one point. The connection map shown by the app hardly ever matched reality and they would gradually red-light on me within 30 - 45 mins.

Whilst the failure to actually get it working was the ultimate problem, the configuration and management software was the greatest frustration. Whoever designed / developed / tested / released this software should be fired! It would certainly not have met my acceptance criteria.

Writing off 6 discs and replacing them with Netgear kit was not a cheap option but I configured them once and have not had to go near them since.

Re: Whole Home Wifi is the most frustrating tech I've ever used

Clsl8589 — Sat, 11 Jan 2025 18:23:06 GMT

Completely agree. Had the white whole home WiFi discs for two years now and they are a shambles. Lose connection constantly for no reason. Quite honestly the worst product and there is no support, just turn it off and on again or they are too far apart. Honestly unless they are in the same room they don’t work - rendering them pointless. We have BT fibre so not a speed problem. Biting the bullet and changing now and never going with a BT product again.