BT Whole Home speed degradation

[mattinlondon]

Hello, I have just upgraded my broadband to Virgin Media 1Gig. I use the hub as a modem and then the classic BT Whole Home discs around the house (3 floors, L shape downstairs so 5 discs). Using samknowsspeed I can see speeds of 1,040 mbps coming into the hub but then only around 140 mbps onto devices away from the room with the main disc connected to the hub and sometimes lower around the house. 

Q. Is it worth moving to the (expensive) Net Orbi mesh or is it worth upgrading to the BT Premium mesh? It doesn't seem very popular on here. Any other alternatives? Is there anything else I can do? Appreciate I won't get the same speed as a cable into the hub but seems a very steep drop off. 

Many thanks

[Keith_Beddoe]

@mattinlondon 

Have you asked on the Virgin Media forum? This is a BT Retail forum, so people here would be using a totally different setup.

https://community.virginmedia.com/

[mattinlondon]

Hi Keith,

Thanks for that. I posted under BT Devices because I'm interested in the wifi network options not broadband options. I can't beat my broadband speed. I'd like to know whether my existing BT Whole Home mesh network is the best that I could do, or whether it's worth upgrading to either the Premium discs or an alternative (Net Orbi).

Hope that makes sense.  

[russelk]

As a fellow Whole Home user, I have a few thoughts on this. Wireless devices don't perform as well as wired ones when it comes to internet speed. For example, one of our computers upstairs is wired into a Whole Home disc and hits 250mbit/s. Wireless devices (iPad Pro and Huawei P30 Pro) in the same room and just a few feet away from the disc only reach 140-150 mbit/s.

According to the app, my discs that aren't wired to the modem/router have a "Good Connection". I would assume that moving them close enough to achieve an "Excellent Connection" would increase the connection speed accordingly.

Having said that, I believe the Whole Home is really built for coverage and not raw speed. It is certainly not good enough to keep up with your gigabit connection. I am myself in the same  boat - I need something better than the Whole Home to keep up with my internet connection.

The July issue of PC Pro had a grouptest of mesh systems and the fastest was the Asus ZenWiFi AC, followed by the Netgear Orbi RBK50. Out of the 4 tests carried out, the Whole Home was #5 in 2 of them and #6 in the other 2. The Asus was #1 in all the tests.

But do bear in mind what I said about wireless devices - it's possible they are already maxed out and a new mesh won't change anything.

[Keith_Beddoe]

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@mattinlondon wrote:

Hi Keith,

Thanks for that. I posted under BT Devices because I'm interested in the wifi network options not broadband options. I can't beat my broadband speed. I'd like to know whether my existing BT Whole Home mesh network is the best that I could do, or whether it's worth upgrading to either the Premium discs or an alternative (Net Orbi).

Hope that makes sense.  

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If your problem is related to an issue with the BT Whole  Home product, then this is the place to post. There have also been posts here about the Premium discs, and the problems encountered with them.

https://community.bt.com/t5/forums/searchpage/tab/message?filter=location&q=premium%20-phone%20-call...

If you just want to get views on competing products, then a public forum, or your own provider`s forum, would be the best place to ask.