New Smart hub and infinity wifi range only one room

[jfb0511]

Hi I was lured into changing to the infinity 2 smart hub package as wifi speed etc and range " reaches spots in the house others font " was their as ..
installed smart hub and immediately problems as no range do was advised by BT to spilt channels , which I did
Range though only one room and so iPad laptops etc won't work more than room hub is in with split channels m
I see extenders won't work with split channels hub any ideas ? Bt are advertising mini hotspots that plug in ? Any help plz , kids use iPads and iPhones all over the house but not now
Any power line , extenders , hotspot work

[flamethrower]

A couple of clarifying questions:

How big is your house?Is the router in the corner of the building?

Is the router in the corner of the building?

Are the internal walls plasterboard or brick?

Wi-Fi signals get weaker going through walls and also the further a device is from the base station. You'd normally expect to get a reasonable signal if it travels through one wall, but maybe not so great through two. It might be worth calling BT to discuss.

My home network uses a router at the edge of the house, like a HomeHub 6, with WiFi disabled. I then have a Wi-Fi router acting as an Access Point (also called wireless bridge) in the centre of the house. They are connected using HomePlug AV. I have determined a good position for the Wi-Fi router with the help of a Wi-Fi analyzer app on my phone which let me walk around the house and check a good signal can be found all over. There are plenty of apps for this, I use WiFi Analyzer on Android.

Pretty much any WiFi router you buy will support running in access point mode. Just check the manual before you purchase. You can find the manual on the vendors website. And also turn off Wi-Fi on your BT router so there's just one Wi-Fi router competing for wireless bandwidth in your home. For most UK homes, this works fine as the properties are not too large.

The more modern approach is to go with a Mesh Network solution. These work well, but typically cost more. BT has a solution for this, so does Google, Netgear, and others. There are some reviews here:

  http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-wi-fi-mesh-networking-kits/

  http://www.expertreviews.co.uk/bt/1405560/bt-whole-home-wi-fi-review-dead-spots-begone

I don't have any experience with WiFi repeaters and mini-hotspots, but I'd generally avoid having multiple wireless networks in my home to avoid additional interference and issues with connecting. You have apple devices which generally connect quickly when moving between wireless networks so this may be less of an issue.

[jfb0511]

Wow thank you so much for this ..
in reply I have single story old barns do spread out and thick walls . Barns used to be cattle stalls ! The house we know as insulated and double glazed has trouble getting mobile signal etc etc but old hub 4 with two extenders made range of wifi throughout house
The new advert for infinity and smart hub says wifi all over !! So far I could only get it to work 3 m away , now after calls to bt have got split channels one 5ghz and two network wifi addresses . On the new split 5 channel I still only can use wifi in the room hub is in . It's on s shelf not in radiator etc . No good for using iPads in kids room or Sonos speakers etc , can't use iPad or iPhone in other rooms ..would a 'bridge help in another room or the thing you said

[flamethrower]

It sounds like your home may be quite challenging. The range you are seeing seems particularly poor. I would ignore the ad, there are limits on WiFi signal strength and variations in manufacturing. 

The physics are such that 5GHz has less range than 2.4GHz. For short distances, it usually offers higher bandwidth. The 2.4GHz bands is quite crowded and lower bandwidth. In the absence of competing sources either can provide good enough bandwidth for a typical home.

If the existing repeaters worked okay, I'd see if there's a way to get them to work with the new smart hub. Are there any obvious challenges with this? If the 5GHz has a different SSID or is turned off it should avoid the issues you mentioned.

Of the two options I outlined, it'd seem that going with a mesh solution might be better given the walls and range. The nice thing about mesh routers is that you can start with just two units and add more if required. There should be fewer issues with network hand-offs with mesh than having multiple wireless networks (repeaters, access points). The major downside is price.

[jfb0511]

Thanks for this ... the village is tiny and sadly in 2g blackspot so I get no mobile signal and since barns converted and new windows insulation etc signal terrible but village just installed infinity so wifi great thought ! But new smart hub terrible .. I was told by bt to split the band as iPads work better and faster on 5 g and have bigger range they say need wifi hotspot kit