Smart Hub 2 & WiFi Disc Location

[Anonymous]

The first (and simplest) thing to do is to ensure that the disc is as close as possible to the area you wish to cover and that the LED on the front of it is steady (not flashing) and blue. Amber is an sign that the signal is ok ish, red is a definite no-go as is flashing

[himonster]

Thanks everyone.

The light is always solid blue. I'm not sure why my mobile disconnects when out of good range of the disc, then several minutes later tries to reconnect to the nearest one and vice versa. It's strange. 

I have solid walls throughout the house. Maybe a disc isn't for me, but I wanted to get my full 60mb speeds all over the house.

The hub is in the hall at the front of the house, and for some reason one of the front bedrooms has a significant speed drop to around 30mb.

The conservatory is the same, 30mb. I have a 3 bed semi, so it's not a mansion.

[Keith_Beddoe]

Not sure what is going on, as I would not expect to see a disconnect.

Perhaps there is a setting that needs to be altered via the app, or you need an extra disc to make the mesh more resilient by adding two more paths back to the home hub?

You could ask BT for another disc to see if it helps.

Perhaps one of the BT Device experts like  @Dan-O or @Darren_B  can help?

[himonster]

Here's a 'sketch' of where the hub and disc are in my  house. 

Not sure if the above is the most optimum. 

BT are sending me a 2nd disc for free which I wasn't aware they did? So far I've had a free hub 2 and two free discs?! Unsure if I'll use them though to be honest as not sure how much power they'd consume and cost me per year.

[Keith_Beddoe]

I would position the disc in the bottom right square. That will provide routes from the home hub to both discs, and another route between the discs.

That will enable the software to provide the optimum paths to pass data over, depending on the signal level, and any interference from other networks.

If things are working properly, you should notice an increase in coverage and speed.

The power consumption of these is likely to be quite low, but it may be shown in the product specification.

Yes, BT will supply you up to two extra discs. There is not a lot of advantage in having more than three nodes in the average house, provided they can "see" each other.

[himonster]

It does feel like overkill though for a small house. I would have thought a smart hub 2 could provide top speed wifi throughout?

[Keith_Beddoe]

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@himonster wrote:

It does feel like overkill though for a small house. I would have thought a smart hub 2 could provide top speed wifi throughout?

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If there were no walls, or if you lived in a house with mostly stud and plain plasterboard walls, then you may get away with it.

WiFi speed drops off quite quickly as the distance increases, and even if the signal may appear good, interfering signals using the same wireless channel, will degrade the throughput.

Having multiple nodes transmitting the same SSID on the same channel, allows a more robust connection, and can overcome a lot of interference by finding the best route around the mesh.

What I would suggest is to make sure smart setup is disabled on the home hub. Then if its possible, leave the home hub on one wireless channel. I am not familiar with the SH2, but it may be an option to do that.

Keeping it on the same channel should reduce the incidence of disconnections, and enable the complete wifi software, to "learn" the best routing.

If you have an Android phone, then there is a free app called Netgear Analytics, which gives a number of displays, the main one shows the signal strength on the SSID that the phone is connected to, irrespective of which node its connected to.

This is very useful if you move around the house, as you can see any variation in signal level, and the point at which the phone switched from one node to another. This should be seamless without any disconnections.

[Keith_Beddoe]

Looking at a bit more detail, if your phone has both 2.4 and 5GHz capability, the disabling band steering on the discs, may help to maintain a connection. Other dual band devices may benefit from this option.

[himonster]

How do I change the settings for that on the disc please?

[Keith_Beddoe]

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@himonster wrote:
How do I change the settings for that on the disc please?

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I have no idea, I would expect it to be an option within the app.